A blog about the work lawyers do to win commercial disputes by Will Newman
Every negotiation is different and some employers may offer very different terms than others. Some big companies have a lot of money and are generous to outgoing employees. Some employers are less generous and offer very little. There are usually no requirements for the amount of a severance.
Read MoreCourts are often reluctant to enforce non-competition agreements. They recognize that workers need to be allowed to make a living and often do not have the same bargaining power as employers when entering into employment agreements. And so they will not just enforce any non-competition agreement they see. Instead, they only enforce ones with reasonable limits.
Read MoreA strength of the Kenyan courts is the use of mediation. In an effort to maintain relations, the court often sends parties to Court Annexed Mediation, since it’s a faster route to resolve disputes. Another strength is that the parties are given a limited timeline to exchange documents, which prevents parties from dragging the case along.
Read MoreCourts often interpret insurance contracts in a very sympathetic light to policyholders and harshly to insurance companies. This is likely because they recognize the tremendous power imbalance between the two parties: insurance companies can write the policies and policyholders have very little say into the terms.
Read MoreThe implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing is a promise that state law declares is inherent in every contract unless the contract expressly disclaims it. The Uniform Commercial Code, for example, codifies it at UCC 1-304. It basically requires people who enter into contracts to act consistently with the object of the agreement. So, for example, if a sponsor of an apartment building agrees to sell apartments, that agreement contains an implied promise that the sponsor will not wait ten years to do so, making the finances of the building unsustainable.
Read MoreSome documents contain both privileged and non-privileged information. For those documents, an attorney redacts out the privileged portion, and produces a redacted version of the document that reveals the non-privileged portion. The attorney discloses details about the privileged portion on the privilege log. Redactions are a big task in document review and document production.
Read MoreLower-level courts often consult with the higher-level courts before trial to be assured that their judgments will not be appealed, which works quite well for simple disputes. But when it comes to complex disputes between large corporations, the lower-level courts cannot really issue an unappealable judgment.
Read MoreWhen a defendant seeks summary judgment, she is often telling the court that the plaintiff has no evidence to present at trial that could support his case. Summary judgment motions are difficult to win because, often, plaintiffs in litigation have some evidence. But even so, a defendant can prevail by explaining that the plaintiff’s evidence does not support his case.
Read MoreA major reason why litigants select one court instead of another is that the court they select is more conveniently located. The court may be near where the plaintiff or other key witnesses live, so they can more easily testify there. Or it may be near where the plaintiff’s attorney works, so she can more easily represent the client and appear for hearings.
Read MoreThere are numerous examples of completely nonsensical claims that plaintiffs have submitted to court, and each of them technically started a lawsuit. A mentally ill person sued numerous defendants, alleging she was a cyborg with information about a slavery conspiracy. A former president sued a laundry list of people, alleging a conspiracy to make up connections with Russia. A beer drinker sued a brewer, alleging its beer did not help him attract women.
Read MoreThe strength of Kazakh courts for resolving commercial disputes lies in availability of various specialized courts. We have commercial courts for disputes between businesses, companies, and sole proprietors. We also have administrative courts for disputes between businesses, companies, and sole proprietors, on one hand, and governmental bodies, on the other hand.
Read MoreMany states have consumer protection statutes that make it easier to sue companies that use deception in selling consumer goods. While the language of these statutes may be broad, courts sometimes interpret them narrowly in litigation.
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