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In a murder prosecution, the denial of petitioner’s habeas petition alleging ineffective assistance of counsel is affirmed where: 1) it was not ineffective assistance to fail to raise a Fourth Amendment claim challenging a show-up, which involved exigent circumstances and, based on the totality of the circumstances, was reasonable; and 2) similarly, it was not ineffective assistance to fail to challenge petitioner’s subsequent confession as the fruit of the show-up where there was an insufficient showing that the show-up was unconstitutional....

Many recent claims of stolen art relate back to Nazi-looted art during World War II – but not all cases. Many countries, the likes of Turkey and Egypt, with rich cultural heritages are often challenged with the reality of stolen antiquities, and the difficult legal maneuverings needed to repatriate artifacts. The most recent case involves the Mask of Ka-Nefer-Nefer, but was decided on a procedural technicality that has the Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mohamed Ibrahim very upset....

The Supreme Court’s latest orders list is out, with three very interesting grants. First, what happens to a convict’s guns? Can a court order them transferred or sold to a buyer of the convict’s choice? Second, can a Batson issue be dealt with ex parte? And in the third grant, the Court explores the possibility of a facial challenge to a hotel records law under the Fourth Amendment. In other news: The Court let another state voting law stay in effect, this time in Texas, in the strongest test of the Purcell v....

In a breach of contract class action involving homeowner’s insurance premiums, district court’s grant of defendant’s motion to dismiss is reversed in part where: 1) the court properly dismissed a claim under New York Insurance Law sec. 3425.5 as the conditional notice requirements of the statute were not triggered; 2) the court erred in dismissing plaintiff’s breach of contract action as defendant’s explanation for the increase in his coverage amounts and premiums does not resolve the ambiguity of the terms in the policy and does not adequately refute plaintiff’s claim that the increases were not based on current costs and values, and thus plaintiff has met the standard necessary to resist the motion to dismiss; 3) the voluntary payment doctrine cannot stand as an alternate basis for dismissal of plaintiff’s claim; and 4) the court properly dismissed plaintiff’s deceptive business practices claim under New York General Business Law sec....

Now we’re getting to the good stuff. Last week, we helped your insomnia by recapping the juice man’s juiceless juice and incomprehensible cross-ideological splits – not the sort of stuff that anyone but SCOTUS diehards can sit through without being rendered unconscious through boredom. Fortunately, Monday has arrived, and with it, a questionable gun straw-purchaser holding, an opinion that will allow Ohio’s terrible political speech restriction to be challenged, and maybe, just maybe, the collapse of a nation’s economy thanks to SCOTUS and Wall Street vultures creditors....

Most people come face-to-face with the law through traffic court. In Tennessee, about 291,000 may see an about-face in their traffic cases. A trial judge has ruled the state can no longer revoke drivers licenses of people who cannot afford to pay their fines. Judge Aleta Trauger has enjoined officials from enforcing license revocation laws. She also opened the door for hundreds of thousands of drivers to get their licenses back....

In an action brought under the Labor Management Relations Act and ERISA, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) the court did not err in admitting the audit report into evidence, as the report was not inadmissible hearsay; 2) the court properly allowed the the auditor’s employee to testify about the report as he was qualified to lay a foundation for the admission of the report; and 3) the court’s properly denied plaintiff’s request to recover their auditors’ fees, as plaintiff’s did not meet the burden of showing that the requested costs were necessarily incurred and reasonable....

US v. Dupree, 09-3391, concerned a challenge to the district court’s denial of the government’s motion for reconsideration of its holding that defendant had been seized without reasonable suspicion, in a prosecution of a defendant for possession of a firearm by a felon. In affirming the judgment, the court held that, because the government has made no attempt to show good cause, it waived its policy argument that the district court should not have applied the exclusionary rule to suppress defendant’s firearm....

Sentence for drug crimes is vacated where: 1) two defendants were entitled to a remand for resentencing in light of Kimbrough as no congressional directive prohibited the district court from considering defendants’ sentencing argument based on the crack/powder disparity affecting career offenders convicted of drug conspiracy offenses under 21 U.S.C. sec. 846; and 2) another defendant is granted a limited remand at which the district court should indicate whether it would have sentenced him differently had it known of its discretion under Kimbrough....

District court’s imposition of an enhanced offense level on a defendant in holding that he is a career offender, convicted of drug trafficking and related crimes, is affirmed but on alternate ground that defendant’s prior conviction for resisting arrest, a categorical crime of violence, provided the second predicate offense to his designation as a career offender. Read US v. Stinson, No. 08-1717 Appellate Information On Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania...

District court judgment granting plaintiff’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a case involving an application for discharge as a conscientious objector is affirmed where: 1) in the event that Department of the Army Conscientious Objector Review Board does not provide an adequate statement of the reasons for its denial of a conscientious objector application, a district court must remand to the Army for a statement of reasons unless such remand would be utterly futile; and 2) the record contains no basis in fact to support the denial of plaintiff’s application for discharge as a conscientious objector and thus remand to the DACORB for an adequate statement of reasons would be futile....

Goodbye presidential campaign, hello interpersonal drama, client hookups, and legal wrangling. With Peter’s bid for the White House officially over, we return to the courtroom, conference rooms, and Alicia’s living room to tackle the important issues of the day: whether Alicia can keep running her mini-firm out of her apartment, whether she’ll ever forgive Eli, and whether “Good Morning, Magic Sunshine” sounds too much like “Moony Moonkykins.” Here’s what you need to know about the legal issues in last night’s episode, entitled “Tracks....

A teacher from Rock Hill can have her retaliation lawsuit go forward, ruled the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. This retaliation lawsuit was brought by the schoolteacher against a former superintendent, reports The Ironton Tribune. In addition to claims of retaliation, the teacher also brought claims of violation of free speech, which were dismissed by the lower courts. The teacher, Joy McComas, spoke up to protect her daughter from school bullying and as a result, McComas claims she became a victim of bullying herself, by then-superintendent Lloyd Evans....

Here’s one way to solve the problems with Hobby Lobby: All the health insurance companies in the country can agree that they won’t sell any insurance policy that doesn’t contain contraceptive coverage. That’s sort of what happened in Annex Medical v. Burwell. Annex is a small corporation with 16 full-time employees. Its controlling shareholder, Stuart Lind, has a religious objection to providing contraception to female employees as part of a health insurance plan....

In June 2008, a three-alarm fire ripped through the back lot of Universal Studios Hollywood, razing street sets, a video vault, and the King Kong attraction. It took over 500 firefighters more than 12 hours to extinguish the blaze. At the time, Universal downplayed the damage: “Nothing irreplaceable was lost,” said Universal president Ron Meyer. “We have duplicates of everything that was lost.” But according to a recent New York Times Magazine report, the damage was far, far greater....

Since 1976, every president has issued a national decree designating February as Black History Month to recognize the central role of the U.S.’s Black population in its history. Black History Month is more than a celebration. It is also the time to reflect on the continued struggle for racial justice in the country. How Did Black History Month Start? Black History Month was first conceived when Carter G. Woodson, a historian who received his Ph....

The family of a teenager with autism won an undisclosed amount of money for legal fees and tuition at a private school from the Moorestown Board of Education, which represents a New Jersey school district, after a settlement was reached in court-ordered mediation, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals had ordered mediation between the family and the school district after the district appealed its loss in a federal District Court....

In Byrne v. Rutledge, No. 07-4375, an action alleging that Vermont’s denial of plaintiff’s requested vanity license plate, on the grounds that it contained a religious message in violation of state law prohibiting such messages on vanity license plates, violated the Free Speech Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, and the Due Process Clause, the court reversed summary judgment for defendant where Vermont’s ban on all vanity plate combinations that “refer, in any language, to a … religion” or “deity” constituted unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination....

Courts recognize the distinction between causation and coincidence in employment retaliation claims. The distinction rarely favors plaintiffs. This week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld summary judgment dismissing a worker’s compensation retaliation claim against FedEx Freight, finding that the former employee failed to assert a genuine issue of material fact. Marion Gordon suffered an on-the-job injury at one of FedEx’s service centers in 2008. The following day, two FedEx managers made the decision to terminate Gordon’s position....

Jack Daniel may have to make room at the bar, following an appeals court ruling. The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said that Tennessee’s liquor license requirement unlawfully discriminates against out-of-towners. The two-year residency requirement is unconstitutional, the court said in Byrd v. Tennessee Wine and Spirits Association. That was good news for two companies that sued to do business in the state. For Jack Daniel’s whiskey or Tennessee bourbon, not so much....