Contracts

Owners Blame Cities for Bad Homes

As builders throughout the country rushed to profit in the recent construction boom, a number of homes and developments went up that were badly built or otherwise created problems. But in the resulting blame game, many homeowners are now saying municipalities large and small gave builders free rein instead of…

Jul 7, 2007 12:39 AM CDT

Older Partner Gets Trial on Pay

A New York appeals court is permitting a trial on whether a lawyer’s partnership agreement with Winston & Strawn entitled him to be paid the same amount after he reached retirement age. The New York Appellate Division, First Department, ruled that the compensation agreement for rainmaking partner Anthony LoFrisco was…

Jul 6, 2007 12:50 PM CDT

‘Best Interest’ in Chimp Custody Case?

Are Emma, 5, and Jackson, 6, just somebody’s property? Or are the two chimpanzees, with their individual interests and tastes–she likes watermelon, for instance, while he prefers grapefruit–entitled to have their best interest taken into account when a court decides who owns them? That is the question that is now…

Jul 3, 2007 12:37 AM CDT

LexisNexis Sues Ex-Executive

LexisNexis is relying on a forensics examination of a former executive’s computer in a lawsuit alleging he violated a noncompete agreement. The information services company says it learned through filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Paul Colangelo, formerly vice president of sales for its Information Analytics Group, went…

Jun 28, 2007 1:56 PM CDT

Cravath Signs $900 M Midtown Lease

One of New York’s best-known white-shoe law firms has agreed to pay a breathtaking $900 million to renew its lease on 600,000 square feet of office space in midtown Manhattan for 15 years, starting in 2009. Cravath Swain & Moore will see its cost-per-square-foot double under the new lease, from…

Jun 25, 2007 11:58 PM CDT

NYC Jury: Book Scheme Was a Scam

Counsel for Laura Albert said she met her contractual obligation. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t a male prostitute, her defense contended, nor that the book she wrote, “Sarah,” was actually fiction rather than non-fiction. She entered into a contract to sell Antidote International Films Inc. the movie rights to…

Jun 25, 2007 6:23 PM CDT

NYC Jurors Decide: Was Scheme to Portray Fiction as Non-Fiction a Scam?

Was a literary hoax a fraud? That is the question a federal jury in New York City began deciding today, in a case brought by a movie production company to recover money it paid writer Laura Albert for rights to her alleged non-fiction book “Sarah.” The problem is, Sarah was…

Jun 22, 2007 11:13 PM CDT

Writer Testifies About Troubled Childhood

The writer who called herself JT Leroy took the stand yesterday in a dispute over film rights. Antidote International Films Inc. paid $45,000 for rights to Sarah, a book said to be the autobiography of a young man from West Virginia who was a truck stop prostitute. The company says…

Jun 21, 2007 2:03 PM CDT

Ex-Employees Sued in Client Disputes

A California investment-advice firm has sued former sales people and two companies that hired them, claiming they used proprietary information to steal clients. Fisher Investments claims the employees violated contracts by taking client contact information to new jobs, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The employees respond that the…

Jun 20, 2007 4:08 PM CDT

Ex-Justice Fails to Resolve Land Dispute

A mediation overseen by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has failed to produce an agreement by the U.S. government to compensate former Kentucky landowners and their heirs. Now the claimants are asking a judge to issue a final ruling in a case seeking more than $30 million from…

Jun 18, 2007 2:04 PM CDT

Foreclosures Explode in South Florida; Poor, Minorities Hit Hardest

Although South Florida is still a bit below the national average for the total percentage of mortgages in foreclosure, that may not be true much longer. The number of foreclosure lawsuits filed to force non-mortgage-paying owners from their properties has doubled and tripled in some counties, compared to last year.…

Jun 15, 2007 11:20 PM CDT

Trial Looks at Genesis of JT Leroy

A federal trial in Manhattan offers insights into the creation of the literary persona known as JT Leroy. A film production company is seeking to void a contract with a company owned by author Laura Albert, a Brooklyn Heights novelist who penned a book supposedly written by Leroy, the New…

Jun 15, 2007 3:57 PM CDT

Lawyer vs Lawyer: Bears Tickets Mine

Four years ago, Douglas Warlick and Donald Ramsell decided to share the cost of season tickets for the Chicago Bears, splitting the $10,000 application fee for four seat licenses. But as the team prospered, the two lawyers’ friendship faltered. Warlick liked to tailgate in the parking lot. Ramsell wanted to…

Jun 11, 2007 7:03 PM CDT

Subprime ‘Debt Bomb’ Debacle Decimates Detroit Block

An unprecedented epidemic of mortgage foreclosures on a single, upscale Detroit block is emblematic of similar scenarios in minority neighborhoods throughout the country that does not bode well for homeowners. Once “redlined” by lenders (which is now an illegal practice under fair housing laws), minority communities in urban centers have…

May 30, 2007 9:32 PM CDT

Condo Owner Fraud Squad Local Heroes in Florida

A successful effort by condominium residents near Miami to bring to justice those involved in management malfeasance has made the whistleblowers local heroes. Calls are coming in from all around South Florida, congratulating the residents and asking them how they did it, reports the Miami Herald. Four men have been…

May 30, 2007 7:32 PM CDT