Archive for September 2013
Anna Nicole Smith’s Eternal Bankruptcy Legacy
This week, the New York Opera and the Brooklyn Academy of Music are featuring the U.S. premier of Anna Nicole, an Opera based on the “tumultuous life of Anna Nicole Smith – stripper, playmate, and formidable tabloid queen.”[1] However, Anna Nicole Smith was also a formidably litigious client. In fact, she made it to the…
Read MoreHow High Must a Pig Jump? Assessing the Hurdles Facing the Smithfield-Shuanghui Acquisition
Hunter Deeley Shuanghui International Holdings Limited and Smithfield Foods, Inc. announced in May that Shuanghui would acquire all outstanding shares of Smithfield for $34.00 per share in cash, an acquisition valued at $4.7 billion.[1] Upon completion, Shuanghui’s purchase of Smithfield would be the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese company.[2] The size…
Read MoreCostly Contracts under the FAA: An Analysis of American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant
Kendra L. Clark In American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant,[1] the United States Supreme Court held with a 5-3 majority that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) does not allow courts to invalidate a contractual waiver of class action arbitration on the grounds that individual plaintiff’s arbitration costs exceed their potential recovery. The Court clarified…
Read MoreUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar, 133 S.Ct. 2517 (2013)
Juhi Tariq In University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center v. Nassar[1], the Supreme Court heightened the causation standard for retaliation claims under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.[2] The Court held that an employee must prove that the only reason an employer retaliated was because the employee engaged in a protected activity, which it…
Read MoreJudicial Ethics and the Aluminum Company of America
In today’s Wall Street Journal, an article appeared discussing the decline of the raw aluminum smelting company Alcoa.[1] The name Alcoa harks back to the 1945 section 2 antitrust case, United States v. Aluminum Co. of America (Alcoa), which most famously stated that a single firm controlling 33% of the relevant market is not enough…
Read MoreOral Argument Recap: Lighting Ballast Control v. Philips
Jonas Anderson, Assistant Professor, American University Washington College of Law *Business and Marketing Editor Diane Ghrist was excited to tag along with WCL Professor Jonas Anderson to attend today’s oral argument at the Federal Circuit in the Ballast Case. The relevant issue was whether the Federal Circuit should review District Court Markman hearings on claim…
Read MoreAccess, Innovation, and Essential Medicines
“The idea of a better-ordered world is one in which medical discoveries will be free of patents and there will be no profiteering from life and death.” -Indira Gandhi, World Health Assembly 1982. Jayashree Watal, Counsellor at the Intellectual Property Division of the World Trade Organization (WTO)[1], visited the Washington College of Law today…
Read MoreDaniel Fullerton
Daniel Fullerton is the Executive Editor of the American University Business Law Review (AUBLR). He is also a Senior Research Associate for the Public International Law and Policy Program at American University Washington College of Law. His recent publication, entitled Petitioning for Cash: How Domestic Industries Exploit Antidumping Procedures and Antitrust Exceptions to Force Their Foreign…
Read MoreDiane Ghrist
Diane Ghrist is the Business and Marketing Editor for the American University Business Law Review. Since starting law school, Diane has been a Contract Law Dean’s Fellow for Professor James May and a member of the Honor Society for Alternative Dispute Resolution. She served as a law clerk for the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of…
Read MoreSheng Zhou
Sheng Zhou is an Articles Editor for the American University Business Law Review. He has focused his legal education on Corporate and International Business Law. Sheng has interned at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office on Intellectual Property Rights, the General Counsel’s Office at the Society for Human Resources Management, and with Judge C. Philip…
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