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In a set of consolidated cases, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granted some relief against a county mortuary employee who sexually abused dead bodies at the mortuary over a period of 25 years. The case against the county therefore centers around what Douglas’ supervisors knew or should have known. How much should they have known? Apparently, a lot. Douglas’ supervisor knew or should have known about his alcohol use because Douglas drank at work; he also knew that Douglas had sex with live women at the morgue, “something he apparently did with some frequency....

Aereo was an online service that rebroadcast over-the-air network programming over the Internet. That didn’t work out so well for them, especially once they reached the U.S. Supreme Court. But buried in that SCOTUS opinion was a nugget of hope: a DVR service. The Court explicitly noted that it was not ruling on whether Aereo’s DVR service, which stores user recordings of programs in the cloud, was legal. Of course, a DVR isn’t much good if there is no video to be recorded, so the company is also rebranding itself as an online cable company, hoping that the rebranding entitles them to a compulsory license on programming....

In an action for breach of contract and other related claims, district court’s grant of defendant’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is affirmed where defendant produced evidence that called into question plaintiff’s standing to sue, and in response, plaintiff brought forward no competent evidence to establish the court’s jurisdiction. Read Apex Digital, Inc. v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., No. 07-1019 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division....

On the battlefield that is women’s reproductive rights, women in Arizona scored a victory on Tuesday, when the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court’s denial of preliminary injunction. Now with a preliminary injunction in place, it remains to be seen whether the Arizona abortion pill law will withstand a challenge on the merits. At issue is Ariz. Rev. Stat § 36-449.03 and implementing regulation Ariz. Admin. Code § R9-10-1508(G), which provide that abortion pill RU-486 must be used only in accordance with its FDA label requirements (“on-label”)....

In a copyright infringement action, denial of defendant’s motion to dismiss for improper venue is affirmed where defendant would be subject to personal jurisdiction in the Northern District of California if that district were treated as a separate state, and thus venue was proper in that district. Read Brayton Purcell LLP v. Recordon & Recordon, No. 07-15383 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted October 21, 2008 Filed August 5, 2009 Judges...

Nigerian citizen’s petition for review of a denial of her application for cancellation of removal Champion v. Holder, 09-3065, concerned a Nigerian citizen’s petition for review of a BIA’s affirmance of an IJ’s denial of her application for cancellation of removal. In granting the petition, the court held that, although the BIA’s findings with respect to petitioner’s due process claims is affirmed as she had a full opportunity to present her case and the IJ did not consider improper information, the BIA’s decision is vacated and remanded because petitioner’s claim that the possibility of the deportation of the children’s father would constitute an extremely unusual hardship was not addressed....

In an action against the Army Corps of Engineers challenging the Corps’ grant of a permit to a mining company to discharge waste materials, summary judgment for Defendant is affirmed where the Corps, not the EPA, had the authority to permit the discharge, and the Corps’ interpretation of Clean Water Act regulations was entitled to deference. Read Coeur Alaska, Inc. v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, No. 07-984. Appellate Information Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit....

Sidewalk rage is a thing, and it is getting out of control, especially in big cities. In the workday rush, people can’t help but bump into each other. Too many people, too little sidewalk. Naturally, New York has given us a legal precedent for sidewalk rage in the United States. In Wright v. Musanti, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals explained when enough is enough. Manhattan Dame Jacqueline Musanti started it one day in Manhattan, where it happens all the time....

A federal district court in D.C. has held that the Department of Justice must release a memo it prepared regarding the release of the Mueller Report. On May 3, Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the DOJ to release a document requested by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (“CREW") under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. In Case You Forgot About the Mueller Report In 2019, Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered a detailed 448-page report to Congress regarding President Trump’s role in potential Russian interference with the 2016 election....

In a petition for review of the Forest Service’s determination not to undertake an environmental analysis of certain elk feed grounds, the denial of the petition is affirmed, where the Forest Service later undertook the requested analyses and thus the action was moot. Read Greater Yellowstone Coalition v. Tidwell, No. 07-8083 Appellate Information Filed July 10, 2009 Judges For Petitioners: Timothy J. Preso, Earthjustice, Bozeman, MT For Respondents: Robert H. Oakley, United States Department of Justice, Environmental & Natural Resources Division, Washington, DC...

If you’ve ever argued in federal court, you know that the judge is a gatekeeper who can make or break your case. So it’s not unusual that an attorney might feel that the judge is leaning towards or against a particular side. But removing a judge isn’t always an option. Recently, however, the Third Circuit considered claims that a judge was biased and had the judge removed from a case....

In an action claiming that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service’s denial to plaintiff of an “extraordinary ability” visa was arbitrary and capricious, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff’s internal review of students’ work failed to establish sustained national or international acclaim; 2) there was no evidence that plaintiff’s textbook had been adopted by any schools; 3) there was no evidence in the record that plaintiff’s scholarship was cited by others; and 4) lectures and conference presentations are not “artistic exhibitions or showcases” under 8 C....

The Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) case is officially over. Sure, you may have thought that the case ended when the Obama Administration certified the DADT repeal in September, (and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declared the issue moot), but the Log Cabin Republicans continued to litigate until this week. On Wednesday, the Ninth Circuit issued an order denying en banc rehearing in the case. The Log Cabin Republicans have indicated that they will not file further appeals in the case....

As Arizona prepares to argue its state immigration law, S.B. 1070, to the Supreme Court next week, state officials must be wondering if they’ll be asked to return to the Supreme Court next year to defend another law targeting illegal immigrants: Proposition 200. Tuesday, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an Arizona voter identification requirement, and struck down a proof of citizenship voter registration requirement, reports Reuters. Plaintiffs claimed that Proposition 200 disparately impacts Latino voters, unlawfully diluting their right to vote and denying them the right to vote by providing them with less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process....

Petitioner’s petition for review of the BIA’s order of removal is denied, where the BIA is permitted to provide notice of removal proceedings to an alien using a two-step process: 1) sending a Notice to Appear stating that the date and time of the hearing will be provided later; and 2) later sending notice of the date and time. Read Popa v. Holder, No. 05-76507 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted June 9, 2009...

In US v. Hines, No. 08-3255, the Seventh Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s imposition of a 168 months’ imprisonment on a defendant convicted of crack cocaine possesion and distribution. In vacating defendant’s sentence, the court concluded that the district court erred in inferring, without sufficient evidence presented by the prosecution, that defendant cooked into crack all 1.531 kilograms of powder that he bought to prove that he possessed at least 1....

President Trump has picked Noel Francisco to be his Solicitor General, the administration announced yesterday. The Solicitor General serves as the government’s voice in the Supreme Court, representing the federal government’s position before the Court. As such, the SG is often aptly referred to as the “Tenth Justice.” Francisco, a former Jones Day partner, is currently serving as acting solicitor general. His nomination to the permanent post should mark the end of the administration’s long, winding search for an SG....

The Wang v. Hearst case has been closely watched over the past several years as the courts worked to define when an unpaid internship violated the FLSA. As one of the major fashion media corporations, Hearst was upfront in seeking out the unpaid interns, but the case erupted after some of those interns felt that Hearst was getting the better end of the bargain. Unfortunately for the interns, the law surrounding unpaid internships is anything but certain....

A federal judge in New York has denied the request for a temporary injunction to reverse the temporary rule that unvaccinated children cannot attend school in Rockland County. The case stems from Rockland County’s response to the measles outbreak, which actually hit several towns within the county. Currently, the county is reporting 147 cases. The county, being cautious, issued a temporary order requiring unvaccinated children to stay home from school. However, the parents of unvaccinated children weren’t too happy about that, and filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn that order....

Conviction of defendants, known as the “Four Corner Hustlers” gang on the south side of Chicago, for drug conspiracy involving variety of illegal drugs and guns is affirmed as a review of the record leads to the conclusion that despite the large number of issues raised on appeal, by and large, the district court properly handled the case. Read US v. Are, No. 07-3246 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division...