“If this were a game of chicken,” writes sports law professor Thomas Baker, “California would be behind the wheel of a tank matched against the NCAA’s Vespa.” Baker is referring to California’s proposed Fair Pay for Play Act, which would allow college athletes to be compensated for the use of their name and likeness, and the NCAA’s veiled threat that, if passed, California schools may be barred from postseason play....
Celebrities have enjoyed success in registering all kinds of things for patent protection: clothing lines, nicknames, logos, and even catchphrases. Lately, they’ve added another category to the list: Their own children’s names. The superstar musical couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z, for instance, are doing all they can to build legal protections around the name of their 7-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. So is the Kardashian clan, with several of their kids....
We’re all familiar with the Westboro Baptist Church protests by now. Westboro members, most of whom are related to church leader Fred Phelps, picket funerals, fashion shows, and plenty of other churches. Various states have tried to curtail the Westboro Baptist Church protests, and now it’s the federal government’s turn. This week, Congress passed the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012. The bill is heading to President Obama’s desk for a signature, according to the Huffington Post....
Interracial marriage has been legal nationwide ever since the Supreme Court’s decision Loving v. Virginia in 1967. And same-sex marriage has been legal since 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges ruling. But, as many same-sex couples have learned, wedding vendors haven’t been the most accommodating to hosting, working at, or servicing same-sex weddings, citing religious objections. (And, sadly, some courts have ruled that’s OK.) What’s more rare these days is interracial couples being denied service based on the same reasons....
The Eighth Circuit decided one criminal matter, one appeal concerning ERISA, and another case regarding immigration law. Jones v. Unum Provident Corp., No. 08-3830, involved an action under ERISA for wrongful denial of benefits. The court of appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendant, holding that: 1) defendant thoroughly investigated plaintiff’s claim, both initially and when plaintiff appealed, and its initial and final decisions were carefully reasoned; and 2) coverage under the policy at issue lapsed more than six weeks prior to plaintiff’s return to full-time work, and thus her later disability claim was not covered because of a pre-existing condition clause....
In Oklahoma v. Tyson Foods, Inc., No. 09-5134, an appeal by the Cherokee Nation from the district court’s denial of its motion to intervene in a dispute between the State of Oklahoma and Tyson Foods regarding Tyson’s alleged disposal of poultry waste in the Illinois River Watershed, the court affirmed where the district court could properly find that the Nation had unduly delayed seeking to intervene because from the outset of the litigation it had no reason to believe that the State would represent its interests in monetary relief....
Defamation suits are often tricky. When examining them, we tend to ask if the statements are true and if they damage a person’s reputation. What doesn’t come up as often is whether a person’s reputation is already too damaged to save. Former MLB player Lenny Dykstra filed suit against his former New York Mets teammate, Ron Darling, last year over statements made in Darling’s book “108 Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters From My Time in the Game....
Is Sexual Harassment a Crime? Sexual harassment is not a crime, although an individual can sue after being sexually harassed in civil court. If an individual experiences unwanted touching, physical intimidation, or extreme forms of coercion these actions are classified as a sexual assault, which is a serious crime. Types of Sexual Harassment Sexual Harassment comes in two distinct forms: Quid Pro Quo: A person in authority demands or requires sexual acts in exchange for preferential treatment, or to avoid punitive actions....
The federal judge who first ruled against President Obama’s immigration reforms, a case currently pending in the Supreme Court, has made another bold and far-reaching move in connection to the case. After having found misconduct on the part of the government attorneys in the immigration case, District Judge Andrew S. Hanen of the Southern District of Texas has put himself in charge of their ethics training. But it’s not just those specific attorneys that Hanen wants to ethically reeducate....
Michael Alexander, an Indiana attorney, recently found himself in a near-familiar place: the defendant’s side of the courtroom. This time, however, he wasn’t the attorney. He was accused of bribing witnesses to provide favorable testimony on his clients’ behalf. Though he was acquitted after only an hour of deliberations, his investigator was later convicted of a related offense. According to Alexander, not only was he innocent, but the entire fiasco was the result of a grudge by Indiana state prosecutor Mark McKinney, who conspired with two FBI agents to fabricate some evidence, destroy other evidence, and attempt unsuccessfully to frame him for a bribery scheme that he played no part in....
Sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), also known as conversion therapy or ex-gay therapy, is still illegal in New Jersey, the second U.S. state to ban the controversial treatment. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals, borrowing heavily from the Ninth Circuit’s consideration of California’s similar ban, upheld Assembly Bill A3371 yesterday. The Third Circuit held that while the therapy was speech (as opposed to conduct), it was professional speech, a form of speech offered fewer protections under the First Amendment....
In August last year, female former Nike employees filed a class action lawsuit against the company, alleging sex discrimination, violations of equal pay laws, and fostering a hostile work environment. Nike tried to have the suit dismissed, claiming it could not continue as a class action because it “weaves together thousands of women in hundreds of different job classifications and departments (and across various salary bands and levels), each with different duties, qualifications and experience....
Ignorance of the law is an excuse, at least if you are a bumbling officer unfamiliar with firearm carrying statutes. Illinois, despite being notoriously gun-averse, has a statute that allows certain individuals, such as private detectives, to carry a firearm in public. These “tan card” holders are admittedly a rarity in the state, which, until last year’s landmark decision, essentially prohibited all individuals from carrying legally-owned firearms. Deputy Flynn radioed his dispatcher, who was also confounded by the tan card, and was unable to verify its legality....
A death row inmate had a partial victory in his case Thursday, as the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a ruling that remanded part of the case. Ray Dansby was on death row for the 1992 capital murder of his ex-wife, Brenda Dansby, and her boyfriend, Ronnie Kimble, reports the Arkansas News Bureau. The case went all the way up to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Subsequently, the defendant filed a writ of habeas before the federal district court, where several of his claims were denied....
The full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled in favor of granting a preliminary injunction preventing the San Francisco soda label and advertising warning law from taking effect until the litigation challenging it concludes. The appellees sought review of the district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction. After a Ninth Circuit panel reversed the district court, the en banc court stepped in to review the matter. The full court upheld the panel’s reversal, finding that the beverage and advertising industry challengers had shown a likelihood of success on the merits based upon the heavy burdens the warning labels would impose....
The D.C. Sniper attacks gripped the nation and left residents of the greater Washington, D.C., area living in a constant state of fear. The three-week crime spree in October of 2002, along with several shootings across the country earlier in the year, left 17 people dead and 10 wounded. In the end, John Allen Muhammad was convicted and executed. His accomplice, then-17-year-old Lee Boyd Malvo, was sentenced to life in prison without parole....
This week, SCOTUS issued an order in one of the two hotly contested and widely watched travel ban cases under review. The High Court ordered that the Fourth Circuit judgment upholding the district court’s injunction be vacated, and that the matter be remanded back to the Fourth Circuit with instructions to dismiss the challenge as moot. For those keeping a close eye on the controversial travel bans, the case that was ordered dismissed was the Trump v....
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Secret Service agents were entitled to qualified immunity for arresting a man who expressed his disdain for Bush-era war policies to Vice President Dick Cheney. The Court, in a unanimous opinion, concluded that it was not clearly established that an arrest supported by probable cause could give rise to a First Amendment violation at the time the man was arrested. In 2006, Steven Howards spotted then-Vice President Dick Cheney at the Beaver Creek Mall in Beaver Creek, Colo....
The Supreme Court ruled today that 11 majority-minority voting districts in Virginia must be reexamined for potential racial bias. The districts at issue were all redrawn following the 2010 census, with the goal of establishing a 55 percent black voting age population, or BVAP, in each. Black voters in Virginia sued, alleging that the new districts concentrated minority votes into fewer districts, making Virginia’s remaining districts whiter and more conservative. The Supreme Court did not weigh in on whether race had been impermissibly used in fashioning the 11 districts, but did rule that the lower court must review the districts once again – providing at least a temporary victory to the challengers....
It’s become difficult to keep track of all the lawsuits that are landing on the Houston Astros’ desk these days. At last count, there were five. The Astros, as you may or may not recall, are a major-league baseball team that is in very hot water for cheating. Major League Baseball has already heavily penalized the team for a scheme involving video cameras relaying opposing catchers’ pitch selection signs to Astros’ batters, giving them an unfair advantage....
