New Jersey Trade Secrets Act Becomes Law : IP Law Alert

NJ Statehouse

New Jersey Trade Secrets Act Becomes Law : IP Law Alert:

by Gibbons, PC

"Yesterday, [January 9, 2012] Governor Chris Christie signed into law the New Jersey Trade Secrets Act, A-921/S-2456 providing state law protection against trade secret misappropriation. Prior to enactment, New Jersey was one of only four states (including New York, Massachusetts and Texas) that had not adopted some form of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act.

This important New Jersey law development takes immediate effect. In sum, trade secrets can be used to protect a company’s know-how and other proprietary information."

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Hammontree v. Jenner: The Rest of the Story

Concurring Opinions » Hammontree v. Jenner: The Rest of the Story:

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Nice guy: BP Makes Amends - NYTimes.com

BP - nice guys, says Joe Nocera.

Plaintiffs' lawyers - greedy says Nocera, who objects to their getting paid.

BP Makes Amends - NYTimes.com:
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Aliens denied equal access to health benefits: Mass. Supreme Court

In Finch v. Commonwealth Health Insurance the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court voided a statute denying access to `Romneycare' by legal aliens in the U.S. less than five years.  The Court found that the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment barred the cost-saving limitation.  Perhaps 30,000 people were deprived of health care access by the measure.
Northeastern Law School Prof. Wendy Parmet represented the plaintiffs.  Northeastern is today's People's Electric Law School, as we used to call Rugers-Newark.  Kevin Johnson at Immigration Prof Blog has the story.

OTHERWISE: Postpone mandate test, Court urged : SCOTUSblog

The Affordable Care Act challenges should be dismissed.  That is the view of the court-appointed attorney asked to address the standing issue in the 26 state effort to enjoin the individual mandate provision of the affordable care at.  The Anti-Injunction act bars the claims as premature.  The Act takes effect in 2014.  Until one has paid the tax the claims are said to be premature, the court-appointed amicus argues in his  brief.
Postpone mandate test, Court urged : SCOTUSblog:

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S.E.C. to Change Policy on Companies’ Admission of Guilt - NYTimes.com

This does not affect the stance the SEC takes in the Citigroup settlement that Judge Jed Rakoff rejected. But it seems fair to say that his pressure - in Citigroup and other cases - played a part in stiffening the SEC's stance on admissions of wrongdoing. - GWC

S.E.C. to Change Policy on Companies’ Admission of Guilt - NYTimes.com: "The Securities and Exchange Commission is making a major change in how it settles some securities fraud cases, telling companies that they will no longer be allowed to say they neither admit nor deny the commission’s civil charges when, at the same time, they admit to or have been convicted of criminal violations."

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Pfizer Must Pay $45 Million in Prempro Cases, Court Rules - Businessweek

Pfizer Must Pay $45 Million in Prempro Cases, Court Rules - Businessweek: "“There was sufficient evidence of gross negligence and willful and wanton misconduct to support imposition of punitive damages,” the panel said in its 46-page ruling in Barton’s case.

‘Extraordinary Victory’

The court noted that while Kendall’s punitive award was large, it “correlated with the enormity of the defendants’ wrongs, their clear liability and the devastating impact on the plaintiff,” according to the 53-page decision.

“This is an extraordinary victory for Mrs. Kendall,” Tobi Millrood, one of her lawyers, said in an e-mailed statement. “The appellate court didn’t mince words: Wyeth and Upjohn engaged in a pattern of misconduct that was not the result of mere accident or happenstance.”

The cases are Connie J. Barton v. Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc., 694 EDA 2010, Superior Court of Pennsylvania; Donna Kendall v. Wyeth Inc., 936 EDA 2010, Superior Court of Pennsylvania."

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Kenneth Feinberg freezes payments from BP oil spill fund | NOLA.com

Fallout continues from MDL Judge Carl Barbier's order to deduct 6% of all settlements between BP and claimants  in the Gulf oil spill of 2010.  BP challenges the judge's jurisdiction to order a hold-back of funds paid to people who have not filed suit and have not benefited from the plaintiffs Steering Committee's work and investments in the cases.  As I discuss in a forthcoming piece in the Roger Williams Law Review there is a regulatory vacuum regarding administration of BP's mandatory compensation scheme under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.  Judge Barbier citing the existence of a "putative class" of claimants has stepped boldly into that gap.  - GWC
Kenneth Feinberg freezes payments from BP oil spill fund | NOLA.com:

"The Gulf Coast Claims Facility has halted all payments for oil spill damage in the wake of a ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier last week that 6 percent of all settlements reached after Nov. 7 be set aside to finance the work of plaintiff attorneys in the oil spill litigation in New Orleans. The move means that thousands of people and businesses waiting to be compensated outside of court for harm they endured when the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and sank in April 2010 will have to wait longer for their money.

Payments to about 9,000 people and businesses who have received final determination letters from the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, but have yet to sign the award, are now in play. Another 40,000 people and businesses have claims under review at the GCCF and could also be affected.
"While we seek clarification from the court, we will freeze all GCCF payments going forward," claims facility administrator Kenneth Feinberg said Tuesday. "Hopefully, this freeze will be of a very short duration.""

Goodwin Procter, attorneys for Feinberg and the GCCF have asked for clarification of how to comply with the ruling which is effective November 7.  At least some of those funds are no longer within the GCCF or BP's control.


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Robert L. Carter, Judge and Desegregation Strategist, Dies at 94 - NYTimes.com

 NAACP lawyers: Louis L. Redding, Robert L. Carter, Oliver W. Hill,
Thurgood Marshall and Spottswood W. Robinson II 

Robert L. Carter, Judge and Desegregation Strategist, Dies at 94 - NYTimes.com: "Robert L. Carter, a former federal judge in New York who, as a lawyer, was a leading strategist and a persuasive voice in the legal assault on racial segregation in 20th-century America, died on Tuesday morning in Manhattan. He was 94.
The cause was complications of a stroke, said his son John W. Carter, a justice of the New York Supreme Court in the Bronx."

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China Amends Law to Boost Occupational Illness Prevention, Control

China Amends Law to Boost Occupational Illness Prevention, Control:

CRIEnglish.com

"Upon the conclusion of a six-day bimonthly session on Saturday, China's top legislature adopted an amendment to the Law on Occupational Illness Prevention and Control in a bid to better protect worker's legal rights.

The amendment was added after the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the legislature, conducted a third reading of the draft, which had previously been read in June and October.

President Hu Jintao has issued an order to publicize the amendment, which will take effect from the day of its publication.

Occupational illness refers to those illnesses caused by contact with dust, radioactive materials or other poisonous, harmful elements during a worker's occupational activities with enterprises, public institutions and individual business units, according to the amended law.

The amended law highlights China's enhanced moves to simplify procedures to help those suffering from occupational illnesses and to protect worker's legal rights, as treatment for such illnesses has become a growing public concern."

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