Law Reports

Palka v. City of Chicago, Nos. 09-CV-2042, 09-CV-3796, 2011 BL 268396 (7th Cir. Oct. 18, 2011) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that Peter Palka’s action against the City of Chicago, alleging discrimination based on Peter’s ethnic origin under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, could not survive summary judgment because Palka failed to [...]

Sarah Jane Leake | Bloomberg Law Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in financial instruments repealing Directive 2004/39/EC of the Parliament and of the Council (Recast), COM(2011) 656 final of 20 October 2011; Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Markets in [...]

<a href="http://www.bloomberglaw.com/document/1? citation=2011%20BL%20263246&amp;summary=yes#jcite”>Lang v. Morris, No. 11-CV-01366, 2011 BL 263246 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 12, 2011) The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California concluded that it did not have personal jurisdiction over the defendant in a copyright infringement case brought by several origami artists. The court explained that copying from the website alone [...]

Alexandra Kay | Bloomberg Law Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., No. 11-CV-01846-LHK, 2011 BL 268464 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 18, 2011) Apple Inc.’s counterclaims alleging that Samsung Electronics Co. violated the Sherman Act and California’s Unfair Competition Law by failing to disclose its intellectual property rights to a wireless industry standard-setting organization and by [...]

Sarah Jane Leake | Bloomberg Law Statutory audit: Market investigation reference to the Competition Commission of the supply of statutory audit services to large companies in the UK – Office of Fair Trading Report, October 2011 After months of consultation1 arising out of high-level parliamentary scrutiny,2 the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) now has confirmed [...]

Evans v. Sterling Chemicals, Inc., No. 10-CV-20493, 2011 BL 264247 (5th Cir. Oct. 13, 2011) The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that Sterling Chemicals, Inc. and related companies (collectively, Sterling) improperly reduced the health benefits of retirees who were former employees of Cytec Acrylic Fibers, Inc. and related companies (collectively, Cytec), [...]

Susan M. Greenwood | Bloomberg Law In re Washington Mutual Mortgage-Backed Securities Litig., No. 09-CV-00037 (W.D. Wa. Oct. 21, 2011) The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington certified in part a class of investors that purchased mortgage-backed securities (MBS) created and sold by Washington Mutual Bank (WMB), Washington Mutual Asset Acceptance Corporation [...]

Yoomi Lee | Bloomberg Law SEC v. Temme, No. 11-CV-00655 (E.D. Tex. filed on Oct. 14, 2011); SEC Litigation Release No. LR-22130 (Oct. 18, 2011); SEC Press Release No. PR-2011-213 (Oct. 18, 2011) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) obtained an asset freeze against James G. Temme and his company Stewardship Fund, LP (Stewardship, and together, Defendants) [...]

Vandenbosch v. Waage (In re Vandenbosch), No. 11-cv-139-FtM-29, No. 10-bk-06427, 2011 BL 261063 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 11, 2011) The United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida reversed the bankruptcy court’s decision denying confirmation of a proposed chapter 13 plan based on the debtor’s failure to include social security benefits as “projected disposable [...]

Sima Saran Ahuja | Bloomberg Law SEC v. Sherwin P. Brown, No.10-02479, 2011 BL 263720 (8th Cir. Oct. 13, 2011) With one judge dissenting in part, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in a civil enforcement action [...]

Federal Trade Commission v. Flora, No. 11–CV–00299 (C.D. Cal. Aug. 16, 2011) Under a settlement between a defendant and the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a stipulated order for a permanent injunction and disgorgement against an alleged spammer for violating the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. § [...]

Tatiana Rodriguez | Bloomberg Law SEC Press Release No. PR -2011-202 (Oct. 11, 2011); SEC Litigation Release No. LR-22121 (Oct. 11, 2011); SEC v. Wu, No. 11-CV-04988(N.D. Cal. filed Oct. 11, 2011); FDIC Press Release No. PR-162-2011 (Oct. 11, 2011); U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of CA, Press Release (Oct. 11, 2011); United States v. Shabudin, No. 11-CR-00664 (N.D. Cal. filed [...]

Yamuna Bhaskaran | Bloomberg Law MVP Lanes, LLC v. RI Hispanic Bancgroup, LLC, No. 11-cv-02402, 2011 BL 259306 (D. Md. Oct. 7, 2011) As part of a plan to build a bowling and entertainment complex in Maryland, MVP Lanes, LLC, a Maryland limited liability corporation with its primary place of business in Maryland, entered into [...]

Laura McQuade | Bloomberg Law Sarver v. Hurt Locker LLC, No. 10-CV-09034, 2011 BL 266887 (C.D. Cal. Oct. 13, 2011) The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California struck all of plaintiff Jeffrey Sarver’s claims against the makers of the Oscar-winning film The Hurt Locker, finding that they violated California’s Anti-SLAPP statute, Cal. Code Civ. [...]

Cherilyn Zavatsky | Bloomberg Law Westport Ins. Corp. V. VN Hotel Group, LLC, No. 6:10-cv-222-ORL-28KRS, 2011 BL 262219 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 11, 2011) The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, in ruling that Legionella bacteria did not constitute “pollutants,” as defined in a pollution exclusion, and in disagreeing with a decision from Southern District [...]

Esposito v. Hartley (In re Hartley), No. 09-37770, Adv. Pro. No. 10-9055, 2011 BL 257709 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Oct. 5, 2011) The United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York granted a plaintiff’s request to except from discharge a judgment obtained against a corporation owned and operated by debtor-defendants. The bankruptcy court held that [...]

Sarah Jane Leake | Bloomberg Law   Leverage under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive1 is defined as “any method by which the exposure of an AIF is increased whether through borrowing of cash or securities, or leverage embedded in derivative positions or by any other means.” From 23 July 2013, alternative investment fund managers [...]

Yoomi Lee | Bloomberg Law SEC Press Release No. PR-2011-208 (Oct. 13, 2011); SEC Release No. 34-65556 (Oct. 13, 2011); Administrative Proceeding File No. 3-14586 (Oct. 13, 2011) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) entered into a settlement agreement with EDGA Exchange, Inc. (EDGA), EDGX Exchange, Inc. (EDGX, and together, Exchanges), and their affiliated routing broker-dealer Direct [...]

Sarah Jane Leake | Bloomberg Law Gender Diversity on Boards – Financial Reporting Council Feedback Statement, October 2011 The latest version of the UK Corporate Governance Code (Governance Code), which came into effect in June 2010, introduced for the first time a principle recognising the value of diversity in the boardroom. It provided that the “search [...]

Yoomi Lee | Bloomberg Law FINRA Investor Alert, Companies in Bankruptcy Rarely Make Blockbuster Investments (Oct. 10, 2011) The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued an alert to address investor confusion regarding trading shares of Blockbuster, Inc. (Blockbuster), which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 23, 2010. FINRA warned that some stock promoters may be exploiting [...]