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Betts v. New Castle Youth Dev. Ctr., 09-3753, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, in plaintiff’s 42 U.S.C. section 1983 suit against a state-run juvenile detention center and several of its staff members, claiming various constitutional violations for sustaining a tragic spinal cord injury while attempting to make a tackle during a “pick-up” football at the center. Anderson v. Wachovia Mortgage Corp....

In a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) action claiming that Defendant credit agency wrongly classified Plaintiff as a first-time check writer, the dismissal of the action is reversed where FCRA’s private right of action does not require proof of actual damages, as a prerequisite to the recovery of statutory damages for a willful violation of the FCRA. Read Beaudry v. TeleCheck Servs., Inc., No. 08-6428 Appellate Information Argued: August 6, 2009...

In an action for insurance coverage for a malpractice lawsuit, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) the alleged acts of malpractice in a letter sent to the malpractice defendant and the lawsuit were “connected by an inevitable or predictable interrelation or sequence of events” for purposes of the policy; 2) the insurance policy treated as one claim all “related wrongful acts”; and 3) because defendant had no legally cognizable duty to defend or indemnify a claim, plaintiffs’ bad faith claim could not survive....

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action alleging an unlawful search, denial of summary judgment for defendant based on qualified immunity is affirmed in part where defendant’s alleged conduct in exceeding the scope of the search warrant violated plaintiff’s clearly established right under the Fourth Amendment. However, the order is reversed in part where: 1) defendant’s alleged violation of Oklahoma law was not, without more, significantly relevant to the Fourth Amendment analysis; and 2) a search warrant was constitutionally valid....

Any time a person is hurt or killed by police, people want to know what the rules are. The more cynical among us wonder aloud whether there are any rules regarding police conduct and use of force. There are, and some of them are getting more strict. California Governor Gavin Newsom just signed a new bill that includes more stringent guidelines about when an officer can use deadly force. But will it change how police interact with the community, especially people of color?...

US v. Larsen, 08-3088, concerned a challenge to a defendant’s convictions for kidnapping and interstate domestic violence and sentence to life in prison, for brutally beating his ex-wife, stuffing her in a garbage can, and leaving her in a storage facility. In affirming, the court held that the Interstate Domestic Violence Act lies well within the scope of Congress’s power to regulate the channels or instrumentalities of, or persons in, interstate commerce....

Today, the Second Circuit decided cases regarding qualified immunity in a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 matter, criminal sentencing issues, employment and immigration. In V.S. v. Muhammad, No. 08-5157, plaintiff sued various New York City employees involved in the termination of her parental rights based on alleged child abuse in a family court proceeding. The district court denied defendants summary judgment based on qualified immunity and defendants appealed. The Second Circuit reversed, holding that: 1) even if defendants had been aware of a physician’s alleged reputation for overdiagnosing child abuse, it still would not have been unreasonable for them to rely on his diagnosis of plaintiff’s child in these circumstances; and 2) the city defendants were absolutely immune from a claim of abuse of process....

Is the sky falling or is that a piece of concrete from a crumbling prison ceiling? The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a prisoner proceeding pro se in an Eighth Amendment violation case this week, finding that the prisoner failed to make his case that the prisoner officers acted with deliberate indifference to the allegedly shoddy construction of the prison. Payne County, Okla. built a new jail in June 2009....

In US v. Connors, No. 09-1143, the Seventh Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s judgment in civil forfeiture proceedings of defendant’s home allegedly used to facilitate his illegal operation of Cuban cigar smuggling and distribution business, for which he was eventually convicted of. In affirming the district court’s judgment and the forfeiture order, the court held that the district court properly denied defendant’s motion to dismiss based on the statute of limitations as the government filed its complaint within five years of the alleged offenses....

US v. Williams, 08-4630, concerned government’s challenge to the district court’s suppression of physical evidence and defendant’s statements during the encounter with the police officers, in ruling that defendant had been illegally seized, in a prosecution of defendant for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. In affirming the judgment, the court held that the district court correctly determined that officers seized defendant without reasonable suspicion of criminal activity....

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978, which gives “horsemen’s groups” veto power over horse-racing simulcasts, trumps an Ohio state law that vests final simulcast approval authority with a state racing commission. Why does an Ohio horse racing case matter? Aside from a feel-good, philosophical no-man-is-an-island perspective, this case matters because the Sixth Circuit also has authority over federal cases arising out of Kentucky, home of Churchill Downs and the Derby....

Little Rock, the Arkansas town that has become the symbol of the 1960s integration movement, is once again in a heated battle over desegregation. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that the state of Arkansas cannot cut funding to mandated segregation programs in three Pulaski County school districts until a separate federal court hearing is held. A lower court had earlier ended most of the payments, siding with state lawmakers who believed that the school districts were delaying desegregation efforts in order to continue receiving state money....

Alan Gura, the attorney who argued some of this nation’s most groundbreaking modern gun cases including District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, made a personal request of Chief Justice Roberts. Unfortunately for Gura, the request was denied. The issue began last year over a section of a law that required persons to provide a good reason for carrying firearms in public streets in D.C. Alan Gura was not happy when a visiting judge from upstate New York issued an order against the city to stop enforcing the law....

This year, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hits the big 86, putting her even closer to hitting the record for oldest sitting Supreme Court Justice. In case you need the trivia answer, the oldest sitting Justice ever was Oliver Wendell Homes who was just a couple months shy of 91 years old when he stepped down in the early 1930s. But it’s no secret, here at FindLaw, we’re big fans of the Notorious RBG....

From legal ethics to negotiation, civil procedure to criminal law, law school undoubtedly teaches us a lot. The focus is generally on providing the best representation we can for our clients, from the initial consultation to arguments at trial. However, even though a court’s decision is the culmination of many types of cases, law schools rarely address how to draft a proposed order. So, whether you’re starting out in your first internship or it’s just been awhile, don’t panic....

Another tragic school shooting occurred late last month. In Oxford Township, Michigan, 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley allegedly shot 11 at his Oxford High School, killing four students and injuring six students and a teacher. In total, the teen is facing 24 charges, including first-degree murder and terrorism causing death. Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald is charging Crumbley as an adult. These developments likely come as a shock to no one. What is different about this case is that Crumbley’s parents are now joining him in jail in what could be a new legal strategy for trying to curb deadly incidents like this....

Although the majority of the internet world supported Microsoft’s efforts to quash the search warrant that sought to obtain data that was stored abroad, by the time the case made it to the Supreme Court, Congress had passed a new law that effectively decided the dispute. Curiously though, rather than let SCOTUS rule and affirm the warrant based on the newly passed law, a new warrant was issued and Microsoft just gave up, essentially forcing the hand of the Justices to dismiss for mootness, or, more colloquially, give the case the ole moot boot....

Here’s one lesson that should be added to the Oklahoma Drivers Ed. curriculum: When the police try to pull you over two blocks from your house, don’t drive home and hide in the bathroom. We recognize that teenagers are not known for outstanding judgment, so we almost expect such things to happen. Police officers, however, are presumed to have better judgment than 17-year-olds, which is why the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that police officers who kicked the door of Jose and Christina Mascorro’s house to extract their teenage, traffic-law-violating son in a warrantless search were not entitled to qualified immunity....

District court’s denial of a petition for habeas relief from a conviction for possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute is affirmed as the state court reasonably applied Strickland when it denied petitioner’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim regarding trial counsel based on the amended information. Read Northern v. Boatwright, No. 08-3272 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western Distirct of Wisconsin Decided January 29, 2010...

The economy continues to struggle, and the unemployment rate remains around 8.3 percent. It seems like the Obama administration would welcome new and inventive ways to put extra cash in Americans’ pockets. Instead, the Department of Justice (DOJ) wants the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to backtrack on a revenue stream that it approved in December. Last year, the Ninth Circuit ruled that people can legally sell blood stem cells, a critical component of bone marrow....