Contracts

Uber to pay up to $100M to settle claims of misclassification by drivers in 2 states

With a June trial looming in a California class action by 240,000 current and former drivers who claimed they were misclassified as independent contractors, Uber Technologies Inc. agreed on Thursday to settle the case for as much as $100 million. The settlement of that federal suit, which was brought in…

Apr 22, 2016 1:28 PM CDT

Kentucky governor is looking for law firm to investigate predecessor

Kentucky’s Republican governor Matt Bevin will hire a private law firm to investigate his Democratic predecessor, Steve Beshear. According to ABC News, Bevin announced Tuesday that the state would begin the process of hiring a lawyer or law firm for the purposes of assisting Kentucky’s Finance Cabinet in investigating various…

Apr 20, 2016 12:30 PM CDT

9th Circuit discharges $6K that bankrupt attorney owed ex-client

A suspended California lawyer fighting to get her law practice privileges reinstated has at least one less obstacle to contend with. In a Thursday ruling, a federal appeals court agreed with Marilyn Scheer—who handled the appeal pro se—that a debt of nearly $6,000 she owed a former client for unearned…

Apr 18, 2016 1:30 PM CDT

New Florida law seeks to prevent big hospital billing surprises

Florida has reportedly become the second state in the country, after New York, to respond to the issue of big surprise hospital bills with patient-oriented legislation. Last week Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a bipartisan bill (PDF). It says insured patients with preferred-provider plans don’t have to pay out-of-network…

Apr 18, 2016 11:00 AM CDT

Former Dewey & LeBoeuf partners not liable for unpaid rent, judge rules

In a ruling that took hundreds of former partners of Dewey & LeBoeuf and predecessor firms off the hook, a New York judge on Monday held that an office lease did not impose personal liability on them for rent that wasn’t paid after Dewey filed for bankruptcy. The original 1989…

Apr 5, 2016 12:00 PM CDT

Judge allows suit by refugees claiming copyright protection in interviews that led to screenplay

A federal judge in Atlanta is allowing a suit by 54 Sudanese refugees who say their interviews with a screenwriter about their persecution are subject to copyright protection. The refugees, known as “the Lost Boys,” sued screenwriters and producers of The Good Lie film starring Reese Witherspoon. In a March…

Mar 30, 2016 11:31 AM CDT

Uber driver who bought $40K vehicle just before bankruptcy gets $10K loan shortfall discharged

Struggling financially, Oswaldo Rodriguez had recently started working for Uber in October 2014, to supplement his income as an insurance salesman. At the ride-sharing company’s suggestion, he says, he purchased a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox that month, for nearly $40,000, to replace his smoothly functioning, paid-for 2008 Lexus. That’s because the…

Mar 22, 2016 2:05 PM CDT

Suit claims Judge Judy’s ‘astronomical’ pay wiped out profits due company

A lawsuit filed on Monday claims a raise that boosted Judge Judy’s pay to $45 million in 2009 wiped out profits due to a company that is successor to the talent agency that created her show. The suit filed by Rebel Entertainment Partners against CBS and Big Ticket Television says…

Mar 17, 2016 1:47 PM CDT

Delaware Chancery Court voids ‘unconscionable’ payday loan, awards borrower damages

Calling the terms of a $200 payday loan “unconscionable,” Delaware’s influential Court of Chancery voided it Monday and awarded the borrower $3,240 in damages, plus attorney fees. Since plaintiff Gloria James still owes $3 of the original $200 to National Financial LLC, that amount was offset against the damages she…

Mar 16, 2016 11:00 AM CDT

Woman who OK’d $900K settlement in phone call with her lawyer is bound by it, federal judge rules

The mother of a 22-year-old man shot to death in 2014 by police in a Utah city is bound by her oral agreement to a $900,000 settlement, a federal judge has ruled. Susan Hunt initially agreed to the pact in a recorded phone call with her lawyer. But she then…

Feb 23, 2016 1:05 PM CST

Three generations honored claimed oral promise of lifetime rental, but now woman, 97, faces eviction

Harry Truman was president when Marie Hatch moved into her California home and the landlord, her friend Vivian Kruse, told her she could live there until she died. When Kruse predeceased Hatch, her daughter honored that promise. And, when she passed on, so did Kruse’s granddaughter, reports the San Francisco…

Feb 22, 2016 5:00 PM CST

Can son bind mother in nursing home to arbitration? Suit over slaying raises the issue

Lawyers will argue next month that a Massachusetts nursing home shouldn’t be able to force arbitration in a lawsuit over the death of a 100-year-old woman who was allegedly killed by her 97-year-old roommate. The suit in Massachusetts state court argues the arbitration clause in the nursing home contract is…

Feb 22, 2016 12:32 PM CST

Casemaker agrees state law isn’t copyrightable, won’t defend Fastcase suit

Saying that he is “mystified” by a lawsuit filed against Casemaker by a competitor after a reported takedown demand by Casemaker, the legal publisher’s CEO said the company will not defend the declaratory judgment action. The federal suit filed in Atlanta by Fastcase Inc. seeks “a declaration that state law…

Feb 18, 2016 2:00 PM CST

Former law librarian sues Texas school, alleging racial, gender discrimination

A former law librarian at South Texas College of Law is suing the Houston school for alleged racial and gender discrimination. Joseph Kelly Plumbar, who is black, claims that three white co-workers created a hostile work environment and eventually forced him out of his job, the National Law Journal reports.…

Jan 25, 2016 3:20 PM CST

Lawyers could get some of record $1.5B Powerball purse if group-purchase pact isn’t well-documented

One might think that the winner of a record Powerball jackpot of at least $1.5 billion on Wednesday would face unalloyed joy. But history has shown that lawyers could get some of the purse if an office pool or other group buys a winning ticket and the terms of the…

Jan 12, 2016 3:35 PM CST