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After years of discussion, criticism, and delays, U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos unveiled final language for guidelines regulating campus judicial proceedings regarding sexual assault and harassment this week. The regulations will drastically alter the rights of victims and defendants, along with how universities can handle and resolve allegations. It is also sure to meet a court challenge from opponents, who accuse the government of gutting protections for victims of sexual assaults....

In the grand scheme of things, you don’t have to do anything. But, if you want to stay on the good side of the law, you might want to think twice before squandering that briefcase full of cash you found. That’s because most states have laws pertaining to when the playground rule of finder’s keepers applies. Generally, if you find more than a few bucks, not doing the right thing could be criminal, after all cash is not likely to ever be “abandoned” property (which is usually completely legal to take)....

ADA Action by Blind Bar Exam Taker In Enyart v. Nat’l. Conf. of Bar Examiners, Inc., No. 10-15286, an action by a legally blind law school graduate under the Americans with Disabilities Act, seeking to take the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam and the Multistate Bar Exam using a computer equipped with assistive technology software known as JAWS and ZoomText, the court affirmed a preliminary injunction for plaintiff where 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in holding that plaintiff demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits; and 2) plaintiff demonstrated irreparable harm in the form of the loss of opportunity to pursue her chosen profession....

BIA’s denial of Lebanese petitioner’s application for asylum is affirmed as an immigration judge’s determination that an asylum application is time barred does not preclude the judge from also finding that the same application is frivolous. Read Ghazali v. Holder, No. 08-4229 Appellate Information Argued: October 7, 2009 Decided and Filed: October 29, 2009 Judges Opinion by Circuit Judge Sutton Counsel For Appellant: Ronald E. Kaplovitz, Kaplovitz & Associates, Sylvan Lake, Michigan...

Grubhub’s restaurant delivery service sounds like a win-win-win: Restaurants get access to customers who don’t want to leave their couch; diners get great food without having to put pants on; and Grubhub itself cleans up a tidy 15 to 20 percent commission on the final bill. But it’s that last part that proving tricky for the company “disrupting” the restaurant industry. Grubhub claims to only charge restaurants for food orders it helps to generate, but a new lawsuit alleges the company has been billing them for all kinds of calls, including questions or complaints, and sometimes doubling their commission....

In US v. Silva-Arzeta, 07-5140, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s drug and firearm possession convictions, holding that 1) defendant could converse in English sufficiently well to consent to the search at issue; 2) the consent of a handcuffed arrestee to a search may still be voluntary; 3) the use of certified interpreters and recording devices was not required during interrogation; and 4) defendant waived his right to request discovery into alleged evidence tampering....

In a motion by state legislators to purge the District Court’s contempt order holding that the state was providing inadequate English Language-Learner instruction in the school district at issue, the denial of the motion is reversed, where the lower courts did not engage in the proper analysis under Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b)(5), because they did not analyze whether changed circumstances warranted reexamination of the original judgment. Read Horne v. Flores, No....

In plaintiff’s negligence suit against Wal-Mart for selling bullets to his wife without asking her for the identification card required by Illinois law (she later committed suicide), dismissal of the complaint is affirmed as Illinois law continues to deem suicide an independent intervening event that breaks the chain of causation, even after an illicit gun sale. Read Johnson v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 08-4226 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois...

In plaintiff’s 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action against a former middle school security guard, whom she had run away with when she was fourteen years old and had been living with until the law enforcement authorities’ discovery, various other individuals and her former middle school, district court’s dismissal of all of plaintiff’s claims is affirmed where: 1) summary judgment on statute of limitation grounds is affirmed as plaintiff forewent her right to relief in federal court by waiting too long to assert her rights; 2) summary judgment for the former security guard is affirmed as he was not acting under color of law; and 3) district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s state law claims are affirmed....

Employers no longer must post job descriptions in the newspaper when hiring workers under the H-2B visa program, the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have decided in a new rule. Previously, employers had to post notification of the job in a print newspaper in general circulation in the area in which the job was to be fulfilled. The agencies posted a final rule rescinding the requirement on November 15....

Iran Immune from Judgment Enforcement Under FSIA In Peterson v. Islamic Repub. of Iran, No. 08-17756, plaintiffs’ appeal from the district court’s order denying plaintiffs’ motion to assign the rights of a French debtor of Iran to plaintiffs, on the basis that Iran’s rights to payment from the debtor were immune under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA), the court affirmed where 1) the court could not require a defendant to affirmatively plead foreign sovereign immunity from suit, since a court must decide immunity even if a defendant does not appear; and 2) Iran’s rights to payment from the debtor did not constitute “property in the United States” under 28 U....

The status of Puerto Rico was front and center in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, as the justices heard arguments in Puerto Rico v. Valle. On its face, the case is about whether the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico can prosecute a criminal, already tried by the federal government, without violating the Constitution’s prohibition on double jeopardy. Puerto Rico says yes. The federal government and Luis M. Sanchez Valle, who faced federal and Puerto Rican charges related weapons trafficking, say no....

During his nearly 30 years on the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia left an indelible mark on the country’s jurisprudence. To paraphrase J.K. Galbraith, we’re all originalists now – whether we like it or not. Here are Justice Scalia’s most influential decisions from the Supreme Court, covering everything from standing to video games. Some of them may surprise you. The Second Amendment – D.C. v. Heller (2008): Unquestionably Justice Scalia’s most important constitutional decision, this landmark case declared, for the first time ever, that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms....

FAPE. It’s not an urban clothing brand. It’s a Free Appropriate Public Education. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), school districts have to provide a FAPE to special needs children using an annually revised Individualized Education Plan (IEP) tailored to the child’s unique needs. If they are unable to do so, the parents can enroll the child in another facility at the district’s cost. Before the end of his third grade year, and over the following summer, L....

US v. Damra, 08-4540, concerned a challenge to a defendant’s conviction and sentence for evading corporate income tax in violation of 26 U.S.C. section 2701 and for conspiring to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. 371. US v. Bd. of Commissioners of Hamilton County, 10-3116, involved a county board of commissioner’s suit against a city, seeking a declaratory judgment that the city could not unilaterally terminate a 1985 sewage treatment agreement....

This was a curious case. San Francisco passed a pair of laws, one regulating storage of firearms in one’s home, one banning the sale of hollow-point ammunition in the city. Note the narrowness of the laws, with the safe storage requirement (in a safe, or with a trigger lock) applying only when the gun isn’t on one’s person, and the ammo restriction applying to the sale, but not possession or use....

A federal appeals court has ruled that an administrative law judge’s appointment was unconstitutional, setting up a battle that calls into question the validity of ALJ appointments across the country. Siding with a businessman who was punished for violating securities laws, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals said that a Securities and Exchange Commission judge did not have authority to act in the case because he was not appointed by the President, a court, or a department head....

If the definition of insanity is repeating the same action with the expectation of a different result, then the lawyer’s definition of insanity is rehashing the same argument before a court with the expectation that you won’t be threatened with sanctions. Courts do not appreciate persistence. And they can back up their annoyance with fines and disbarment. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals suspended David Smith in 1993, and disbarred him in 1996....

Baltimore will have to content itself with winning on the field because it can’t seem to find a win in court. The Baltimore City Council and Mayor’s Office sued a group of banks in federal court on behalf of two large putative classes: one whose members bought auction rate securities and one whose members issued them. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants — who rank among the world’s largest and best-known financial institutions — triggered the 2008 market collapse by conspiring with each other to simultaneously stop buying auction rate securities for their own proprietary accounts....

If the coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, working from home has a lot of perks. For example: no commuting, better work-life balance, and fewer distractions (goodbye, compulsory work birthday parties). But are you protected under workers’ compensation laws while telecommuting? Workers’ Compensation Applies to Remote Workers Workers’ compensation covers accidents and injuries at the workplace. However, the laws expand to injured workers doing remote work if it happens within the scope of employment....