Orange County Business & Commercial Law Blog

The U.S. Court of Claims has handed down a 90-page ruling in favor of Chevron Corp in a contract dispute lawsuit against the federal government. The suit was filed by Chevron in 2004 after the company and the U.S. Department of Energy could not come to an agreement on how to split the holdings of the Elk Hills Reserve of California. In the ruling, the judge awarded Chevron unspecified damages for the government's "bad faith conduct."

The Elk Hills Reserve of California has been jointly operated by Chevron and the Department of Energy for over 50 years. It consists of over 47,000 acres of land near Bakersfield, over 1,000 oil wells, a power plant and two gas-processing units. There is believed to be about 1 billion barrels of oil on reserve and the government says they have a 78 percent share of Elk Hills. This is what Chevron disputed and why the company filed the lawsuit.

A copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Craigslist against 3Taps, Discover Home Network and PadMapper in a California federal court has been thrown out. The judge, however, will allow the online classified site to file suit against 3Taps for accessing data on its website without authorization.

The decision in the case states that Craigslist does not have an exclusive license and copyright to the content posted by users on its site. There was an exception and that was a two-week period last year when Craigslist had posted an amendment to its Terms of Use, which said it was the exclusive license holder. That amendment, though, was quickly dropped. Without having that exclusive license, the judge said Craigslist cannot sue the three startup companies for copyright infringement.

Automaker giant Toyota has agreed to pay the Orange County, California District Attorney's office $16 million as part of a settlement over the company's safety recall for braking issues and unintended acceleration. The lawsuit, which the District Attorney claimed deceptive business practices, alleged that Toyota had concealed the safety problems, which related to floor mats and "sticky" gas pedals.

This suit was one of many filed against Toyota after the recalls in 2009 and 2010. More than 14 million vehicles were affected, but most of the lawsuits filed over the recalls still have not been settled or heard in court.

It's like a love triangle and Martha Stewart is the woman in the middle. Well-known department stores Macy's and J.C. Penney, Co. are fighting over who has rights to the popular Martha Stewart Living brand. And during a week of bad news for Penney, a judge's recent ruling might add a little light to an otherwise dark situation.

Those who frequent Macy's have likely seen the various Martha Stewart Living products on the shelves, from bedding to dishes to décor and more. Penney wants in on some of the retail action that the domestic diva's name brings in, but Macy's isn't going to share her without a fight.