Unpredictable

A blog about the work lawyers do to win commercial disputes by Will Newman

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  • Comments on Recent Cases: December 2025
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    Comments on Recent Cases: December 2025

    To prevail in litigation, it is not enough that someone did something wrong.  A plaintiff needs to sue the correct defendant, usually the one responsible for the wrongful action.  Sometimes, however, plaintiffs sue someone who did not do the wrong thing, and claim this defendant “aided and abetted” the wrongful actor.

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  • Comments on Recent Cases: November 2025
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    Comments on Recent Cases: November 2025

    When parties agree to arbitration instead of litigation, courts will defer to an arbitrator to make most of the rulings in a case.  And while an arbitrator may decide whether the case before her is the kind of case the parties agreed to arbitrate, a court may still decide if any valid arbitration agreement exists.

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  • Comments on Recent Cases: October 2025
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    Comments on Recent Cases: October 2025

    Courts may dismiss litigation on summary judgment when there is no evidence that supports one side.  Sometimes a party’s own self-serving statement may not be enough evidence to preclude summary judgment and justify a trial, but often it is.

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  • Comments on Recent Cases: September 2025
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    Comments on Recent Cases: September 2025

    Courts typically defer to the decisions of arbitrators, even when they believe that the arbitrators made a mistake.  This is because federal law implements a policy where people can rely on arbitration being quick and final and not just the first step towards a lengthy litigation process.  Still, people still attempt to appeal in court and, sometimes, they win.

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  • Comments on Recent Cases: August 2025
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    Comments on Recent Cases: August 2025

    Courts typically defer to the decisions of arbitrators, even when they believe that the arbitrators made a mistake.  This is because federal law implements a policy where people can rely on arbitration being quick and final and not just the first step towards a lengthy litigation process.  Still, people still attempt to appeal in court and, sometimes, they win.

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  • An Update on Making a Document Production
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    An Update on Making a Document Production

    Lawyers need to make sure any potential documents are coded for privilege and redacted, even if the documents are not considered responsive to a document request. This is because a non-responsive document may be produced anyway if it is the family member of—attached to or embedded in—another document that is responsive to a request and thus subject to production.

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  • Replevin Claims
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    Replevin Claims

    A plaintiff may not want to wait until the end of a lawsuit to get her property out of the hands of the defendant.  Lawsuits could take years.  And the defendant, who must not be a good person if she stole the plaintiff’s property, may take bad care of it, destroy it, get rid of it, or hide it.

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  • An Update on Employment Discrimination and Harassment Claims
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    An Update on Employment Discrimination and Harassment Claims

    When determining whether to settle, it can be difficult for employees and employers to calculate an appropriate amount for the employer to pay.  Unlike a contract dispute, where an agreement can set forth an amount due, there is no natural number that can compensate an employee for discrimination. 

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  • More Thoughts on Responding to Document Requests
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    More Thoughts on Responding to Document Requests

    Often, parties will make compromises in discovery to avoid the expense and uncertainty of going to court. For example, if a party believes it is entitled to all of a company’s financial records and the recipient believes it is entitled to none, the two may compromise and the recipient may agree to produce some specific financial records.

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  • More Thoughts on Drafting Interrogatories
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    More Thoughts on Drafting Interrogatories

    Interrogatories may also be useful to define what an adversary’s claims or defenses are.  To that end, a party may ask an opponent to identify each fact that supports its claims or each instance of misconduct that it alleges.  Although a party may be able to ask the same questions to a party at a deposition, an interrogatory is more likely to get a useful response and less likely to get an “I don’t know offhand” or some other incomplete answer.

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  • Litigation in Liechtenstein
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    Litigation in Liechtenstein

    Liechtenstein has enforcement agreements only with Austria and Switzerland, except in arbitration matters where it has joined an international enforcement convention. In civil proceedings without arbitration, it may therefore be necessary to re-litigate the case entirely in Liechtenstein.

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  • International Arbitration
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    International Arbitration

    There are a few cases of procedures for the independent production of evidence to be used in a forthcoming arbitration, which are not usual in a civil law jurisdiction. Documentary evidence is filed in the case docket. In case the tribunal grants document production, depending on what's produced, it's for the tribunal's eyes only, it's blackmarked, or it’s filed for all access.

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  • Litigation in the Kyrgyz Republic
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    Litigation in the Kyrgyz Republic

    At present, paper filings are still required in Kyrgyzstan. Pleadings must be submitted in person or by courier. There is no nationwide electronic filing system for courts yet, although limited email communication is sometimes allowed.

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  • Litigation in Egypt
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    Litigation in Egypt

    Lawyers are required to wear a robe during hearings—it is very similar in shape and color to the traditional French robe, reflecting the influence of civil law traditions in Egypt.

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  • Gathering and Preserving Evidence in Litigation in Argentina
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    Gathering and Preserving Evidence in Litigation in Argentina

    Our national procedure system (or Procedure Code) establishes two big ways of producing evidence before trial, even though both of them requires the involvement of the judge and, in one of them, of the counterparty also.

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