Legal Research

If you are already an online subscriber to the LAW.COM service you should be able to click on any of the links below, sign in, and access the full text of all articles listed. A subscription to LAW.COM is needed for online access to this service.

Supreme Court Reduces Damages Awarded in Exxon Case

Legal Times

A punitive damage award in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case that once amounted to $5 billion was knocked down to $507.5 million by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Even though the ruling was based on maritime law, a unique branch of federal common law, the majority opinion by Justice David Souter was full of concern about unpredictable "outlier" verdicts against corporations. "The real problem, it appears, is the stark unpredictability of punitive awards," Souter wrote.

Cleary Seeks Vindication in Appeal on Sanctions

New York Law Journal

It was a matter of honor that brought Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton to the 2nd Circuit Wednesday. Lawyers from the elite law firm filled many of the gallery seats as Cleary's lawyer, Roy Reardon of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, told the panel of judges that last year's sanctions order by New York federal Judge Loretta Preska was the result of a calculated campaign by a global hedge fund out to impugn the integrity of the law firm that frequently opposes its efforts to collect on distressed sovereign debt.

Justices Reject Death Penalty for Child Rapists

Legal Times

By a 5-4 vote Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is unconstitutional for those whose crimes did not result in the death of the victim. The Court reversed the death penalty for a Louisiana man sentenced for raping and seriously injuring, but not killing, his 8-year-old stepdaughter. Though instances of child rape can be "devastating in their harm, as here," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority, "they cannot be compared to murder in their severity and irrevocability."

Troutman Sanders Merges With D.C. Firm

Fulton County Daily Report

Troutman Sanders will merge with a 100-lawyer Washington, D.C., firm, Ross, Dixon & Bell, gaining offices on the West Coast and in Chicago. The deal, effective Jan. 1, will make Troutman Sanders a 750-lawyer firm, with about 1,700 total employees. Troutman's chairman, Robert W. Webb Jr., said the merger will double the size of the firm's Washington office, from 58 to 105 attorneys. This is Troutman's third major combination with another firm in seven years.

N.Y. High Court Upholds Dismissal of Claims Against Grasso

New York Law Journal

Legal experts said a Wednesday ruling by New York state's high court would likely increase the pressure for a settlement in litigation over Richard A. Grasso's lucrative compensation package as the former chairman and CEO of the New York Stock Exchange. The lawsuit was one of then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's highest-profile cases when he was burnishing his reputation as the "Sheriff of Wall Street" before becoming governor. Spitzer sought to have Grasso return as much as $112 million.

Judge Kills IP Claim, Blames Lawyer

The Recorder

Finding that an in-house lawyer tried to deceive the Patent and Trademark Office, a federal judge has ruled Abbott Laboratories' patent unenforceable. Abbott had sued Bayer and other pharmaceutical makers over a patent on strips used by diabetics to test their blood. Judge William Alsup made a finding of inequitable conduct on Tuesday, saying that the patent in question had been obtained only because Abbott attorney Lawrence Pope had withheld key information in connection with the patent filing.

Smith Barney's 'Golden Handcuffs' Incentive Plan Gets Court's Blessing

New Jersey Law Journal

New Jersey's Supreme Court on Wednesday gave its imprimatur to employee stock-purchase compensation plans that carry forfeiture provisions if participants quit before fully vesting. The justices affirmed an appellate court's sustaining of such a plan against charges that it violated the state's wage and hour law. Smith Barney's Capital Accumulation Plan "was entirely voluntary and its terms were fully disclosed" to the two stockbrokers who filed the suit, the court wrote.

7th Circuit Upholds Black's Fraud Conviction

The Associated Press

A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld Conrad Black's convictions of fraud and obstruction of justice, brushing aside his claim that he and three other former Hollinger International media executives did no harm to the company he once headed. "They are making a no harm-no foul argument, and such arguments usually fare badly in criminal cases," a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit said in its 16-page opinion. Black is serving a 6 1/2-year sentence at a federal prison in Florida.

Judge Tentatively Approves Settlement of Eating-Disorder Class Action

New Jersey Law Journal

A federal judge in New Jersey granted preliminary approval Tuesday to a class action settlement that would require Aetna Insurance Co. to improve coverage for some eating-disorder patients. The judge made the decision after the plaintiffs' class action lawyer said the pact was good for the insureds and that litigating for a better deal would be risky. The settlement requires Aetna to treat some claims for anorexia and bulimia as it does claims for biologically based mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia.

Federal Judge Refuses to Order Overhaul of VA

The Associated Press

A federal judge in California refused on Wednesday to order an overhaul of the Department of Veterans Affairs' health care system, finding that a lawsuit by veterans group was "misdirected." Judge Samuel Conti ruled that veterans should instead ask Congress, the head of Veterans Affairs and the federal court in Washington, D.C., to improve the system. Conti said the veterans groups "did not prove a systemic denial or unreasonable delay in mental health care."

N.Y. Judge Reduces Sentences for Rigas Dad, Son

The Associated Press

A judge has reduced the prison terms for a father and son who built Adelphia Communications into a cable television powerhouse before they were convicted of ruining it by using it as a piggy bank to pay for such luxuries as a jet and 100 pairs of slippers. The judge revisited the sentencing after the 2nd Circuit tossed out one of two bank fraud counts that had been used to convict the Rigases. He noted that the bank fraud count was a relatively minor charge and warranted a small sentence reduction.

Collaboration 'in the Cloud'

Law Technology News

Microsoft's Sharepoint, extranets and e-mail are well-known collaborative platforms. But there are innovative, new collaboration technologies "in the cloud" -- Internet-based sites and services that aren't necessarily designed for the legal community, but that lawyers can use.

Visit Legal Technology

PepsiCo GC Pleaded on Inmate's Behalf

Fulton County Daily Report

Former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Larry D. Thompson, now general counsel of PepsiCo, tried to help Curtis Osborne avoid the death penalty in Georgia. It didn't work. Thompson was one of several luminaries -- including former President Jimmy Carter -- who wrote letters in support of Osborne's clemency plea, handled pro bono by Thompson's former firm, King & Spalding. In his letter to the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, Thompson noted that evidence suggested Osborne's lawyer displayed racial animosity.

Visit In-House Counsel

After Years of Growth, Firms Pare Down Staffs, Budgets

Daily Business Review

The softer economy is having a tangible impact with layoffs, reassignments and pay cuts taking hold after years of steady growth. But some firms place the blame for the changes on other factors. Steven Sonberg, managing partner of Holland & Knight, says when he and other firm leaders determined the firm was overstaffed because of changes in technology, they laid off 70 legal secretaries and accounting and IT staffers. "It did not reflect a softness or weakness in our performance," he says.

Visit the Career Center

Law.com®

10 United Nations Plaza, 3rd Floor, San Francisco, CA 94102 (800) 903-9872.