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Denial of defendant’s motion for a sentence reduction pursuant to 18 U.S.C. section 3582(c)(2) is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in failing to explicitly state what sentence it would have imposed had Amendment 706 to the Sentencing Guidelines been in effect when defendant was originally sentenced; and 2) the district court’s observation that defendant’s 100-month sentence was the product of negotiation was an accurate reflection of the record and not speculation regarding what might otherwise have occurred....

In a wire fraud case arising as a result of defendant’s role in a check-kiting scheme that caused the failure of a federal savings bank, wherein the government sought to collect defendant’s financial obligations to the FDIC from third party-bookie who received money from the insolvent defendant, judgment in favor of the government under a theory of fraudulent transfer under the Federal Debt Collection Procedure Act (FDCPA) is affirmed as defendant’s transfers of money to his bookie fell within the scope of the FDCPA, and the bookie is liable to the government for the constructively fraudulent transfers....

A few months ago, the possibility of a Donald Trump presidency was widely dismissed. Now, the Donald has become the presumptive Republican nominee, giving him a not-insignificant chance at ruling the most powerful country in the world – and selecting its Supreme Court justices. And while Senate Republicans have stalled the nomination of Merrick Garland, President Obama’s pick to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia, Trump has been busy putting together his own list of potential nominees, which he released today....

Make no mistake. Americans – or at least a good many of them – love their guns. When it comes to personal ownership of firearms, no other country can match the U.S. According to the most recent count by Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey, the U.S. is the only nation on earth where guns outnumber people: 120.5 firearms for every 100 people. Second-place Yemen has a mere 52.8 guns for every 100 residents....

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals stays busy. And, even though it’s fully staffed, the existing lineup could use an extra body on the bench to review the hefty caseload. But Senator Charles Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has a plan: the Court Efficiency Act. The bill, S. 699, would take three seats away from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and add one seat to both the Second and Eleventh Circuits....

In an action claiming that Defendant’s anti-virus software interfered with the use of downloadable programs by customers of Plaintiff online media company, summary judgment for Defendant is affirmed, where a distributor of Internet security software is entitled to immunity under the safe harbor provision of the Communications Decency Act. Read Zango, Inc. v. Kaspersky Lab, Inc., No. 07-35800 Appellate Information Argued February 2, 2009 Filed June 25, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Rymer...

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the City of Dearborn in a First Amendment case this week. Dearborn, Michigan; once the home of Henry Ford, is now an American city with a population that is about 30 percent Arab-American, housing America’s largest mosque. First Amendment, large ethnic Arab population – during this period of our country’s history it doesn’t take a legal genius to put the pieces of this puzzle together....

Judges want their courtrooms to be respected and they can demand a high level of professionalism from those who appear before them. If you’re ever appearing before Judge Richard Posner, pay attention to detail! A three-judge panel of 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reprimanded attorneys for filing an allegedly misleading and unprofessional brief. The attorneys identified in the decision, Kenneth Kirschner and Lyndon Tretter, came from the firm of Hogan Lovells and the U....

In 2009, Elven Joe Swisher was convicted of wearing military medals he didn’t earn. Swisher had, in fact, been a member of the military: He served in the Marines and was honorably discharged in 1957 following a combat mission in which he was injured. In 2001, he applied for a claim for service-connected PTSD, providing a narrative and supporting documents stating that he’d received several awards and suffered service-related injuries....

US v. Shakir, 09-2665, concerned a challenge to the district court’s denial of defendant’s motion to suppress evidence, in a prosecution of defendant for armed robbery of a credit union bank. In affirming, the court held that a search is permissible incident to a suspect’s arrest when, under all the circumstances, there remains a reasonable possibility that the arrestee could access a weapon or destructible evidence in the container or area being searched....

In 2012, Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz shot and killed a sixteen year old Mexican boy, Jose Elena Rodriguez. The federal murder trial over whether the killing was justified recently ended with the jury returning a not guilty verdict for the second degree murder charge. The jury, however, could not reach an agreement on the lesser charges of involuntary and voluntary manslaughter. The court ordered a mistrial as to those charges, yet the decision to retry those charges has not yet been made....

Curtis Lumber Co. v. Louisiana Pac. Corp., No. 09-2602, involved an action by a retail supplier of building materials regarding defendant’s alleged failure to follow through on defendant’s rebate promotion that plaintiff promoted to many of its customers. The court affirmed in part partial summary judgment for defendant, holding that the testimony offered by plaintiff fell short of the elevated burden for proving fraud by circumstantial evidence. However, the court reversed in part where 1) plaintiff alleged distinct injuries that would not have occurred had defendant paid rebates owed to plaintiff’s customers; and 2) there was a question of material fact as to whether defendant’s rebate documents misrepresented or omitted a material term of the rebate promotion....

In a historic decision, a federal appeals court ruled that civil rights laws protect gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender employees from discrimination in the workplace. It is the first time in the United States that a court has extended the 1964 Civil Rights Act to workers who identify with the LGBT community. Other courts traditionally have said that sexual orientation was not protected because it was not defined in the Civil Rights Act....

In Rhoades v. Henry, No. 07-99023, a capital habeas matter, the court of appeals affirmed the denial of petitioner’s petition, on the grounds that 1) the difference between what petitioner’s counsel investigated and presented, and what they could have investigated and presented, is not so pronounced that the new evidence would have outweighed any one of the aggravating circumstances; 2) alleged violations of state law were not cognizable on federal habeas review; and 3) so long as any single aggravating factor found in the penalty phase was supported, alleged constitutional infirmities as to remaining ones were harmless....

Disrobed is not a legal bodice-ripper, as its title might suggest. (Come to think of it, there’s a serious void of legal bodice-rippers.) Instead, it’s an inside look at the District Court for the Eastern District of New York, presented through the eyes of Senior Judge Frederic Block. Judge Block should have an interesting perspective on the inner workings of the federal courts: Appointed to the district court in 1994 by President Bill Clinton, Judge Block spent nearly 20 years as a federal judge, presiding over big-name cases, like the Crown Heights Riots trial and the trials of mafia boss Peter Gotti and nightclub magnate Peter Gatien....

Gas expands as it heat ups, which basically explains the complex class-action In Re. Motor Fuel Temperature Sales Practice Litigation. According to Judge Nancy Moritz of the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, the years of litigation were born of simple physics: when consumers buy gas at higher temperatures, they may get less bang for their buck. The parties ultimately settled, providing mechanisms to remedy the wrong at the gas pump....

The Democratic Party has failed to prove that Hawaii’s open primary system “severely burdens” the party’s associational rights, according to the Independent Voter Project. The open primary system allows members formally registered with another party to vote for nominees outside of party lines. The decision is the correct one. The Democratic Part of Hawaii brought a rather flimsy argument that was rightfully dismissed. After all, how can the opportunity to vote outside of one’s typical associated group be a violation of one’s right to freely associate?...

Insecticide Exposure Suit In Junk v. Terminix Int’l. Co., No. 08-3811, an action alleging that plaintiff’s son’s multiple medical conditions were caused by exposure to Dursban, an insecticide manufactured by Dow Chemical Co., summary judgment for defendant is affirmed in part where the district court determined that plaintiff’s expert had not used a “scientifically valid” method to estimate that plaintiff’s son’s exposure exceeded a safe level. However, the court reversed in part where there was arguably a reasonable basis for predicting that the state law might impose liability based upon the facts involved against an allegedly fraudulently joined individual defendant....

3.2 billion views. That’s how many views Katy Perry’s 2014 Billboard hit, “Dark Horse,” has received to date on YouTube. And now it’s fair to say it is, in fact, her hit. On March 10, Perry won her appeal of a long-running copyright infringement lawsuit, which means that she and her record label won’t have to pay a $2.8 million jury award relating to “Dark Horse.” Gray v. Hudson (Perry) Christian rappers Marcus Gray (“Flame”), Emmanuel Lambert, and Chike Ojukwu filed their lawsuit in 2014, alleging that Perry stole an ostinato (a short, repeated musical phrase) from their 2008 song “Joyful Noise” and used it in “Dark Horse....

Boy, does the U.S. Marshall have a deal for you! Why buy a ‘cash-for-clunkers’ car when you can get luxury transportation for land and sea? The catch: the 61-foot yacht, Audi coupe, and Mercedes sedans were originally bought by Frank DiPascali, the former CFO at Bernie Madoff’s investment firm, and the right-hand man of convicted Ponzi-schemer Bernard Madoff. According to a new lawsuit filed on Monday (see below), the roughly $2 million worth of toys were illegally paid for using Madoff client funds....