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A Sweeter Settlement in BAR/BRI Antitrust Lawsuit
March 26, 2013
The second time was the charm for a settlement in a class action alleging that law school students paid too much for BAR/BRI bar review preparatory course materials after West Publishing Corp. and Kaplan Inc. conspired to monopolize the market.
March 26, 2013
The second time was the charm for a settlement in a class action alleging that law school students paid too much for BAR/BRI bar review preparatory course materials after West Publishing Corp. and Kaplan Inc. conspired to monopolize the market.
Daubert, Science, and Modern Game Theory: Implications for Merger Analysis
March 26, 2013
To be admissible in federal court under the Daubert standard, expert economic testimony must (1) be based on scientific analysis and (2) aid the dispute resolution process. Expert evidence should be considered scientific when (1) it meets Karl Popper's falsification standard and (2) some evidence compatible with the scientific proposition is provided. Standard competitive and monopoly models are well supported in the literature and therefore would generally meet this standard, while structuralism...
March 26, 2013
To be admissible in federal court under the Daubert standard, expert economic testimony must (1) be based on scientific analysis and (2) aid the dispute resolution process. Expert evidence should be considered scientific when (1) it meets Karl Popper's falsification standard and (2) some evidence compatible with the scientific proposition is provided. Standard competitive and monopoly models are well supported in the literature and therefore would generally meet this standard, while structuralism...
Does Anyone Get Stopped at the Gate?
March 26, 2013
The Supreme Court’s trilogy of evidence cases, Daubert, Joiner, and Kumho Tire, appear to mark a significant departure in the way scientific and expert evidence is handled in federal court. By focusing on the underlying methods used to generate the experts’ conclusions, Daubert has the potential to impose a more rigorous standard on experts. Given this potential, some individuals have called for states to adopt the Daubert standards to purge “junk science” from state courts. However, there...
March 26, 2013
The Supreme Court’s trilogy of evidence cases, Daubert, Joiner, and Kumho Tire, appear to mark a significant departure in the way scientific and expert evidence is handled in federal court. By focusing on the underlying methods used to generate the experts’ conclusions, Daubert has the potential to impose a more rigorous standard on experts. Given this potential, some individuals have called for states to adopt the Daubert standards to purge “junk science” from state courts. However, there...
Oral Argument in Oxford Health Plans v. Florida
March 26, 2013
Monday’s oral argument for the class arbitration dispute in Oxford Health Plans v. Florida before the US Supreme Court contained some expected points and some unexpected points. As expected, the argument revolved around the question of the extent to which the Court should defer to the decision of the arbitrator, who interpreted the arbitration clause to authorized class arbitration, or instead to treat the matter as a question of law under the Federal Arbitration Act, with a strong presumption...
March 26, 2013
Monday’s oral argument for the class arbitration dispute in Oxford Health Plans v. Florida before the US Supreme Court contained some expected points and some unexpected points. As expected, the argument revolved around the question of the extent to which the Court should defer to the decision of the arbitrator, who interpreted the arbitration clause to authorized class arbitration, or instead to treat the matter as a question of law under the Federal Arbitration Act, with a strong presumption...
Securities Class Action Resolutions Slow Down
March 26, 2013
In 2012, fewer federal securities class action lawsuits reached resolution, through settlement or dismissal, than in any year...
March 26, 2013
In 2012, fewer federal securities class action lawsuits reached resolution, through settlement or dismissal, than in any year...
Suit Offers a Peek at Emails Discussing Inflated Legal Bill
March 26, 2013
They were lawyers at the world’s largest law firm, trading casual e-mails about a client’s case. One made a sarcastic joke about how the bill was running way over budget. Another described a colleague’s approach to the assignment as “churn that bill, baby!” The e-mails, which emerged in a court filing late last week, provide a window into the thorny issue of law firm billing. The documents are likely to reinforce a perception held by many corporate clients — and the public — that...
March 26, 2013
They were lawyers at the world’s largest law firm, trading casual e-mails about a client’s case. One made a sarcastic joke about how the bill was running way over budget. Another described a colleague’s approach to the assignment as “churn that bill, baby!” The e-mails, which emerged in a court filing late last week, provide a window into the thorny issue of law firm billing. The documents are likely to reinforce a perception held by many corporate clients — and the public — that...
SIDEBAR: Mediation
March 26, 2013
I’ve been lucky all my life. Well, mostly. I was born after the Greatest Generation conquered the Depression and Hitler, and I grew up, at least in my sliver of Brooklyn, in an era of relative peace and prosperity. When I started practicing in the late seventies, the legal profession was exciting and expanding, plenty of jobs, trials galore. The future was promising, enticing. If I did what I was taught—work like an ox, be respectful, don’t complain—success...
March 26, 2013
I’ve been lucky all my life. Well, mostly. I was born after the Greatest Generation conquered the Depression and Hitler, and I grew up, at least in my sliver of Brooklyn, in an era of relative peace and prosperity. When I started practicing in the late seventies, the legal profession was exciting and expanding, plenty of jobs, trials galore. The future was promising, enticing. If I did what I was taught—work like an ox, be respectful, don’t complain—success...
BlackRobe dropped from litigation funder’s suit against founder
March 25, 2013
BlackRobe Capital Partners, a firm that invests in litigation, has been dropped as a defendant from a lawsuit filed by another legal financing firm against one of its co-founders. Balance Point Divorce Funding last week voluntarily dismissed BlackRobe from the lawsuit, which centers around funding that Balance Point provided to the former wife of BlackRobe co-founder Timothy Scrantom in their divorce. The case, filed in February in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, continues against Scrantom...
March 25, 2013
BlackRobe Capital Partners, a firm that invests in litigation, has been dropped as a defendant from a lawsuit filed by another legal financing firm against one of its co-founders. Balance Point Divorce Funding last week voluntarily dismissed BlackRobe from the lawsuit, which centers around funding that Balance Point provided to the former wife of BlackRobe co-founder Timothy Scrantom in their divorce. The case, filed in February in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, continues against Scrantom...
NERA Economic Consulting Releases Wage and Hour Settlements Trends Report
March 25, 2013
Wage and hour settlements for US companies totaled $467 million in 2012, largely in line with previous years, according to NERA Economic Consulting's Trends in Wage and Hour Settlements: 2012 Update, released today. The annual study analyzes cases involving allegations of current and/or former employees' unpaid work, including unpaid overtime, failure to provide meals and/or rest breaks, and off-the-clock work. NERA Trends authors have compiled a proprietary database of all wage and hour settlements...
March 25, 2013
Wage and hour settlements for US companies totaled $467 million in 2012, largely in line with previous years, according to NERA Economic Consulting's Trends in Wage and Hour Settlements: 2012 Update, released today. The annual study analyzes cases involving allegations of current and/or former employees' unpaid work, including unpaid overtime, failure to provide meals and/or rest breaks, and off-the-clock work. NERA Trends authors have compiled a proprietary database of all wage and hour settlements...
Sua Sponte: A Judge Comments
March 25, 2013
Whatever Sun Tzu may have been thinking in the sixth century B.C., he surely was not considering legal ethics and professionalism. And for good reason—the battlefields of war do not parallel the front lines of litigation. War is armed conflict; litigation is civilized dispute resolution, or at least it should be. But endless discovery disputes, years of Rambo tactics, and a blizzard of filings may cause some to disagree. Indeed, the war analogy has spawned “war rooms” for trial preparation,...
March 25, 2013
Whatever Sun Tzu may have been thinking in the sixth century B.C., he surely was not considering legal ethics and professionalism. And for good reason—the battlefields of war do not parallel the front lines of litigation. War is armed conflict; litigation is civilized dispute resolution, or at least it should be. But endless discovery disputes, years of Rambo tactics, and a blizzard of filings may cause some to disagree. Indeed, the war analogy has spawned “war rooms” for trial preparation,...
