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Archived articles from June 2010
26 articles found
Fifth Circuit Refuses to Compel Nonsignatory to Arbitrate
By Victoria VanBuren - June 30, 2010
In Blaustein v. Huete, No. 09-31078 (5th Cir. June 18, 2010), Burt Huete (“Huete”) along with Richard and Gail Blaustein, formed Special Projects Limited, L.L.C. (“SPL”) in connection with an application for a provisional patent for a wireless tracking device they had invented. SPL hired the law firm Maier & Maier (“Maier”) to serve as patent counsel. Their written fee agreement contained an arbitration cla
GUEST-POST PART VI | Questions Clients Have about Mediation: How Do We Get Started?
By Victoria VanBuren - June 29, 2010
By Kent B. Scott and Cody W. Wilson How Do We Get Started? There are many things for counsel and the client to do prior to mediating. A key task is to prepare the client to participate in the mediation. This is essential to a successful mediation outcome, because unlike arbitration and litigation, in which counsel for the parties do most if not all of the talking, mediation involves client participation. However, some clients feel more comfortabl
Bilski v. Kappos: U.S. Supreme Court Rules that Business Methods Survive
By Victoria VanBuren - June 28, 2010
The US. Supreme Court decided today the high-stakes software patent case Bilski v. Kappos, No. 08-964, June 28, 2010, affirming the Federal Circuit’s judgment. (find our previous post here) In Bilski, the Federal Circuit had rejected patent claims involving a method of hedging risks in commodities trading. The questions decided by the Court were: (1) whether the Federal Circuit erred by creating the so-called “machine or transformation” tes
Granite Rock v. Teamsters: U.S. Supreme Court Rules on Arbitrability
By Victoria VanBuren - June 28, 2010
Last week, the U.S. Supreme issued its decision on Granite Rock v. Teamsters, No. 08-1214 , June 24, 2010. Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion, joined by Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Scalia, Kennedy, Ginsburg, Breyer, and Alito. Justices Stevens and Sotomayor concurred in part and dissented in part. In Granite, the responder is a local union (Local) supported by its parent international (IBT). The petitioner is Granite Rock (Granite), em
How to Disclose Adverse Events to Patients
By Holly Hayes - June 25, 2010
By Holly Hayes The May/June edition of the Physician Executive Journal (PEJ) provides a step-by-step approach for reporting adverse events to patients. The seven-step approach is based on principles used in the Program for Health Care Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Harvard School of Public Health. A summary of each of the seven steps recommended include: Step 1: Information gathering Prior to any meeting with the patient or family, it
Arbitration to Begin This Summer in Dispute Over Tobacco Settlement Agreement
By Victoria VanBuren - June 24, 2010
The Richmond Times reports the latest on the tobacco settlement agreement: Financially pressed states might have to return $1.1 billion to Big Tobacco this year, if a review finds the states aren’t trying hard enough to keep a 12-year-old legal settlement from hurting the companies too much. This summer, states and the nation’s Big Three tobacco firms will begin arbitrating a dispute over 2003 payments made under the settlement, the c
GUEST-POST | Rent-a-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson and the Ongoing Assault on Party Autonomy
By Victoria VanBuren - June 23, 2010
By James M. Gaitis With the issuance of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Rent-a-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson, the foundational principle of party autonomy in arbitration has suffered yet another blow. In essence, and as was fairly and pejoratively described in what may well be Justice Stevens’ last opinion (dissenting, as it was), the majority’s “breezy” and “fantastic” decision in Rent-a-Center, West decrees that that even when a s
GUEST-POST | Professor Alan Scott Rau Comments on Rent-A-Center, West, Inc. v. Jackson
By Victoria VanBuren - June 22, 2010
By Alan Scott Rau One really needs a few days to absorb the importance of cases like this—I know instant punditry is increasingly de rigueur, but I’m quite uneasy with it. Anyway, with that caveat, one could say the following: The doctrinal importance of the case seems swamped by the overwhelming reality that arbitration, at least in adhesion contracts, has become something of a political football: Apparently “to decide that cla
GUEST-POST PART V | Questions Clients Have about Mediation: How Do We Get the Mediator to See It Our Way? When and Where Should We Mediate?
By Victoria VanBuren - June 22, 2010
By Kent B. Scott and Cody W. Wilson How Do We Get the Mediator to See It Our Way? The client who asks this question has not understood the mediation process. This client erroneously believes that it must persuade the mediator that it has the best case. Thus, the client must be reminded that the mediator does not decide the dispute, so persuading the mediator is not the goal. The goal is to persuade the decision maker for the adversary that it is
New Arbitration Petition Before the U.S. Supreme Court
By Victoria VanBuren - June 21, 2010
[UPDATE: The U.S. Supreme Court decided Rent-a-Center v. Jackson today. Find a link to the opinion here. Commentary about the case to follow. Stay tuned.] A new arbitration-related petition has been filed recently before the U.S. Supreme The case comes from the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. On December 17, 2009, the Fifth Circuit granted the motion to dismiss the case without any opinion. In Zurich American Insurance Company v. Pioneer
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