The march toward peace in the cardiac stent business continues, to the detriment of IP litigators. The deal between J&J and Boston Scientific, which follows a pact between Medtronic and Abbott, resolves 14 cases spanning 12 years. We've got the lineup of firms that should have a lot more time on their hands.

He's 86 years old, but the Viacom chairman is still plenty feisty, by the evidence of his two hours of testimony in a suit in which his nephew claims Redstone cheated him out of shares in the family business. We especially enjoyed his sniffy rejoinder to a question about whether he'd drafted a particular document. Nah, said the octogenarian. Document drafting is for mere lawyers!

It looks like Daimler AG is in for a mess of headaches stemming from its days as the owner of Chrysler. On Thursday, a bankruptcy court judge gave creditors approval to sue the German carmaker on behalf of Chrysler for allegedly siphoning off billions of dollars through fraudulent conveyances. Susman Godfrey has been tapped to bring the suit for a contingency fee.

"We're making progress," said Grais, whose mortgage-backed securities suits on behalf of Seattle's Federal Home Loan Bank have also cleared early hurdles.

The seven Federal Home Loan Banks that have sued over mortgage-backed securities have been adept at keeping their barrage suits against big banks where they want them: in the hands of state court judges. But the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston and its lawyers at Keller Rohrback are going to have to try their luck in federal court, thanks to a ruling on Friday.