News
Litigation
[03/10]
Feds probe Toyota Prius crash in NYC suburb
[03/10]
NYC wins right to keep famed restaurant name
[03/10]
Animal activists target Calif. sushi restaurant
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Articles
Litigation
Understanding the Initial Court Papers
Pleadings are the legal papers that are exchanged at the beginning of a lawsuit. Your attorney will explain the pleadings to you in the particular context of your case, but the summary that follows will give you a head start in understanding some of the many documents that may become a part of your lawsuit. Please note that some states have different names for some of these documents. The pleadings below are explained from the perspective of the person being sued.
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Mediation
In most civil cases, parties to the suit engage in settlement negotiations to avoid the expense and uncertainty of trial. While these negotiations are often informal — attorneys have been known to emphasize their client's strong position in even the most mundane conversations with opposing counsel — in recent years more and more cases have been settled through formal mediation. In many jurisdictions, in fact, courts require that the parties attempt mediation as an element of their pre-trial preparations.
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Case Summaries
Class Actions
[03/10]
Hesse v. Sprint Corp. In a class action alleging that defendant Sprint Corp. unlawfully collected a Washington state tax from Washington customers, summary judgment for defendant is vacated and remanded where a prior class action settlement challenged Sprint's billing of customers for certain federal regulatory fees, and the Washington plaintiffs' interests were not adequately represented in that litigation.
[03/03]
Byers v. Intuit, Inc. In plaintiff's putative class action on behalf of U.S. taxpayers against the IRS and a consortium of companies in the electronic tax preparation and filing industry (FFA) claiming violations of the Independent Offices Appropriations Act (IOAA) in the charging of fees in exchange for providing e-filing services, as well as a violation of section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, dismissal of both claims is affirmed where: 1) the district court was correct in holding that the IOAA does not apply to the FFA members, as it only applies to a government agency and none of the exceptions in Thomas v. Network Solutions, Inc., 176 F.3d 500 (D.C. Cir. 1999) apply; and 2) the district court did not err in dismissing the Sherman Act claim as the FFA members are entitled to conduct-based implied antitrust immunity with respect to the anti-competitive action taken pursuant to the Ceiling Provisions of the 2005 Agreement with the IRS.
[03/02]
Pfizer v. Sup. Ct. In plaintiffs' action against Pfizer, the manufacturer of Listerine mouthwash, pursuant to the Unfair Competition Law (UCL) and False Advertising Law claiming that Pfizer marketed the mouthwash in a misleading manner by representing that the use of it can replace the use of dental floss in reducing plaque and gingivitis, defendant's petition for writ of mandate seeking to overturn an order certifying the class action is granted as the ruling certifying a class consisting of all persons who purchased Listerine in California during a six-month period is overbroad, and In re Tobacco II Cases, 46 Cal.4th 298 (2009), does not require a different disposition in this case.
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