RT @AmLawDaily: 50 State AGs Take on ‘Robo-Signers’ in Foreclosure Probe http://bit.ly/dnjXaB
RT @AmLawDaily: 50 State AGs Take on ‘Robo-Signers’ in Foreclosure Probe http://bit.ly/dnjXaB
October 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Law.com – The Price of Discovery in New York Courts
October 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Under New York law, litigants bear the burden of financing their own lawsuits, and parties seeking discovery of documents assume the costs associated with the opposition’s production.[FOOTNOTE 1] Nonetheless, parties rarely or too infrequently seek reimbursement of significant e-discovery costs.
Attribute this, perhaps, to e-discovery anxiety, oversight or even an inability to navigate the process. This situation is also likely a result of corporate defendants’ experience in federal court, where costs are typically borne by the responding party.
However, “the concerns prompting allocation of production costs in federal court are not implicated in [New York] state court” because “[u]nlike a party seeking electronic discovery in federal court, a state court litigant has a strong incentive to formulate its discovery requests in a manner as minimally burdensome as possible, since the litigant will bear the costs of production.” T.A. Ahern Contractors Corp. v. Dormitory Auth., 875 N.Y.S.2d 862, 868 (Sup. Ct. 2009).
At this point in the evolution of e-discovery-centric litigation, counsel should be prepared to use electronic discovery as a strategic device. In addition to saving clients’ money, cost allocation under New York law can be used as leverage against your opponents and to beat back overreaching discovery demands.
Practitioners should strongly consider highlighting e-discovery issues as a focal point at the initial stages of litigation (or even pre-litigation), so they are prepared to seize opportunities at the initial discovery conference and to demand payment of reimbursable costs with accompanying documentation at the time of production. Rule 8(b), for example, of the Rules of Practice for the Commercial Division of the New York Supreme Courts is geared toward such forward thinking.
Android phone auto reverts jailbreaks • The Register
October 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A new Android smartphone from T-Mobile ships with hardware that thwarts jailbreakers by automatically restoring modified devices to their original factory state.
The HTC G2, which began shipping on Tuesday, reinstalls the original firmware when it is rebooted, much to the chagrin of would-be jailbreakers trying to root the device so they can run their own software and third-party apps not approved by T-Mobile. While they managed to modify the smartphone, they soon found those changes were undone as soon as they rebooted the device.
The discovery has generated howls of protest from those who believe that people who buy hardware devices ought to be able to use them however they see fit. Apple has long closed jailbreak holes in iOS updates and Texas Instruments lobbed legal threats at hobbyist who posted the cryptographic keys used to modify calculators. Google even has the ability to remotely install or uninstall apps on Android phones.
But HTC seems to have upped the ante with a hardware-based approach to meddlesome users who have the gall – and often the expertise – to shun the self-serving restrictions put in place by device and OS manufacturers.
Android phone auto reverts jailbreaks • The Register
October 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A new Android smartphone from T-Mobile ships with hardware that thwarts jailbreakers by automatically restoring modified devices to their original factory state.
The HTC G2, which began shipping on Tuesday, reinstalls the original firmware when it is rebooted, much to the chagrin of would-be jailbreakers trying to root the device so they can run their own software and third-party apps not approved by T-Mobile. While they managed to modify the smartphone, they soon found those changes were undone as soon as they rebooted the device.
The discovery has generated howls of protest from those who believe that people who buy hardware devices ought to be able to use them however they see fit. Apple has long closed jailbreak holes in iOS updates and Texas Instruments lobbed legal threats at hobbyist who posted the cryptographic keys used to modify calculators. Google even has the ability to remotely install or uninstall apps on Android phones.
But HTC seems to have upped the ante with a hardware-based approach to meddlesome users who have the gall – and often the expertise – to shun the self-serving restrictions put in place by device and OS manufacturers.
Jewel Thomas Suing American Airlines Over Botched O’Hare Landing
September 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A Washington state woman has filed a federal lawsuit claiming negligence against American Airlines stemming from a rocky emergency landing at O’Hare Airport two years ago.
Jewel Thomas of King County Washington, filed the suit Tuesday in U.S. District Court Western District of Washington against American Airlines claiming the emergency landing on Sept. 22, 2008 had her fearing for her life and calling family members to tell them she loved them just in case the landing wound end in disaster.
The suit alleges American Airlines was negligent in failing to exercise the “practical operation” of the plane and failed to provide the passengers with an airplane what was in good mechanical condition.
The suit also claims that a logbook maintained by the airline showed several problems relating to the plane’s power supply.
via Jewel Thomas Suing American Airlines Over Botched O’Hare Landing.
Litigation: Avoiding the Arbitration Trap | Inside Counsel
August 31, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Courts, bar associations, alternative dispute resolution organizations and private attorneys who serve as arbitrators all frequently laud the benefits of contractual arbitration. Obviously, each has his own financial or institutional bias for encouraging alternative dispute resolutions (ADR); therefore, they frequently describe arbitration as less costly, more efficient and ideally suited for a prompt resolution of disputes with guaranteed finality—a preferable alternative to formal litigation. Unless the contractual arbitration clause is drafted clearly and thoughtfully, however, the risks of arbitration for most corporate clients outweigh the rewards.
I offer no statistical proof for the following hypothesis, only anecdotal experience from more than 20 years of practicing in complex civil litigation in state and federal court systems and in all types of arbitration proceedings: Arbitrations are almost invariably more expensive for parties; less certain and far more contentious than judge-supervised litigation; and, of course, the results are almost never reviewable. Rules (to the extent that any are actually intended to apply) are often flouted, delays are the norm, arbitrator and ADR-facilitator billing is virtually unreviewable, and the results are unpredictable and often based on erroneous and uncorrectable interpretations of law and fact.
Virginia’s IT outage continues, 7 agencies affected – Computerworld
August 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Several Virginia state agencies continue to experience problems with data access due to an outage related to problems in a storage-area network (SAN) that began last week in a data center run by outsourcer Northrop Grumman.
An automated phone message from the Virginia Information Technologies Agency (VITA) says that as many as seven key bureaus, including the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Social Services, are having problems accessing applications, shared folders and other data stored on servers in the state’s Enterprise Solutions Center in Richmond.
VITA has offered updates about its attempts to repair the outage on its Web site. VITA’s Web site stated that repairs to the storage system’s hardware are complete, and all but three or possibly four agencies out of the 26 government systems have been restored. The agencies were performing verification testing on Monday.
According to published reports, computer systems came to a halt last Wednesday because a memory card failure in a SAN. A backup SAN that was supposed to act as a fail-over system then also experienced problems
via Virginia’s IT outage continues, 7 agencies affected – Computerworld.
Panel Recommends the ABA Accredit Overseas Law Schools | National Law Journal
August 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The American Bar Association is already tasked by the U.S. Department of Education to accredit U.S. law schools. Now an ABA committee has recommended that it should seriously consider expanding that power to overseas law schools that follow the U.S. model.
In June, the ABA’s Council of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar appointed the committee of law professors, attorneys, judges and law deans to examine whether foreign law schools should be allowed to seek ABA accreditation. The council is scheduled to consider the committee’s recommendations in December.
The committee cited an earlier ABA report’s conclusion that state supreme courts and bar associations are under more pressure than ever to make decisions about admitting foreign lawyers as the legal profession becomes more globalized.
“Such an expansion would provide additional guidance for state supreme courts when lawyers trained outside the United States seek to be allowed to sit for a U.S. bar examination,” the committee said in its report. “Since that is a key function of the accreditation process generally, the expansion would be consistent with the historic role of the section in aiding state supreme courts in the bar admissions area.”
New Legislation Will Curb How Multinationals Can Use Foreign Tax Credits | National Law Journal
August 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment
International tax lawyers are scrutinizing a state and local funding bill signed by President Barack Obama on Aug. 10 that significantly curbs how U.S. multinational corporations can use foreign tax credits.
The administration bills the changes as closing international tax loopholes for multinational companies. In practice, they’ll significantly change big companies’ tax decisions and have a far-reaching impact on foreign corporate transactions.
The provisions’ effective dates range from immediately to the tax filer’s first taxable year that starts after Dec. 31, 2011.
via New Legislation Will Curb How Multinationals Can Use Foreign Tax Credits.
Ex-Wife Ordered to Provide Skype Access for Husband, Kids | New York Law Journal
August 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A state judge in Suffolk County has ordered a mother to make her two children available for Skype online video conferencing with their father as a condition of her move to Florida.
The decision marks the first reported New York case in which a judge has ordered a relocating parent to facilitate Skyping — i.e., the use of Skype conferencing software — between her children and her ex-spouse as a condition of her move, according to a Westlaw search.
“The Petitioner, at her own cost and expense, will see to it, prior to re-location, that the Respondent, as well as the children, are provided the appropriate internet access via a Skype device which allows a real time broadcast of communications between the Respondent and his children,” Supreme Court Justice Jerry Garguilo wrote in Baker v. Baker, 29610-2007
via Law.com – Ex-Wife Ordered to Provide Skype Access for Husband, Kids.
