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Well over a year after cert was granted, a dispute over Microsoft’s Xbox video game console will finally be heard in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed to take up the case way back in January of 2016. But the dispute, which involves disgruntled gamers, scratched game discs, and civil procedure roadblocks in class action cases, has languished untouched since then. That is, until this upcoming Tuesday, when the parties will argue before the Court....

Petitioners’ request for review of BIA’s denial of their application for asylum and related relief from being returned back to Yemen is denied in part and granted in part where: 1) the portion of the petition regarding asylum is denied as the court lacks jurisdiction to review whether an IJ failed to afford the petitioners due process by not excusing the untimeliness of their applications; 2) petitioners’ due process arguments with respect to the IJ’s denial of their applications for asylum are without merit; and 3) request for review of the portion of the petition requesting the withholding of removal is granted as the record contains ample evidence that the General will kill the petitioners if they are returned to Yemen and nothing in the record suggests that conditions in Yemen have changed such that the government there will now be able to control the powerful General....

District court’s judgment in favor of plaintiff in his ERISA suit against his former employer’s retirement plan is affirmed as defendant’s rejection of plaintiff’s claim was not substantially justified in reducing his benefits under the 1997 amendment after he transferred from the United Kingdom to the US affiliate. Read Bandak v. Eli Lilly, No. 09-1620 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, Indianapolis Division...

District court’s order denying death-row inmate’s claim for relief under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b)(6) is affirmed as a movant that seeks relief under Rule 60(b) must show extraordinary circumstances justifying the reopening of a final judgment and, in this case, the motion fails because the defendant cannot prove by clear and convincing evidence that the warden committed fraud on the court. Read Carter v. Anderson, No. 08-3372 Appellate Information...

According to the general counsel of 50 of the nation’s top corporations, federal courts are not sufficiently exercising their gatekeeping power under federal evidentiary rules to ensure that expert testimony “is the product of reliable principles and methods." Instead, they argue, federal courts are allowing juries to play a role, which “results in the admission of unreliable opinion testimony that misleads juries, undermines civil justice, and erodes our stakeholders’ confidence in the courts....

A giant inflatable rat made it into the books at the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The rat was central to Construction and General Laborers’ Union No. 330 v. Town of Grand Chute, a dispute over a 12-foot balloon known as Scabby the Rat. A union put up the balloon with a sign protesting low wages at nearby car dealership. A code enforcement officer took it down, and the Seventh Circuit said that was fine....

Karen Sypher is infamous in Kentucky. In 2010, Sypher was convicted on six counts associated with an extortion plot to demand a house and cash from University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino. Judge Charles R. Simpson III sentenced Sypher to over seven years in prison and two years of supervised release for the “brazen” crime, reports The Courier-Journal. Sypher claimed that she had ineffective counsel, and asked the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for a new trial....

In a unanimous decision released Monday, the Supreme Court held that debtors in bankruptcy cannot void a second mortgage lien on a wholly underwater property. The case was Bank of America v. Caulkett, which involved two debtors who each owned houses with a senior and junior mortgage lien. Both mortgages were underwater meaning that the amount owed on the senior mortgage was higher than the value of the home. If the houses were sold in bankruptcy, the junior mortgage holder would receive nothing....

In Graham v. Florida, No. 08-7412, the Supreme Court reversed defendant’s life sentence without the possibility of parole for violating the term of probation related to a burglary offense, holding that the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause does not permit a juvenile offender to be sentenced to life in prison without parole for a nonhomicide crime. The Court summarized the issue as follows: “The issue before the Court is whether the Constitution permits a juvenile offender to be sentenced to life in prison without parole for a nonhomicide crime....

McDonald v. City of Chicago, No. 08-1521, involved an action against the City of Chicago alleging that the City’s handgun ban left plaintiffs vulnerable to criminals. The Court reversed judgment for defendants, holding that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment right, recognized in Heller, to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense. As the Court wrote: “Two years ago, in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U. S....

Business owners know the old advertising adage “sex sells,” but are often hesitant to use sex appeal in their own advertising. Well, maybe not magazine advertisers. However, a recent lawsuit filed by a sex toy company against New York’s MTA over the agency’s decision to reject the company’s ads raises a good question for business owners and advertisers: How sexy can ads be before they won’t get approved, or break a law, or result in consumer backlash?...

Octane Fitness v. Icon Health & Fitness: “Subjectively and Objectively Unreasonable” Standard Highmark v. Allcare Health Management Systems: More Deference is Due Will SCOTUS Shift Fee-Shifting? Related Resources: Should we Move Toward More Fee Shifting in Patent Cases? (Patently O) Medtronic v. Boston Scientific: Who Must Prove Patent Infringement? (FindLaw’s Federal Circuit Blog) Upcoming SCOTUS Cases Can Help in the War Against Patent Trolls (FindLaw’s In House Blog) MORE COVERAGE: Ineffective Assistance in a Plea: Lafler Redux?...

James Holmes, the alleged movie theatre gunman, is facing 142 charges stemming from the Aurora theatre shooting in July. The charges include 12 counts of first-degree murder, 12 counts of first-degree murder with extreme indifference, 116 counts of attempted murder, one count of committing a crime of violence, and one count of possession of explosives. Details emerged this week indicating that the prosecution will characterize the shootings as a revenge plot, while the defense will plead insanity, reports the Huffington Post....

Nathaniel Benjamin was arrested while on parole and living with his fiancée, Stacy Esprit. Benjamin’s parole officer, who knew that Benjamin’s license had been suspended, observed Benjamin driving, and he organized a search of Esprit’s home, where Benjamin was residing. That search turned up way more than we can detail in one post: drugs, a pit bull in a cage, etc. We’re just going to focus on the gun from the search....

Marijuana users have been on a high, but what goes up this time comes down. In Carlson v. Charter Communications, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a marijuana user who sued his employer for firing him under its drug policy. The plaintiff lost in state court, so he asked the federal court to consider it. It came down to a question about whether a state law legalizing marijuana trumped the employer’s policy to have a drug-free workplace....

In Bunton v. Atherton, No. 09-1152, a murder prosecution, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the denial of petitioner’s habeas petition, holding that 1) the state court of appeals did not unreasonably apply Strickland in determining that defense counsel made a reasonable strategic decision to forego a witness’s testimony; 2) petitioner’s claim was barred on an independent state procedural ground; and 3) the cumulative error doctrine did not apply because the court did not find the existence of two or more actual errors....

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week it did not have jurisdiction to consider whether cops who allegedly suffocated a suspect were entitled to qualified immunity. In 2009, two 911 callers reported Richard Monarque’s odd behavior. Monarque was reportedly running around the street, creating a ruckus. Rio Rancho Police Officers Justin Garcia and Leroy Maldonado arrived on the scene first and observed Monarque sweating profusely and hallucinating that dogs were attacking him....

In 2008, before the Great Recession was in full swing, Bank of America bought Countrywide Financial, in efforts to solidify its position in commercial banking, according to NPR. Thinking it got a great deal, instead what Bank of America bought was lots of liability. As we continue to witness the fallout of the Great Recession, and bailout of banks deemed “too big to fail,” Bank of America is dealing with punches from all sides, when not coincidentally, in the space of a week it’s nearing settlement terms with the Department of Justice, and was ordered by a federal judge to pay $1....

Is a five-year prison sentence that exceeds the federal sentencing guidelines range excessive punishment for aiding and abetting tax return and Pell grant fraud? The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals says that it is not. A district court sentenced Ronald Shepard to five years of probation in February 2009 after he pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the filing of a false tax return and Pell Grant fraud. Shepard’s probation officer subsequently notified the court that Shepard had violated three conditions of his probation: (1) that he not be “employed in any capacity in which he would act in a fiduciary capacity”; (2) that he not commit a federal, state, or local crime; and (3) that he answer truthfully all inquiries of his probation officer....

The U.S. Supreme Court stayed an order that would have forced legislators to redraw two congressional districts in Texas, pending a decision about whether the boundaries discriminate against minorities. Justice Samuel Alito, Jr. issued the one-page order in Abbott v. Perez, giving the plaintiffs until Sept. 5, 2017, to respond. Meanwhile, the Court will review next session a lower court decision that said Texas lawmakers “intentionally deprived” voters in “an impermissible racial gerrymander....