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The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that police can search a suspect’s cell phone without a warrant. While the court acknowledged that the issue leads to the slippery slope of “whether and when a laptop or desktop computer, tablet, or other type of computer … can be searched without a warrant” the ruling did not define the boundaries of a reasonable cell phone search. With the assistance of a paid informant, police set a trap to snare defendant Abel Flores-Lopez, a drug supplier, and Alberto Santana-Cabrera, a dealer....

Companies often try to keep up with the competition when it comes to offering employee perks. After all, providing great benefits is key to attracting and retaining top talent. Many experts say that the days of offering on-campus benefits, like free lunches, are waning. Rather, perks that currently get people’s attention are opportunities to spend time off-campus. The latest off-campus employee benefit to hit the scene is pawternity leave. As the name suggests, pawternity is taking paid time off to be with your new canine family member....

Title VII Hostile Work Environment Matter In Smith v. Fairview Ridges Hosp., No. 08-1924, an action claiming that defendant constructively discharged plaintiff after subjecting her to a hostile work environment and retaliation, in violation of Title VII, the court affirmed summary judgment for defendant where 1) the evidence did not support plaintiff’s contention that her workplace was “permeated with discriminatory intimidation, ridicule, and insult, that was sufficiently severe or pervasive to alter” her conditions of employment; and 2) plaintiff produced no evidence that her coworkers were “involved in or accused of the same offense and [were] disciplined in different ways,” thus she did not show that she and her coworkers “were similarly situated in all relevant aspects....

It took 33 pages for the Tenth Circuit to clearly spell out why it was reversing and remanding a federal district court’s ruling that Colorado’s recently enacted gun laws were constitutional. It was also a strange opinion in that both plaintiffs and defendants claimed victory. The Tenth Circuit’s opinion and remand marks what seems to be a major chapter in the book that first began with the tragic shootings at Aurora, Colorado and Newton, Connecticut....

The United States Supreme Court ruled against five defendants in an extraordinary rendition case earlier this week. While the facts of the case dealt with the issue of torture in interrogations, the opinion of the Supreme Court was based largely on procedural issues. The lead plaintiff, Binyam Mohamed, spent four years in Guantanamo Bay after allegedly confessing to terrorism plotting. According to The Los Angeles Times, Mohamed asserted that he confessed to crimes he never committed and that these confessions came after enduring torture during the course of his CIA detention: torture that included having his genitals sliced with a scalpel....

The Supreme Court heard arguments on Tuesday in the case of Taylor v. United States, a case involving the interstate commerce element of the Hobbs Act. The Hobbs Act makes robbery and extortion a federal crime, should those acts affect commerce. In this case, David Taylor, a member of Virginia’s “Southwest Goonz” gang, was convicted under the Hobbs Act for robbing drug dealers of their marijuana. But, Taylor argues, the government never proved that his robbery affected interstate commerce since all that weed was Virginia-grown....

District court’s sentencing and conviction of defendant for conspiracy and attempted possession of drugs is affirmed where: 1) defendant did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his vehicle after he turned it over to the shipper, and because he lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy in the vehicle, he does not have standing to challenge the search of the car and subsequent seizure of the drugs hidden inside; 2) even if defendant had standing to challenge the search, the search complied with the requirements of the Fourth Amendment; 3) district court did not err in denying defendant’s motion for a continuance; 4) defendant’s claim that his conviction should be reversed because the indictment was constructively amended is rejected; and 5) the Blockburger test should be applied at the sentencing phase to determine whether separate sentences are appropriate for the crimes charged and convicted, even where those crimes arise out of a single criminal act, and here, defendant may be sentenced for both conspiracy and attempt....

Defendant’s sentence for interstate harassment is affirmed where the district court’s inherently factual determination that defendant induced a co-conspirator’s restraint of the victim was not illogical, implausible, or without support in the record, and thus the district court properly applied a “restraint of the victim” enhancement. Read US v. Loew, No. 09-30032 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted December 7, 2009 Filed February 2, 2010 Judges Opinion by Judge Tallman Counsel...

No good deed goes unpunished, which can certainly apply to caregivers’ efforts to help older adults. Sometimes when we try to assist others, things go awry, or our efforts are misunderstood. Good people are accused of abuse — sometimes against their own loved ones. It happens with people who look out for kids, older adults, dependent adults, and other vulnerable populations. It can happen in nursing homes, medical facilities, or in homes....

Oral arguments ended last week, but there are still nearly two months left in the Supreme Court’s current term. Now’s the time when the Court moves from considering the cases before it to finally deciding them – a process that certainly more complicated this year, given the lack of a ninth justice. We’re expecting a steady trickle of decisions throughout the upcoming weeks, with the most important opinions being released at the end of June, as is typical....

As the highly contagious delta variant spreads, places like universities, restaurants, and even New York City are requiring proof of vaccination against COVID-19. In most places that means producing the original or a copy of the CDC-issued vaccination card. With vaccination rates just having reached 50% of the population, some anti-vaxx individuals are scrambling to still be allowed in vaccinated-only spaces by using counterfeit vaccine cards. Are there legal consequences for doing so?...

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that a California foster child who was sexually-assaulted by his foster brother could proceed with his civil rights lawsuit against Tulare County Child Welfare Services. The foster child, AE, alleged that Tulare County and its employee social workers failed to intervene prior to the assault, despite their knowledge of escalating threats against him. In mid-December 2008, one of the social workers informed AE’s mother that AE had been sexually assaulted by the foster brother....

Whether part of the new gig economy or the fulfillment of a lifelong dream, you’ve made it: you are your own boss. And with the great power of self-employment, comes the even greater responsibility of handling everything from taxes and insurance to retirement plans and lawsuits. So how do you know which issues you’ll need to tackle and how to tackle them? Here’s a quick list of the five best legal tips if you’re self-employed:...

The momentous Supreme Court decision preventing the immediate end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) has generated significant headlines, and for good reason. Yet the Supreme Court’s narrow plurality decision did not say that the Trump Administration cannot end DACA. Indeed, the justices’ disagreements on how to even approach the case mimic how complex the debate over U.S. policy for unauthorized childhood arrivals to the U.S. has become....

In Urbina-Mejia v. Holder, No. 09-3567, the Sixth Circuit faced a challenge to the BIA’s denial of petitioner’s application for withholding of removal. First, the court held that the IJ and BIA erred as a matter of law in finding that the petitioner was not a part of a particular gang, for which he could be subject to persecution should he be returned to Honduras. Second, the court decided whether the petitioner presented enough evidence to show that he would be subject to persecution in Honduras....

In a dispute involving a transfer of money from Switzerland to Wisconsin, district court judgment is vacated for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction where defendant-son is a United States citizen and plaintiff-mother and the decedent were United States citizens as well as citizens of foreign states, and thus plaintiff is unable to invoke subject-matter jurisdiction as a citizen of a foreign state under 28 U.S.C. sec. 1332(a)(2). Read Buchel-Ruegsegger v. Buchel, No....

Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia employ a “winner-takes-all” approach to presidential elections – the candidate who wins the majority of the popular vote gets all of that’s states electors for the Electoral College. However, in recent decades, candidates and voters have begun to take issue with the fact that this system allows a candidate who wins the popular vote to lose the presidential election. One such challenge has made its way to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, where the winner-take-all (WTA) rules of Massachusetts are under the microscope....

In Wilson v. Gaetz, No. 09-2111, the Seventh Circuit faced a challenge to a district court’s denial of defendant’s petition for habeas relief from a conviction in state court of murder while mentally ill. In vacating and remanding the case, the court held that the defendant is entitled to an evidentiary hearing on the issue of prejudice, given the gravity of the charge against defendant and the ample evidence that he was driven to kill the victim by an insane delusion, the counsel’s assistance to defendant fell below the minimum professional level required of a lawyer representing a murder defendant....

Hill v. Ricoh Americas Corp., No. 09-3182, involved an action alleging that plaintiff was terminated from his position in violation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and Kansas common law prohibiting retaliatory discharge. The court of appeals reversed the denial of defendant’s motion to compel arbitration, on the grounds that 1) defendant was not required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(c)(1) to demand arbitration in its answer; 2) defendant did not demand arbitration until four months after answering the complaint, but that length of time in itself did not establish waiver; and 3) the parties’ retention bonus agreement did not supersede the arbitration clause in the initial employment agreement....

In Profit Pet v. Arthur Dogswell, LLC, No. 09-1228, the Sixth Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s grant of plaintiff-pet supply manufacturer’s motion for summary judgment in a contract dispute with its Midwestern sales representative. The court affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded the matter. First, the court affirmed the holding that a valid notice required some reference to a breach with an opportunity for the plaintiff to cure, and here, because defendant failed to provide the required “good faith written notice” of breach or default, the termination of plaintiff was without cause....