On May 30, 2008, the U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey preliminarily approved a $24 million settlement of more than 120 class actions in the United States and Canada relating to the alleged contamination of pet food.
Jeff Ireland was selected as one of four liaison counsel for the defense group and participated directly as a member of the group that negotiated with plaintiffs' lead counsel to reach the settlement after many mediation sessions. Jeff Ireland, Brian Wright and others were involved in all aspects of the class action litigation involving more than 100+ products and over 20 manufacturers, retailers and other suppliers. FI&C represented one of the major manufacturers of dog and cat food that was subject to the recall. The cross border nature of the settlement as well as the number of products and companies affected by the settlement, made it one of the most complex consumer recalls and consumer class action litigation settlements in recent history. Final approval is scheduled for a hearing on October 14, 2008.

In an action in the Northern District of Ohio involving a declaratory judgment action filed by the firm on behalf of a client that was the subject of an indemnity claim by a firm which had lost a patent infringement action, in which judgment had been entered for over $34 million, Charlie Faruki and Don Burton succeeded in defeating a motion to dismiss, so that the action can proceed.
The issues in the case involve the ability of an indemnitee to maintain an action for declaratory judgment, the scope of the indemnity, the nature of the proof that may be offered in an indemnity action, and damages.

Bob Bartlett, Jeff Sharkey and Andy Reitz prevailed in a motion for summary judgment in a defamation action pending in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court.
FI&C represents Dayton Newspapers, Inc., the publishers of the Dayton Daily News, in that action. In the motion for summary judgment, FI&C argued that the articles published in the Dayton Daily News were true. The Court agreed, and granted FI&C's motion for summary judgment.

On May 12, 2008, FI&C welcomed Jade Smarda and Kelly Rethman as summer associates.
Jade is a student at the University of Dayton School of Law, and received her undergraduate degree from Miami University (BA English Literature and French). Kelly is a student at Florida State University College of Law, and received her undergraduate degree from Tiffin University (Bachelor of Criminal Justice).

Charlie Faruki spoke at two CLE programs within the past month.
He was the speaker for a program titled Mediation in Patent Cases, presented to the Dayton Intellectual Property Law Association. He covered such topics as the practical use of mediation in patent cases, timing, topics to be included or addressed in the pre-mediation statement, confidentiality, and how to negotiate license terms in a mediation. He also spoke at the Ohio State Bar Association Annual Convention in Columbus, as part of two panels with federal judges, on Developments in Discovery, and on Developments in Motion Practice. Charlie is the current Chair of the Ohio State Bar Association's Federal Courts and Practice Committee, and assembled the panels of federal judges for the program, and chaired the program.

Jeff Cox was recently invited to speak to the global senior counsel leadership of one of the firm's clients, a large multinational company, at its 2008 senior attorney meeting held near Atlanta, Georgia.
Jeff's presentation, "Lessons Learned in Defending Class Actions," addressed key considerations for in-house counsel, joint defense and coordination, and risk assessment and strategic planning responsibilities common in class litigation. FI&C is experienced in a wide array of high-stakes class action litigation. Since the firm's founding in 1989, FI&C attorneys frequently have litigated class actions involving antitrust, securities, privacy, data security, products liability, contract disputes, mass tort, civil rights, employment claims, false advertising, ERISA, mass accident and Y2K issues in federal and state courts across the United States.

FI&C hosted the May 2008 meeting of the Association of Corporate Counsel, Southwest Ohio chapter for a May 15 lunch-&-learn session at FI&C.
The audience of in-house counsel from several large companies and numerous business sectors heard Jeff Cox, Ron Raether and Brian Wright speak on "Privacy and Data Protection -- A Practical Guide to Addressing Issues No Business Can Ignore." The presentation focused on data protection and privacy compliance considerations important to businesses and their in-house counsel working to assure compliance with various state and federal statutory schemes including but not limited to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (corporate governance), HIPAA (governing healthcare providers and insurers), GLBA (financial institutions), FCRA (governing credit records, consumer reporting agencies and retail merchants), DPPA (governing the use of driver's license and motor vehicle record data) and data breach notification laws. FI&C regularly counsels and defends corporate clients involved in compliance with the ever-widening array of privacy and data security laws and regulations as well as in response to investigations by state and federal government regulators.

Ron Raether, Brian Wright, and Andy Reitz presented a CLE program entitled "E-Discovery: Now What?" on May 7, 2008 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
The CLE was sponsored by the National Business Institute and covered topics including (1) recent decisions in e-discovery, (2) preservation notices and document retention, (3) obtaining data in various formats, (4) privilege issues, (5) digital information and Rule 26, (6) production of electronic evidence, and (7) depositions relating to electronic evidence.

FI&C Associates Eric Voigt and Angela Sinkovits prevailed in a pro bono action filed in a Dayton court.
Eric and Angela represented real estate purchasers who sought the return of their earnest money deposit.

The Federal Lawyer magazine published an article by Erin Rhinehart in its May 2008 edition.
Erin's article evaluates a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court, Tellabs, Inc. v. Makor Issues & Rights, Ltd., in which the Court addressed the scienter pleading requirement set forth in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act.

On May 30, 2008, Erin Rhinehart co-chaired the Second Annual 5 for the Kids, 5k run/walk race to benefit CARE House.
CARE House is the community's advocacy center for child victims of abuse and neglect. The event, hosted by the Dayton Bar Association's Young Lawyers Division and sponsored by local businesses and law firms, raised much needed funds for the children of CARE House.