Complex Lit Blog

Rule 37 Sanctions — $8.8 Million Default Judgment for Defiance of Discovery Orders — 2d Circuit Factors for Entry of Default as Sanction — Waiver vs. Forfeiture of Personal Jurisdiction Defense — Judgment Must Explicitly Be Labeled As Such

Roberts v. Bennaceur, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 14365 (2d Cir. Aug. 5, 2016): UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the judgment of the District Court is AFFIRMED. This case arises from a former business relationship between Plaintiff Benjamin Roberts ("Roberts") and Defen ...

Roberts v. Bennaceur, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 14365 (2d Cir. Aug. 5, 2016): UPON DUE CONSIDERATION, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the judgment of the District Court is AFFIRMED. This case arises from a former business relationship…

RICO: Equitable/Injunctive Relief Available (Circuit Split) — Imposition of Wrongful Debt (Judgment), Attachment, and Legal Fees Paid by Def. or Earned by Pl’s Counsel = RICO Injury If Caused by Violation — Quantifiability & Injunctive Relief

Chevron Corp. v. Donziger, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 14552 (2d Cir. Aug. 8, 2016): Defendants-appellants Steven Donziger, Donziger & Associates, PLLC, and the Law Offices of Steven R. Donziger (collectively the "Donziger Firm" or "Firm"), and defendants-appellants Hugo Gerardo Camacho Naranjo ("Camacho") and J ...

Jurisdiction & Sanctions Post-Judgment, Pending Appeal: District Court May Enter Protective Order over Case Materials, Enter Sanctions, But Magistrate Judge May Only Issue R&R, Not Decide Post-Trial Motion That = Pretrial Motion under §636(b)(1)(A)

Springs v. Ally Fin’l Inc., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13584 (4th Cir. July 26, 2016): Venus Yvette Springs appeals the district court's order affirming the magistrate judge's order modifying a prior protective order (No. 15-1244) and the court's order denying in part the motion for sanctions filed by Ally Financial, Inc., and ...

Privilege/Work Product — Document May Be Work Product Even If (1) Not Prepared in Anticipation of a Specific Claim and (2) It Also Serves Non-Adversarial Purposes, As Long As It Was Prepared Because of the Prospect of Litigation

Nat’l Ass’n of Criminal Defense Lawyers v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13141 (D.C. Cir. July 19, 2016): The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers submitted a request under the Freedom of [*2] Information Act to obtain an internal Department of Justice publication known as the Federal Criminal ...

Nat’l Ass’n of Criminal Defense Lawyers v. U.S. Dept. of Justice, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13141 (D.C. Cir. July 19, 2016): The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers submitted a request under the Freedom of [*2] Information Act to obtain …

§ 1927 Sanctions — Is Recklessness Enough or Is Something More Required? — Conduct Found Not Unreasonable Cannot Be Reckless

Tallman v. CPS Security (USA), Inc., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13521 (9th Cir. July 25, 2016): The district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to impose sanctions under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 and in declining to reduce the attorney fee award [*2] under the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") to account fo ...

Rule 26(a) Disclosures & 37(c)(1) Sanctions — A Computation of Statutory Attorney’s Fees That Are Awardable after Obtaining, & in Addition to, a Successful Judgment Is Not a Required Disclosure under Rule 26(a)

Smith v AS America, Inc., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 12917 (8th Cir. July 14, 2016): AS America, Inc. d/b/a American Standard Brands (ASB) denied Thomas Smith's request for intermittent Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave and fired him after he missed work. Following a bench trial, the district court found ASB violated Smith& ...

Smith v AS America, Inc., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 12917 (8th Cir. July 14, 2016): AS America, Inc. d/b/a American Standard Brands (ASB) denied Thomas Smith's request for intermittent Federal Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave and fired him after he …

Social Media Authentication by Testimony That Pages Ostensibly Belonging to Parties Were Found by Using Their Names, DOB, Zip Codes & Other Identifying Info, and That Printouts of Photos & Captions Accurately Reflected What Was Posted on Those Pages

Blackledge v. State, 2016 Ga. LEXIS 462 (Ga. Sup. Ct. July 5, 2016): Along with several co-defendants, Milton Blackledge was tried by a Cobb County jury and convicted of murder, violation of the Georgia Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act (the "Street Gang Act"),1 and other crimes, all in connection with the ...

Summary Judgment — District Court May Not Draw Adverse Inference Based on Non-Moving Party’s Invocation of Fifth Amendment — Applicability of Exclusionary Rule in Civil Forfeiture Cases & Interplay with Discovery Duties

In re 650 Fifth Ave. & Related Props. (U.S. v. Alavi Found.), 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13225 (2d Cir. July 20, 2016): On this appeal, we consider challenges to an award of summary judgment entered in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Forrest, J.), which forfeited to the United States various ...

Experts: No Permission Needed to File Supplemental Report — Burden on Opponent to Move to Strike — May Expert Correct Opinions by Looking to Information Available at Time of Original Report? — The Risk of Lessening the Sting of Cross by Deposing

DR Distributors, LLC v. 21 Century Smoking, Inc., 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99930 (N.D. Ill. Aug. 1, 2016): Defendants' motion to supplement their expert's report [171] is granted as set out in greater detail herein. The stay on expert discovery is lifted and the deadline to complete expert depositions will be set at the next cour ...

Suicide as Spoliation — Party’s Suicide ≠ Spoliation of His or Her Testimony Absent Evidence That Intent to Spoliate Motivated the Suicide

Tyler v. Judd, 2016 WL 3570467 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. June 30, 2016) (unreported): *1 This case arises out of a failed sterilization procedure performed on Amanda Tyler, appellant. Despite having a sterilization procedure performed in October 2009, appellant subsequently became pregnant and gave birth to a health ...

Tyler v. Judd, 2016 WL 3570467 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. June 30, 2016) (unreported): *1 This case arises out of a failed sterilization procedure performed on Amanda Tyler, appellant. Despite having a sterilization procedure performed in October 2009, appellant subsequently …

Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Rule 37 Sanctions — $8.8 Million Default Judgment for Defiance of Discovery Orders — 2d Circuit Factors for Entry of Default as Sanction — Waiver vs. Forfeiture of Personal Jurisdiction Defense — Judgment Must Explicitly Be Labeled As Such

RICO: Equitable/Injunctive Relief Available (Circuit Split) — Imposition of Wrongful Debt (Judgment), Attachment, and Legal Fees Paid by Def. or Earned by Pl’s Counsel = RICO Injury If Caused by Violation — Quantifiability & Injunctive Relief

Jurisdiction & Sanctions Post-Judgment, Pending Appeal: District Court May Enter Protective Order over Case Materials, Enter Sanctions, But Magistrate Judge May Only Issue R&R, Not Decide Post-Trial Motion That = Pretrial Motion under §636(b)(1)(A)

Privilege/Work Product — Document May Be Work Product Even If (1) Not Prepared in Anticipation of a Specific Claim and (2) It Also Serves Non-Adversarial Purposes, As Long As It Was Prepared Because of the Prospect of Litigation

§ 1927 Sanctions — Is Recklessness Enough or Is Something More Required? — Conduct Found Not Unreasonable Cannot Be Reckless

Rule 26(a) Disclosures & 37(c)(1) Sanctions — A Computation of Statutory Attorney’s Fees That Are Awardable after Obtaining, & in Addition to, a Successful Judgment Is Not a Required Disclosure under Rule 26(a)

Social Media Authentication by Testimony That Pages Ostensibly Belonging to Parties Were Found by Using Their Names, DOB, Zip Codes & Other Identifying Info, and That Printouts of Photos & Captions Accurately Reflected What Was Posted on Those Pages

Summary Judgment — District Court May Not Draw Adverse Inference Based on Non-Moving Party’s Invocation of Fifth Amendment — Applicability of Exclusionary Rule in Civil Forfeiture Cases & Interplay with Discovery Duties

Experts: No Permission Needed to File Supplemental Report — Burden on Opponent to Move to Strike — May Expert Correct Opinions by Looking to Information Available at Time of Original Report? — The Risk of Lessening the Sting of Cross by Deposing

Suicide as Spoliation — Party’s Suicide ≠ Spoliation of His or Her Testimony Absent Evidence That Intent to Spoliate Motivated the Suicide

Recent Posts

RICO: Indirect Injury Unrecoverable — Indirect Purchaser Rule Imported from Antitrust

RICO: No Causation Where Harm Flowed Several Steps After the Fraudulent Acts — RICO Causation Same As Antitrust Causation

Sanctions vs. Automatic Stay: Imposition of Sanctions (Here, Inherent Power Sanctions) Is Subject to the Police Power Exception to the Automatic Stay in Bankruptcy

The Word “Include” May Be A Word of Limitation As Opposed to a Word of Enlargement, Depending on the Context

Spoliation/Sanctions: “A Party Does Not Spoliate Evidence When, Without Notice Of The Evidence’s Potential Relevance, It Destroys The Evidence According To Its Policy Or In The Normal Course Of Its Business” (Good Quote)

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