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It’s no longer a bus shelter or a trash can. It’s “street furniture.” The difference? Advertising revenue. Much like other European exports H&M or The Office, street furniture is taking America by storm. Vendors make lucrative bids to cities to secure the rights to street furniture; then they install and maintain the fixtures, which they finance through advertising. Corporación Europea de Mobiliario Urbano, S.A., a Spanish firm, places street furniture within the European Union....

In light of recent measles outbreaks, more summer camps are enhancing their vaccine requirements for campers this year. Even families with a longstanding camping history are being warned that unvaccinated children will be turned away, despite any religious or philosophical objections from parents. Are these requirements legal? And what should you do if your child is headed off to summer camp this year? Inoculation, No Exceptions “I used to accept kids if they had a religious exemption, but now I’m not,” Scott Rosmarin, whose family has operated Rosmarins Day Camp in New York’s Hudson Valley for three generations....

Continuing a guarded approach to the Second Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court turned away a case that said people need “good cause” for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in public. The Court left intact Peruta v. County of San Diego, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision that said “there is no Second Amendment right for members of the general public to carry concealed firearms in public.” As a result, most Californians will have a hard time getting concealed weapons permits....

Defendant’s mail fraud sentence is affirmed where: 1) a defendant is not entitled to an offset against a loss based on business expenses that confer no benefit upon the victims; and 2) Application Note 2(C) to section 2S1.1 of the Sentencing Guidelines does not preclude an enhancement for obstruction of justice pursuant to section 3C1.1 of the Guidelines where a defendant’s obstruction relates to an offense underlying a money laundering offense, but not to the money laundering offense itself....

Conviction under the Hobbs Act affirmed US v. Wells, 09-3276, concerned a challenge to a defendant’s conviction for conspiracy to violate, as well as three counts of substantive violations of, the Hobbs Act, in a case arising from defendant’s solicitation and acceptance of about $40,000 in bribes as a water pipe repair supervisor of a city. In affirming the conviction, the court rejected defendant’s claim of prosecutorial misconduct, and held that defendant has not adequately explained why his ineffective assistance claims should be reviewed on appeal rather than through a habeas petition....

Defendant’s conviction for concealing, harboring, or shielding from detection illegal aliens and hiring illegal aliens is affirmed where: 1) the district court’s supplemental jury instruction on the meaning of “shielding” was not erroneous; and 2) the evidence was sufficient to prove defendant intended to prevent government authorities from detecting the presence of the illegal aliens. Read US v. Ye, No. 08-1333 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois...

The Utah Republican Party has sought to enjoin the enforcement of SB54, a state law passed to provide two methods for a party’s candidates to make it onto the primary ballot: via the party’s caucus or convention, or via signature gathering. The Utah Republicans did not want to allow the latter method as its stated preference is to only allow the party’s primary candidates to be chosen at their state nominating convention....

We’ve been watching the progression of Andrew “weev” Auernheimer’s trial and appeal and last week, the Third Circuit released its opinion in the hacker’s appeal. Though “complex and novel issues that are of great public importance in our increasingly interconnected age” were presented, the case was decided on what some might call a technicality – venue. Until Monday, Auernheimer was serving a 41-month sentence for identity theft and conspiracy to commit unauthorized access to a protected computer, in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (“CFAA”), when he accessed and leaked 114,000 email addresses of iPad users....

Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn Brown, along with the shared husband Kody, were just simple people going about their own business (and starring in the reality show ‘Sister Wives’) when they came under investigation for polygamy. The Browns weren’t charged with a crime, but they challenged Utah’s longstanding polygamy ban nonetheless – and they won. Now, the Sister Wives are taking their pro-polygamy campaign to the Tenth Circuit, which heard oral arguments over the ban today....

The majority said that this was a “straightforward” case: Columbia Gas Transmission has the “right of eminent domain to obtain easements over the land of objecting landowners, outside of the existing right of way, in order to replace deteriorating pipeline.” And yet, the dissent (and the district court) felt that this was far more complicated, because it depends on how you define “replace” – replace in place, or replace and reroute, up to a mile from the original location of the gas line....

In December, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held in a 2-1 decision that an Illinois ban on carrying a weapon in public is unconstitutional. In striking the law, Judge Richard Posner said that Illinois had to provide the court with more than merely a rational basis for asserting that its sweeping ban was justified by an increase in public safety. The court, however, stayed its ruling for 180 days to allow the Illinois legislature to craft a new gun law....

Rape. Repeated beatings. Unemployment. Verbal harassment. These are the conditions Dennis Vitug, a HIV-positive, gay Filipino faced growing up in the Philippines. And after returning from a student visa-enabled trip to the U.S., he spent three years searching for a job, only to be denied because of his effeminate nature and the rampant discrimination against homosexuals in the Philippines. However, during his time in the United States, including after he overstayed a tourist visa, he developed a drug habit and was arrested multiple times on drug possession offenses....

The 2012 death of Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong shocked the nation. Although he was 82 years old, early news reports indicated he was recovering well after heart surgery. His death a few weeks later from complications caused an outpouring of support and tributes to the first man on the moon. This month’s 50th anniversary of the moon landing has led to renewed tributes. It also brought news that the Armstrong family secretly negotiated a $6 million wrongful death settlement with the Cincinnati hospital caring for Armstrong at the time of his death....

In an action for breach of contract and promissory estoppel, district court’s grant of summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) the court properly concluded that the parties’ letter of intent governed their relationship after a certain date, and the letter of intent unambiguously gave defendant the right to terminate the parties’ relationship; and 2) the court did not err in granting defendant summary judgment on plaintiff’s alternative claims for equitable relief since it correctly determined that the letter of intent, as modified and extended, governed the parties’ relationship....

In a copyright infringement case involving software licensing agreements, district court’s summary judgment to plaintiff Cincom Systems, Inc. (Cincom) is affirmed as defendant Novelis did not abide by the express terms of Cincom’s license and gain prior written approval before impermissibly transferring the software license when it underwent internal reorganization. Read Cincom Sys., Inc. v. Novelis Corp., No. 07-4142 Argued: September 8, 2009 Decided and Filed: September 25, 2009 Judges...

The new Supreme Court term doesn’t begin until Monday, but it got its unofficial kickoff yesterday, as the Court released orders from this week’s “long conference,” granting cert in eight new cases. Lucky for us, they’re eight pretty interesting cases. The disputes include questions over immigration law, the educational rights of children with disabilities, immigration and “crimes of violence,” credit card fees, and attorney misconduct. There’s even an Indian Law case titled Lewis v....

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals clarified today that you don’t have to be part of a group to organize or participate in a scheme. Let us explain. Tim DeChristopher entered a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) oil and gas lease auction in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2008, by representing he was a bidder. His purpose was to disrupt the auction and call attention to the potential environmental harms of drilling on the leases....

Timing isn’t everything. For example, a plaintiff is not guaranteed to prevail in a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) lawsuit simply because his FMLA leave and his termination date overlap. Michael Sabourin sued the University of Utah, claiming, among other things, that it had violated the FMLA by deciding to eliminate his position and then firing him for cause while he was on leave for childcare in June 2006. Though the timing of the University’s decision may have seemed suspect, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that Sabourin’s termination was based on insubordination, not FMLA retaliation....

Parents of America have one more reason to keep their kids off the football field. In recent years, the high incidence of football concussions has been linked to ongoing brain deterioration, and now a new study has revealed that the dangers of playing football may be even worse. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Rochester Medical Center say that it’s not just the big hits that are bad; a season-long series of routine hits can also cause long-term brain damage....

A long-standing rule on bankruptcy and student loans just got turned on its head in the Fifth Circuit. The case surrounds two individuals who filed for bankruptcy, one in Texas and another in Virginia. One obtained a $15,000 loan from a Sallie Mae subsidiary to fund his bar exam preparation, while the other took out around $11,000 for tuition and expenses at a technical school. When they filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, both were given notice that most of their debts had been discharged - but not their student debt....