When You Aren’t Paid for the Work You’ve Done in New York

It should come as no surprise that this has increasingly become one of the most common – if not the most common – form of breach of contract as the economy has continued to falter. Some customers have professed their desire to pay your bills, but “they just don’t have the money right now.” More [...]

CBS Sues Writer, Claiming He Breached Contract By Re-Selling Series

Sometimes the details of a breach of contract claim are so juicy it is hard to remain objective. And I readily admit, after reading a rendition of the detailed allegations in the lawsuit that CBS brought against one of its writers, Lukas Reiter, it is hard not to believe or side with CBS. In essence, [...]

Why Investigating Jurors’ Social Networks May Be a Bad Idea

This is a whole new world of creepy. In an ethics opinion that was recently handed down, the New York County Lawyers Association’s Committee on Professional Ethics wrote that it is both “proper and ethical” for attorneys to vet prospective jurors by “passively” investigating the jurors’ social networking profiles, i.e., viewing what is publicly available [...]

Is “Civil Litigation” an Oxymoron?

In a breach of contract and non-compete case I was recently hired to defend, I had a very odd first phone conversation with my adversary. And at the end of the call, I told him that I would be following up with a short e-mail memorializing our “pleasant conversation.” His response took me by surprise: [...]

Fraudsters Beware: Why a Nassau Court Refused to Dismiss Veil Piercing Claims

If you’re going to move money around from one project to another when your company is insolvent, i.e., “when the present fair salable value of his assets is less than the amount of that will be required to pay his probable liability on his existing debtors as they become absolute and matured,” you do so [...]

If You’re Committing Fraud, I Won’t Help You

Earlier today, I got what was hands-down, the most ridiculous phone call seeking legal services in New York that I have ever received. Here are the pertinent facts: This guy (we’ll call him “A’) was mistakenly over-billed by a company (we’ll call them “C”) for services that they rendered. Simple enough, right? But this was [...]

Without Broker’s License, Finder’s Fee Unenforceable Says NY Court

Just because you have a signed, written agreement doesn’t automatically mean that you win your breach of contract case. Let me explain. Just over one year ago, I cheered a Nassau County trial court’s decision that slammed a defendant who reneged on his word (written, mind you) to pay a plaintiff his finder’s fee for [...]

MGA Wins Round II in Bratz Doll Fight With Mattel

Sometimes, uphill battles must be fought because there really isn’t a viable second option; the stakes are too high, and allowing the status quo to remain undisturbed without a fight can mean forfeiting your business. And that’s precisely what MGA Entertainment did in its prolonged fight over the proprietary intellectual property rights to the Bratz [...]

Why It’s Often Hard to Predict if a NY Court Will Enforce a Non-Compete Agreement

Although I’ve written extensively on the subject of non-compete agreements, setting forth some of the general principles and the exceptions to those rules that help dictate whether a particular non-compete agreement will or won’t be enforced by a New York court, I must concede that it’s often hard to predict with any degree of certainty [...]

Non-Compete Agreements in Hi-Tech Sector Go Too Far, Says DOJ

Apparently even the high-end technology sector has to play by the same rules regarding non-compete agreements as the rest of us; or, at least that’s the Department of Justice’s position. In two actions that were recently filed in federal court in Washington D.C. (United States v. Adobe Systems, Inc., and United States v. Lucasfilm, Ltd.) [...]