A bankruptcy action can be considered “commenced” even when a debtor has failed to meet a requirement imposed by Congress that he first receive credit counseling, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Interpreting a “statutory tangle” of bankruptcy provisions, the circuit said the counseling requirement under 11 U.S.C

What should the bench do to help lawyers navigate EDD disputes? Courts need to borrow from a 7th Circuit program, which states that “zealous representation of a client is NOT compromised by conducting discovery in a cooperative manner,” says an attorney on the circuit’s EDD committee.

Current and former sales representatives for Novartis Pharmaceuticals are not exempt from qualifying for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the 2nd Circuit ruled Tuesday. Adopting an interpretation of the law urged by the U.S. Department of Labor, the circuit reinstated the claims of some 2,500 plaintiffs who argued they should be paid overtime for working in excess of 40 hours per week.

Litigation over the New Jersey pension fund’s purchase of $180 million in Lehman stock shortly before the company’s bankruptcy filing will stay in federal court. The 3rd Circuit this week refused to hear the state’s appeal from removal, basing its ruling on jurisdictional grounds, rather than deciding an open question in the circuit: whether the securities law’s prohibition against removal trumps the bankruptcy code, which allows it.

An inexplicable 15-year delay in complying with an appellate court’s order followed by the flawed resentencing of a drug defendant has prompted the appellate court to assign the case to a different judge.