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Litigation

Northwest Business Litigation Blog

Resource for in-house counsel, business executives, human resource managers and others who monitor litigation and legal issues affecting Northwest USA businesses.
By Ater Wynne LLP

Post Frequency: 2.4/day

Last Entry: March 24, 2011 at 15:41:58

Wal-Mart asks Supreme Court to review employment class action

Posted on August 26, 2010
Wal-Mart today filed a petition for certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to review certification of a huge employment class action lawsuit. Plaintiffs in Dukes v. Wal-Mart allege that Wal-Mart discriminates against women in pay and promotions,...

Grocers' plan to share profits during strike violates antitrust law, Ninth Circuit holds

Posted on August 26, 2010
When faced with a strike by their unionized employees in 2003, four supermarket chains in Southern California entered into a Mutual Strike Assistance Agreement. The chains agreed that they would lock out all union employees in the event of a...

Multnomah County offers fast track to civil trials

Posted on August 04, 2010
In response to the long-term decline in the number of trials in civil cases, Multnomah County Circuit Court now offers an expedited track for jury trials. Presiding Judge Jean Kerr Maurer has announced a new initiative for "summary jury trials."...

Ninth Circuit rules in favor of pro se defendants' use of Lexus mark in domain names

Posted on July 14, 2010
On-line auto brokers triumphed over Toyota last week when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals approved of the use of the Lexus trademark in their domain names. Toyota Motor Sales USA is the exclusive distributor of Lexus vehicles in the...

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Ninth Circuit nixes 'eVisa' trademark

Posted on July 08, 2010
"She sells sea shells by the sea shore. That's swell, but how about Shell espresso, Tide motor oil, Apple bicycles and Playboy computers? We consider the application of anti-dilution law to trademarks that are also common English words." With this...

Supreme Court issues limited ruling against Sarbanes-Oxley Board

Posted on July 08, 2010
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court excised a relatively minor portion of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, leaving intact much of that wide-ranging corporate reform law. In Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Oversight Bd., the Court declared the legal structure...

A Supreme Court patent hedge

Posted on June 28, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court today issued its long-anticipated ruling in In re Bilski, a case raising a fundamental question: what is patentable? The Court invalidated the patent at issue, but refused to state a new test for patentability. Patent practitioners...

Oregon Supreme Court takes away $100 million in punitive damages due to flawed jury instruction

Posted on June 27, 2010
When the US Supreme Court decided Williams v. Philip Morris in 2007, it created a challenge for judges instructing juries on punitive damages. The Due Process Clause prevents a jury from imposing punitive damages to punish a defendant directly for...

Oregon Court of Appeals affirms decertification of class action

Posted on June 22, 2010
Last week the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's decision to decertify a class action against US Bank. In Belknap v. US Bank, the plaintiffs claimed that defendant employer failed to timely pay a portion of their wages....

U.S. Supreme Court hands issue of contract enforceability to arbitrators

Posted on June 22, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday limited the role of courts in interpreting and enforcing arbitration agreements under the Federal Arbitration Act. At issue in Rent-A-Center West, Inc. v. Jackson was an arbitration agreement that Jackson signed as a condition of...

Oregon judge orders Google to provide data in Wi-Fi Street View flap

Posted on May 31, 2010
When Google sent vehicles through city streets to map data for its Street View service, it also collected Wi-Fi data. Litigation against Google over this admitted "mistake" ensued throughout the country, including in Portland. Last week, federal district court Judge...

American Needle opinion highlights joint venture risks

Posted on May 30, 2010
Last week's unanimous decision in American Needle, Inc. v. NFL has been hailed as the first win for an antitrust plaintiff in years in the US Supreme Court -- following victories for defendants in cases including most recently Leegin, Twombly,...

U.S. Supreme Court favors plaintiffs on securities fraud statute of limitations

Posted on April 29, 2010
On Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court addressed when a securites fraud claim accrues and the statute of limitations begins to run. The plaintiff investors in Merck & Co. v Reynolds alleged that Merck & Co. knowingly misrepresented the heart attack...

U.S. Supreme Court: FAA does not mandate class arbitration

Posted on April 27, 2010
Today the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not require class arbitration unless the parties' arbitration agreement expressly provides for class arbitration. In Stolt-Nielsen, S.A. v. AnimalFeeds Int'l Inc., AnimalFeeds claimed that Stolt-Nielsen violated the...

Ninth Circuit approves massive employment discrimination class action against Wal-Mart

Posted on April 26, 2010
An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today authorized a huge class-action lawsuit to proceed against Wal-Mart. At issue in Dukes v. Wal-Mart are claims that the company has a policy of discriminating against women in...

If you are thinking about hiring unpaid interns, think again

Posted on April 23, 2010
With summer fast approaching, you may be considering hiring students or others as unpaid interns. While students and displaced workers may be grateful for the opportunity to gain experience and willing to work without pay, most employers should resist the...

Watching the Ninth Circuit on YouTube?

Posted on April 22, 2010
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has a YouTube channel. So far it includes two videos, one about the court's history and the other about perfecting a civil appeal. Given the recent controversy over broadcasting the "Prop 8" gay marriage...

Oregon Supreme Court won't protect medical marijuana users in the workplace

Posted on April 16, 2010
In a divided opinion, the Oregon Supreme Court Wednesday cited federal preemption principles to hold that state employment discrimination laws do not require an employer to accommodate an employee's use of medical marijuana. Justice Kistler wrote the majority opinion in...

Ater Wynne attorney on FCC's plan for high-speed internet

Posted on March 25, 2010
Yesterday Ater Wynne attorney Art Butler was a guest on Seattle's NPR affiliate, KUOW, speaking about the FCC's new plan to make high-speed internet available to all Americans. Listen to the podcast of the program here.

Oregon Court of Appeals upholds arbitration clause in employment contract

Posted on March 11, 2010
The Oregon Court of Appeals has again enforced an arbitration clause in an employment contract, rejecting the employee's claim that the clause is unconscionable. In Livingston v. Metropolitan Pediatrics, LLC, the plaintiff, a pediatrician, took issue with the conduct of...

COBRA subsidy extended - again!

Posted on March 03, 2010
Last night, President Obama signed into law an extension of the COBRA subsidy period until March 31. The extension allows employees who are involuntarily terminated between March 1 and March 31 to receive the 65% COBRA premium subsidy for up...

Ninth Circuit: Tip pooling does not violate Fair Labor Standards Act.

Posted on March 02, 2010
Last month in Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc., the Ninth Circuit addressed whether a restaurant violates the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) when, despite paying a cash wage greater than the minimum wage, it requires its wait staff to participate...

U.S. Supreme Court defines corporations' place of residence for diversity jurisdiction

Posted on February 25, 2010
In January, the U.S. Supreme Court gots lots of attention for ruling, in Citizens United v. FEC, on the free speech rights of corporations. On Tuesday, the Court addressed a less-controversial aspect of a corporation's role as "citizen" -- namely,...

Employee may be forced to arbitrate employment claims under FAA

Posted on February 17, 2010
In 2007, the Oregon Legislature amended Oregon's arbitration statute to impose an additional requirement on employers that sought to require employees to arbitrate employment-related disputes: the employer must either provide notice of the requirement at least two weeks prior to...

IRS begins employment tax audit initiative

Posted on February 09, 2010
The "tax gap" is the difference between what the IRS collects and what it thinks it is owed. In 2005, the IRS estimated the gap was $345 billion, including approximately $60 billion in employment taxes. To help close the gap,...

Oregon Court of Appeals tackles defamation claim against a clergy member

Posted on February 05, 2010
Last week, the Oregon Court of Appeals addressed a First Amendment issue that had been untouched by both the United States Supreme Court and the Oregon courts. In Tubra v. The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, the Oregon Court...

It's time to update your leave policies...again

Posted on February 02, 2010
In 2009, there were a myriad of changes to both federal and Oregon laws applicable to leaves of absence. Employers that haven't done so already should be updating their leave policies to incorporate changes that are now in effect, including:...

Washington domestic partnership law may complicate employee benefits

Posted on January 22, 2010
Washington's domestic partnership law, which went into effect on December 3, 2009, provides that for all purposes, registered domestic partners must be treated the same as married spouses, unless doing so would conflict with state law. "Registered domestic partners" include...

U.S. Supreme Court blocks Ninth Circuit plan to broadcast trials

Posted on January 14, 2010
The "Proposition 8" gay marriage trial in San Francisco won't be broadcast after all, and neither will any other federal trial within the Ninth Circuit, at least for now. The U.S. Supreme Court extended its stay of an order allowing...

Lender beware: Court voids trust indenture with Tribal Corp.

Posted on January 12, 2010
While the economy was humming in January 2008, the economic development agency of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians sought to build a river boat hotel and casino. To fund the project, a Tribal corporation issued...

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