In a potentially ruinous suit for the gift card industry, a company called Every Penny Counts claimed that all gift cards violated its patents on technology for transferring "excess cash." The Federal Circuit thought differently.

After inking a settlement with founders of the Fairfield Greenwich Group over more than $1 billion lost in Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at Boies Schiller said the deal "allows us to really focus on the defendants that have a much greater ability to pay."

Tenet Healthcare fended off a $4 billion hostile takeover bid last year in part by accusing Community Health Systems, its would-be acquirer, of bilking Medicare out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Almost exactly a year later, Tenet's lawyers at Latham & Watkins and Arnold & Porter have helped the company resolve nearly identical claims leveled by the Justice Department.

Verizon is siding with Samsung in its first foray into the IP litigation free-for-all over smartphone technology. But the wireless carrier promised it would also defend Apple's products against injunction bids by competitors.