This article is intended as a primer for Delaware lawyers who render third-party legal opinions in real estate finance transactions and for use by lawyers who represent clients receiving third-party legal opinions from Delaware counsel in a financing transaction secured by real estate located in the State of Delaware. This article was informed by various reports…

In today’s business world, where contracts between corporations areheavily negotiated and contracting parties are, generally, strictly boundby the terms agreed to in those contracts, most contracting parties feelthat including standards to delineate the effort each party must put intoupholding the terms of the contract is absolutely critical. Thesestandards, known as “efforts standards,” vary and include “good…

In IBM Corp. v. Groupon, Inc., No. 16-122-LPS (D. Del. Nov. 1, 2017), Chief Judge Stark denied the plaintiff’s motion to strike certain of the defendant’s invalidity contentions, since the references were disclosed before or on the deadline for the close of fact discovery and sufficient time remained to cure any prejudice without disrupting the trial…

In Waters Technologies Corp. v. Aurora SFC Systems, Inc., No. 11-708-RGA (D. Del. Nov. 13, 2017), Judge Andrews granted the defendant’s motion to stay pending ex parte re-examination. A scheduling conference had taken place a week before this decision, the motion was filed before the trial date was put in place, and the examiner’s finding…

In Telebrands Corp. v. 1ByOne Products Inc., No. 17-997-JFB-SRF (D. Del. Nov. 21, 2017), Magistrate Judge Fallon denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim as moot. After moving to dismiss, the defendant answered the complaint and asserted counterclaims for a declaratory judgment of invalidity and non-infringement of the two asserted patents…

In IBM v. Groupon, Inc., No. 16-122-LPS-CJB (D. Del. Nov. 17, 2017), Chief Judge Stark denied Groupon, Inc.’s motion for judgment on the pleadings that half of the asserted patents, covering the display of information from local storage, were invalid under Section 101. In a separate litigation, the Court had previously found under the first …

In Treehouse Avatar LLC v. Valve Corp., No. 15-427-JFB-SRF (D. Del. Nov. 20, 2017), Magistrate Judge Fallon recommended that the Court grant the defendant’s motion to dismiss or transfer the action to the Western District of Washington, where the defendant, Valve Corp., is incorporated and maintains its headquarters. Valve alleged that venue was improper in the…

In Javelin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. v. Mylan Laboratories Ltd., No. 16-224-LPS (D. Del. Dec. 1, 2017), Chief Judge Stark denied a motion to dismiss or transfer for improper venue filed by the defendants, Mylan Laboratories Limited, Mylan, Inc., and Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc. (collectively, “Mylan”), but with leave to renew after the plaintiffs, Javelin Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Hospira, Inc.,…

In Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Aurobindo Pharma USA Inc., No. 17-374-LPS (D. Del. Nov. 28, 2017), and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., No. 17-379-LPS (D. Del. Nov. 28, 2017), Chief Judge Stark set forth the procedures for venue-related discovery on defendant Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s motion to dismiss for improper venue. The Court ordered Mylan…

In B. Braun Melsungen AG v. Becton, Dickinson & Co., No. 16-411-RGA (D. Del. Dec. 5, 2017), Judge Andrews refused a request to strike the plaintiffs’ Daubert briefing for having an excessive number of pages. The plaintiffs had filed three Daubert motions, each accompanied by a 20-page brief. Judge Andrews acknowledged that he has…