Posts

Do bears poop in the woods? The Seventh Circuit must assume so, because the court agreed with the Environmental Protection Agency that campsites with water sources should test their water for contaminants. The EPA can regulate “public water systems,” and it turns out that putting “non-potable” on your spigots isn’t enough. Hail Cottonwood Campground The campground in question is located in Cedar Grove, Indiana, and is located directly adjacent to the Whitewater River, a river that the buzz-killing Indiana Department of Natural Resources reminds us is likely misnamed and has “no true white water....

Jury verdict forms are intended to make the criminal justice process easier, but when forms are lacking required elements, a defendant may be entitled to a new trial. That was the case in United States v. Amaya, where a defendant who was tried for money laundering in concert with a drug conspiracy was granted a retrial based on the fact that his verdict form lacked boxes for “guilty” or “not guilty....

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) can proceed in its lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA) wiretapping provisions. Congress passed the FISA Amendments Act in 2008, effectively authorizing warrantless surveillance of Americans’ international email and telephone calls. The ACLU filed its FISA challenge lawsuit less than 24 hours after the bill was passed. In March, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court dismissal of the suit on standing ground, finding that the ACLU could bring the suit without a showing that the government had used FISA to spy on the plaintiffs....

A federal district judge ruled Tuesday that the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) cannot discriminate against the Children First Foundation in its quest to add a “Choose Life” license plate to the state’s custom license plate lineup. The case, Children First Foundation v. Martinez, has worked its way through the federal court system, bouncing from the district court, to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, and back since Eliot Spitzer’s pre-Ashley Dupré days in the AG’s Office....

In an employment discrimination case under the Rehabilitation Act, the district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s complaint is vacated and remanded where: 1) a 4 year limitation applies to plaintiff’s failure-to-transfer claim, and not the general 2 year statute of limitations the district court applied in barring the complaint; 2) plaintiff’s complaint need only allege sufficient facts to state a plausible failure-to-transfer claim; 3) plaintiff need only plead that she is an individual with a disability and the district court improperly focused on whether she could prove she was disabled; but 4) the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying an untimely motion for a class action determination....

You’ve heard of Robert MacLean, right? If not, you haven’t been paying attention to our Federal Circuit blog. (We’ll give you a moment to bookmark it.) In 2003, the Transportation and Security Administration decided to pull marshals from long-distance flights, even though the agency had recently learned of a credible threat of a potential hijacking plot. MacLean protested the move through the proper channels, but when his protests were ignored, he leaked the information to the press....

Recent headlines about R. Kelly facing a default judgment as a result of failing to appear in a civil lawsuit alleging sexual abuse of a minor, appear to be true and as shocking as you might expect. Kelly is facing quite a bit of legal trouble in both criminal and civil courts, stemming from alleged sexual abuse. And though you might be able to count the number of good reasons to default on one hand, as you might expect, R....

Now that the COVID-19 pandemic is over, Americans are once again gathering in public places. And where there are people, there are misunderstandings. Some of these misunderstandings even escalate to physical altercations. Or perhaps you’re a survivor of domestic violence or the victim of a violent crime. If you happen to be on the receiving end of physical violence, you may be able to legally use reasonable force to defend yourself....

Several months after the Tenth Circuit struck down Arizona and Kansas’ proof of citizenship voter registration lawsuit, the states have asked the Supreme Court to hear the case. The Tenth had rejected a suit by the two states which sought to force the Election Assistance Commission to include a proof of citizenship requirement on federal voter registration forms. Arizona and Kansas had failed to demonstrate that voter registration fraud via the federal forms prevented either state from enforcing their voter qualification laws, the court ruled....

“Discretion is the better part of valor,” as the famous saying goes. This essentially means that being a bit cautious instead of recklessly brave will serve you better in the long run. A pair of Florida men, uh, missed out on that one. Transparency Not Always Better Our tale starts just outside of Holt, Florida, located in the Panhandle region. A Florida Highway Patrol officer who was running a speed trap stopped a car for allegedly going a tad over the speed limit (95 in a 70)....

Happel v. Walmart Stores, Inc., No. 07-2264, involved a suit, brought by a husband and wife, against Walmart for negligently filling the wife’s prescription with wrong medication, causing her to go into anaphylactic shock and on ventilation support for 18 hours. The court rejected plaintiffs’ claim that the trial court erred in not allowing them to present expert witness testimony to show that the allergic reaction to the wrong medication exacerbated the wife’s multiple sclerosis....

The Federal District Court for New Mexico issued a preliminary injunction blocking the state’s Secretary of State from limiting the amount of money Representative Steve Pearce can transfer over from his prior federal campaign to his state bid for the governor’s office. Pearce apparently has (or at this point, maybe, had) nearly a million dollars just sitting in his federal campaign account. However, the New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver limited Pearce from transferring more than $11,000 from that account to his state campaign account due to New Mexico’s campaign finance laws....

Before you waste your time with a private right of action for a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) violation, make sure that the statute you’re attempting to enforce provides for private suits. As the Second Circuit recently ruled, many of FCRA’s false statement provisions can only be enforced by state or federal authorities. Stuart Longman, an experienced real estate developer, financed a property purchase with a “balloon” note from Wachovia. The note called for Longman to make monthly interest payments for three years, after which the full principal became due....

US v. Campbell, 09-3527, concerned a challenge to the district court’s imposition of a fifteen-year mandatory minimum sentence to run concurrently with defendant’s state sentence for an unrelated offense, without crediting defendant with the nine months already served for the state sentence, in a prosecution of defendant for being a felon in possession of a firearm. In vacating and remanding for resentencing, the court held that, under section 5G1.3, district court had the discretion to adjust defendant’s sentence to account for the time he had served on his state conviction....

We get it. Many of us have been waiting months, if not years, for the Supreme Court to chime in on marital equality and affirmative action (again). Each week, obsessed SCOTUS fans and critics wake up at 6:00 a.m. (PST), click on to SCOTUSblog’s live coverage, and expect to see a landmark decision. Instead, we get raisins and arbitration. Now, with one scheduled opinion release date left (and unscheduled days likely to follow), there are eleven cases remaining....

Southern New England Tel. Co. v. Global Naps Inc., No. 08-4518, involved an action by a telephone company seeking payment for services rendered pursuant to its federal tariff. The court affirmed summary judgment for plaintiff, a civil contempt order entered against defendant, and a default judgment entered against defendants for failure to comply with discovery orders, holding that 1) the Telecommunications Act did not divest the federal courts of subject matter jurisdiction over claims seeking the enforcement of a federally filed tariff whenever adjudication of the claims required the interpretation of an interconnection agreement between telecommunications carriers; and 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing the discovery sanctions it did....

College Std. Magazine v. Student Assn., No. 07-0891, involved a facial challenge under the First Amendment to a policy pursuant to which defendant university distributed funds to student groups. The court of appeals dismissed defendants’ appeal from summary judgment for plaintiffs on the ground that because the challenged policy was repealed and the plaintiffs stipulated to having summary judgment entered against them on their as-applied challenge, the case was moot....

Consider it a silver lining: even if your law license is suspended and you’re so broke former clients are now your creditors, you can still discharge that client debt in bankruptcy. That’s the conclusion of the Ninth Circuit, which ruled last Thursday that a suspended California lawyer could discharge in bankruptcy the $6,000 she owed a former client for unearned legal fees. In 2010, Marilyn Scheer agreed to help a client, referred to by the court only as Clark, modify his home mortgage loan....

The Obama administration had some major wins in the Supreme Court over the past eight years. The Affordable Care Act survived challenge after challenge after challenge. The Court adopted the government’s position on marriage equality, affirmative action, and abortion access. But there were losses as well: Citizens United, immigration reform, the Voting Rights Act. And when you add it all up, the Obama administration lost a lot, according to a new study....

The University of Hawaii did not violate the constitution when it denied a student teaching position to a candidate who said that “the age of consent should be zero” and had no problems with “child predation.” That denial meant that secondary education candidate Mark Oyama could not become a teacher in Hawaii, but it did not violate his free speech or due process rights, the Ninth Circuit ruled on Wednesday....