Whether aiding and abetting liability may be asserted under the Alien Tort Claims Act (a/k/a Alien Tort Statute), 28 U.S.C. § 1350, has never been addressed by the Supreme Court. Two of three members of the panel in Khulumani v. Barclay Nat’l Bank, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 24370 (2d Cir. Oct. 12, 2007), held that that such a claim is cognizable but for quite ...

The gravamen of the complaint in Morrison v. Rankin, 738 N.W.2d 588 (Wis. App. 2007) was medical malpractice. As a sanction for spoliation committed by the defendants, the court directed a verdict in favor of the plaintiff on the issue of informed consent. The defense then admitted that the surgery caused permanent nerve injury and, after a trial limited to ...

The defendant in United States v. Gagliardi, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 24644 (2d Cir. Oct. 22, 2007) claimed that emails and transcripts of instant-message chats offered by the government were not properly authenticated because they were cut from his electronic communications and pasted into word processing files. The defendant argued that they were not originals ...

In the context of a pro se prisoner action, which may be telling, District Judge Peter Dorsey held in Vega v. Lantz, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76640 (D. Conn. Oct. 15, 2007), held that ‛a motion for a preliminary injunction is not an appropriate stage for the court to look to precedent outside this circuit to decide a matter of first impression,“ citing an o ...

There is a debate in the case law as to when and whether emails generated in a business setting constitute business records within Federal Rule of Evidence 803(6) (see Internet & Email Evidence on the Recent Articles page). The defendants in United States v. Stein, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76201 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 15, 2007) (the KPMG tax shelter prosecution) ...

28 U.S.C. § 1338(a) creates exclusive federal jurisdiction for patent, trademark and copyright cases ("The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action arising under any Act of Congress relating to patents, plant variety protection, copyrights and trademarks. Such jurisdiction shall be exclusive of the courts of the states in patent, plant v ...

Eckstein v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72375 (W.D. Ky. Sept. 26, 2007) (applying Kentucky law) holds that, when an insurance coverage question is a matter of first impression, no bad faith claim for denial of coverage lies. In entering summary judgment for the carrier in this water-damage-turned-mold-damage claim, District Judge Joseph H. McK ...

The New York Court of Appeals held on October 16, 2007, that the tort of third-party negligent spoliation of evidence is not cognizable in the state. Ortega v. City of New York, 2007 NY Slip Op 7741; 2007 N.Y. LEXIS 2715 (Ct. App. Oct. 16, 2007). Because of the remedies available to litigants to deal with spoliation by parties to a lawsuit, few states have ...

Another Circuit split worthy of Supreme Court attention: Our post of October 6, 2007, reported on a recent Ninth Circuit case holding that a District Judge may not increase an appellate bond to cover potential appellate sanctions. That opinion is in accord with the general propositions that (1) it is for appellate courts, not district courts, to sanction improper ...

Twenty-five years ago, in 1982, state and federal litigation cost about the same. Plaintiffs chose federal court sometimes for expansive discovery or to get a good judge, even though state court was available and additur impermissible. Today, plaintiffs with non-federal causes of action flee federal court. What happened? Highlights: 1983< ...