Complex Lit Blog

Spoliation — Lost Evidence Must Be Relevant, Not Dispositive — Only Nondispositive Sanctions Apt If Dismissal Due to Factors Unaffected by Lost Evid. — Dismissal Requires Conduct So Egregious as to Amount to Forfeiture (Good Quote)

McCarty v. Covol Fuels No. 2, LLC, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 2696 (6th Cir. Feb. 16, 2016): David McCarty, a subcontractor, was killed during the installation of a garage door at the Defendant-Appellee Covol Fuels (Covol) coal mine in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. McCarty's wife, Plaintiff-Appellant Nancy McCarty (Ms. McCarty) filed thi ...

Facebook Page Authenticated by Contents — Including Alleged Owner’s Nickname, Photo, References to Gang and Crime — and Witness Testimony from Facebook Friend

State v. Inkton, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 613 (Ohio Ct. App. Feb. 25, 2016): [*P1] Defendant-appellant Ronald Inkton ("appellant") brings this appeal challenging his convictions for rape, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, and having weapons while under disability. Specifically, appellant argues that: (1) the evidence was insuffi ...

A Choice-of-Law Clause Pointing to a Particular State’s Law Includes Federal Law Because Federal Law Is as Much a Part of State Law as Local Law Is (Good Quote)

World Fuel Services Trading, DMCC v. Hebei Prince Shipping Co., Ltd., 783 F.3d 507 (4th Cir. 2015): Florida law resolves the issue in favor of DMCC because Florida law must be deemed to include United States law -- by case law or by statute. The Supreme Court has long stated that “ ‘a fundamental principle in our system of ...

World Fuel Services Trading, DMCC v. Hebei Prince Shipping Co., Ltd., 783 F.3d 507 (4th Cir. 2015): Florida law resolves the issue in favor of DMCC because Florida law must be deemed to include United States law — by case …

Judicial Notice of Internet Evidence — Declined as to Blogs, Wikipedia and ZoomInfo Postings Allegedly Posted by Defendant, Offered to Establish Minimum Contacts & Personal Jurisdiction

Calvert v. Wolf, 2016 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 733 (Cal. App. Jan. 29, 2016): Appellants John and Tammy Calvert appeal from an order granting respondent Randall Wolf's motion to quash service of summons for lack of personal jurisdiction.1 The Calverts contend Wolf had the necessary minimum contacts with California to warr ...

Third Anniversary of London Office

On March 4, 2013, Hage Aaronson was formed in London. Today it has more than 40 lawyers, including 8 barristers, four of whom are QCs, two former heads of Chambers, and the leading tax silk in the UK. It is somehow appropriate that it was formed on Vivaldi's birthday. ...

Rule 37 Sanctions — Party Who Did Not Attend Court-Ordered Deposition Barred from Submitting Testimony — No Error in Imposing Sanctions Even Though “the Court Did Not Make It as Easy as Possible for Him to Be Deposed” (Good Quote)

United States v. Cornejo-Reynoso, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 19127 (9th Cir. Nov. 2, 2015): Leonardo Cornejo-Reynoso appeals the district court's judgment in favor of the Government in this civil forfeiture action regarding $2,164,431.00 in United States currency. We affirm. The district court did not err in denying Corne ...

No RICO Causation between Misstatements Concealing Lack of Licensure to Sell Crop Insurance and Subsequent Claims Mishandling (after 7 Years of Competent Claims Handling) — 5th Circuit’s Single-Transaction Rule Noted But Not Applied

Shannon v. Ham, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 2404 (5th Cir. Feb. 11, 2016): In this appeal, the Shannons challenge the district court's dismissal of their civil RICO complaint for failing to state [*2] a claim. The district court ruled that the Shannons' complaint ran afoul of this circuit's "single transaction" rule f ...

Federal Court May Not Impose Sanctions for Misconduct Occurring in Prior State Court Action That Was Dismissed with Prejudice before Federal Action Was Filed

Rivera-Carrasquillo v. Centro Ecuestre Madrigal, Inc., 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 1180 (1st Cir. Jan. 25, 2016): Spending time astride an animal as magnificent, spirited, and powerful as a horse can be risky business. Unfortunately, Ángela Rivera-Carrasquillo experienced this first-hand when she was thrown from a horse in the midst of a gu ...

Once Plaintiff Moves to Dismiss under Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i), Case Is Effectively Over and Court May Not Attach Conditions — Rule Allows Forum-Shopping — Sanctions Should Not Be a Consequence of Dismissal Nor a Condition Placed on It

Bechuck v. Home Depot USA, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 2633 (5th Cir. Feb. 16, 2016): Stephan Bechuck appeals an order dismissing, without prejudice, Home Depot U.S.A., Inc. ("Home Depot"), and Advantage Sales & Marketing, L.L.C. ("ASM") and requiring that any suits that Bechuck refiles against those parties be brought in ...

RICO: “Where There is a Single Scheme, Single Injury and Few Victims, It Will Be Virtually Impossible to State a RICO Claim” — Parsing Injury Doesn’t Multiply It (Good Quotes)

Eastern Sav. Bank, FSB v. Papageorge, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 17744 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 9, 2015): On July 29, 2013, appellant Eastern Savings Bank, FSB, filed a complaint in the district court raising nine claims arising out of an alleged conspiracy related to the financing of the purchase of a townhouse located in the District of Co ...

Eastern Sav. Bank, FSB v. Papageorge, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 17744 (D.C. Cir. Oct. 9, 2015): On July 29, 2013, appellant Eastern Savings Bank, FSB, filed a complaint in the district court raising nine claims arising out of an alleged …

Commercial Litigation and Arbitration

Spoliation — Lost Evidence Must Be Relevant, Not Dispositive — Only Nondispositive Sanctions Apt If Dismissal Due to Factors Unaffected by Lost Evid. — Dismissal Requires Conduct So Egregious as to Amount to Forfeiture (Good Quote)

Facebook Page Authenticated by Contents — Including Alleged Owner’s Nickname, Photo, References to Gang and Crime — and Witness Testimony from Facebook Friend

A Choice-of-Law Clause Pointing to a Particular State’s Law Includes Federal Law Because Federal Law Is as Much a Part of State Law as Local Law Is (Good Quote)

Judicial Notice of Internet Evidence — Declined as to Blogs, Wikipedia and ZoomInfo Postings Allegedly Posted by Defendant, Offered to Establish Minimum Contacts & Personal Jurisdiction

Third Anniversary of London Office

Rule 37 Sanctions — Party Who Did Not Attend Court-Ordered Deposition Barred from Submitting Testimony — No Error in Imposing Sanctions Even Though “the Court Did Not Make It as Easy as Possible for Him to Be Deposed” (Good Quote)

No RICO Causation between Misstatements Concealing Lack of Licensure to Sell Crop Insurance and Subsequent Claims Mishandling (after 7 Years of Competent Claims Handling) — 5th Circuit’s Single-Transaction Rule Noted But Not Applied

Federal Court May Not Impose Sanctions for Misconduct Occurring in Prior State Court Action That Was Dismissed with Prejudice before Federal Action Was Filed

Once Plaintiff Moves to Dismiss under Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i), Case Is Effectively Over and Court May Not Attach Conditions — Rule Allows Forum-Shopping — Sanctions Should Not Be a Consequence of Dismissal Nor a Condition Placed on It

RICO: “Where There is a Single Scheme, Single Injury and Few Victims, It Will Be Virtually Impossible to State a RICO Claim” — Parsing Injury Doesn’t Multiply It (Good Quotes)

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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