I’m a trial lawyer for injured people and businesses at The Beasley Firm. Founded in 1958, we have recovered over $2 billion for our clients through hundreds of verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million. We’re listed in Super Lawyers, Best Lawyers in America, U.S. News’s Top Lawyers, [...]
The Perils Of Being The Lawyer For The Situation
As Prof. Geoffrey Hazard recounts: In the confirmation hearings concerning Louis Brandeis before the United States Senate almost a century ago — hearings evaluating whether Brandeis was fit to be a Justice of the United States Supreme Court — Brandeis was challenged concerning his professional ethics as a lawyer. It was charged that he had involved himself in conflicts of interest, trying to assist conflicting parties in working out intense differences. When asked who he represented, he responded that he was "lawyer for the situation." I don't think Brandeis meant this "situation." Most lawyers are, by nature, problem solvers. Besides victory ... Continue Reading
The Rising Tide Of Employment Discrimination Claims Won’t Lift Most Boats
At the WSJ Law Blog, The Rising Tide of Job Bias Claims: There’s often a debate about whether litigation in counter-cyclical. Do lawsuits increase when the economy heads south? In one area of litigation, there’s no debate: employment discrimination claims. A lot of folks have been fired, and many of them are are claiming that they were let go because of their race, age, gender, or because of a disability. Job bias claims, to put it mildly, are through the roof, according to this WSJ article. For the six months that ended April 30, more than 70,000 people filed claims with ... Continue Reading
AAA’s Car Insurance Business Has Gone To Its Head
I am a member of AAA, a member disappointed to see this recent e-mail in my inbox: To: AAA PENNSYLVANIA MEMBERS Re: Stop Increased Insurance Rates! Tell senate to VOTE NO! The Pennsylvania Senate is considering legislation (HB 2246) to allow trial lawyers in court cases involving auto accidents to suggest to juries arbitrary dollar amounts for “non-economic” damages. If passed, this bill will increase the cost of auto insurance for all Pennsylvanians because it will result in higher jury awards in auto cases. AAA Mid-Atlantic works hard to advocate for the best interests of the driving public. While we ... Continue Reading
Mark Zuckerberg On His Co-Founder: “just take the lawsuit…I’m just going to cut him out and then settle with him”
I already made one post out of The Social Network (i.e., Why Mark Zuckerberg Won't Sue For Defamation Over The Facebook Movie), which is one more than I expected, but apparently there's another legal issue in there. Gawker and Business Insider published a scoop yesterday on the "dirty tricks" that Mark Zuckerberg used to force co-founder Eduardo Saverin out of the company. Relevant to our interests: As that first summer went on and TheFacebook.com grew more popular than anyone imagined, the company needed money to keep running. Finding investors wasn't hard. As early as July, Silicon Valley bigwigs like Mark Pincus, ... Continue Reading
Mark Zuckerman On His Co-Founder: “just take the lawsuit…I’m just going to cut him out and then settle with him”
Post moved here. ... Continue Reading
Sheet Metal Workers v. GlaxoSmithKline: How To Use State Consumer Fraud Laws To Bring Indirect Purchaser Antitrust Class Actions
[UPDATE: Drug and Device Law goes Jersey Shore on me and "creates a situation," as they say. I replied in the comments there, although my comment seems to disappear at times. Perhaps their commenting/moderating software is as frustrating and difficult as mine. I've cut and pasted my comment below the fold here.] I've discussed the problems with the Illinois Brick decision before. In short, since "indirect purchasers" cannot bring federal antitrust claims — even if they were injured by antitrust violations — "indirect purchasers" like third-party payors and retailers have to resort to state law. It is not uncommon to see lawsuits ... Continue Reading
Attorney-Client Privilege In Pennsylvania Needs A Refurbishing
[UPDATE: On November 19, 2010, the Pennsylvania Superior Court granted en banc reargument and withdrew the opinion discussed below. Stay tuned.] [UPDATE II: On February 24, 2011, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided Gillard, W. v. AIG Insurance Co., et al., No. 10 EAP 2010, which clarified an unsettled point in Pennsylvania attorney-client privilege law, namely the extent to which communications from the attorney to the client are privileged. The Supreme Court found that such communications are generally privileged the same extent as communications from the client to the attorney are privileged. A copy of the opinion is available here. I wrote more about ... Continue Reading
Ready, Fire, Aim: How Not To Threaten Sanctions Against Opposing Counsel
[UPDATE: The lawyer called me and asked to "restart" our relationship, including by removing the more provocative elements, so I did. Water under the bridge.] Yesterday I received an email which said: Pursuant to New Jersey Rule of Court 1:4-8, please allow this correspondence to serve as notice that Defendants intend to file a Motion for Sanctions as the claims filed by [my client] against Defendants [his clients] are frivolous and in violation of NJ Rule 1:4-8(a). More specifically, [my client]'s claims include allegations of Fraud (Count I), Conspiracy (Count II), violations of the New Jersey Wage Payment Law (Count ... Continue Reading
Spoliation Law Across The Circuits: Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm’s New Magnum Opus
Via Electronic Discovery Law comes an opinion so thorough and helpful it's hard to believe you can get it for free. Magistrate Judge Paul W. Grimm of the District of Maryland has been writing about spoliation and evidentiary concerns for quite some time (see, e.g., Paul W. Grimm, Michael D. Berman, Conor R. Crowley, Leslie Wharton, Proportionality in the Post-Hoc Analysis of Pre-Litigation Preservation Decisions, 37 U. BALT. L. REV. 381, 388 (2008)), and was waiting for someone to pitch him a soft ball. He got one in Victor Stanley, Inc. v. Creative Pipe, Inc. No. MJG-06-2662 (D. Md. Sept. ... Continue Reading
eBay v. Newmark: Al Franken Was Right, Corporations Are Legally Required To Maximize Profits
[UPDATE: Francis Pileggi has his take (courtesy of a guest blogger), as does Steven Davidoff at DealBook.] [UPDATE II: Todd Henderson has a riposte. He's right that most companies can engage in modest philanthropic efforts without worry, but if a company starts putting its money where its mouth is on philanthropy, they'll get eBay'd, just like craigslist was. Craigslist didn't engage in "purely philanthropic ends," they tried to protect the frugal, community-centric corporate culture that was a hallmark for their success. The Court held: no, sorry, can't do that, because that conflicts with your duty to maximize shareholder value. Thus, the duty ... Continue Reading
