Weekly Brief: Patent Jury Awards, Law Firm Hiring, Scalia's Hat
The Georgia legislature has passed a sweeping tort reform package aimed at reducing litigation costs, curbing excessive jury awards, and increasing transparency in civil lawsuits in Georgia state and superior courts....more
A Massachusetts jury found that a Boston hospital retaliated against a former employee – but a court ruling just capped the plaintiff’s attorney fee recovery at less than half of what she sought. Why? Because the employer...more
Last month, Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Vital”), the manufacturer of the Bang energy drink, fell short in its post-trial challenge to a “monster” jury award in favor of Monster Energy Company (“Monster”). ...more
Caldera v. California Dep’t of Corrs. & Rehab., 2020 WL 2109751 (Cal. Ct. App. 2020) - Augustine Caldera is a correctional officer at a state prison who stutters when he speaks. Caldera alleged that the prison’s...more
Chief Judge Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas held that the litigation conduct of defendants Huawei Device USA, Inc. and Huawei Device (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. (collectively, “Huawei”), in a patent infringement action,...more
In a case relating to systems to protect hair during bleaching treatments, Olaplex sued L’Oreal for patent infringement, trade secret misappropriation, and breach of contract. As previously reported on this blog, after a jury...more
A Los Angeles jury awarded more than $11 million to two former employees who claimed they were sexually harassed and retaliated against for complaining about the harassment. Megan Meadowcroft and Amber Brown, who worked at...more
In a previous piece, I wrote about a diabetic worker in East Tennessee who won a jury award in an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) case against Dollar General. The worker was fired for violating Dollar General’s grazing...more
Patent Judgments & Awards - On February 8, 2018, Judge Andrew Guilford of the District Court for Central District of California increased a jury award against Custom Blinds and Components Inc. (“CBC”) for patent...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court judge’s award of attorneys’ fees, denying AIA’s argument that it was entitled to a jury trial on that issue. AIA Am., Inc. v. Avid...more
This country’s courts are split on whether the decision to award attorney’s fees in bad faith litigation should be made by the judge or the jury. Earlier this fall, Virginia aligned itself firmly with the former in Revi, LLC...more
On occasion, public agencies decide to abandon or partially abandon an eminent domain proceeding. The most typical reason is due to a revision in project design, making the property no longer necessary for the proposed...more