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San Antonio COA Refuses to Compel Nursing Home Negligence Case to Arbitration
August 1, 2013
Texas’ Fourth District Court of Appeals in San Antonio has refused to compel a nursing home health care liability lawsuit...
August 1, 2013
Texas’ Fourth District Court of Appeals in San Antonio has refused to compel a nursing home health care liability lawsuit...
The Third Wave Of Litigation Finance: Litigation Finance As Corporate Finance
July 31, 2013
In an earlier post, we discussed the distinction between financing commercial litigation in order to provide access to justice versus funding as a tool of corporate finance. Today, we provide some examples of how funders are now marketing litigation funding in precisely this manner. Whereas law lending in consumer cases (such as personal injuries) and funding of patents were the paradigm of the first wave of litigation funding, and access to justice in small-business-versus-large-business (now described...
July 31, 2013
In an earlier post, we discussed the distinction between financing commercial litigation in order to provide access to justice versus funding as a tool of corporate finance. Today, we provide some examples of how funders are now marketing litigation funding in precisely this manner. Whereas law lending in consumer cases (such as personal injuries) and funding of patents were the paradigm of the first wave of litigation funding, and access to justice in small-business-versus-large-business (now described...
Disruptive Technologies: Advances That Will Transform Life, Business, and the Global Economy
July 31, 2013
Interesting blog post about New York Times Article on McKinsey & Company report.
July 31, 2013
Interesting blog post about New York Times Article on McKinsey & Company report.
SCOTUS Reaffirms Manifest Disregard of the Agreement Outcome Review Standard and Elaborates on Its Scope
July 31, 2013
On June 10, 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, No. 12-135, slip op. at 4-5 (U.S. June 10, 2013) (Kagan, J.), unanimously reaffirmed that Section 10(a)(4) of the FAA authorizes courts to vacate awards that are not even arguably based on an interpretation of the parties’ agreement. While the Court broke no new ground, Associate Justice Elena Kagan’s well-written opinion—together with Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito’s opinion in Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. v. AnimalFeeds...
July 31, 2013
On June 10, 2013 the U.S. Supreme Court in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, No. 12-135, slip op. at 4-5 (U.S. June 10, 2013) (Kagan, J.), unanimously reaffirmed that Section 10(a)(4) of the FAA authorizes courts to vacate awards that are not even arguably based on an interpretation of the parties’ agreement. While the Court broke no new ground, Associate Justice Elena Kagan’s well-written opinion—together with Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito’s opinion in Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. v. AnimalFeeds...
Mediation in NFL Concussion Lawsuit
July 31, 2013
Last winter, Rick Weiler and I posted comments on this blog on a mediation success story when the NHL Lockout dispute was successfully resolved. Reporting on the commencement of that mediation, Rick wrote: “one thing for sure, given hockey’s near sacred status in Canada, all eyes will be on this mediation. It may provide a very high profile example of the value of the mediation process.” The mediation was indeed successful and attracted a considerable amount of public attention and interest...
July 31, 2013
Last winter, Rick Weiler and I posted comments on this blog on a mediation success story when the NHL Lockout dispute was successfully resolved. Reporting on the commencement of that mediation, Rick wrote: “one thing for sure, given hockey’s near sacred status in Canada, all eyes will be on this mediation. It may provide a very high profile example of the value of the mediation process.” The mediation was indeed successful and attracted a considerable amount of public attention and interest...
U.S. Supreme Court Considering Petition for Certiorari in Dispute Over How to Define “Arbitration”
July 31, 2013
A petition for certiorari in an arbitration case that was decided earlier this year by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals...
July 31, 2013
A petition for certiorari in an arbitration case that was decided earlier this year by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals...
Good Faith Duty As Alternative To Fiduciary Duty
July 30, 2013
The draft model contract includes a fiduciary duty provision we recommend access-to-justice plaintiffs bargain for. The fiduciary duty supplements the conflict of interest disclosures the contract requires. However corporate finance plaintiffs do not need such protection, and may not be as concerned about potential conflicts of interest. Moreover, access-to-justice plaintiffs may not be able to negotiate successfully for the fiduciary duty or even some of the conflict disclosures. An alternate...
July 30, 2013
The draft model contract includes a fiduciary duty provision we recommend access-to-justice plaintiffs bargain for. The fiduciary duty supplements the conflict of interest disclosures the contract requires. However corporate finance plaintiffs do not need such protection, and may not be as concerned about potential conflicts of interest. Moreover, access-to-justice plaintiffs may not be able to negotiate successfully for the fiduciary duty or even some of the conflict disclosures. An alternate...
The Impact of Chief Justice Jefferson’s State of the Judiciary Speech
July 30, 2013
In March, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson presented his State of the Judiciary speech before the 83rd Texas Legislature in Austin. Earlier this month, Disputing published the entire text of his speech in a series of three posts. (Part I, Part II, and Part III.) Since that time, a number of bills influenced by the Chief Justice’s State of the Judiciary speech were signed into law. Here is a summary: Basic Civil Legal Services – The Chief Justice encouraged...
July 30, 2013
In March, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson presented his State of the Judiciary speech before the 83rd Texas Legislature in Austin. Earlier this month, Disputing published the entire text of his speech in a series of three posts. (Part I, Part II, and Part III.) Since that time, a number of bills influenced by the Chief Justice’s State of the Judiciary speech were signed into law. Here is a summary: Basic Civil Legal Services – The Chief Justice encouraged...
Number of Civil Jury Trials Conducted in Texas Reaches a 40-Year Low
July 30, 2013
According to a recent report, the number of civil jury trials held each year across the State of Texas has declined to a 40-year...
July 30, 2013
According to a recent report, the number of civil jury trials held each year across the State of Texas has declined to a 40-year...
Negotiating the Reverse Auction in Class Action Cases
July 30, 2013
This story is for you if: You handle wage and hour class action cases; You run into the situation where there are multiple similar actions filed against the same defendant by different plaintiffs. Settling class action cases is typically a distributive negotiation where there is a fixed pie that gets divided up. While there is some room for creativity, for the most part it is a zero sum game in which a litigant’s gain (or loss) is balanced by the losses (or gains) of the other litigants....
July 30, 2013
This story is for you if: You handle wage and hour class action cases; You run into the situation where there are multiple similar actions filed against the same defendant by different plaintiffs. Settling class action cases is typically a distributive negotiation where there is a fixed pie that gets divided up. While there is some room for creativity, for the most part it is a zero sum game in which a litigant’s gain (or loss) is balanced by the losses (or gains) of the other litigants....
