3M

Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.22.21

* A lawsuit alleges that the wife of an MLB star had an affair with a former pastor. Guess that pastor allegedly made it to home base... [Fox News] * A lawyer at Dechert has been sanctioned $10,000 for conduct during closing arguments of litigation involving purportedly defective earplugs. [Reuters] * A defendant accused of stabbing a California attorney to death is due in court. [ABC News] * A class action has been filed over a massive chemical fire that occurred at a Chemtool plant earlier this month. [Chicago Tribune] * Harvard successfully dismissed a lawsuit alleging that students should receive tuition discounts due to COVID-19. Guess a Harvard education doesn't just cost a Zoom subscription and $1.50 in late fees at the public library. [Forbes]

By Jordan Rothman
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 03.30.21

* Nike filed a trademark infringement lawsuit over Lil Nas X's so-called "Satan Shoes" which include a drop of human blood and other Satanic imagery. Guess the old town road went straight to hell, and hope they hired the "Devil's advocate"... [Forbes] * The trial in a class action against 3M, on behalf of servicepeople who allegedly suffered hearing loss from faulty ear plugs, is underway. [Military.com] * Seattle is taking steps to ensure that everyone facing eviction has the benefit of a lawyer. [Seattle Times] * A Florida lawyer faces possible disbarment for allegedly taking money from clients and ghosting them. [Click Orlando] * A woman representing herself pro se was able to discharge tens of thousands of dollars of student loans in bankruptcy. Maybe she would have gotten more debt discharged if she went to law school... [Yahoo News]

By Jordan Rothman
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 06.09.20

* A judge in Florida is in hot water for pretending to be her son's lawyer during an interrogation. Wonder if she told investigators her name was "Jerry Gallo"... [Daily Business Review] * 3M is suing a merchant who is selling PPE on Amazon for 18 times the listing price. [Wall Street Journal] * A Florida lawyer who appeared on beaches dressed as the Grim Reaper has attended recent protests in the same costume. [Fox News] * George Floyd's lawyer is asking the United Nations to intervene in his case and make recommendations for police reform. [Newsweek] * Prince Andrew seems royally screwed over an investigation into his connections with Jeffrey Epstein. [AP] * A lawyer has been suspended from practice for filing a $67 million lawsuit over pants he lost at the dry cleaners. Maybe the pants were just really nice? [ABA Journal]

By Jordan Rothman
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 04.13.20

* Michael Avenatti has been temporarily cut loose from prison amid COVID-19 concerns. Avenatti is prohibited from using a computer during his release, so I guess he won't send me another email anytime soon. [AP] * 3M alleges in a new lawsuit that a company charged 600 times the ordinary price for N95 respirators. [MSN] * The Kansas Supreme Court has upheld the governor's executive order limiting the size of religious services. [NPR] * Fox News is facing a lawsuit in Washington State alleging that it violated the law when it called COVID-19 a "hoax" in February and March. [Forbes] * Many attorneys are stepping up and offering pro bono services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. [New York Post] * Julian Assange fathered two children with his lawyer while holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. They must have some interesting ethics rules overseas... [Reuters]

By Jordan Rothman
Morning Docket

Morning Docket: 09.12.16

* “We believe the magistrate judge’s decision that Brendan Dassey’s confession was coerced by investigators, and that no reasonable court could have concluded otherwise, is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law." Prosecutors in Wisconsin have appealed the overturned conviction of "Making a Murderer" subject Brendan Dassey. He'll remain in prison pending the outcome of the appeal. [New York Times] * A Canadian judge is facing possible removal from the bench after asking this question to the accuser in a rape trial: "Why couldn't you just keep your knees together?" The judge also made other inappropriate remarks during the trial, and blames it on his failure to understand changes to the country's sexual-assault laws. [ABC News] * Desperate times sometimes call for really desperate measures? California-based Prism Patents is cutting its executives' compensation by two-thirds in an attempt to come up with some cash. Its general counsel's salary fell from $240,000 to $90,000, and the company's CEO now makes $12 (not a typo), down from $300,000. [Big Law Business] * The battle between Houston Law School and the Houston College of Law (formerly South Texas Law) rages on, and now the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is involved. Thanks to a complaint lodged by U. Houston, the USPTO has suspended Houston College's trademark application for its new name. [Houston Chronicle via TaxProf Blog] * It doesn't matter if Romy and Michelle invented Post-It Notes or if serial inventor Alan Amron did, because your lawsuit against 3M is likely to be dismissed -- especially if you've already settled a prior $400 million suit over the product's inventorship for $12,000 and released the company from all of your future claims. [CBS Minnesota]

By Staci Zaretsky
Biglaw

Morning Docket: 10.18.12

* Conflict of interest? What conflict of interest? We didn’t have a conflict of interest! Covington & Burling is appealing its disqualification from representing Minnesota in a suit against former client 3M. [Capital Business / Washington Post] * “If I sent my résumé through the firm, I wouldn’t get looked at.” Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear is hiring so many awesome associates that the firm’s managing partner doesn’t even know if he’d stand a chance. [National Law Journal] * Doug Arntsen, the ex-Crowell associate who stole $10.7M in client funds and spent it at strip clubs, was sentenced to four-to-12 years in prison. [New York Law Journal] * Music to Benula Bensam’s ears? In a case of dueling sentencing memos, prosecutors want Rajat Gupta to spend 10 years in prison, but his own lawyers want him to be sent to Rwanda. [DealBook / New York Times] * Donald Polden, the dean of Santa Clara Law, will be stepping down at the end of this academic year. Hope they’ll be able to find a new dean, because every “influential” school needs one. [San Jose Mercury News]

By Staci Zaretsky
Bankruptcy

Morning Docket: 10.12.12

* “Enough is enough.” Come on, Togut, did you really think all of the Dewey drama was going to end just because the judge approved your settlement plan? Now he’s trying to get the former partners committee disbanded. This won’t end well. [Am Law Daily] * Covington & Burling was disqualified from representing Minnesota in its anti-pollution case against ex-client 3M over a conflict of interest. A “conscious disregard” of professional duties? This is 1L stuff, really. [Twin Cities Pioneer Press] * Remember J. Michael Johnson, the former dean of Louisiana College Law who resigned for a “great job offer” before the school even opened? He’s now senior counsel for the ultraconservative Liberty Institute. [Alexandria Town Talk] * “If you’ve been hit by a table, ladder, or chair, call David Otunga.” What has this Harvard Law grad turned WWE wrestler up to these days, aside from filming commercials at criminal defense firms? [City Sentinel] * “The argument is absolutely absurd.” An ex-high school coach accused of having sex with a student wants Oklahomas’s ban on student-teacher relationships overturned as unconstitutional. [Alva Review-Courier]

By Staci Zaretsky
Biglaw

3M v. Lanny Davis: For the Record

Last night we wrote about a high-profile lawsuit: 3M v. Lanny Davis. Yes, that’s right: the maker of Post-its and Scotch tape is going after Lanny J. Davis, the noted D.C. lawyer and lobbyist, along with his client, Porton Capital (a group of private investors). It’s a strange lawsuit, but the allegations in it aren’t […]

By David Lat
Biglaw

Lawsuit of the Day: 3M v. Lanny Davis

D.C. power broker Lanny Davis has been hit with a federal lawsuit by, oddly enough, one of America's largest corporations: 3M, the Fortune 100 company and Dow Jones Industrial Average component that's famous for such products as Post-it Notes and Scotch tape. When you see a large corporation suing a prominent attorney like Davis, you might expect a malpractice claim. But that's not the case here....

By David Lat