Civil Litigation - Page 98
This is FindLaw's collection of Civil Litigation articles, part of the Litigation and Disputes section of the Corporate Counsel Center. Law articles in this archive are predominantly written by lawyers for a professional audience seeking business solutions to legal issues. Start your free research with FindLaw.
Civil Litigation
Civil Litigation Articles
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There appears to be a unanimity in the federal and state courts with respect to the discoverability of video surveillance materials. Regardless of whether a defendant intends to use the surveillance tapes as substantive evidence, for impeachment purposes, or for no purpose at all, disclosure is advisable once damages have been explored through deposition. -
Florida's civil defense attorneys have long used Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.420(e) to have languishing plaintiffs' cases dismissed. This rule was further clarified on June 20, 2002 by a Florida Supreme Court decision on the type of activity that would be deemed insufficient to preclude a dismissal of a case for failure to prosecute. -
On March 20, 2002, Pennsylvania Governor Mark Schweiker signed Act 13, the Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Act ("Mcare Act ") into law. The legislation encompasses a sweeping range of changes, including new duties, responsibilities, regulations, and administrative functions. This article focuses on the medical professional liability reforms and variations which most significantly impact the defense of medical malpractice cases in the Commonwealth. -
In February, 2001, SB 406 was proposed to allow a party in a pending civil action to file a separate action alleging that a complaint, counterclaim or joinder complaint was frivolous. But the Pennsylvania Bar Association argued that existing rules were a sufficient deterrent to the filing of frivolous litigation and that any additional remedy should be through amendment to Rule 1023 of the Pennsylvania Rules of Civil Procedure. -
This book describes in detail the Massachusetts law of evidentiary privileges, as well as related disqualifications and protections. It also sketches out the federal law of evidentiary privileges, with emphasis on cases from the First Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, to point up differences and similarities with Massachusetts law. -
Corporate defendants today are faced with numerous discovery dilemmas stemming from the increasing use of electronic information storage. The exponential growth of computer use in both the business and private sector has led to an explosion of information stored on hard drives, floppy disks, and back-up storage devices. Data can be in the obvious form raw data, or the less obvious cookie and cache files, metadata or other embedded data. Even data believed deleted may still be retrievable from file servers. -
Recent rulings in New Jersey state and federal courts suggest that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 (b)(2) will not provide an easier route to class action status than Fed. R. Civ. P. 23(b)(3). These courts are enforcing express and implied limits to the availability of (b)(2) certification. -
The California State Assembly has approved further amendments to Senate Bill 122 ("SB 122") to reform California Business and Professions Code section 17200, California's unfair competition law ("UCL"), which prohibits unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business acts or practices, and is thus extremely wide in its scope. -
U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced plans this month for stepped up inspections focusing on companies that fail to protect against possible terrorist attacks on pipelines, fuel storage tanks, chemical plants and drinking water facilities. Owners and operators can minimize both the vulnerability of their facilities and risk of severe fines and other penalties for non-compliance by conducting internal facility audits to identify deficiencies. The results of the audits can be protected from unwarranted disclosure under the attorney-client privilege, the attorney work product doctrine, and (in some jurisdictions) the self-evaluative privilege. -
In 2003, the Washington State Court of Appeals expanded collectible damages by workers who sue employers for discrimination or harassment to include an award to compensate the employee for taxes on the other damages that the employee receives. Unless it is overturned, this new decision is important not only for cases that go to court, but also for placing a value on employee's claims in administrative proceedings, such as Human Rights Commission complaints.