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One of the most visible disruptions to everyday life in America because of the COVID-19 pandemic has been in professional sports. Once one of the most popular ways to escape for a few hours, watching live sports now bombards you with pandemic-related images: masked coaches, fake crowd noise, and empty stands. But beyond the symbolic role that professional and college sports play in American life, leagues and teams are businesses, and the pandemic is causing them huge losses as well....

If you plan on seeing a movie because you liked the trailer, make sure you watch the movie carefully. You may be able to sue the movie studio if it turns out that a favorite actor or scene from the trailer is cut from the film. ‘Yesterday’ In the 2019 Richard Curtis rom-com “Yesterday,” Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a singer-songwriter whose career, despite the unconditional support of his childhood friend and manager, Ellie Appleton (Lily James), is in the dumps....

If you somehow happened to miss the blockbuster documentary about the Supreme Court’s most celebrated justice, RBG, you’re in luck, maybe. The new biopic about Justice Ginsburg chronicling her pre-SCOTUS justice life as an advocate for women’s rights, is set to release this year on Christmas Day. This week, the trailer for “On the Basis of Sex” was released. As some outlets are reporting, the biopic fictionalizes and sensationalizes Justice Ginsburg akin to prior companion biopics, and features “ragingly hot Hollywood stars....

In a decision that will outrage many, the Seventh Circuit has affirmed a lower court decision to dismiss the case Silha v. ACT, Inc. for lack of standing. The court ruled that the sale of students’ personal information alone is not an injury by itself. The case involves plaintiff students who had registered to that the ACT and SAT which were administered by the defendants and for which plaintiffs paid a fee....

It was a volatile year for entrepreneurs and small business owners. Many are still sorting through new tax laws, trying to figure out where the market is going, or mitigating the impact of tariffs and trade wars. And between new minimum wage and overtime laws, private contractor regulations, and the #MeToo spotlight on workplace sexual harassment, it’s been quite a litigious year as well. So here’s a year-end roundup on some of our most popular legal tips for small businesses from 2018, and how to get ready for a big year ahead....

District court order holding that defendant was in the custody of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and not the Bureau of Prisons for purposes of the Adam Walsh Act is affirmed where defendant’s detention is under the authority of the ICE as part of the Department of Homeland Security, and he housed in the BOP as a service to ICE. Read US v. Hernandez-Arenado, No. 08-2520Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois....

Defendant’s tax evasion conviction is affirmed, where the delay prior to the District Court’s hearing on his motion to dismiss the indictment did not violate the Speedy Trial Act, as the Act did not require the dismissal of an indictment whenever the defendant files a pre-trial motion and retracts it at a hearing held more than seventy days later. Read the full decision in US v. Smith, No. 08-8019. Appellate Information:...

In the relative time frame of appellate litigation, this decision came faster than a speeding bullet. Two months after hearing oral arguments regarding rights to the Man of Steel, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Warner Brothers and DC Comics. This week, mere months before Warner Brothers studios releases its Superman summer blockbuster, the Ninth Circuit ruled that the studio has a valid deal to make new Superman movies, The Wall Street Journal reports....

You may have noticed that you couldn’t access the Eighth Circuit’s website last Friday. Rest assured, you’re not alone. Lawyers across the nation grappled with the massive outage. PACER went on the blink as well as uscourts.gov, most if not all federal court sites, and the federal court’s public hub, according to The Washington Post. What the heck happened and, more importantly, what should you do if it happens again?...

It looks like the “Winklevi” got the memo; party’s over folks. Finally, the two brothers are calling an end to the Facebook lawsuit and taking the hint that the Supreme Court is unlikely to review their Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals case, which was rendered in San Francisco earlier this year. At least that’s what they said in a filing at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals this week, reports Reuters....

Imagine you’re working at a dream job, everything seems to be going great, and you think you’re performing well. But then, things start to seem a little off. Your colleagues and employers are doing stuff that you find weird, and they all live at the same address. They are in a cult, and their leader is your boss. You go to complain about their behavior and shortly after are fired with no reason given....

The early 2000’s crime and politics drama “The Wire” arguably was the first to expose the public to the concept of what “legalizing” drugs would look like when put into practice. Desperate to contain a growing heroin problem and the gang violence that came with it, an enterprising police major in Baltimore created “Hamsterdam.” In a few square blocks of the city, people could buy and sell heroin and shoot up without fear of arrest....

A recent case in the Fifth Circuit led an appeals panel to find that a law firm cannot invoke attorney-client privilege when it comes to a summons from the IRS. Taylor Lohmeyer Law Firm PLLC of Kerrville, Texas, filed a petition to quash a 2018 “John Doe” summons from the IRS seeking information on the firm’s clients. But, on appeal, the court held that a client’s identity was not protected....

The Great Recession might be over, but the litigation is just beginning. In what’s likely to be a string of market meltdown cases, all tracing back to the infamous mortgage-backed securities which crippled the U.S. economy in 2008, the Second Circuit breathed new life into a Barclays case, reports Reuters. Plaintiffs, Barclays shareholders who purchased shares at $25 each in four different offerings, brought suit against Barclays under §§ 11, 12(a)(2), and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933, when their shares were devalued to between five and seven dollars....

The 9th Circuit recently affirmed class certification for claims alleging Facebook’s facial recognition technology violates Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. Facebook users in the suit allege that the social media platform’s “Tag Suggestions” feature illegally collected biometric data. The feature used previously uploaded photos to recognize a user’s Facebook friends for easier tagging. Specifically, Facebook developed a “face template” using facial recognition technology that could identify someone’s facial features to a surprisingly accurate degree....

Debt collector, Portfolio Recovery Associates, recently lost their consolidated appeal in the Seventh Circuit seeking to overturn four summary judgment orders granted to four different claimants alleging violations of federal debt collection practices. The violation each of the four debtors alleged involved their debts being reported to the credit reporting agencies without notice that the debt was disputed. The debt collector claims that the letters they received from the debtors did not clearly state that the debts were being disputed....

The Uvalde, Texas, School District Police Department has received withering criticism for its failure to stop a school gunman who shot and killed 19 children and two teachers. While the shooter was inside two adjoining classrooms, 19 law enforcement officers stood outside for nearly an hour as they waited for tactical equipment to arrive. Texas Department of Public Safety Col. Steven McCraw called it “the wrong decision. Period. There’s no excuse for that....

Mayer Hoffman McCann, P.C. v. Barton, No. 09-2061, involved an action seeking to enforce restrictive covenants against former employees of an accounting firm. The court affirmed summary judgment for plaintiff on the grounds that 1) the restrictive covenants were not unenforceable for lack of consideration; 2) the Missouri Supreme Court would hold that a stockholder’s agreement between a professional corporation and a shareholder falls within the class of contracts wherein restrictive covenants are appropriate; and 3) the covenant at issue was reasonable....

There was a 24% increase in farm bankruptcies over the 12-month period ending in September 2019, a recent report by the American Farm Bureau Federation shows. Of the nation’s 580 farm bankruptcies during that time, 40% were from farms in the Midwest. Unfortunately, the financial situation for family farmers will likely get worse before it gets better. Farm debt is expected to reach $416 billion in 2019, which is a record high....

Every issue, even free speech, is a hot-button political debate these days. But nearly everyone – liberal, moderate, and conservative – has suffered from the frustrations of bureaucratic incompetence. Even worse is when a public servant takes advantage of everyday citizens. The ability to speak freely about these frustrations is as American as apple pie. An Iowa man proved this idea still holds true after Adams County Sheriff’s deputies arrested him last year for going on a profanity-laced Facebook tirade against an officer....