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Gay marriage is coming to the Supreme Court, sooner rather than later. And for the dozens of cases proceeding nationwide, expending resources to litigate on a state-by-state basis, the answer can’t come soon enough. How soon are we talking? Could it happen this year? And which state(s) will be the ones to get there? Utah will obviously be the first to file certiorari, as we noted last week, but will the court take the first case in the cert....

Dr. Larry Alexander’s case was obvious, yet unfortunate. And it’s a great reminder of why independent contractor relationships are risky for the not-quite-employee. From 1991 to 2011, Dr. Alexander was associated with Avera St. Luke’s, a non-profit organization running St. Luke’s Hospital in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Avera terminated its relationship with Dr. Alexander after he suffered from a series of health issues from 2008 to 2011 – a heart attack, a heart transplant, and a hospitalization for bipolar disorder....

Padilla-Romero v. Holder, No. 07-72492, involved a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) decision affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) decision holding petitioner statutorily ineligible for cancellation of removal. The court of appeals denied the petition, holding that the inclusion in 8 U.S.C. section 1229b(b)(1)(A) of an express requirement that an alien’s period of continuous physical presence be “immediately preceding” the application for cancellation of removal did not undermine the court of appeals’ interpretation of section 1229b(a)(1), because that section, when read as a whole and in the context of the definition of “lawfully admitted for permanent residence,” was sufficiently clear that such additional text would be superfluous....

No Privacy in Public Places Gym Policies Come Into Play 24 Hour Fitness prohibits “photography, videotaping, filming or audio recording” of other gymgoers without their consent. Lifetime Fitness’ general rules allow personal videos and photos on the premises without approval from Lifetime or its managers, but only in the “public” areas, meaning not in a locker room, steam room, massage room, etc. Like 24 Hour Fitness, Lifetime also bans photos or videos of other gymgoers without that person’s express permission....

We know that you’re not supposed to want to exit an airplane by way of an emergency slide, but we’ve always wanted to try it. We don’t want to be on a plane that’s in danger; we want to check out the slide in a safe, controlled environment. For example, flight attendants must execute all emergency evacuation procedures as part of their training. See? Controlled environment. Unless we change careers to spend our lives flying the friendly skies, we doubt we’ll ride the slide any time soon....

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman will surely be sentenced to life in prison, but will he stay there? After a jury convicted the Mexican drug lord of all counts in a federal court, Judge Brian Cogan is expected to sentence Guzman to life without parole. However, Guzman has been there before. Each time he escaped. Folk Hero Despite evidence from more than 50 witnesses against him, El Chapo is a folk hero in Mexico for repeatedly escaping from jail....

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has been rather persnickety lately about frivolous lawsuits. We recently told you that the Tenth Circuit suspended an attorney for making “frivolous claims” like, “the IRS doesn’t legally exist.” Now the Tenth Circuit has imposed filing restrictions on an Indiana prisoner who challenged his drug conviction and sentence based upon principles of contract and/or civil commercial law. Christopher Harris was sentenced to 300 months’ incarceration and 5 years’ supervised release after pleading guilty to drug charges....

Well, after much waiting, and a Columbus Day holiday, the Supreme Court’s latest orders list is in – and it’s more of a letdown than the second “Sex and the City” movie. Meanwhile, people are still protesting the fact that you can’t protest on the marble plaza in front of the Court. A case challenging that rule is still pending in the D.C. Circuit. And finally, we’ll take a peek at this week’s oral arguments schedule....

We’ve got a quick roundup of updates for you this morning on three major issues we’ve been following for awhile: gay marriage bans, conversion therapy, and the Mount Soledad Memorial Cross. The Ninth Circuit set a single date for oral arguments in disputes out of three states, including Hawaii (which has legalized gay marriage since the case was first filed) and Nevada (where state officials have pretty much given up). Meanwhile, it seems the legal battle over gay conversion therapy is over, with California’s ban remaining intact....

The Supreme Court continued to fill its fall calendar on Monday, granting writs of certiorari in eight new cases. There were two recurring themes in the Supreme Court’s first meeting after returning from summer recess: immigration appellants and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Five of the eight cases the Court will consider matriculated from the Ninth Circuit, and three of the cases address immigration appeals. Here are the latest cases to win Supreme Court Review:...

This week’s ‘More Perfect’ recap, our summer look at the interesting historical tidbits from NPR’s new Supreme Court-themed podcast, focuses on the case that inspired the podcast in the first place: Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, or, as it’s more often known, “the Baby Veronica case.” The case “puts one little girl at the center of a storm of legal intricacies, Native American tribal culture, and heart-wrenching personal stakes,” according to the podcast....

Last week, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Michelle Carter, who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter based on text messages that led her boyfriend to commit suicide in 2014. Carter, who was 17 at the time, was accused of bullying Conrad Roy into taking his own life. Evidence in Carter’s trial included numerous text messages where she urged Roy to kill himself via carbon monoxide. The incident drew significant attention to the issue of cyberbullying, a problem that, sadly, doesn’t seem to be going anywhere in today’s climate....

You know you botched an arbitration when, after five years of proceedings, the Sixth Circuit refers to your work as “a model of how not to conduct one.” Or you could read the court’s opinion, which is a 10-page retelling of every imaginable way in which one could fail at presiding over a neutral, fair arbitration process. The questionable conduct in Kinkade v. White began with the attorneys. The Whites’ first attorney was caught transmitting a live feed of the transcripts to a hotel room, where a disgruntled former Kinkade employee was responding with cross-examination questions....

Also, Criminal and Class Action Matters US v. Womack, No. 09-2488, concerned a challenge to the district court’s application of the career offender enhancement in imposing a sentence of 360 months in a conviction of defendant for distributing cocaine base. In vacating the sentence and remanding, the court held that, although the district court did not err by applying the career offender enhancement in defendant’s guidelines calculation and the sentence imposed was within a correctly calculated guidelines range, the district court erred in stating that it could not consider the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses under the guidelines because district court’s may disagree with the career offender enhancement on policy grounds related to the crack/powder disparity and impose sentences accordingly....

Defendant’s embezzlement sentence is affirmed where: 1) defendant failed to show that the government had breached its plea agreement with him based on a witness’s comments that defendant had not accepted responsibility; and 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in varying upward from defendant’s Guidelines sentence. Read US v. Bullcoming, No. 09-6010 Appellate Information Filed September 3, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Hartz Counsel For Appellant: Fred L....

The 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on an interesting question last month in a tax case. Never fear, all you non-tax lawyers, as this case deals with issues of civil procedure and not archaic tax concepts. The question: Can a claim for wrongful tax levy be summarily dismissed as time-barred if the whole Notice of Levy is at issue? In other words, if the I.R.S. contents that it never issued a Notice of Levy to the taxpayer prior to taking money from her account, is it even appropriate for the court to dismiss the merits of the case on a statute of limitations ground?...

California has passed a new law that makes it okay to jaywalk sometimes. Starting Jan. 1, 2023, police officers in California can only ticket pedestrians when their behavior would make a collision likely. California joins Virginia, Massachusetts, Nevada, Philadelphia, and Kansas City, Missouri, which have also recently reformed their jaywalking laws and enforcement practices. Jaywalking laws have been around for about a century. Before cars ruled the streets, people walked wherever they wanted....

A JetBlue flight survived a hard landing at the Sacramento, California airport on Thursday, August 26. The plane, an Airbus A320, blew at least two of its tires when it landed at just after 1 p.m. (PST) coming in from Long Beach. Fifteen passengers were injured and many had to exit the aircraft via the emergency slides. Witnesses looking out the window at the airport were surprised to see the passengers standing around the plane as fire trucks arrived, according to the report by the Associated Press....

Caring for a loved one as they age can be emotionally, financially, and legally difficult. Estate planning, power of attorney, nursing home care, long-term care, and guardianship decisions are never easy. You may also be facing issues with Social Security, Medicaid, health care benefits, health insurance, or older adult abuse. How an Attorney Can Help Caregivers A good older adult law attorney can be a helpful guide for family members or beneficiaries of a will....

If you buy a used car and are unhappy with it, you do have some legal recourse. But there are a few factors that will impact what exactly you can do, who to sue, and whether you would want to pursue legal action. State laws vary, which means that warranties and dealer obligations will differ according to where you purchase your used car. The nature of the seller can matter, too, whether you’re buying from a dealership or an individual....