Yes, you can sue your employer if they wrongfully fired you. But you need to know if your employer actually broke the law, and you need to determine how strong your case is. All too often, people want to sue for being fired when the company had a legitimate reason to fire them. Not every firing is illegal. Here’s a basic rundown of when you can potentially sue for wrongful termination....
In a California corporation’s diversity contract and tort suit against a Kentucky corporation with its principal place of business in Illinois for breaching an exclusive partnership agreement to manufacture automotive parts for plaintiff, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed as, because the economic injury suffered by plaintiff as a result of defendant’s alleged direct dealings with third parties was clearly felt at its corporate headquarters, the district court did not err in holding that plaintiff’s contract claim accrued “without the state” (in California) thereby triggering Michigan’s borrowing statute and requiring application of California’s four-year statute of limitations for written contract cases....
The Federal Communications Commission agreed to pay $43,000 to a journalist who sued the commission for stonewalling his request for information about the repeal of net neutrality rules. Jason Prechtel, a freelance writer, was researching public comments to repeal net neutrality allegedly made using stolen identities. He filed a request for the information with the FCC, but the agency did not comply. Prechtel won a court order to obtain the information, and the FCC then agreed to pay for his attorney’s fees and costs....
Michael Morgan, an Oklahoma attorney and former leader of the Oklahoma Senate was sentenced in 2012 to probation arising out of a charge bribery. Since the Tenth Circuit found that the punishment was “grossly at odds” with sentencing guidelines, he will now be resentenced. Basically, the Tenth Circuit determined that the lower court gave the defendant an easy pass. When Michael Morgan was convicted for bribery, the jury acquitted him of about 60 other criminal counts....
“There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about,” Oscar Wilde once wrote, “and that is not being talked about.” Entrepreneurs and business owners often take this sentiment to heart, pushing PR buttons with edgy or controversial brand and product names. But can you push it too far? The Patent and Trademark Office denied Erik Brunetti a trademark application for his streetwear brand FUCT, citing a federal provision that prohibits registration of trademarks that consist of or comprise immoral or scandalous matter....
In the 1980s and 90s, HIV was a new, little-understood, and deadly disease. Fear of its spread was rampant. Most people with HIV hid their condition for as long as possible, particularly from their employers and the public. Their secrecy was often justified. One hemophiliac middle-school student was expelled from school for having AIDS in 1985. Veteran sports reporters, not usually an overly sensitive bunch, cried when Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson retired due to HIV in 1991 – and there was plenty of speculation at the time he put his teammates at risk....
As much as police would like to fight it, there is no longer any way to contain people recording them in public. Smartphones are everywhere. It may be possible to talk one person out of doing it, but if a crowd forms, there’s no way to stop it. But the law still has not caught up in many places. So while most state laws don’t explicitly say whether it’s legal to videotape police, courts around the country have agreed that it’s legal under the First Amendment — even during protests or during traffic stops....
In action for breach of contract and bad faith denial of insurance benefits, district court grant of summary judgment for defendant is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the grant of summary judgment on the breach of contract claim was premature, as factual disputes remain as to whether the insured was injured while performing tasks that fell within the course and scope of his duties under the independent contractor agreement; and 2) the court did not err in denying the claim for bad faith denial of benefits, as the claim was fairly debatable and defendant had an objectively reasonable basis for its denial....
Federal prosecutors said it was the first of its kind – a female genital mutilation case that has scandalized a religious community. As reports spread, however, it revealed a deeply disturbing question for the nation: why has it taken so long to take action against the practice? The principal defendant, an Indian American doctor, was arrested five months ago, and two mothers have now been indicted in Minnesota for submitting their seven-year-old daughters for the procedure....
The U.S. women’s national soccer team just won their second Women’s World Cup trophy in a row in France on Sunday, but they may have an even tougher challenge ahead when they get home. The team will enter mediation with the U.S. Soccer Federation as soon as possible after their return, to resolve a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by 28 players in March. The women are seeking equal pay on par with the men’s national soccer team, who have yet to win a World Cup and failed to even qualify for the most recent cup in 2018....
In an action by an insurer seeking a declaration that it was not obligated to defend its insured in a personal injury action, summary judgment for defendant is reversed where the policy at issue did not cover defendant’s auto under any circumstances and, therefore, the district court erred in finding that New York Insurance Law section 3420(d)(2) required plaintiff to timely disclaim coverage. Read NGM Ins. Co. v. Blakely Pumping, Inc....
A district court permitted Scott Krantz to remain free on bond pending sentencing following his plea of guilty to transporting and possessing child pornography. The reason? He served three tours of duty with the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. But can honorable military service actually serve as an “exceptional reason” to remain free pending sentencing? In the absence of “exceptional reasons,” a district court must order a defendant’s detention pending sentencing for child pornography possession....
The idea of a giant tardigrade is terrifying. Tardigrades are real, microscopic animals that can survive in almost any environment. They are the only known animals to survive in the vacuum of space and after exposure to solar radiation. European researchers found this out after their “Tardigrades in Space” experiment in 2007, known as TARDIS. Eight-legged with a sucker mouth, they look like a post-apocalyptic worm, right out of an H....
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals released an unusual per curiam opinion this week. More accurately, the court released 73 pages of non-binding opinions, because the en banc court couldn’t assemble a majority in the case. Plaintiff Lewis Del Marcelle sued Brown County and law enforcement officers, charging that they had denied him equal protection of the laws by failing to respond to his complaints about gangs that were harassing him and his wife....
It’s unusual for two lawyers to agree, and practically impossible to get all of them to agree. Yet that’s what happened in the United States Senate, where most of the legislators are also lawyers. On a 91-0 vote, they confirmed the nominations of two judges to the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The appointments were notable also because they filled the bench, which had two vacancies for nine months. The new judges will have some pretty big robes, er, shoes to fill....
Nicolai Quinn pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, and was sentenced to 97 months’ imprisonment. While his plea agreement contained a promise not to appeal the conviction and length of imprisonment, it didn’t stop him from appealing his sentence of supervised release. And so we turn to Quinn’s supervised release challenge in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Quinn claims that the district judge erred by sentencing him to supervision for life....
There’s been a lot of talk about Justice Ginsburg’s workout regime these days – the 84-year-old justice does bench 70 pounds, after all. But that’s not the only Supreme Court workout worth noting. While she was on the Court, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor began an early morning workout class at the Court. And she kept it going since then. Until now that is. After more than 35 years, Justice O’Connor’s workout class is being forced to relocate....
What kind of legal curiosities can arise when state and federal law conflict on the legality of cultivating medical marijuana? Try this one: a marijuana-cultivating family in Michigan, which complied with state law regarding growing marijuana as caretakers (as for their sales… we’ll get to that), was prosecuted in federal court using evidence obtained from a state court-issued warrant that was arguably invalid under state law. Got all that? Let’s get the dirt out of the way....
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion for a full-court review of its July cross-ownership decision in Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC on Tuesday. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), CBS, and other media outlets requested re-hearing in August, saying that the three-judge panel had ruled incorrectly, and asserting that the Third Circuit appeared to want to retain jurisdiction over the case “in perpetuity.” The same three-judge panel had ruled against the group in 2004....
Defendant’s conviction and sentence for illegal reentry following deportation are affirmed, where: 1) the district court properly admitted a prior judgment against defendant to prove alienage because it instructed the jury to consider it only for that purpose; and 2) the district court properly considered unconvicted criminal conduct in enhancing defendant’s sentence. Read US v. Higuera-Llamos, No. 07-10602 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted January 15, 2009 Filed July 31, 2009...
