Preclusion's Effect On Settlement

Akin Gump lawyers published a new article in their ongoing series with Law360, “Overlooked Patent Cases.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit expanded the century-old Kessler doctrine in the 2020 In re: PersonalWeb Technologies LLC decision to give preclusive effect to issues that were not actually litigated but were finally decided through voluntary dismissal with prejudice in a prior litigation. As recent, potentially overlooked district court decisions demonstrate, parties must consider the potentially long-reaching preclusive impact of dismissing a litigation with prejudice when drafting terms of settlement agreements. To read the full article in Law360, please click here.