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Practice Tip: Crafting a Winning Document Retention Policy to Avoid Court-Imposed Penalties
Part One of this article discussed, inter alia, what the duty to preserve documents entails, when it begins, how a document retention policy can help protect against spoliation claims, and the consequences of failure to preserve documents. This installment addresses repetitive product liability litigation and what counsel should do when notified of a lawsuit.
Repetitive Product Liability Litigation
Companies that manufacture products that are the subject of repeated tort suits have additional challenges to overcome when drafting an effective document retention policy. For example, consider a manufacturer of home heating units that, over the 50-year history of the company, has produced hundreds of different models of heaters all with varying characteristics. Many of these models have been discontinued, some for more than 25 years, although some of the discontinued models presumably still are being used by customers. Throughout its history, the heating unit manufacturer has been named often in product
liability suits that typically allege a malfunction in one of its heating units was the cause of a residential fire. Given its history of lawsuits and the real possibility that any of its heating unit models (even a long-discontinued model) could be the
subject of a new lawsuit at any time, is the heating unit manufacturer legally required to retain indefinitely all documents related to the design and production of every model it has ever made?
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Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Anti-Assignment Override Provisions
UCC Sections 9406(d) and 9408(a) are one of the most powerful, yet least understood, sections of the Uniform Commercial Code. On their face, they appear to override anti-assignment provisions in agreements that would limit the grant of a security interest. But do these sections really work?