Law Reports

Widespread online sales of bogus apparel that was nearly identical to the genuine item offered by Adidas AG and Reebok International Ltd. entitled the two companies to broad ex parte temporary restraining order relief including transfer and redirection of the offending website domain names, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled [...]

By Marc Heller The White House has been cool to a new tax on financial transactions, but a Democratic lawmaker proposing to introduce one has not given up on the Obama administration. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) told BNA April 17 that he believes Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew may yet come around to the view [...]

By Ari Natter Republicans on the House science committee April 16 called for weaning the wind energy industry from its principal tax subsidy, but proponents of the wind production tax credit said it was being unfairly singled out. “When the … production tax credit was created in 1992, it was intended as temporary assistance to [...]

By David McAuley A California website’s alleged copyright infringement of the plaintiff’s family photograph of a professional athlete targeted the plaintiff but not Illinois and did not support the exercise of personal jurisdiction in Illinois, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled April 9 (Brandon Wade Licensing LLC v. Terezowens.com LLC, [...]

By Lorraine McCarthy PHILADELPHIA–New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) April 15 vetoed legislation (S. 2425) that would have authorized state and local governments to use project labor agreements (PLAs) for construction projects involving highways, bridges, pumping stations, and water and sewage treatment plants. A 2002 state law (P.L. 2002, Ch. 44) restricts the use of PLAs [...]

By Stephanie M. Acree A Chapter 13 plan confirmation order discharging post-petition interest on a judgment involving the debtor’s negligent operation of a motor vehicle was found to be binding on the creditor insurance company March 19 by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin (American Family Mutual Insurance Co. v. Reichartz (In [...]

DUBLIN–Austrian Prime Minister Maria Fekter April 12 accused the United Kingdom and the United States of employing double standards in the fight against tax evasion, claiming that both countries allow domestic tax havens and money laundering in places such as the Cayman Islands, and in Delaware and Nevada. “The debate on tax evasion cannot be [...]

By Richard Hill Several trade group representatives at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s annual Capital Markets Summit April 10 expressed concern that financial reform efforts by foreign and domestic regulatory bodies were producing rules that are unfocused, ambiguous, and too broad. Richard Baker, head of the Managed Funds Association, said “uncertainty and broad generalization” is his [...]

By Diane Davis A bankruptcy court did not abuse its discretion in approving a settlement agreement between a Chapter 11 debtor and its former member in the limited liability company because it was in the best interest of the estate, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin held March 20 (Official Committee of [...]

By Alicia Biggs Some 74 percent of business and nonprofit leaders said they would recommend obtaining a liberal arts education to a young person they knew in order to prepare for long-term professional success in the global economy, according to survey results released April 10 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities. About 93 percent of employers [...]

By Richard Hill President Obama requested $315 million April 10 for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for fiscal year 2014 as part of his overall $3.778 trillion budget, numbers that are all but certain to be slashed in the coming months by House Republicans. The request for the CFTC is slightly more than the $308 million [...]

A defendant in a copyright infringement proceeding may subpoena from Google Inc. nine months’ worth of internet protocol address information linked to a plaintiff’s Gmail account, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled March 21 (Obodai v. Indeed Inc., N.D. Cal., No. 3:13-mc-80027-EMC, motion to quash granted in part 3/21/13). A magistrate judge rejected the plaintiff’s [...]

By Andrew M. Ballard RALEIGH, N.C.–A proposed amendment to Tennessee’s Constitution that would prohibit state or local income and payroll taxes (S.J.R. 1) received final approval by the state Legislature April 8. Both the House and Senate during two consecutive legislative sessions have now approved the proposed amendment, so it will go before voters during the [...]

By Tamlin H. Bason A federal district court erred in dismissing a trade secrets claim under the relevant statute of limitations by failing to take into account significant evidence in the record, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled April 5 in an opinion designated as not for publication (Kendall Holdings Ltd. v. [...]

By Diane Davis The U.S. Bankruptcy Appellate Panel for the Eighth Circuit March 22 held that bonus payments received post-petition by a Chapter 7 debtor from her employer are not property of the debtor’s bankruptcy estate (Seaver v. Klein-Swanson (In re Klein-Swanson), B.A.P. 8th Cir., No. 12-6054, 3/22/13). Reversing the decision of the bankruptcy court, Judge Barry [...]

By Eleanor S. Tyler Two proposed classes of employees from Silicon Valley firms alleged to have conspired to drive down workers’ pay cannot be certified, although the employees may amend their motion in light of discovery produced since the first attempt was filed, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled April 5 (In re [...]

By Marc Heller Congressional supporters of internet sales tax legislation have been pushing for a simpler system that will let online retailers seamlessly collect taxes for states around the country. But in passing their bill through the Senate March 22, they accepted one new wrinkle: a possible exemption for sales of business inputs. Freeing online sales [...]

By Richard Hill Louis Freeh, the Chapter 11 trustee for MF Global Holdings Ltd., parent of bankrupt futures commission merchant MF Global Inc., told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York in a report April 4 that chief executive officer Jon Corzine failed to strengthen long-known internal control weaknesses at MFG, making [...]

By Paul Stinson AUSTIN, Texas–American Airlines cleared a significant hurdle in its bid to become the world’s largest airline March 27 as a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved the proposed $11 billion merger of the Chapter 11 debtor with US Airways Airways (In re AMR Corp., Bankr. S.D.N.Y., No. 11-15463-SHL, bench ruling 3/27/13). The approval also helps cut a path [...]

By Anne A. Marchessault A former physical education teacher with the New York City Department of Education can advance her age-based hostile work environment claim against the department, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York decided March 29 (Thomas v. New York City Dep’t of Educ., E.D.N.Y., No. 1:10-cv-00464, 3/29/13). Anna-Marie Thomas was plausibly subjected [...]