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In September, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a nationwide eviction moratorium to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and help people suffering from pandemic-related job losses stay in their homes. However, many tenants have found that the process of proving financial hardship and giving written notice to the landlord is not as simple as it seems. Here are some common issues and loopholes in the moratorium that you should look out for to give you the best chance of staying in your home....

Dorian Johnson will get his day in court against Ferguson police for using excessive force that killed his friend three years ago. Johnson was not injured in the incident but sued for civil rights violations and “unconstitutional law-enforcement practices.” The U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, turning away an appeal by the city in Johnson v. City of Ferguson, ruled that his case will go forward. Michael Brown was not as fortunate....

After years of hypnotherapy, you finally suppressed the painful memories of law professors droning incessantly that an agreement is governed by the “four corners” of the document. But, if you’re planning to negotiate a Rule 68 offer of judgment in the Third Circuit, it’s time to drag that phrase out of the inner recesses of your subconscious. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that a Rule 68 offer of judgment is restricted to the terms that are memorialized - you guessed it - in the four corners of the agreement....

In an appeal from a district court decision reversing an administrator’s decision that plaintiff was no longer eligible for long-term disability benefits and remanding the claim for further consideration, the appeal is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction as the lower court’s decision was not a final, appealable order. Read Gerhardt v. Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston, No. 08-2517 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas....

Last night’s presidential debate, the final of three, was the first to devote a significant portion of the discussion to the future of the Supreme Court. And thankfully, SCOTUS came first, meaning the dialogue remained largely coherent, if not always on point. This debate probably won’t be remembered for its fights over D.C. v. Heller or ruminations on the Senate’s role in the Supreme Court nomination process. But it did have some points worth noting....

Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner’s civil procedure opinions often read like the textbook you wish you had in law school. Judge Posner has a knack for explaining procedure in a step-by-step process, noting why the court disposes of particular arguments. Wednesday, Judge Posner explained in one of his textbook-style federal jurisdiction opinions why an allegation that the amount in controversy is $2 billion does not mean that the amount is $2 billion....

Clever cop – but a bit too clever. Andres Lopez-Cruz was driving along in San Diego county when he was pulled over by Border Patrol agents for “driving suspiciously.” In the back seat were two cell phones, which he granted consent for the agents to search. One of the phones rang during the search, and was answered by one of the agents, who pretended to be Lopez-Cruz, without ever saying as much....

The recommendation of the Court’s Committee on Attorney Admissions and Grievances that an attorney be publicly reprimanded is adopted where: 1) the attorney failed to show that the Committee’s failure to grant access to certain interview notes prejudiced him in any way; and 2) it remained unclear whether the attorney fully accepted the fact that he engaged in serious misconduct and whether he was fully committed to mending his ways....

R. Kelly is no stranger to allegations of sexual misconduct. Some of these allegations have led to criminal charges, while others have not. In 2008, for example, he was found not guilty of child pornography. Over a decade later, in early 2019, he was charged with sexually abusing minors. Now, R. Kelly is now facing additional charges involving one of those minors. Same Victim, New Charges The new indictment concerns a woman, identified as “J....

In 2005, then-New York Governor George Pataki directed the State’s Office of Mental Health (OMH) and Department of Correctional Services (DOCS) to develop a plan to take executive action to implement a sexually-violent predator initiative that would result in the involuntary commitment of selected SVPs to state psychiatric facilities after the expiration of their criminal sentences. Those who were committed under initiative weren’t too pleased with the lack of due process, and sued Governor Pataki and officials of OMH and DOCS....

Already facing a host of charges in Illinois for his alleged sexual misconduct with underage, singer R. Kelly’s legal situation is getting a lot worse. Last week, federal prosecutors in Chicago and Brooklyn unveiled separate indictments on 18 total charges against Kelly. The Chicago indictment alleges that Kelly had sexual contact with five underage girls, videotaped some of those encounters, and bribed the girls and their families to stay silent. The Brooklyn indictment alleges kidnapping, forced labor, and sexual exploitation of underage girls....

The Supreme Court yesterday denied a petition for a writ of certiorari in a case that’s been going on since 2008, pitting a real estate developer against the owner of the World Trade Center site to figure out who was going to pay for cleanup costs related to the September 11 attacks. When the real estate developer, Cedar & Washington, wanted to renovate an office building in downtown New York, the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the EPA told the developer the building might contain “WTC dust,” consisting of fine particles of concrete along with hazardous substances like lead, mercury, and asbestos that settled in and on the building following the destruction of the World Trade Center towers in 2001....

Activists, lawmakers, and judges of all political stripes have realized that America’s cash bail system has created an uneven playing field for criminal defendants. Essentially, if you can’t afford to pay your bail, you can languish in jail, you can lose your home, your job, and your children, and you will not be able to build the defense that those with better resources can. These outcomes have happened far too often to low-income people, even those facing non-violent misdemeanor charges....

What do the cast of Jersey Shore and the Supreme Court have in common? Little, other than fist-pumping and end of season recaps. With that in mind, let’s take a look at FindLaw’s five most fascinating 2010 Supreme Court cases. Did your favorite 2010 Supreme Court cases make our list? And which cases will make the cut for next summer’s Supreme Court year in review? We’ll go way out on a limb here and say that if the Court decides to hear the Affordable Care Act (ACA) individual coverage mandate case, an ACA opinion will be on the list next year....

Defendants’ convictions and sentences for conspiracy to manufacture 100 or more marijuana plants, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense is affirmed where: 1) any error in one defendant’s sentence did not result in prejudice to him; and 2) district court’s conclusion that the other defendant was not a minor participant in the conspiracy was not clearly erroneous. Read US v....

Sentence for drug crimes is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not err in imposing consecutive prison terms under 18 U.S.C. sec. 924(c)(1)(A)(i) as the Whitley/Williams rule has no bearing on this case since the predicate drug crime underlying defendant’s conviction does not dictate a mandatory minimum sentence; and 2) any error by the district court in calculating defendant’s criminal history category was harmless. Read US v. Parker, No. 08-4199...

Defendant’s conviction for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and sentence to five years probation, with a community-service obligation but no confinement and a $50,000 fine, is reversed and remanded as, while a judge can give a below-guidelines sentence, the sentence cannot stand if it is based on a legal, factual, or analytic error that is not harmless as it is in this case. Read US v. Vrdolyak, No. 09-1891...

Conviction of a defendant for bank robbery and using a firearm during a robbery at the second trial after the jury in the first trial was unable to reach a verdict is affirmed where: 1) double jeopardy did not bar defendant’s second trial as defendant has not shown any error, let alone plain error, in the district court’s decision to discharge the first jury; and 2) the circumstantial evidence supports a finding of guilty beyond a reasonable doubt....

Saved by a federal appeals court, the Utah prairie dog has re-emerged as a protected species after private landowners had won a case that would have allowed them to kill the animal. The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals said the landowners cannot harm the creatures under the Endangered Species Act, reversing a trial judge who said the federal law was invalid under the Commerce Clause. In a controversial decision in 2014, the judge said the prairie dog was not protected under the federal law because it lives only in Utah....

The Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station (“Vermont Yankee”) has been a source of controversy – and litigation – since 1978. In the latest court battle, Vermont Yankee brought suit against Vermont’s Governor, Attorney General and members of the Vermont Public Services board making preemption and dormant commerce clause claims. Last week, in a case that is sure to have nationwide ripples, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that “[s]tates cannot shut down nuclear power plants over safety worries, reports The New York Times....