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The Tenth Circuit was not amused when Jerry McCormick attempted to appeal a summary judgment order, arguing that it was improper – but with no new evidence to prove that. The court stated their general rule of thumb that parties maintain the responsibility of “craft[ing] their own legal theories for relief in the district court,” Richison v. Ernest Group, Inc. Also, as an appellate court, they stated that while important, their role was limited to correcting any errors made by the district court....

An Internet privacy class action against Google was revived by the Third Circuit recently. The class action began after it was revealed that Google was circumventing cookie blockers, the browser features that prevent advertisers and other third parties from tracking Internet users. The class action was originally dismissed on summary judgment, but the Third Circuit found that Google’s actions, as alleged, “highly offensive,” deceitful, and possibly in violation of California privacy law....

In a reminder that sentencing can be a difficult balancing act, the Seventh Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Posner, has vacated the sentence imposed on a recidivist substance abuser. The judgment was reversed technically for failure to consult the relevant sentencing guidelines, though the court didn’t hesitate to tell the district court judge that he ought to reconsider the conditions of supervised release as well. The opinion addresses the case of Joshua Downs, who six months after he was given probation for a drug offense, injured another while drunk driving....

Privacy. So highly regarded, yet so easily disregarded. Today, the Second Circuit handed down a decision giving a clear warning to companies reselling personal information under the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (“DPPA”). Get ready to let your clients know to call their web designers – some of their drop down menus may have to go. Let’s back track a little to see where exactly the Second Circuit drew the line in the sand....

Why should law firm ownership be restricted to lawyers? Jacoby & Meyers, a multi-state law firm, says that New York’s only-lawyers-can-own-law-firms rule infringes on fundamental rights like equal protection and due process. Maybe the firm has a point. Now, it’s up to a federal district court to figure that out. Last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the firm’s previously-dismissed challenge to the non-lawyer fee-sharing prohibition, permitting the firm to amend the lawsuit with challenges to other New York statutes, including the Judiciary Law and the Limited Liability Partnership law, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reports....

Myrna Harrison worked as a housekeeper for HealthBridge for 22 years. One day, she found out the company had taken away her seniority. She was not alone. HealthBridge did the same to 48 housekeepers by transferring them to a subcontractor and then bringing them back as “new hires.” That’s called “laundering,” said the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in HealthBridge Management v. National Labor Relations Board. And no, you can’t do that to housekeepers....

In V&M Star, LP. v. Centimark Corp., No. 09-3249, the Sixth Circuit dealt with the issue of whether diversity jurisdiction existed between a defendant corporation who is a citizen of Pennsylvania and plaintiff, a limited partnership that includes two limited liability companies and one French S.A.R.L. After plaintiff’s second amended complaint, in response to defendant’s motion to dismiss as insufficient to establish diveristy jurisdiction, the district court denied defendant’s motion to dismiss as moot because defendant no longer contested diversity jurisdiction....

Export-Import Bank of the U.S. v. Asia Pulp & Paper Co., No. 09-2254, involved an action to collect a $144 million judgment against defendants pursuant to the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act (FDCPA). The Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s order quashing plaintiff’s writs of garnishment, holding that an electronic funds transfer (EFT) temporarily in the possession of an intermediary bank in New York may not be garnished under the FDCPA to satisfy judgment debts owed by the originator or intended beneficiary of that EFT....

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals has greater tolerance for misstatements from courts than it does for misstatements from criminal defendants. Michael Buck pleaded guilty to participating in a commercial sex trafficking operation in Missouri. Under the operation, Buck forced female victims to engage in sex acts by threatening them with physical harm. By way of a telephone service, Buck would sell the services of the women in strip clubs, motels, apartments, and houses to his customer base....

In June, the Eighth Circuit struck down an Arkansas law banning abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected. A few weeks later, the circuit tossed a similar law in North Dakota. In both cases, the Eighth Circuit ruled reluctantly, lamenting that it was bound by Supreme Court precedent. Now, the ridicule has started rolling in, not because of the Court’s holding, but because of the opinions themselves. The opinion in the North Dakota case, authored by Judge Bobby Shepherd, has been particularly targeted....

Clearing five cases from the dockets, Facebook has agreed to change practices that have allowed advertisers to discriminate by targeting users based on their age, race, gender and other characteristics. The settlements, including three lawsuits and two complaints to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, resolve years of claims against Facebook. The plaintiffs said Facebook advertisers have been violating civil rights laws in housing, employment and credit. Facebook announced that it will make “major changes to its targeting tools....

Thanks to the pandemic, you’re probably changing your holiday gift-giving plans. Your family gathering may be smaller than usual, but you still want to give gifts to family members and friends who won’t be there. So you’re realizing that you’ll need to mail the gifts or have them picked up for delivery. If you’re smart, you’ve also made plans to do it as soon as possible. The U.S. Postal Service and private delivery companies like FedEx say they anticipate record package volume this holiday season and are urging people to act quickly....

Does the order of battle matter when a court is deciding whether a suspect was entitled to a court interpreter at grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment for perjury? Not in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. In 2005, Hasan Ali Hasan was convicted after a jury trial on three counts of perjury before a grand jury. Hasan appealed the conviction, and the Tenth Circuit remanded the case, concluding that Hasan may not have been able to communicate effectively in English in violation of the Court Interpreters Act....

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action claiming that state officials conspired to raid plaintiff-school’s campus and seize scores of its students, denial of defendants’ motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity is affirmed where: 1) the district court was not required to provide defendants with an exhaustive written analysis of the merits of each claim as to each defendant; and 2) all of plaintiff’s relevant constitutional rights were clearly established at the relevant time....

In a debtor’s appeal from a district court’s order reversing the bankruptcy court’s confirmation of the debtor’s Chapter 13 plan, the district court’s order is affirmed where the New York Court of Appeals held, in response to a certified question from the court of appeals, that negative equity on a trade-in vehicle is included in the purchase money security interest accompanying a new car’s purchase and is therefore protected from cramdown by the Hanging Paragraph of Section 1325 of the Bankruptcy Code....

State and federal law enforcement officers traced child pornography to the Internet protocol address of Kyle Adam Kirby, a police sergeant. The investigation uncovered hundreds of images of the abuse of children on a laptop computer assigned to his patrol vehicle. When he was convicted, the court threw the book at him, sentencing him at the top of the guidelines range. Although the guidelines didn’t allow for life imprisonment they did permit the district court to sentence him to 1440 months in prison, or just over 120 years....

Well, right up to the point where it is allegedly recording and storing conversation data from children, even after parents try to delete it. That’s according to a complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission last week. Commercials, a Complaint, and COPPA All of this puts the Echo Dot Kids Edition within the purview of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA, a federal law prohibiting web sites from collecting personal information from children under the age of 13 without parental permission....

Jesse Ventura, the former pro wrestler-turned-governor, could not get a hold on the jury. He testified that he was a Mongol back in the 1970s, but it was not a criminal gang. It was a motorcycle club, he said. Jurors didn’t believe it, and found the gang was a criminal enterprise involved in murder, attempted murder, and drug dealing. The judge, however, had a stunning difference of opinion. First of Its Kind Judge David O....

If you saw somebody casually toting an iPad with earphones around town, you might not think that was a judge. We expect judges, especially the seasoned ones, to have more traditional tools – a leather bag, paper files, reading glasses – not portable electronic devices. Or course, it would be different if the judge were wearing a black robe and carrying an iPad. But times are changing, even at the traditionally conservative U....

Challenge district court’s grant of defendant’s petition for habeas relief on ineffective assistance of counsel claim Landrum v. Mitchell, 06-4194, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of defendant’s petition for habeas relief on the basis of guilt-phase ineffective assistance of counsel. In reversing the judgment, the court held that defendant procedurally defaulted his claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failing to seek admission of witness’s testimony during the guilt phase....