25
Feb 12
When is an advertisment not an ad? When it’s a “unofficial, non-commercial congratulation to a celebrity for a job well-done.”
In the layout published in a special 2009 edition of Sports Illustrated on Jordan, Jewel-Osco congratulated the six-time NBA champion on his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and it included a large Jewel-Osco logo under the text.
“The page does not propose any kind of commercial transaction, as readers would be at a loss to explain what they have been invited to buy,” U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman said in an opinion posted late Wednesday on Jordan’s lawsuit against the company.
Celebrities such as Jordon meticulously guard their images, and others have successfully sued companies for appearing to employ praise as a way to slip in references to a public figure into an advertisement.
via Washington Post – Judge rules layout featuring Michael Jordan shoes, number was free speech, not ad
20
Feb 12
In-house corporate lawyers know the best way to never get caught is to eliminate your paper trail but in subtle enough way to avoid the appearance that you’re eliminating your paper trail. This is where a corporate email archive deletion policy comes in.
If you delete relevant emails, after you have been sued, that is spoliation and it will get everyone down the line, especially you as an in-house lawyer, in a lot of trouble. BUT if you have a regular corporate policy of periodically deleting emails, and you happen to delete crucial evidence the day before a suit was anticipated, then it’s not spoliation.
While general counsel will claim publicly that these policies are in place to streamline their email systems, everyone knows they are really there to delete potentially incriminating evidence in future lawsuits.
Companies know that incriminating evidence always exists in emails because emails document the conversations and decision-making that goes on in all organizations. But they need a justification other than “We don’t want to get caught.” So that’s how you get corporate doublespeak like “e-mail stabilization and modernization” programs, with its vague suggestion that there is a technical reason to delete old emails, as if a company’s entire email system might crash under the weight of old emails stored on a server.
via Tech Crunch – The Only Reason Companies Delete Emails Is To Destroy Evidence
16
Feb 12
In an amazing display of legal kung fu, a man adopts his 42 year old long-time girlfriend in order to insulate his money from a civil wrongful death judgment.
Goodman, who founded the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, legally adopted 42-year-old Heather Laruso Hutchins, as his daughter on Oct. 13 in Miami-Dade County, according to court documents….
[T]he trust set up for Goodman’s two minor children could not be considered as part of Goodman’s financial worth if a jury awarded damages to the Wilsons. According to the adoption papers, Hutchins is immediately entitled to at least a third of the trust’s assets as his legal daughter since she is over the age of 35.
The reasoning behind his explanation as to why he did this shows a lawyer with an outrageous display of cognitive dissonance trying to zealously represent his client
Dan Bachi, Goodman’s civil attorney, said Hutchins’ adoption was done to ensure the future stability of his children and family investments.
“It has nothing to do with the lawsuit currently pending against him,” Bachi said.
Can anyone seriously say that with a straight face?
via Sun Sentinel – Polo club founder Goodman adopts his adult girlfriend
11
Feb 12
Two cases in 2008 involving Ebay and Tiffany (the jewelry company) show how the law of different jurisdictions can create completely opposite results under the same facts. One Ebay is an innocent online forum. The other is a guilty online counterfeiter. When learning how to anticipate and prevent problems for your clients, you should keep this in mind…
So your competitors and others with a vested interest in the status quo will continue to rely on conflicting legal systems and antique precedents to hold you back. You may not be able to avoid lawsuits, but most companies can do a much better job of anticipating them.
via CIO Insight – eBay and the Legal Problems with Online Marketplaces