Notable Cases

News Items

Delaware Supreme Court rules on Disney

GM employee affinity program not discriminatory

No private right of action for SOX Act 304

California bars contractual jury trial waivers

WellPoint settles doctor class action suits for $198 million

Qualcomm sues Broadcom over patents

Broadcom brings antitrust suit against Qualcomm

AMD brings antitrust suit against Intel

HealthSouth founder Scrushy acquitted

B of A broker acquitted of Eliot Spitzer charges

JPMorgan Chase settles Enron for $2.2 billion

Citigroup settles Enron class action for $2.0 billion

Perelman wins judgment against Morgan Stanley

Dynegy settles shareholder suit for $468 million

Bernie Ebbers (WorldCom CEO) convicted

Court rebuffs Kerkorian's claims against DaimlerChrylser

1981 Glendale Federal goodwill challenge pays out

US Supreme Court

2005 -2006

Kircher v Putnam Funds 6.15.06

Decision

Unanimous decision; Scalia concurring opinion
Held that a federal district court order remanding a case removed from state court under the Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act of 1998 is not appealable
Decision is expected to help plaintiffs with securities claims by eliminating defendant's ability to cause delay by appealing remand orderse

Supreme Court filings

Anza v Ideal Steel Supply 6.05.06

Decision

Thomas and Breyer dissented in part
Limits the use of civil anti-racketeering laws by companies seeking damages for allegedly illegal acts by their competitors
Competitor's cheating on New York State sales tax wasn't sufficient proximate cause for a RICO civil action

Court also dismisses certiorari in a related case

Mohawk Industries v Williams 6.05.06

Supreme Court filings

Brigham City v Stuart 5.22.06

Decision

9-0 decision
Upholds warrantless entry into home given exigent circumstances
Police officers were justified in going inside a home after peering through a window and seeing a fight between a teenager and adults
Overturn decision by Utah's Supreme Court that said a trial judge was correct to throw out charges stemming from the police search
Trial judge ruled that police had violated the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches by failing to knock before entering the house
In a separate opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens said that Utah courts could still find that the police entry was unreasonable under Utah's Constitution
Briefs

eBay v MercExchange 5.15.06

Decision

9-0 decision
News items:
Overturns U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit's decision granting patent holder MercExchange an injunction against eBay
Rules that trial judges should have more discretion whether to issue permanent injunctions in patent cases
eBay press release 5.15.06
MercExchange press release 5.15.06

Cert granted 11.28.05

Parties were directed to brief and argue:
"Whether this Court should reconsider its precedents, including Continental Paper Bag Co. v. Eastern Paper Bag Co., 210 U.S. 405 (1908), on when it is appropriate to grant an injunction against a patent infringer."

Court of appeals decision Fed Cir 3.16.05

Held that eBay's fixed-price auctions and some of its online payment methods violated a patent obtained by MercExchange
eBay ordered to pay $29.5 million

Supreme Court filings

Commentary

Willkie Farr

DaimlerChrysler v Cuno 5.15.06

Decision

9-0 decision
News items:

State taxpayers have no standing to challenge
local property tax exemption and state franchise tax credit

Supreme Court filings

Merrill Lynch v Dabit 3.21.06

Holds that SLUSA preempts state law securities actions brought by holders
Securities Act Liability

Rumsfeld v FAIR 3.06.06

Decision

8-0 decision

Congress could require law schools to provide equal access
to military recruiters without violating the schools freedoms of speech and association
Thus, Third Circuit erred in holding that the Solomon Amendment likely violated the First Amendment
Military recruitment on campuses

Supreme Court filings

2004 -2005

National Cable v Brand X Internet Services 6.27.05

Decision
Briefs
Upholds FCC's classifying cable modem internet services
as an "information service" rather than as a "telecommunications service"
So that cable companies aren't required to share access

MGM Studios v Grokster 6.27.05

Decision
Briefs
Internet file sharing service violates copyright laws
Test for determining the legality of technology that can be used to infringe copyright centers on whether creators of the technology actively induced users to use it illegally
Grokster actively promoted use of its service to infringe copyright

Kelo v City of New London 6.23.05