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International law requires anyone receiving an SOS to "proceed with all possible speed" to help -- a "duty to assist." But despite cyber-attacks like the one that hit Google in China, there is no "duty to assist" on the internet. Temple University professors Duncan B. Hollis and David G. Post say that needs to change.
They came from larger firms in the middle of the decade with hopes of carving out a niche in the market and building something on their own terms. And then, within just a few years, the recession hit like a wrecking ball. But small litigation boutiques have managed to forge ahead and, in some cases, thrive and grow. "We consider ourselves fortunate in that we not only weathered the storm but didn't feel it," said Michael J. Boni, co-founder of Boni & Zack, a Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based class action boutique.
A federal jury on Monday will begin hearing a civil rights case brought under the "state-created danger" theory in which a family living in public housing claims that the Philadelphia Housing Authority ignored complaints about persistent mold in their home that triggered an acute asthma attack that left their daughter brain damaged. A judge last week rejected PHA's argument that it cannot be liable because the family could have moved out of the troubled house earlier or even repaired the problems themselves.
Federal appeals judges this week fired skeptical questions at lawyers for key players in a mortgage fraud ring that bilked lenders out of more than $40 million and forced foreclosure sales of more than $80 million worth of real estate. Arguing before the 11th Circuit, attorneys asked that the defendants' 2007 guilty verdicts be tossed out. Among their claims: Prosecutors discriminated against African Americans during jury selection and violated a defendant's agreement to provide information in return for immunity.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a lower court's ruling that a company's patent was unenforceable because of the company president's misconduct toward the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, even though he wasn't the inventor or patent filer. The panel found that Avid Identification System's president's failure to inform the PTO of his trade show demo of the patented product's technology more than a year before the application filing date nullified the patent.
Facebook's founder has said its latest features would make it easier for other websites to share connections and personalize content. But Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is concerned about the new features and called on the FTC to issue guidelines on how social networks use personal data.
One of Nixon Peabody's biggest dealmakers and two other partners are jumping to DLA Piper to boost its sports, entertainment and finance practices. Making the move are Peter White, who orchestrated financing for the New York Yankees and Mets stadiums, and Mark Whitaker and Katherine Baynes.
The largest firms in Pennsylvania have long called Pittsburgh and Philadelphia home, but their focus on growth has long been outside the state's borders. But as the recession diverted attention away from global expansion and toward revenue generation, firms are going home again.
The California Supreme Court has carved out a narrow exception to one of its seminal arbitration rulings, provoking a fair amount of sniping between the majority and the dissent. The 4-3 majority opinion pokes a small hole in a key 1992 ruling that said arbitrators' decisions, even if erroneous, can't be judicially reviewed unless there is evidence of corruption or fraud. A dissenting judge accused the majority of making an "unsupported and unprecedented move to judicialize the arbitration process."
Cutting a jury's emotional damages award by two-thirds, a Pennsylvania federal judge has ruled that a plaintiff who has no evidence of "long-lasting effects" from a brief period of emotional trauma is not entitled to more than $50,000. The ruling also overturns the jury's award of punitive damages. The judge found that the jury's award of $150,000 in damages was "shocking to the judicial conscience" because there was "no evidence that [the plaintiff] was changed in any lasting way."
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