Two doctrines frequently arise in Pennsylvania jurisprudence when addressing disputes between the parties to a contract: the parol evidence rule and the gist of the action doctrine. While each serves a distinct purpose, their application often overlaps, especially in fraud cases between the parties to a contract. Understanding both rules…
Federal Rule of Evidence 502 governs the treatment of inadvertent disclosures of privileged attorney-client communications or work-product materials. While Rule 502 is an evidence rule, the cases interpreting and applying it focus on its impact on the scope of discovery. Enacted by Congress in 2008, it was designed to address…
Each country has its own business sensibilities, many of which are more focused on interpersonal relationships or norms that do not always line up with the United States’ more formalistic business practices. In the February 6, 2025 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Kyle Garabedian writes, “EB-5 Immigration Investor Program: a…
While vigorous efforts have been made to push the courts to interpret the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) with an increasingly broad preemptive scope, effectively overriding state laws designed to regulate arbitration, recent decisions underscore that courts are not willing to uphold arbitration agreements when fairness and justice might be compromised.…
The U.S. Constitution, which remains the bedrock of American civil rights, serves to establish a minimum level of protection that states are bound to uphold. Some state constitutions provide more expansive and detailed protections for state residents—meaning that rather than treating state constitutional claims as an afterthought, litigants can center…
Some recent cases, such as Yegiazaryan v. Smagin and Medical Marijuana v. Horn, show that the courts are grappling with the statute’s injury requirement and might expand the sense of hope for plaintiffs. In the November 7, 2024 edition of The Legal Intelligencer, Edward Kang writes, “Civil RICO’s Expanding Reach:…
Although hearsay evidence is generally prohibited, the definitional carve-outs and exceptions provide trial judges with the latitude to admit trustworthy evidence that would otherwise be excluded. Both the Pennsylvania Code and the Federal Rules of Evidence recognize such exceptions, but they approach their admissibility and use with distinct priorities and…
As an initial matter, the government’s refusal to intervene in an FCA action does not strip a relator of his Article III standing in bringing an FCA action when the relator does not suffer an injury in fact. Qui tam actions present a “well-established exception” to the traditional Article III…
The TAF Coalition, a public interest, non-profit organization dedicated to defending and empowering whistleblowers who expose fraud on the government and the financial markets, recently published a primer on understanding Touhy requests by Kang Haggerty member Kandis Kovalsky. In Show Me the Evidence: How Whistleblowers Can Obtain Information from the…
As businesses across various industries increasingly adopt blockchain, it will become a critical source of discoverable electronically stored information (ESI). The potential benefits of blockchain for e-discovery and data preservation are substantial, making it an area of growing interest and importance. In the August 8, 2024 Edition of The Legal…