In a dispute involving Medicaid benefits, district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants on plaintiff’s challenge to the State Medicaid Manual is affirmed where: 1) the court did not err in allowing defendants to rely on the State Medical Manual sec. 3259.7 in treating as income his monthly contribution of SSDI benefits to a Special Needs Trust in determining the extent of Medicaid benefits to which he was entitled, as SMM sec....
Copyright litigation over the iconic opening riff of Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” is at it again; will the plaintiffs’ dreams of a new trial be…denied? Wayne’s World references aside, this case is shaping up to be one of the longest-running copyright battles in recent history. Although the jury trial ended in 2016 with a verdict in favor of Led Zeppelin, a problem with the jury instructions revived the case in the 9th Circuit earlier this year....
Same-sex marriage: It’s the hottest legal topic out there, one that despite a bit of issue fatigue, we end up covering every single day because there is some fascinating legal development at hand. What’s the latest on the many gay marriage appeals? After the Fourth Circuit declined to issue a stay in the Bostic case, where that court ruled against Virginia’s gay marriage ban, state officials reached out to the U....
The stories of kids becoming emancipated from their parents are rather rare. In Hollywood, though, it is not uncommon for the young actors and actresses to seek emancipation. The reason young actors seek emancipation usually revolves around two main reasons: financial mismanagement of their earnings, and getting around child labor laws. While some of the stars below that were emancipated had the blessings of their parents, others sought their freedom over parental objections and ruined relationships....
Review of Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act Decision In Albina Engine & Machine v. Director, OWCP, No. 09-70592, a petition for review of a decision of the Benefits Review Board upholding the Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) ruling that petitioner was liable for payment of death benefits to claimant under the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA), the court granted the petition where, in LHWCA occupational disease cases involving multiple employers: 1) the 33 U....
What’s in a name? He who we call a plaintiff filing under a pseudonym would have as much right to bring a complaint, correct? The Third Circuit sayeth nay. On Monday, the Third Circuit upheld a Pennsylvania district court’s decision denying a plaintiff’s motion to proceed anonymously in a claim against public officials. In the case, John Doe v. Thomas Megless, John Doe’s claim originated with an email sent by officials from the Upper Merion Township School District and police to a distribution list of public officials and private citizens instructing them “if you see this person in or around the district schools, please contact the police....
FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. States are taking online consumer protection into their own hands given a perceived lack of sufficient protection at the federal level. Maine now has jumped in. Indeed, Janet Mills, the Governor of Maine, just signed into law arguably one of the strongest privacy bills in the country. This law, called the Act to Protect the Privacy of Online Consumer Information and which goes into effect on July 1, prohibits internet service providers from using, selling, or distributing data from consumers without obtaining their consent....
Equity partners at big law firms had a windfall in 2020. The Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor Index rose to a near-record high in Q4. Profits for equity partners increased by double digits. While demand slowed significantly early in the year, big law firms made up for it through increased rates and cuts to overhead, and by the end of the year, demand was back to near pre-pandemic levels. All signs point to another solid year of profits ahead....
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has proposed two new Second Circuit rules, and you have until April 11, 2012 to tell the court what you think of them. The new rules require disclosure of attorney assistance with court filings, and detail the procedure for appeals of district court attorney discipline orders. The second amendment to the Second Circuit rules is Local Rule 46.3, Appeal from District Court Attorney Disciplinary Order....
Just in time for the release of the third season of “Orange is the New Black,” the Ninth Circuit has decided an important case involving the governance of women’s prisons. If you’re a fan of the show, you’ll remember that last season, one female prisoner was impregnated by a guard. Such a plot point wouldn’t be possible were the show set in Washington state, where state law prevents male correctional officers from working in many positions in women’s prisons....
Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit ruled on a tax case that stemmed from the Virgin Islands district court. While this is a tax case, don’t worry – we won’t get into the heavy tax jargon in this post. But the U.S. Virgin Islands are U.S. territories which means that there is a little more U.S. oversight on the taxation of income there. The case dealt with largely jurisdictional issues, focusing on whether the Virgin Islands courts had jurisdiction on the tax matters at issue....
Most of us get our news in video form these days – whether via the nightly news, Facebook uploads, or snippets spotted in our Twitter feed. And video of a political candidate can be especially powerful, demonstrating their verbal acuity, persuasive rhetorical style, or, on the other hand, mental gaffes and slips of the tongue. Imagine how compelling video of President Donald Trump passionately proselytizing for Medicare for All would be....
Attorney James Mayock brought a suit against the Federal Agency claimed that USCIS had engaged in a “pattern and practice” of violating the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for well over several decades. The Ninth Circuit, however, found that Mayock failed to prove standing and that the case was actually moot. Applying Precedent The Ninth Circuit applied the SCOTUS case of Kokken v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., reasoning that since the district court did not have jurisdiction over the prior 1992 lawsuit agreement, it had no power to enforce the terms of the agreement in 2009....
More than a decade ago, Google announced what, at the time, seemed like an unbelievably ambitious extension of Google Print: it would create a massive online library of 15,000,000 digitally scanned books. We all know now, however, not to underestimate Google. The project did raise the ire of a number of copyright holders and lawyers who claimed the project was a massive copyright violation and two suits followed. Well, the Second Circuit just sided with Google and ruled that the Google Books Library Project had met all the elements of “fair use....
A Serbian refugee who lied to immigration officials cannot be stripped of her American citizenship because her lie was immaterial, the U.S. Supreme Court said. “We have never read a statute to strip citizenship from someone who met the legal criteria for acquiring it,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in Maslenjak v. United States. “We will not start now.” The case involved one naturalized citizen, but it marks another setback to the Trump administration’s policies against immigrants....
Once in a while you come across a case that brings you back to your first year of law school contracts class. Earlier this month, the Eighth Circuit took us down memory lane when it decided a contracts case, which dealt with the fundamental issue of whether a contract was even formed. Offer and acceptance, condition precedents and the parol evidence rule are just some of the fundamental contract principles that this case touches upon....
San Diego is the latest city to raise the local minimum wage and outline obligatory accrual of sick leave for employees. The change will take effect as soon as July of this year, JD Supra reports, but won’t apply retroactively. The measure will gradually increase the minimum wage for workers in San Diego, and provide much-needed sick leave. As soon as it takes effect, employees will see a 50 cent bump in hourly wages to $10....
OK, you might want to settle in because this is a little complicated. It’s a story about childhood friends and childhood pets. And when one childhood friend steals the other’s pet. Only the one childhood friend is Mila Kunis. And the pet is a chicken named Doggie. And the other is a budding music star with a new video. And this all happened 25 years ago in Ukraine. And yes, of course, a childhood friend is suing Mila Kunis for stealing her pet chicken Doggie....
In Equal Employment Opportunity Comm’n v. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & Sch., No. 09-1134, the court faced a challenge to the district court’s dismissal of a teacher’s employment discrimination suit on the grounds that the court could not inquire into the teacher’s claims of retaliation because they fell within the ministerial exception to the ADA. As stated in the decision: “In all, the record supports the district court’s finding that activities devoted to religion consumed approximately forty-five minutes of the seven hour school day....
Pedro Vega was convicted in 2002 of molesting his stepdaughter. Prior to that conviction, he had escaped criminal charges twice: A federal case was dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, and state charges were dismissed as well. After new allegations by the victim came to light, the state brought charges again. Even then, there were two mistrials, including one caused by his attorney’s absence, before he was finally convicted. Three sets of charges....
