Case Summaries

Commercial Law

[11/04] DMA Int'l., Inc. v. Qwest Comms. Int'l., Inc.
In an appeal from the district court's denial of petitioner's motion to vacate an arbitral award, the order is affirmed where the arbitrator's factual findings regarding the meaning of the contract at issue could not be overturned simply because the evidence was conflicting. In addition, attorney's fees are awarded to respondent because petitioner's appeal vexatiously multiplied the proceedings.

[11/04] Memphis Biofuels, LLC. v. Chicksaw Nation Indus., Inc.
In plaintiff's case against the defendants for repudiating an agreement whereby defendant was to deliver diesel fuel and soybean oil to plaintiff's refinery facility, dismissal of the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is affirmed as the defendant, a federally chartered tribal corporation, enjoys tribal-sovereign immunity.

[11/03] Applied Med. Dist. Corp. v. Surgical Co. BV
In an appeal from the district court's denial of an injunction barring defendant from pursuing an action against plaintiff in Belgium, the order is reversed where: 1) the district court applied the wrong legal standard by requiring that the claims in the domestic and foreign action be identical, instead of engaging in the required functional inquiry concerning dispositiveness; and 2) the district court relied on the clearly erroneous factual determination that defendant's Belgian claims, other than goodwill indemnities, were available apart from termination.

[11/03] Imation Corp. v. Koninklijke Philips Elec. N.V.
In plaintiff's case against defendants arising from a patent license agreement dispute, judgment on the pleadings in favor of defendants is reversed and remanded where: 1) the district court erred in finding that plaintiff's subsidiaries are not licensed under the parties' patent licensing Agreement; and 2) the unambiguous Agreement makes clear that the license grant includes subsidiaries of plaintiff and defendant that meet the Agreement's Subsidiary definition.

[10/29] Zhang v. Sup. Ct.
In plaintiff's action against her insurer over disputes arising from a fire of her commercial premises, district court's ruling sustaining defendant's demurrer to a cause of action under the Unfair Competition Law (UCL), Business and Professions Code section 17200, is vacated and remanded with directions to reinstate the cause of action as an insurer connected with conduct that would violate Insurance Code section 790.03 can also give rise to a private civil cause of action under the UCL.

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