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 ...

Plaintiff’s counsel in Wade v. Soo Line R.R., 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 20617 (7th Cir. Aug. 29, 2007), acted sanctionably — withholding damaging medical records and perhaps stealing some of them back from defense counsel at a deposition. The District Court imposed $110,000 in sanctions, an amount equivalent to the defendant’s fees and costs for the entire ...

A new article analyzing the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, which has been cited in more than 980 decisions since it was decided on May 21, 2007, has been posted today on the Recent Articles page (title: "Supreme Court Rewrites Pleading Rules"). The article entitled "Internet and Email Evidence" has been updated as of September ...

28 U.S.C. § 1927 provides: Any attorney or other person admitted to conduct cases in any court of the United States or any Territory thereof who so multiplies the proceedings in any case unreasonably and vexatiously may be required by the court to satisfy personally the excess costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees reasonably incurred because of s ...

In a personal injury action governed by Alabama law, Long v. Raymond Corp., 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 20493 (11th Cir. Aug. 21, 2007), the losing plaintiff argued on appeal that the district court erroneously applied Federal Rule of Evidence 702 (and thus federal Daubert standards), rather than Rule 601 (and more lenient Alabama rules of competency), when i ...

On August 21, 2007, a federal judge in St. Louis imposed sanctions on a party for entering into a settlement agreement that precluded a third party witness from testifying at trial (see our post of August 25, 2007). Two days later, on August 23, District Judge Loretta A. Preska of the Southern District of New York imposed a formal reprimand and attorneys' fe ...