P—d Off
October 12, 2003
Natural Biologics LLC really knows how to p–s off a federal judge (bad pun intended). Earlier this month, the judge seriously hammered Natural Biologics for misappropriating trade secrets relating to the processing of horse urine. She hit Natural Biologics even harder than usual, essentially putting them out of the business – and for somewhat unusual reasons.
Bye-Bye, Carolina; Hello, California
October 11, 2003
Late last month, a North Carolina customer of Oracle Corporation found itself involuntarily headed for California to pursue its lawsuit against Oracle. This came to pass because the customer — probably without even knowing it — agreed to a forum-selection clause when it bought its Oracle software license.
Dinosaur Bones
October 11, 2003
Frank Quattrone’s trial for obstruction of justice continues; see this story from the AP. On Thursday, Quattrone took the witness stand in his own defense. Quattrone’s lawyer, John Keker, asked him about an unrelated investor lawsuit against his former firm, Morgan Stanley. Quattrone had been a witness in that lawsuit. According to the WSJ, Quattrone commented, “I was amazed how the plaintiff’s lawyer would take extraneous documents and twist and turn them to make it sound like something bad.” (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 10, 2003, at C1, C10 cols. 2-3.)
Quattrone’s comment reminded me of how, in a former life, I sometimes used to explain trials to clients. Think of a trial lawyer as a paleontologist, working with a pile of dinosaur bones (documents, witness testimony) to convince a jury that the dinosaur looked like this. The paleontologist describes her vision of the dinosaur, and tries to show the jury how the bones fit together in a way that matches her vision. Perhaps the bones don’t fit together perfectly, however. Perhaps some bones are missing. Of course, there’s an opposing paleontologist in the courtroom, twisting and turning the bones in a different way in support of his own vision.
The jurors typically knew little or nothing about dinosaurs before the trial, and of course they don’t get to see the dinosaur in real life. They still have to decide what the beast really looked like. Their decision can change — or end — lives, reputations, and bank balances.
Good Personnel Records Save the Day for A & F
September 20, 2003
Abercrombie & Fitch fired one of its New York City security supervisors for poor performance. She filed a lawsuit, claiming among other things that she had been fired because she was African-American.
A&F won the case without even having to go through a trial, primarily because the fired employee’s manager had kept good personnel records to document her poor performance over several years.
Why Shareholders Should Come Third - Great Post
September 19, 2003
There’s a great post today on Mike O’Sullivan’s Corporate Law Blog. It summarizes former Medtronic CEO Bill George’s recent Fortune magazine article about why CEOs should concentrate on pleasing customers, then employees, then shareholders. Not to be missed.
Doctors Have to Explain Joke
Chart Notations on Witness Stand
August 25, 2003
The BBC’s Web site reports that many doctors are being more cautious about the notes they write in their patients’ medical records. Why is that? Because the doctors are starting to realize that someday, on the witness stand, they might have to explain their abbreviations and slang. Here’s a sampling:
- CTD: Circling the Drain [i.e., the patient is not expected to live long]
- DBI: Dirt Bag Index
- LOBNH: Lights On But Nobody Home
- TTFO: Told To [Go Away] — see the BBC story to read the “save” by the quick-thinking doctor who was asked about that one in court.
Sorta makes me glad my writing isn’t funny.