Binding Precedent - a Blog

If you employ people in more than one state, start here: the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Bivens v. Zep, Inc. should not change a word of your harassment policy. Build to the strictest standard that can reach you, and the circuit split below becomes someone else’s problem. The split is real. In Bivens v. Zep, Inc., 147 F.4th 635 (6th Cir. 2025), the court held that an employer is liable under Title VII for harassment by a customer or other non-employee only if the employer “de

Clients sometimes ask for a “quick review” or a “skim” of a contract before signing. It is an understandable request. Unfortunately, it is also one a careful lawyer cannot simply grant. The duty to review an agreement in full is NOT for billing purposes. It flows from the rules that govern how lawyers are required to work. Start with competence. In Pennsylvania and New York, the ethic rules governing attorneys provide a familiar formulation: competent representation requires

A High Court battle in London over a 1956 Picasso, Femme dans un rocking-chair, offers a useful cautionary tale for anyone buying at the top of the art market. According to press reports, collector Sasan Ghandehari, acting through a British Virgin Islands entity, guaranteed the painting at a 2023 Christie's sale and later sued the auction house. He alleges Christie's misrepresented the work's provenance by failing to disclose that a prior owner had a criminal history that rai