I found this case while researching a potential litigation. While it is not a new decision, it presents a rather unusual set of facts. A property buyer is charged with acting diligently in inspecting a property that is being considered for purchase. Because a property is purchased “as is,” a…
Plaintiff sought to recover from a corporation and its shareholders a total of $106,000 based on a $15,000 loan. Defendants denied liability and raised usury as an additional defense. Both sides moved for summary judgment, the plaintiff on the note and the defendants on their defense of usury. In opposition…
Towbin v. Towbin reminds us that one cannot be compelled to give someone a gift. The facts here involve a son’s attempt to compel his parents to complete the transaction of giving a trust he controlled a valuable apartment which his parents owned and in which they lived. The lawsuit…
Even without a written contract, equity and fairness can sometimes provide for an enforceable oral agreement between two parties. One such basis is called “unjust enrichment.” This approach allows for a party’s recovery based on fairness, where one party confers a benefit on another without a written agreement, compensation may…
Plaintiff sells software to the financial industry. It sued a former employee and his new employer for stealing plaintiff’s secret computer source code. The issue before the court centered on whether or not plaintiff had to specifically identify the secret information that it claimed its former employee had stolen. Defendants…
Despite the uniform reaction of courts, trademark holders insist on filing lawsuits over gripe-sites. As discussed here in the past, websites that are created for the sole reason of complaining about a service or product, and which incorporate a trademark in doing so, are not guilty of trademark infringement. In…
A few months ago, the Court of Appeals highlighted the pitfall of a not uncommon scenario, that of experienced and sophisticated business people relying on the representations of others but which are later found to be less than truthful. In Centro Empresarial Cempresa S.A. v. America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V.,…
A recent decision by Suffolk County Commercial Division Judge Emily Pines highlights how critical it is for a party in a dispute to keep his hands clean, even in the face of the other side’s wrongful conduct. The extensive factual and legal discussions raised over the 11 day trial are…
As readers here know, we have discussed, as far back as 2007, the importance of properly drafted documents. In December 2007 we wrote about an Inc. Magazine feature article which described the fallout between friends caused by incomplete or nonexistent incorporating documents. A recent Suffolk County Supreme Court decision highlights…
In an ongoing litigation between Starbucks and an outfit called Black Bear Micro Brewery, the brewer of Mr. Charbucks and Charbucks Blend coffees, a New York Southern District judge found that notwithstanding the similarity in names and the fact that Charbucks was trying to capitalize on the Starbucks name, Charbucks…