Posts

If it seems like you’ve been hearing about a lot of product recalls this year, you’re not imagining things. Companies recalled more than 1 billion product units in the U.S. by mid-August, the earliest date that milestone has been reached in a calendar year, and an all-time recall record appears certain for 2022. Those are the findings in a quarterly product recall index compiled by the insurance company Sedgwick. The report notes that recalls only reached the 1 billion mark twice before, in 2018 and 2021, when it took far later in the year to hit that number....

Cannabis laws have been changing rapidly in states around the country. But there is still a gap between legislation and life, with some states struggling to sort out implementation of their medical marijuana programs. In theory, these places have programs that allow qualified patients to obtain medical marijuana legally and without threat of prosecution. In reality, dispensaries are highly regulated and patients in these seven states still face major obstacles to obtaining prescription cannabis, according to Rolling Stone....

Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court has shaken out like none other before it. Despite the pop culture protests and multiple allegations of sexual assault, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted, along strict partisan lines, to advance the confirmation vote to the full Senate. For those who watched Kavanaugh and Ford’s testimony, the differences were both shocking and subtle. The amount of attention Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing has attracted is unprecedented....

It’s been a busy early week on First Street, with the Court denying a case that affects anyone who purchases anything on the Internet, and with oral arguments in a frequent flyer dispute. There were also a pair of decisions handed down by the Court in less exciting matters, namely taxation of partnerships and forum selection clauses in contract. We’re going to play a hunch here and guess that the vast majority of you are more interested in whether you’ll pay tax on that online purchase, or whether you can get booted from a frequent flyer program without compensation (and with thousands of miles in your account) and we’ll get back to the Court’s less exciting opinions later this week....

In an action claiming that a state’s practice of disapproving insurance policies with clauses vesting discretion in insurers violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), summary judgment for defendant-state insurance commissioner is affirmed where: 1) the state’s bar on discretionary clauses addresses an insurance-specific problem, because discretionary clauses generally do not exist outside of insurance plans; and 2) the commissioner’s practice merely alters the terms by which the presence or absence of the insured contingency is determined; and 3) thus, the state regulatory scheme was saved from preemption under 29 U....

“In 2008, Plaintiff, a legally blind child with cerebral palsy and cognitive delays, was severely injured while skiing at Breckenridge Ski Resort in Colorado.' As anyone who has ever skied on a crowded mountain will testify, collisions happen. Indeed, a collision happened here (twice, technically), when a third party hit the tethers – releasing the bi-ski on a dangerous plunge down the mountainside and into a tree. In retrospect, putting a legally blind child with cerebral palsy on skis attached to ropes may have been unwise....

There always seems to be a holiday right around the corner. And for employers, holidays can mean big business, or sometimes no business at all. But one common issue many small business struggle with is vacation and pay issues surrounding holidays, and particularly religious holidays. Below, you can read about five of the most frequently asked questions, and answers. Legal to Force Employees to Work Holidays? Generally, yes, it is legal to make employees work holidays....

“The right to bear arms includes the right to carry an operable firearm outside the home for the lawful purpose of self-defense.” We repeat: what? How does the left-leaning Ninth Circuit rule in favor of concealed carry, while other circuits, including the semi-conservative 4th Circuit, go the other way? The majority, penned by Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain, much like the Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller, read 19th century cases, and interpreted “bear arms” to mean a right to carry, in some manner, firearms outside of one’s home....

US v. Pineda-Buenaventura, 09-1500, concerned prosecutions of four defendants for their involvement in a large cocaine distribution. The court vacated a defendant’s sentence and remanded for resentencing as the district court’s drug quantity findings did not support the sentence he received. The court vacated a co-defendant’s conviction because his plea colloquy did not satisfy the requirements of Rule 11. However, the district court’s denial of third co-defendant’s motion to suppress is affirmed as he and his co-tenants gave valid consent to search his apartment....

Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that secured a woman’s right to have an abortion (within certain parameters) was decided in 1973. But the Title X Family Planning Program, which provides federal funding for community-based clinics specializing in contraceptive services, related counseling, and other preventive family health services, preceded that decision by three years. Now, almost 50 years later, an estimated four million people rely on affordable birth control and other reproductive health care services funded by Title X, and many are wondering whether Roe will survive a new conservative majority on the Supreme Court....

“What is the objection to polygamy?” “The argument you’re making is exactly what was rejected in Loving.” “Do you want kids adopted by homosexual parents to be worse off?” “How? How does it hurt heterosexual marriage? How does it hurt children?” The questions came fast and furious from all three judges today, and neither side of the arguments in Wolf v. Walker, a Wisconsin same-sex marriage case, and Baskin v. Bogan, Indiana’s counterpart, was let off the hook, despite same-sex marriage advocates striking the lottery with the panel assignment....

FindLaw’s “SCOTUS Week” is coming to a close – but wait, what’s that? Overtime? Extra innings? Exactly, and you have the Ninth Circuit to thank for the bonus coverage. Why? Because the Ninth Circuit has nine cases on the Supreme Court’s docket so far – one of which, Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk, has already been argued and blogged about on our In House blog. What about the other eight? Here’s Part 1 of our Ninth Circuit SCOTUS preview:...

In a breach of contract action arising out of a commission agreement entered into by the parties, judgment for plaintiff is affirmed where: 1) the affirmative defense of waiver of breach by acceptance of benefits did not apply; 2) the agreement was unambiguous in its treatment of different accounts as separate, and thus the district court did not need to submit the issue of severability to the jury; 3) the district court properly awarded plaintiff prejudgment interest because a method existed for calculating plaintiff’s damages at the time of the loss; and 4) fee awards based in part on a contingency agreement are permissible under Arkansas law....

In an action claiming that defendant-state violated the Medicaid Act by awarding a managed health care contract to plaintiff’s competitors, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where 42 U.S.C. section 1396b(m) does not confer a federal right to contract eligibility on plaintiff that could be remedied under Section 1983. Read AlohaCare v. Hawaii, No. 08-16589 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted May 15, 2009 Filed July 14, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Bybee...

Moving into a new apartment can be exciting, but it can also be stressful. Preparing as much as possible helps keep stress to a minimum, but sometimes factors outside of your control make the moving-in process more complicated. If you are moving into a new apartment, chances are you are moving in at a time you and your landlord agreed on, so what should you do if the apartment is not ready on the move-in date?...

US v. Millard-Grasshorn, No. 09-2825, concerned defendant’s appeal from the district court’s order finding defendant mentally incompetent and committing him to the custody of the Attorney General under 18 U.S.C. section 4241(d) for a determination of whether his competency can be restored. The Eighth Circuit affirmed on the ground that the magistrate judge did not initially commit defendant under section 4241(d), and therefore the court’s later order was the first judicial determination of incompetency, and commitment under section 4241(d) was accordingly required by the statute....

Law firms are naturally reticent to change. That means a real push for diversity in the legal profession requires more than good intentions. It takes a concerted effort and actionable steps to jar firms out of the status quo. Toward that end, in January of 2019, 170 general counsel signed an open letter to law firms stating that they would prioritize legal spend on firms that included a diverse lawyer workforce....

The Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller merger, aka the Budweiser-Miller merger, has been approved and the most recent legal challenge denied. As the Ninth Circuit explained, the lawsuit, brought by “a bevy of beer aficionados trying to undo the acquisition of one brewing behemoth by another” failed to “belly up to the bar.” As far as quotes from the appellate court’s decision, that’s about as good as it gets. Unfortunately, the court’s great quotes mean that the “beer aficionados” lost....

Is the lack of a Chick-fil-A restaurant at the San Antonio International Airport a concrete, particularized injury sufficient to grant would-be customers standing to sue? We do not know yet, but Texas courts may have to grapple with that question. In 2019, the San Antonio City Council was tasked with approving an agreement allowing a concessionaire to contract with various vendors, including Chick-fil-A, who would operate at the San Antonio International Airport....

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) doesn’t have to release a photo of an alleged al-Qaida operative following a session of enhanced interrogation techniques (EIT), reports The Associated Press. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) originally sued the CIA in 2004 to uncover details of secret overseas prisons and interrogation methods. In March, the ACLU asked the Second Circuit to order the CIA to release a photo of suspected al-Qaida financier Abu Zubaydah and disclose records detailing waterboarding interrogation methods used against terrorism suspects in 2002, reports Reuters....