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For anyone who is a parent, one of the most frightening things always in the back of our minds is child abduction. But, what happens when the abductor is the child’s other parent? And, what if she takes your child out of the country? This term, the Supreme Court will interpret the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction – and will determine whether the “now settled” defense is subject to equitable tolling....

Have you noticed that more and more of your social media friends seem to be selling stuff? Essential oils, hair products, nutritional shakes, makeup, press-on nails, candles, leggings … the list goes on. And you’ve probably noticed that your friends don’t just want to sell you their product, they also want you to join them in selling the product as part of their “team." Welcome to the world of MLM....

Last summer, the NAACP filed a lawsuit against the state of Connecticut over prison gerrymandering, and recently, the federal district court rejected the state’s motion to dismiss, allowing the case to move forward towards summary judgment. As the court explained, based upon the allegations, the NAACP and the several individual plaintiffs have adequately pled that the state’s prison gerrymandering violates equal protection. If you are unaware of what prison gerrymandering involves, simply, it’s the practice of considering incarcerated individuals residents of the voting district where they are incarcerated, rather than where they lived prior to incarceration....

Sirius XM – boy, it’s great, isn’t it? Satellite radio gives you a separate station for every decade since the wax cylinder was invented (you’ll love their “1880s on 80” station). Plus, there’s Howard Stern. But Sirius comes with a hidden price, other than listening to Howard Stern: An arbitration agreement that purports to bind the consumer, as part of the 90-day free trial that comes with a new car....

NLRB’s petition for enforcement of its finding that respondent-employer committed an unfair labor practice by terminating an employee is granted where substantial evidence supported the NLRB’s determination that respondent discharged, instead of temporarily disqualified, the employee from employment as a school bus driver. Read NLRB v. Consolidated Bus Transit, Inc., No. 08-0856 Appellate Information Argued: December 16, 2008 Decided: August 20, 2009 Judges Per Curiam Counsel For Petitioner: Joan E. Hoyte, National Labor Relations Board, Washington, DC...

There are all kinds of ethical and state bar-related restrictions on how lawyers can and can’t solicit clients. And, on top of those, there may be state statutes barring solicitation in certain situations. For instance, Ohio law states that “[n]o person shall directly or indirectly solicit authority” to “represent the claimant or employer in respect of” a workers’ compensation “claim or appeal.” A Cleveland area law firm, however, challenged the law on First Amendments grounds, and won....

Katie Hill was still a relatively new member of Congress when she resigned in 2019 after a story broke about an intimate relationship with a campaign staffer, a violation of House rules that led to an ethics investigation. As part of the coverage, the Daily Mail published nude photos of Hill without her consent. One of the defendants in the case, Jennifer Van Laar, co-wrote one of the stories for the Daily Mail in which the photos were published....

In an appeal from the district court’s order vacating a maritime attachment, the order is affirmed where both the party that attached the funds and the party that owned the funds were present in another jurisdiction. Read ProShipLine, Inc. v. Aspen Infrastructures, Ltd., No. 08-0838 Appellate Information Argued: March 12, 2009 Decided: October 22, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Sack Counsel For Appellant: John Sullivan, Andrew R. Brown, Hill Rivkins & Hayden LLP, New York, NY...

A commercial general liability policy may cover patent infringement defense in some jurisdictions, but it does not cover a price-fixing case defense in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Rose Acre, the nation’s second-largest producer of eggs, was charged with conspiring to fix the price of eggs in violation of the Sherman Act. Rose Acre asked its liability insurers to defend it in the class action suits, arguing that the complaints sought damages for what Rose Acre’s policies called “personal and advertising injury....

In Mercantile National Bank of Indiana’s claim under Indiana’s Crime Victims’ Compensation Act (CVCA) against its debtor, which allows a person who suffers pecuniary loss as a result of certain property crimes to seek treble damages and attorneys’ fees, district court’s judgment affirming the bankruptcy court’s dismissal of the CVCA claim is reversed as Mercantile properly commenced its CVCA claim within the statute of limitations where it was not filed to enforce the previous judgment but rather to seek damages based on a new cause of action....

How much leeway do public employees have when criticizing operations within their departments? Very little, according to a recent First Amendment retaliation ruling from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Between May 2003 and July 2006, Ross met with Robert Lichtenfeld, the District Superintendent, on numerous occasions to express concern over payments she thought were improper. In October 2005, Renee Gargano, an outside consultant who also worked for the Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES school district, recognized Ross’ name on list of District employees....

In April 1984, James Harper pleaded guilty to one count of selling and delivering confidential materials relating to national security. In exchange for his cooperation, eight other counts were dropped. Along with immunity provisions, the plea agreement included a section stating that if the U.S. determined Harper’s cooperation led to substantial value of benefit, it would ask that Harper be given credit or consideration in connection with any parole commission proceeding....

James Haber and his tax shelter boutique, Diversified Group Inc, were fined $25 million by the Internal Revenue Service for their alleged failure to register offshore tax shelters. Haber handed over $18,370 and his company paid out $15,500, and that was it. To collect the significant balance remaining, the IRS turned to assets controlled by Haber’s wife, Jill. Haber sued, contesting the administrative summons issued by the IRS to Ms. Haber’s bank....

In Puleo v. Chase Bank U.S.A., NA, No. 08-3837, the Third Circuit dealt with a plaintiffs’ suit challenging retroactive interest-rate increased on the account balances of their Chase Bank credit cards. On appeal, the plaintiffs’ main argument was that the district court never should have addressed the unconscionability of the class action waiver, but rather, that it should have left the issue to be decided by an arbitrator. As stated in the decision: “The Court of Appeals are unanimous in recognizing that an unconscionability challenge to the provisions of an arbitration agreement is a question of arbitrability that is presumptively for the court, not the arbitrator, to decide....

An order holding that certain parts of a 1975 injunction regulating air emissions from defendant’s taconite pellet operation at Silver Bay, Minnesota, were moot is affirmed where: 1) defendant-mining company was not aggrieved by the district court’s order such that there was jurisdiction over its appeal; 2) similarly, the government is not an aggrieved party and its cross-appeal is dismissed; 3) the court did not abuse its discretion in vacating sua sponte the injunctions’ air-emissions provision of the injunction where state and agency regulations parallel the provisions in the injunction....

The 2020 election proved once again that the American people want access to marijuana. The drug is now either legal recreationally, legal medicinally, or decriminalized in all but seven states. And this Election Day, voters in Washington, D.C., and Oregon said that they are ready to move on from pot and further dismantle the War on Drugs. The votes this year could portend big changes in other states in the years ahead....

Nearly 30 years ago in West Memphis, Arkansas, three teenage boys were convicted of murdering three 8-year-old boys in an alleged satanic ritual. The teenagers pled not guilty, but the evidence was stacked against them. Jessie Misskelley and Jason Baldwin were sentenced to life plus 40 years without parole. Damien Echols, the eldest, was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Now, after all three have been free for 10 years on an “Alford plea,” Echols has recently appealed to enter DNA evidence into the court in hopes to exonerate him from the conviction....

The public outcry about the leaked U.S. Supreme Court abortion opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization is unsurprising. Never before has a draft opinion from the Supreme Court leaked to the public. And, to say the least, reproductive rights are a controversial issue. The draft opinion suggests that a majority of the Court believes that the cases that recognize a right to an abortion, Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v....

Just because your business (technically) violates one federal law, doesn’t mean you’re off the hook for the rest. Helix TCS, Inc., a security company that caters to state-sanctioned marijuana businesses in Colorado, claimed that because its employment activities violated the Controlled Substances Act, it did not need to follow Federal Labor Standards Act rules on overtime. Well, it was worth a shot. District Court Says, “Nice Try” Throughout this case’s journey through 10th Circuit courts, Helix stuck to its almost-too-logical argument: Because marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, Helix is engaged in a criminal enterprise and therefore not subject to federal employee protection laws....

The Ninth Circuit meets in Pasadena, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco, but since we’re in the Bay Area, and have firsthand experience living in San Francisco, we thought we’d take some time to give you an insider’s view of the court when it sits in “The City.” If you are coming to San Francisco to argue an appeal before the Ninth Circuit, there are really three things you need to know (besides your case): food, parking and tech....