The government shutdown has ended, at least until Feb. 15. That’s good news for the federal judiciary, but there are still some lasting effects in court cases, particularly in immigration courts where backlogs are intensifying. After the shutdown began Dec. Read more…
The Lynyrd Skynyrd case abounds with classic rock lore, and that’s why it’s been in the news. But the case should also attract the attention of law nerds. Even though it’s a U.S. federal case and it relies on U.S. Read more…
As discussed in our article on American Litigation, discovery is a unique aspect of litigation in the United States that is a tool that often decides the outcome of the litigation. By means of demands for production of documents, written questions Read more…
DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR OBLIGATIONS ARE IN RESPONDING TO WRITTEN DISCOVERY? In understanding, what a party’s obligations are you need to understand that the purpose of the 1986 Discovery Act is to exchange information between the parties so each Read more…
In California, the lis pendens, though it serves the useful purpose of notifying potential purchasers of property of pending lawsuits, is subject to serious abuse. A lis pendens effectively prevents alienation of the property until the judgment in the underlying action has become final. For Read more…
In the California real estate and lending community, and especially for non real estate attorneys (normal people !!), there is some misunderstanding and hidden mystery about what a notice of lis pendens is, what is its function, and what is Read more…
Short for strategic lawsuits against public participation, SLAPPs have become an all-too-common tool for intimidating and silencing critics of businesses, often for environmental and local land development issues. An “anti-SLAPP” law is meant to provide a remedy from SLAPP suits. Read more…
Passed into law in 1992, California’s anti-SLAPP statute (prohibiting stra- tegic lawsuits against public participation, or SLAPPs) has evolved into a nuanced but powerful procedural device for litigants facing lawsuits arising from protected petitioning or speech activity. Found at Code Read more…
Getting SLAPP-ed in Federal Court: Applying State Anti-SLAPP Special Motions to Dismiss in Federal Court After Shady Grove In recent years, dozens of states have enacted anti-Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) laws to counter SLAPP suits, or lawsuits filed Read more…
A company, its principals, and their legal counsel involved in business litigation in any form should ask themselves questions regularly, such as: 1. Why are we in the lawsuit? 2. What are the business causes and objectives of the litigation? 3. What are Read more…