Allen Stanford, Marc Dreier, Bernie Madoff, Tom Petters… More than a few cases these days are at or near the intersection of criminal law and bankruptcy law and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, reviewing an appeal from the Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Eighth Circuit has weighed in today. The basic […]
From Akin Gump’s Scotusblog.com, Supreme Court-monitoring website, comes the following news of the U.S. Supreme Court’s consideration of a petition for a writ of certiorari from the 8th Circuit. The 1/18/02 Canadian Pacific (“CP”) freight train derailment resulted in a toxic release, evacuation, injuries and lawsuits (several in the U.S. District Court for the District […]
In one of three bellwether cases in the Eastern District of Arkansas (three of 10,000 cases pending before Judge Wilson) for the prempro hormone replacement therapy cases, the major issue on appeal, argued on May 12, is plaintiff’s proof of cancer causation — a theory contested by defendants and a theory rejected by the Court. […]
This week, reversing the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the US Supreme Court (Scalia, writing for the majority) held that no federal law bars a State from allowing one party, a non-signatory to an arbitration agreement, from invoking an arbitration agreement signed by an adversary with a third-party and, on that basis, […]
Some lawyers and clients over-focus on the liability aspect of cases and they short-change the damages side. Almost all civil litigation is about money — it’s ultimately about the damages — but liability — “who’s at fault?” — is more graspable and sometimes it is the better handled part of litigation. In U.S. Salt, Inc. […]
All defendants reasonably want to know the degree of exposure they face in litigation. Particularly early on in a lawsuit, before discovery, trying to assess the likelihood of punitive damages can be a hard call for some cases and predicting the amount of punitive damages may be extremely difficult if not impossible with any satisfactory […]
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit dealt a blow to Ameriprise Financial. Judges Wollman, Beam, and Riley reversed summary judgment that the U.S. District Court (D. Minn.) had entered in Ameriprise’s favor on claims brought by a handful of mutual funds. Under Section 36(b) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (“ICA”), […]
With a nearly infinite respository of data on every desk thanks to the internet, including judges’ desks, it should come as no surprise that some judges have been tempted to undertake some independent fact-finding in seeking the best resolution of matters pending before them. Such was the case for the U.S. District Court, District of […]
Defendant/Homeowners obtained a loan to redeem after the foreclosure sale of their home, getting a $245,000 loan from Plaintiff Rand with an interest rate starting at 13.99% and, after one year, going up to 14.99%. Defendants fell behind on the new loan, were foreclosed, and failed to redeem. Prior to eviction, Defendants sought to rescind, […]
The O’Neils bought a crib for their grand-children, which they used without incident for four years. The crib was then recalled due to a hardware defect, which could cause a gap in the crib gate and pose a risk of injury or death to infants. After the recall, a retrofit was made available for purchasers. […]