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In an ERISA benefit plan case, judgment reducing an award of plaintiff’s attorney’s fees on grounds that it was disproportionate to the damages claimed is reversed and remanded where, in the context of comparison between a plaintiff’s damages and his attorney’s fees, the notion that the fees must be calculated proportionally to damages is rejected. Read Anderson v. AB Painting and Sandblasting, No. 08-2102 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division....

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11 to 9 this morning to advance Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the full Senate. That vote split down party lines, much as the full Senate vote is likely to split as well. That puts the Senate on track for a messy filibuster showdown and a heated debate in the days ahead. Here’s what you can expect. Senate Republicans had enough votes to get Gorsuch easily through the Judiciary Committee, but they’ll need eight Democrats to join their ranks if they want to approve Gorsuch without a filibuster....

Purdue Pharma, which made $3 billion in 2017 alone selling drugs that include the opioid Oxycontin, will declare bankruptcy as part of a potential settlement covering hundreds of lawsuits against the company. The announcement also comes amid allegations that the Sackler family – who own Purdue – used Swiss bank accounts to transfer $1 billion from the company to personal accounts to avoid its seizure in court. So, what does the settlement and bankruptcy filing mean for people who have sued over opioid addictions or deaths?...

So you want to buy the bittersweet memories of your favorite celebrity couple? No problem. Although you might think that a celebrity split would be good for a realtor’s business, it turns out that is not quite right. “We’ve noticed a number of celebrity homes linger on the market and even get their price slashed or sell below asking price,” writes Lisa Davis of realtor.com. Going Nowhere Fast Unhampered by the financial concerns of mere mortals, divorcing celebrities are in a hurry to move on....

US v. Lee, 08-4427, concerned a challenge to a defendant’s conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentence as a career offender to 120 months’ imprisonment. The court affirmed the judgment of the district court for the most part but vacated and remanded the sentence for resentencing. In affirming in part, the court held that defendant is not entitled to a new trial on a rifle charge as all of the Pelullo factors indicate that there was no prejudicial spillover from the pistol charge to the rifle charge....

Article II of the U.S. Constitution states that the person receiving the most votes in the Electoral College becomes president. It doesn’t say much about how the voting process should take place. So, in 1887, following a disputed presidential election, Congress created one that worked, more or less, for more than a century. On January 6, 2021, we saw the process’s shortcomings first-hand. To prevent electoral chaos from erupting again, Congress is considering reforms in a bill entitled, “the Electoral Count Reform Act of 2022....

Judge Thomas Ambro joined the Third Circuit in 1999, as a Clinton appointee. A graduate of Georgetown University for both undergrad and law school, he previously worked in the law firm of Richards, Layton & Finger for 34 years. In private practice, Ambro focused on bankruptcy and business law. On the bench, he has become a reliable voice for liberalism on a wide range of social and civil rights issues....

Over adamant opposition from federal courts, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday, December 8, to make it easier for the public to immediately access court filings online at no cost. The public can currently access electronic court documents through Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER). However, to use the service, you must register as either a lawyer or a reporter to access court records that you are not a party to....

Another interesting election law decision out of the nation’s heartland. Is it just me, or is this an especially litigious year? The Kansas Supreme Court on Thursday granted a Democratic U.S. Senate candidate’s wish, letting him off the ballot over the protestations of Republican Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Yes, we know, usually ballot access battles are fought to get on the ballot. So why was Chad Taylor so desperate to get off the ballot?...

Waylon Jennings had a healthy respect for the legal profession, advising mothers to guide their children to the law or medicine, as opposed to picking guitars and driving them old trucks. But it seems modern day defendants have no such reverence for their counsel, and the scourge of lawyer punching spreads unabated across our nation’s courtrooms. Just one month since an Ohio man punched his attorney’s face (and bit his butt) after receiving a 47-year sentence, a Florida man punched a public defender in the head, leading to a rule change requiring all first-appearance defendants in a Broward courtroom to be handcuffed....

We still don’t know all there is to know about the horrific child sex abuse and cover-ups that have taken place in Catholic dioceses across the United States. While thousands of victims have been able to claim compensation and some measure of justice for the trauma they endured, many more have been locked out of the process, due to statutes of limitation. That began to change in 2019, as several states passed “lookback window” laws, giving people a new opportunity to take legal action against individual priests and dioceses....

We’ll be getting a Supreme Court nominee a little earlier than expected, it turns out. This morning, President Donald Trump tweeted that he’ll be announcing his Supreme Court pick tomorrow night, a few days ahead of the previously scheduled reveal. (Maybe to distract from something, perhaps?) Trump’s list has been narrowed down to three people, according to insiders: Neil Gorsuch, of the Tenth Circuit, Thomas Hardiman, of the Third, and William Pryor, of the Eleventh....

In an action to recover insurance proceeds arising out of a car accident, the district court’s award of attorney’s fees to plaintiff under Montana law is affirmed where Montana law clearly held that insureds who were forced to sue their insurers to obtain their bargained-for insurance benefits were entitled to attorney’s fees. Read Riordan v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., No. 08-35874 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted July 7, 2009...

The Supreme Court will not review a controversial California law that allows the state to essentially take unclaimed property after three years, though Justice Samuel Alito did at least warn that the law raised serious constitutional issues that could come before the Court in the future. California’s escheat law has gotten progressively more onerous over time in almost lock step with the state’s ever increasing revenue crisis that had only recently come under control during Gov....

A recently rejected petition for cert. filed by President Trump’s go-to defamation lawyer sought to force Yelp to take down a review that a California court had initially ordered to be taken down, before the California Supreme Court ruled otherwise. And now SCOTUS will let that ruling stand. The ruling is big news for internet companies as the petition sought to challenge the federal immunity granted to online platforms for what their users publish....

A Ninth Circuit panel ruled on Tuesday that it’s no big deal for an undercover agent to walk into a suspect’s home with a hidden camera to record an illegal transaction, as long as the agent was invited. The appellate court based its decision on the Supreme Court’s 1966 Hoffa v. U.S. opinion, holding that the Fourth Amendment’s protection does not extend to information that a person voluntarily exposes to a government agent, including an undercover agent....

Just like the verse-chorus-verse structure of classic pop music, federal litigation follows a predictable formula, one that courts don’t like litigants rearranging. This point was highlighted in a recent kerfuffle between two karaoke companies, Slep-Tone and Karaoke Kandy Store. Not only were these two out of pitch with each other – Slep-Tone accused Karaoke Kandy Store of trademark violations – they could not get into beat with the courts, as the Sixth Circuit was forced to stay Slep-Tone’s appeal for coming in before its cue....

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a civil rights lawsuit against Fairborn, Ohio this week, finding that plaintiffs could proceed with their claim against the city for infringing on their free speech rights at the annual Sweet Corn Festival. Plaintiffs Bays and Skelly are Christians who seek to publicly convey their religious beliefs by speaking, preaching, distributing literature, and displaying signs. They went to the Sweet Corn Festival in 2009 to express their religious views....

Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted in 2021 of murdering George Floyd, just received a federal prison sentence of 21 years after pleading guilty to civil rights violations. Chauvin was due to stand trial in federal court before accepting a plea deal in late 2021. This is in addition to already receiving a 22-and-a-half-year sentence in a highly-watched trial in Minnesota state court last year. This post will look at the separate nature of the charges Chauvin faced in federal court....

Since the birth in 1978 of Louise Brown, the world’s first “test-tube baby,” millions of other infants have been conceived through assisted reproduction techniques. Today, about 2% of births in the U.S. result from assisted reproductive technology, and the fertility industry generates about $8 billion in revenues annually. However, after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 24 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization paved the way for states to ban or heavily restrict abortion, the fertility industry’s future is cloudy....