The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, has struck down the individual mandate of President Obama's healthcare law in a ruling issued today in State of Florida v. U.S. Dept. of HHS (11-11021-HH). 

CNBC is reporting that Bob Parsons, founder and CEO of GoDaddy, has sold his stake to a group of private investors led by KKR. 

GoDaddy had filed for an IPO in 2006 but later withdrew the attempt.  Parsons, a flamboyant character best known for his irreverant blog, his earring and his partnership with NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, at the time said he was pulling out of the IPO because of poor market conditions. 

Parsons, an accountant by training, resented the impact of GAAP accounting on the company's recurring revenue model, which would have forced the recognition of deferred revenue, tending to undercut the firm's valuation.

GoDaddy's aborted IPO also followed shortly after my old company - Web.com (NASDAQ: WWWW) - filed a patent infringement lawsuit against GoDaddy.  That lawsuit was settled many years later, but at the time there were some who thought that the threat of litigation also put pressure on GoDaddy to withdraw the IPO. 

It's been interesting to see how tort reform - and in particular the loser pays rule - has come up again in this sluggish economy.  Texas recently adopted a loser pays rule, and the pundits were quick to jump on the topic as an example of ways to help the economy. 

The legislation (Texas H.B. 274) includes two forms of loser pays: (1) a requirement that courts award reasonable attorneys fees against the losing party if the party's claims are dismissed as having "no basis in law or fact" and (2) an 'offer of settlement' rule that shifts attorneys fees to the losing party who recovers less than what was offered in the offer of settlement.

As longtime readers know, I've written in the past about how both forms of loser-pays should reduce the incidence and the expense of litigation.  (Carter Wood has written that the Texas legislation is not exactly loser-pays in its traditional form, but it's still a step in the right direction.)

The folks at LexisNexis have published our recent podcast on renewable portfolio standards.  The podcast provides an overview on the 50-state survey completed by the Renewable Energy Committee of the ABA's Public Utility Section. 

For those of you who have been reading my renewable energy posts on RenewableEnergyMemo, I wanted to let you know that we're now publishing a renewable energy blog on the Taylor English Duma site. 

Please refer to the Taylor English Duma Renewable Energy Blog in the future.