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A federal judge who undermined and insulted defense counsel in front of the jury and provided off-the-cuff, erroneous jury instructions has won the attorney’s client a new trial. The Sixth Circuit ruled last week that a judge for the Eastern District of Michigan demonstrated such “outright bias and belittling of counsel” that the defendant was denied an impartial trial. When counsel for Reginald Daniels, accused of being a felon in possession of a firearm, attempted to show that Daniels had not been in possession of a gun and that police had searched his home without a warrant, he was continuously and repeatedly interrupted by the judge, who accused him of distracting jurors, lying, and needing to “shut up....

In a putative class action lawsuit filed by an inmate against a county sheriff alleging several First Amendment violations and violations of Indianan law in a county jail, dismissal of the suit as moot on the ground that plaintiff was transferred out of the county jail before class certification is reversed and remanded as this case fits within the exception to the mootness doctrine carved out for inherently transitory cases. Read Olson v....

What is the purpose of Medicaid? That was the heart of a question before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals regarding whether federal law allows states to implement work requirements for some Medicaid enrollees. The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began allowing states to implement work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries in 2018. Under these “demonstration” programs, states could petition the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary to waive Medicaid minimum coverage requirements, provided the state engaged in a program that “promotes the objectives” of Medicaid....

The reclusive world of Ohio’s Amish community became a little less reclusive in 2011, after 16 members of a breakaway Amish sect ambushed their neighbors at night, cutting off their beards. The beard cutting was designed to humiliate its victims, excommunicated members of the small Amish community in Bergholz, Ohio. The ten men and six women behind the attacks were convicted almost four years ago, though the Sixth Circuit reversed their federal hate crimes convictions in 2014, resulting in significantly reduced sentences....

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted the petition to hear arguments in the United States v. Microsoft case, which is the biggest digital privacy case of the term. The question being presented to the High Court is as follows: Basically, the government is making one last final effort in the fight to force Microsoft to turn over information stored on foreign soil via a valid search warrant issued by a U....

If you watched the 2004 Super Bowl, then you know where the word “wardrobe malfunction” came from. Friday, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal involving that wardrobe malfunction, reports Reuters. Last April, the Federal Communications Commission filed a writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court, requesting the high court to review the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decision that the FCC-imposed sanctions on CBS were improper. Let’s take you down memory lane: Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake performed during the halftime show in the 2004 Superbowl....

Judgment Allowing Watershed District Access to Private Property Affirmed In The Minch Family LLLP v. Buffalo-Red River Watershed Dist., No. 09-3223, an action claiming that the Buffalo-Red River Watershed District (BRRWD) exceeded the scope of a judge’s order authorizing the BRRWD to “clean out” or remove accumulated silt and topsoil from a ditch running next to a road along the length of one of plaintiffs’ fields, the court affirmed judgment on the pleadings for defendants where the plain meaning and clear import of the state court’s order was to allow BRRWD access to not only plaintiffs’ ditch, but also to the surrounding area necessary to conduct the clean-out....

Defendant’s conviction for producing child pornography is affirmed where: 1) there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict that defendant produced child pornography; 2) district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to instruct the jury that knowledge of the victim’s age is an element of section 2251(a); 3) district court did not err in ruling that defendant could not raise his lack of knowledge of the boy’s age as an affirmative defense; and 4) defendant’s argument that section 2251(a) exceeds Congress’s authority under the Commerce Clause is without merit....

Moving company’s suit against a school district for unjust enrichment barred Wayne Moving & Storage of New Jersey, Inc. v. Sch. Dist. of Philadelphia, 09-3890, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment and an award of $830,071.18 plus interest, in plaintiff’s suit against a school district under a theory of unjust enrichment for unpaid moving services. Related Link: Read the Third Circuit’s Full Decision in Wayne Moving & Storage of New Jersey, Inc....

‘Anchors aweigh!’ It’s the march song of the United States Navy and also a call to sailors that a ship is underway. But even as anchors clear the sea bottom, maneuvers begin above like a ballet in a foreign language. On a classic sailboat, deck hands make halyards whir, winches whine and blocks groan. The only meaningful word to unschooled passengers is “boom.” In the vernacular, that’s what happened to Charis Tagle aboard the schooner Shearwater....

In honor of Halloween, we’re looking at a Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals blast-from-the-past that examines Halloween decorations, free speech rights, and the legal consequences at the cross-section of the two. After Hurricane Katrina, there was an evacuee who parked his camper outside of our house for two months. Neighborhood rules prohibited recreational vehicle parking of that variety on the street, but no one wanted to report him because he had just lost his home in the storm....

Sponsored stories: where Facebook publishes a user’s “like” of an item without their permission to others, without compensation, notification, or an ability to opt-out. The short story: a lawsuit ensued, a settlement was reached, that settlement was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg (who also heard the previous Facebook privacy class action), as the proposed amounts were “plucked out of thin air,” and then, once again, a settlement was reached....

Who leaked footage of the upcoming season of Doctor Who, the famous science fiction television series? That’s what the producers want to know, and they have filed suit to find out. The leak is significant, the trades say, because it is the first season to star a female Doctor. If you don’t know who is Doctor Who, that’s probably because it’s a British production. In any case, it will soon be airing in an American court near you....

They’re loud, they pollute, and they serve little practical purpose. We are speaking of gas-powered leaf blowers and the mystery of why we allow them to exist. But if you are among the legions who despise these contraptions, take heart. More and more cities – at least 100 of them, according to the Audubon Society – have banned them or are restricting their use, and now the biggest state in the union has decided to ban them outright....

Defendant Jason Jones, a/k/a Peek-A-Boo, plead guilty (without a plea agreement), to violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), “being a felon in possession of a firearm.” He had four prior burglary convictions, three of which he committed when he was only seventeen years old. The ACAA requires that anyone with three prior convictions for a violent felony “shall be…imprisoned not less than fifteen years.” Jones argued that the three prior burglary convictions should not be considered in applying 18 U....

Petition for writ of habeas corpus is denied where: 1) the disputed testimony about whether petitioner was living at the home where the death occurred had no effect on petitioner’s first-degree murder conviction and no other actual or potential consequence has been identified; and 2) petitioner has not shown any potential benefit from further proceedings reviewing only his home invasion conviction. Read Cheeks v. Gaetz, No. 05-3372 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division....

This past summer saw the latest wave of litigation against the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies in response to the continued flood of opioids plaguing numerous American communities. As with previous years, the 2021 cases are settling, with various state and local governments taking corporate money in lieu of prosecution. A small silver lining may be that at least some Native Americans are getting a sliver of reparation, if not their day in court....

Dina Eastwood has filed for divorce. The papers were filed Tuesday in Monterey County, California, by the soon-to-be ex-wife of Clint Eastwood, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Eastwoods have been married since 1996, and after almost two decades of being together, Dina, 48, had filed for a legal separation in September. That was around the same time that Clint, 83, was photographed with a new girlfriend. But Dina’s legal separation filing was quickly withdrawn, and now divorce papers have been filed....

It’s bad enough to lose a case, but when the court is upset with your attorney, it’s worse. That’s what happened in Cortes v. 21st Century Fox America. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals did more than rule against the appellant; it set a hearing for monetary sanctions against his attorney. The appeals court said the claims were “irrelevant, absurd, and/or scurrilous.” The only thing that could make things worse is if it ended up on television....

In a medical malpractice action brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) the court did not abuse its decision in allowing certain expert testimony as there was no evidence that plaintiff was unduly prejudiced by an unannounced review of x-rays by the expert; and 2) the court did not err in its evaluation of witness credibility and in crediting the witness’ opinions as to the propriety of the care that plaintiff received....