The data that were lost in CSI Investment Partners II, L.P. v. Cendant Corp., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66353 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 7, 2007), were lost in a data conversion process that took place before this lawsuit was filed. The defendant argued that it could not be sanctioned for spoliation for data lost before it was on notice of the plaintiffs’ claim. But th ...

The defendant in Chambers v. Cooney, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64932 (S.D. Ala. Aug. 29, 2007), threatened for more than a year to file suit against the plaintiffs, claiming a right to certain merger proceeds. The merger was consummated in January 2005, and negotiations continued on and off through late 2006. On May 9, 2007, the defendant’s lawyer forwarded a ...

It is well settled that the lengthier two-year/five-year limitations and repose periods provided by the Sarbanes Oxley Act (‛SOX“) do not apply to securities claims that had expired before SOX was enacted, even if those claims were filed after enactment and would be timely under SOX. What about claims that were still viable at the time of enactment? The Third ...

The Second Circuit ruled in Zeiler v. Deitsch, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 20065 (2d Cir. Aug. 23, 2007), that the resignation of a party-appointed arbitrator did not affect the power of the remaining two arbitrators to issue a decision. The arbitration panel in Zeiler was a Jewish religious tribunal known as a Beth Din and composed of three rabbis. Little, ...

Sanctions against vexatious litigants — who paper the courts with suit after suit alleging the same rejected claims — commonly take the form of orders requiring that require the litigant to obtain leave of court before he or she files yet another lawsuit on the same subject matter. (See our post of May 11, 2007.) Is that an appealable order? Under Cunningh ...

Somehow, the individual defendant in Eagle Hosp. Physicians, LLC v. SRG Consulting, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 63242 (N.D. Ga. Aug. 28, 2007), intercepted at least five privileged email communications between the plaintiff and its counsel, attached them to court filings — and then asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when questione ...

310 separate securities fraud class actions comprise the IPO Securities Litigation. On October 13, 2004, District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin certified classes in six focus cases. The Court stated at the time that "[t]he rulings on the class certification motions in the selected cases will govern those cases only," but added that its rulings in the focus cases were ...

There was a gas explosion that damaged the plaintiffs’ van while the defendant service station was refilling the van’s propane tank. The plaintiffs later drove the van back to Quebec, junked it, and then sued, leading the Court in St. Cyr v. Flying-J, Inc., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64156 (M.D. Fla. Aug. 30, 2007), to conclude that it would issue an adverse- ...

The plaintiff won a $1.65 million compensatory award plus $10 million in punitive damages, in Merrick v. Paul Revere Life Ins. Co., 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 20959 (9th Cir. Aug. 31, 2007). The principal issue on appeal was whether the jury was properly instructed on punitive damages in light of Philip Morris USA v. Williams, 127 S. Ct. 1057 (2007) — spe ...

The plaintiff produced redacted diary entries in response to a document request served on her in Harper v. Brinke, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64482 (E.D. Tenn. Aug. 30, 2007). The defendant moved to compel the redacted portions, claiming that plaintiff waived her attorney-client privilege by memorializing the privileged communications in her diary. Held by Magis ...