A recent decision by a New Jersey appellate court has held that one sending a text to someone that is known or should be known to be driving, and in some way encourages a response to that message, may be liable for injuries sustained in a resulting accident. That said,…
The owner of “America’s Dirtiest Restaurant” cannot recover on its claim that the restaurant was defamed. No surprise there. Have a read here.
This case presents an interesting discussion of copyright law, but not only based on a court decision, but on a disgruntled ex-client’s claim against his lawyer. Bernard Gelb and his company hired an attorney, Norman Kaplan, to file a class action lawsuit. After that lawsuit was dismissed, Gelb and Kaplan…
While the misapplication of a law is ordinarily not a reason for a judge to throw out an arbitration award, a Civil Court judge has refused to confirm an arbitration award because it was contrary to established law. In this case, the arbitrator was found to have acted contrary to…
A few months ago, the First Department appellate court invalidated a $1.13 million loan because it found its charges and interest to violate New York’s criminal usury laws. The interesting facts of this case are worthy of discussion. In 2009, ASI, a corporation, needed an immediate cash infusion. Blue Wolf,…
In another example of sophisticated parties ignoring the obvious, the parties to an option contract fought over the implication of standard contract language which provided that the option contract was supported “by good and valid consideration” and thus enforceable. In a somewhat complex case, the parties entered into an agreement…
Defendant failed to complete eight bridesmaids dresses until two hours after the ceremony was scheduled to begin, when they were delivered by the groom. As a result of this delay, plaintiff incurred a host of delays for which she incurred expenses, including a delay in the bride’s appearance from the…
After writing about the “haunted house” case recently, I came across another case that addressed the same concepts, and also in an unusual setting. The haunted house court had decided that because the buyer could not have anticipated that the house under contract was haunted, and was therefore not expected…
A musician’s laptop, loaded with valuable proprietary information, was stolen while he was on tour in Germany. A reward was offered, initially set at $20,000, but later raised to $1 million. The plaintiff found the laptop and returned it, but the reward was not paid because the hard drive had…
The last time we wrote on this topic, a group of plaintiffs’ had their $900 million claim thrown out by a judge, essentially because the plaintiffs had stuck their head in the sand and did not investigate red flags evident in a transaction. In Pappas v. Tzolis, it was a…