Legal Update 2007: Where the Lawsuits Are

Abstract

Lawsuits are a fact of life for most major corporations, organizations, and agencies. Over the course of a typical year, they may be involved in dozens of lawsuits over a wide variety of issues. Customers and users sue over products or services. Employers sue over workplace issues. Suppliers sue–or get sued–over contract issues. Or they initiate lawsuits to protect their products, services, employers or suppliers. Lawsuits are a fairly routine cost of doing business. However, some lawsuits have an impact that is far beyond the routine. They may start quietly or with a splash of headlines, but the results may impact the life or bottom line of a company, its products, services or practices, or the industry as a whole. Some companies survive such lawsuits, as Microsoft survived after the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuits in the 1990's. Other companies don’t, as witnessed by the original Napster