Business Organizations & Transactions News

Case Summaries

[09/04] Am. Bankers Ass'n v. Lockyer
After remand, in a case interpreting California's Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA) in light of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), a ruling that the FRCA entirely preempted FIPA section 4053(b)(1), which restricts the sharing of nonpublic consumer personal information between financial institutions and their affiliates, is reversed and remanded where the preempted portions of FIPA are severable, narrowing FIPA section 4053(b)(1) to exclude consumer report information as defined by the FCRA.

[09/03] Pearle Vision, Inc. v. Romm
In a suit over violations of a franchise agreement, judgment of contempt for failure to comply with a preliminary injunction to make available to plaintiff certain items, including patient files, is affirmed where: 1) defendant was given an opportunity to purge the contempt through compliance; 2) defendant waived his arguments that the sanction was excessive and unrelated to plaintiff's damages; and 3) defendant was given sufficient leniency as a pro se litigant.

[09/03] Extra Equipamentos e Exportacao Ltda. v. Case Corp.
In a commercial fraud case alleging that defendant induced plaintiff to sign a release of its claims in litigation by promising to retain plaintiff as a distributor of its products, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed and awards of costs affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) a no-reliance clause in the release was enforceable to prevent plaintiff from recovering for fraud; and 2) the language of 28 U.S.C. section 1920(6) authorizing awards for "compensation of interpreters" does not authorize the awarding of fees for translation of written documents.

[09/03] Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Assn v. Landstar Sys.
In a class action lawsuit brought against defendant motor carrier alleging that freight hauling leases violated the Truth-in-Leasing regulations for failing to disclose that banking fee charges would be deducted from compensation paid to the truck owners and drivers, partial summary judgment and award of damages in favor of defendant is affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded where: 1) district court erred in finding that defendant was not required to disclose banking fee charge and document charge-back items; 2) district court erred in granting an injunction sealing the pricing information provided to defendant company; 3) district court correctly ruled that section 276.12(h) requires defendant to provide documentation related to charge-back items but erred in concluding that defendant met the requirement; and 4)district court did not abuse its discretion in decertifying the class for actual damages.

[08/29] Forest Oil Corp. v. McAllen
In a suit over a commercial contract, denial of a motion to compel arbitration is reversed and remanded where: 1) courts must examine the contract itself and the totality of the surrounding circumstances when determining if a waiver-of-reliance provision is binding; and 2) an unambiguous waiver-of-reliance provision precludes a fraudulent-inducement claim as a matter of law.

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