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No one wants their lawsuit to be dismissed for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. But throwing facts and defendants up in the air in the hope and prayer that something – anything – will move the case forward can get your case dismissed just as quickly. Known as “shotgun complaints" in the 11th Circuit, rules 8(a)(2) and Rule 10(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure prohibit these scattershot approaches to lawsuits, at least in spirit....

A high school sophomore in Maine posted a sticky note in one of the girls’ bathrooms with the words “There’s a rapist in our school and you know who it is.” School administrators, who became aware of the note shortly after it was posted, investigated. They concluded that the note was targeted to a fellow student who was the subject of rumors regarding sexual assault. The school ultimately suspended the sophomore who wrote the sticky note, saying it violated school policy against bullying....

Following the financial crisis of 2008, the S.E.C. has initiated many actions against banks and bank officers related to their conduct that led to the economic fallout. One such case was brought against Citigroup, where the S.E.C. alleged that Citigroups’s investors suffered loss due to the bank’s violation of Sections 17(a)(2) and (3) of the Securities Act of 1933. When the S.E.C. and Citigroup sought approval of their settlement agreement before district court Judge Rakoff, he denied the consent order, and scheduled a trial date instead....

It’s almost as a rare day when a federal circuit court grants review of a case from the Board of Immigration Appeals as it is when a federal circuit court grants a habeas petition. Today turned out to be Ashraf Habib’s lucky day. The government wanted Habib deported for misrepresenting the fact of his marital status in Pakistan in order to gain U.S. residency. The Seventh Circuit concluded that ineffective assistance of counsel led to Habib’s current predicament and granted his petition for review....

A divided Seventh Circuit affirmed both child abuse and felony gun use convictions against admitted abuser David Resnick in a split decision that implicates the admissibility of polygraph information – or rather, evidence of the defendant’s refusal to submit to a polygraph. But although the affirmation may strike many as being the proper outcome, the Fifth Amendment implications the opinion raises should really give even the most casual reader pause....

The Obama Administration has doubled down on its Affordable Care Act bet, declining to seek an en banc appeal from the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The Justice Department announced the decision on Monday, which clears the way for Supreme Court review before the 2012 presidential election. We assumed that the controversial, individual mandate was designed to take effect in 2014 to allow the president to tout the plan during the 2012 election cycle without criticism of the inevitable glitches that arise in new programs....

In our imagination, “All I Do is Win” plays on a loop in Apple’s corporate headquarters. And why shouldn’t Apple brag about its success? Consumers whip themselves into a frenzy every time the company releases a new gadget. Last year, Apple usurped Microsoft’s tech-king throne. In August, Apple unseated Exxon as the most profitable company in the world. Apple’s latest win, however, came in court, not the marketplace. Today, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for Apple a copyright lawsuit against Mac-cloner Psystar....

Foie gras. It’s a delicacy made from fattened duck liver. Typically, the preparation begins with a specially-bred hybrid duck, the Mulard, which is fed copiously for weeks, then, near the end of its life, force fed even more food through a tube. Some might call force-feeding beyond satiation animal cruelty. Others call it tasty. Either way, it is now illegal in California, thanks to a pair of laws, Cal. Health & Safety Code §§ 25981 and 25982....

All states have different ways of handling abandoned, or unclaimed, property. Last week, the Seventh Circuit had to examine Indiana law, and reached a conclusion contrary to the district courts. In doing so, Judge Posner also pointed out an area of the law that may need additional legislation. Walter Cerajeski is the owner of a bank account, which was presumed abandoned, under the Indiana Unclaimed Property Act, after three years passed without the bank hearing from him....

In plaintiff’s employment discrimination action against Craftmatic under Title VII, section 1981 and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA), the district court’s judgment is affirmed as to all of plaintiff’s claims under Title VII and the PHRA as well as her section 1981 claims for a hostile work environment and retaliation as she was not an employee of Craftmatic, but rather an independent contractor. District court’s grant of Craftmatic’s motion for summary judgment as to plaintiff’s section 1981 claim that her termination was motivated by racial animus is reversed because there remain questions for a jury regarding whether Craftmatic would have terminated plaintiff’s contract absent consideration of her race....

Americans love their TikTok videos, dances, and challenges. The social media platform has exploded and boasts over 100 million monthly TikTok users in the U.S. However, there is growing concern among U.S. officials that the social media app has the potential to steal U.S. user data and use its algorithm to influence people with false or manipulated information. FBI Director Chris Wray warns that TikTok is a threat to national security because the Chinese government controls TikTok’s parent company and China is a government that “doesn’t share our values” and “they have the ability to collect data through it on users which can be used for traditional espionage operations....

Comcast may have won the Supreme Court battle, but it has lost the public relations war. Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that lower courts had improperly certified millions of disgruntled Comcast customers as a class because the plaintiffs didn’t properly outline an adequate method for issuing damages to the affected customers, Ars Technica reports. Comcast Corporation and its subsidiaries provide cable-television services to residential and commercial customers....

In Lunbery v. Hornbeak, No. 08-17576, a murder prosecution, the court of appeals reversed the denial of petitioner’s habeas petition, on the ground that the trial court’s exclusion of the evidence of 1) a witness’s admission that his partners had committed the murder and 2) another witness’s drug-dealing stripped petitioner of evidence that someone other than she had probably committed the murder of her husband. Cosmetic Ideas, Inc. v. IAC/InteractiveCorp, No....

In an action for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff’s claim that defendant was operating a hazardous waste disposal facility without a permit in violation of 42 U.S.C. sec. 6925(a) was properly dismissed as the lead on defendant’s site was not abandoned but was the result of the regular, intended use of lead shot at a shooting range, and thus defendant was not required to obtain a permit under the statute; 2) the court properly granted defendant summary judgment on the imminent and substantial endangerment claim as the fact that defendant’s site exceeded RSR and SEH standards was insufficient to create a material issue of fact as to whether lead contamination on the site may present an imminent and substantial endangerment; and 3) the court properly granted summary judgment to defendant on the Clean Water Act claim as plaintiff failed to provide sufficient evidence to raise a material issue of fact as to whether defendant’s discharges lead into jurisdictional wetlands from a point source....

In Revell v. Erickson, No. 09-2029, the Third Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action against the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a Port Authority Police officer for arresting him under New Jersey’s gun laws and seizing his firearm and ammunition in violation of his rights under section 826A of FOPA. As stated in the decision: “It is clear from the statute that a person transporting a firearm across state lines must ensure that the firearm and any ammunition being transported is not readily accessible or…directly accessible from the passenger compartment of the transporting vehicle…Looking solely at the allegations of Revell’s original complaint, it is also clear that what happened here does not fall within section 926A’s scope because his firearm and ammunition were readily accessible to him during his overnight stay in New Jersey....

The Tinder dating app has allowed countless lonely souls to meet each other with mere rightward swipes on a phone screen. Soon, the service will be making it easier to identify potential trouble in a prospective date. Tinder’s parent company, Match Group, recently announced that it will be partnering with Garbo, a background checking platform to provide the service. Match said the service won’t be free; customers will be able to add it for a fee when it becomes available later this year....

In plaintiff’s action against the Board of Education of a High School District arising from his discharge as a high school social studies teacher and subsequent proceedings, district court’s dismissal of his current action is affirmed where: 1) the district court correctly decided that plaintiff’s case is barred by the Rooker-Feldman doctrine; and 2) the judge did not abuse his discretion in dismissing plaintiff’s third amended complaint for declaratory relief in concluding that plaintiff’s complaint failed to state an injury that was redressable, since subsequent events had cured whatever ambiguity there may have been in the state’s procedures....

In debtor’s appeal from the district court’s order affirming a bankruptcy court’s decision limiting the debtor’s homestead exemption in his bankruptcy petition to $125,000 pursuant to 11 U.S.C. section 522(p), the order is affirmed in part where no pre-petition appreciation of the property at issue occurred. However, the order is reversed in part where “any amount of interest that was acquired,” as used in section 522(p)(1), meant the acquisition of ownership of real property and the monetary cap in section 522(p) did not apply to property to which a debtor acquired title more than 1215 days before she or he filed a bankruptcy petition....

In plaintiff’s case against the defendants for repudiating an agreement whereby defendant was to deliver diesel fuel and soybean oil to plaintiff’s refinery facility, dismissal of the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is affirmed as the defendant, a federally chartered tribal corporation, enjoys tribal-sovereign immunity. Read Memphis Biofuels, LLC. v. Chicksaw Nation Indus., Inc., No. 08-6145 Appellate Information Argued: October 6, 2009 Decided and Filed: November 4, 2009...

Miss USA is a beautiful lawyer. No offense, but beauty pageants are supposed to produce beautiful champions. Cheslie Kryst is an excellent attorney, too, but that’s not the only reason she won the title. Kryst also made history as a pageant winner for another reason. She is a beautiful, black lawyer. Historic Win Along with this year’s Miss America and Miss Teen America, Kryst joined the other winners to mark the first time black women have worn the crowns at the same time....