New Wave Of Arbitration Lawsuits
With consumer arbitration under assault, look for this theory to spread. Increasingly, financial institutions (and others)
are being sued in class actions merely for including a consumer arbitration clause in their agreements. The theory of these lawsuits is that the inclusion of allegedly unenforceable
terms in an arbitration agreement violates state unfair practices laws, whether or not arbitration is ever invoked.
SarbOx Sorrows
New securities class action filings decreased in 2005 by 17%. So, why isn’t that good news? Because 89% of those new lawsuits alleged false statements in financial documents, and 82% of those cases alleged falsities
in forward-looking statements, all in violation of Sarbanes-Oxley. This all appears to be the tip of the iceberg in a new wave of securities class action claims. The plaintiff’s bar has found a new cow to milk.
The Legal & Strategic Guide to E-Discovery
The Firm is sponsoring a two-day seminar on e-discovery called "Managing Your Legal Obligations From Document Creation to
Discovery." In today's increasingly paperless world, discovery has focused less on hard-copy documents and more on electronically stored
information. This conference will provide a judicial perspective on requirements during discovery, address the upcoming changes
in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and offer a forum for corporate counsel from a variety of industries to discuss and
analyze current problems and obtain viable solutions in the area of e-discovery. Workshops addressing how to streamline your
e-discovery processes and build an e-discovery toolkit are also offered.
The faculty will include The Honorable William H. Alsup, U.S. District Judge, Northern District of California, The Honorable Richard A. Kramer, Judge, Complex Civil Litigation Department, Superior Court of California, County of San Francisco, The Honorable James Larson, Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge, Northern District of California, The Honorable David J. Waxse, U.S. Magistrate Judge, District of Kansas, Dean Constantine, VP Financial Lines/Litigation Management, AIG Domestic Claims, Inc., and Thomas M. Melton, Esq., Senior District Trial Counsel, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
When: Tuesday March 28-29, 2006
Where: Parc 55 Hotel, 55 Cyril Magnin Street San Francisco, CA
Pre-register by March 14th For complete details and a registration form with a special discount for Morrison & Foerster LLP friends, please go to:
http://www.mofo.com/docs/PDF/MB_BBC245_MoFo.pdf
Hey Buddy, Got A Light?
In a huge FTC "safe-harbor" decision—$10 billion big—the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in Price v. Philip Morris, Inc., No. 96236, 2005 Ill. LEXIS 2071 (Ill. Sup. Ct. Dec. 15, 2005), that defendant cigarette maker could not be held liable
under Illinois’s Consumer Fraud Act for characterizing its products as "light" or "low tar and nicotine." The FTC, through two prior consent orders, had specifically authorized the use of that descriptive language by the tobacco
company. The court ruled that the FTC’s authorization of the use of those terms precluded any finding of liability under the Illinois
CFA, and it reversed the $10.1 billion in class compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees, and prejudgment interest. This case was closely watched—and heralded—by all those hundreds of defendants sued in Madison County, Illinois who are waiting
for any sign of hopeful news. One can only wonder if plaintiffs’ class counsel, seeing their fantasies go up in smoke, might be thinking of switching to
the illegal stuff.
For more information, please contact Michael Agoglia or Greg Dresser at magoglia@mofo.com or gdresser@mofo.com.
New Requirements For Notice Of Class Action Settlements
The FDIC recently advised its regulated financial institutions of the new requirements for providing notice of proposed class
action settlements to the appropriate state and federal officials. The new requirements are set out in 28 U.S.C. § 1715, and include requirements for the financial institution to notify its
primary federal regulator and (if applicable) its state bank supervisor when if the class action involves allegations that
concern matters subject to supervision or regulation by those regulators. FDIC-supervised institutions must also file a notice of proposed class action settlement within 10 days of its being filed
in court.
For more information, please contact Jay Thomson at jthomson@mofo.com.
