Nicolai Law Letter

California is one of many states whose constitution grants jury rights in civil cases. A law implementing those right sets out certain exceptions and contracting away those rights is not one of them. Since only the legislature can create exceptions, contract jury waivers are not enforceable.

Open source is software made widely available in source code without requiring advance payment. But that doesn't mean its free. License terms may apply to its permitted use. Legally meeting those terms requires...

A property buyer held a right of first refusal for a cash with no mortgage contingency offer, but added a mortgage contingency to its own offer. A court ruled that the buyer lost that right when it added the contingency. Most right of first refusals give a party...

Under the Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification Act (WARN), employers have to give notice of impending layoffs under certain circumstances. With planning, you can be sure not to violate WARN s requirements. Review this checklist before you pull out the...

Upon returning from medical leave, employees must return to equivalent positions, according to the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA). If their employer does not comply, employees have two years to sue for an FMLA violation unless the...

A patient struck and killed someone when his medication impaired his ability to drive. The prescribing doctor was held liable to a third party by the Massachusetts Supreme Court for failure to warn his patient of possible side effects. Physicians owe a...

A bank s purchase of a firedamaged home at a foreclosure sale reduced the home s mortgage balance by the same amount. A court later ruled that whatever fire insurance proceeds remained after paying the homeowner s remaining mortgage debt had...

Preventing employees from intentionally harming other people is part of a corporation s responsibility. Thus an employee s minor daughter was permitted to sue her father s employer for failing to take action after the man s supervisor and the...

A loan broker must have a written commission agreement to get paid, but a licensed real estate broker is not subject to that requirement. In a commercial transaction, a real estate broker who also helped get financing for the purchase was entitled to an extra...

A company knowingly copied pages from its competitor s website. It became subject to suit in that competitor s local court, despite having no office, sales or other ties to that area.

A contract required a homeowner to pay half the cost of furniture before it was ordered. The Court ruled the contractor was justified in abandoning the project when the homeowner failed to meet the payment terms.

The EPA may reclaim its oversight costs associated with the supervision of hazardous waste cleanup activities, ruled the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, joining the Second Circuit (New York & Connecticut). Previously, parties responsible for cleaning up polluted...

An employee filed for bankruptcy lost her right to pursue a discrimination claim when she did not list it in her bankruptcy petition. Disclosure of such claims is required under bankruptcy law. The employer was able to have the case dismissed.

A worker repeatedly harassed coworkers and made racial and ethnic slurs as an effect of her mental disorder. Her abnormal behavior was considered protected under the Americans with Disability Act (ADA), ruled the Second Circuit, covering...

A software programmer who contributed a small part of the code was considered a coowner of the whole software program. Whenever two authors intentionally merge their copyrighted material into one inseparable work, the law says they are equal...

A 400pound loading dock employee was fired because he was incapable of completing his required job tasks as documented in his job description. Without a physiological reason for his weight, he was not ADA protected when he was fired.

A fiveyear equipment lease stated that a company had the option to either return the equipment or buy it for fair market value at the end of the lease. Two years into a lease a company returned their equipment and stopped making payments. A damages clause in the lease...

An equipment manufacturer was allowed to use a designer s system after the designer disclosed it to the manufacturer s competitors without ensuring proper confidentiality restrictions. By failing to enter into adequate confidentiality agreements with each of those competitors...

A Vermont financial services firm encouraged its new hires to solicit former clients. When two of its former salespersons engaged in the same activity, it sought an injunction to stop them. A Vermont court denied the firm the injunction.

An employer was accused of handicap discrimination. A jury decided the plaintiff was not a qualified handicapped person, but found the employer guilty of discrimination. The court entered judgment in favor of the defendant as the law only requires employers to engage...