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During the last decade, all 50 states adopted some form of ignition interlock law as part of their drunk driving sentencing laws. Ignition interlocks are portable breath-testing devices that a driver must blow into before the car can start. Many models also require drivers to continue to blow into them as they are driving. They are immensely popular in the law enforcement community because statistics show that they work. According to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, interlock installations have reduced drunk driving fatalities by 15%....

In an action against a military institute for denying Plaintiff admission based on her disability, summary judgment for Defendant is affirmed, where having an individualized education program under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act does not automatically establish a disability under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the ADA. Read Ellenberg v. New Mexico Military Inst., No. 08-2112 Appellate Information Filed July 10, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Tymkovich...

The Environmental Protection Agency says that tampering with vehicle emissions control devices is illegal and punishable. So what are we to make, then, of the EPA’s recent finding that the owners and operators of some half-million diesel pickups in the U.S. are knowingly breaking the law? And what are we to make of the fact that an entire cottage industry manufactures and hawks devices – which are illegal, according to the EPA – that “defeat" the required emission-control devices on vehicles?...

You can marry for love, you can marry for money, you can marry as part of a bet. But if you marry for a green card, your marriage won’t count for immigration and naturalization purposes. And if you’re caught marrying in order to evade U.S. immigration laws, you’re banned from ever getting a visa or green card, even if you enter into a later, legitimate marriage with a U.S. citizen....

The Third Circuit clarified trademark confusion standards under the Lanham Act last week. In a case involving two financial services firms, the court re-emphasized that a trademark is infringed when another mark is so similar that it is likely to cause confusion. That’s just confusion itself, not confusion to purchasers or confusion to customers, the Third Circuit ruled. This ruling reversed a lower court’s determination that a trademark was unlikely to be infringed because evidence of confusion was not from “actual customers....

In an action challenging the Social Security Commissioner’s denial of disability benefits, summary judgment for defendant is reversed where the Administrative Law Judge failed to give controlling weight to a medical evaluation by plaintiff’s treating physician or to explain his reasons for such action. Read Hensley v. Comm’r. of Soc. Sec., No. 08-6389 Appellate Information Submitted: June 16, 2009 Decided and Filed: July 21, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Friedman...

The laws on whether it’s legal to shoot trespassers vary greatly depending on what state you’re in. Generally speaking, there are certain circumstances where an occupant may be able to legally shoot trespassers. But the legality of pulling the trigger depends on so many circumstances that dialing 911 may be a safer bet. Shooting Trespassers In general, property owners cannot use deadly force to protect property. But property owners may be able to shoot at trespassers in self-defense if they fear great bodily harm or death....

Although former President Donald Trump issued pardons to several celebrities on his way out of office this week, one person was left disappointed that his plea for a pardon went unheard: Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic. The star of Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’ has been jockeying for a pardon for months. In December, he sued the Department of Justice for failing to present his petition for a pardon directly to the then-president....

White v. Wyndham Vacation Ownership, Inc., 09-5626, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants based on a claim of judicial estoppel, in plaintiff’s sexual harassment suit against her former employers seeking $250,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. In affirming, the court held that plaintiff asserted a position before the bankruptcy court that was contrary to the position that she asserted before the district court as she did not disclose her sexual harassment claim against defendants in her initial bankruptcy filings....

A 2012 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court on juvenile life sentences is creating confusion in the Eighth Circuit and beyond. Last month, the Iowa Supreme Court concluded that the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Miller v. Alabama – which outlawed mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles – should be applied retroactively, rather than only to future cases. But the Minnesota Supreme Court and a number of other courts have reached the opposite conclusion....

LGBTQ workplace rights have been a puzzle for employers and the courts, but all of that is about to change – forever. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Title VII prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. It was necessary because of a conflict in the federal circuits. Of course, the real conflict is happening in the workplace. Whatever the High Court rules, it is not going to be easy for employers, employees, and their attorneys....

This isn’t our usual appellate fare, but a local district court case may interest you, especially if you’ve been following other swirling legal conflicts between religious rights and healthcare. In a lawsuit headed for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division, a plaintiff, Tamesha Means, alleges that a local Catholic hospital negligently denied her proper healthcare, and exposed her to unnecessary pain, due to mandates from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which issues the “Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services....

Add Missouri to the list of states the U.S. Supreme Court definitely doesn’t won’t take same sex marriage petitions from. Last week, delivering on its promise of a quick ruling, a Missouri trial court declared Missouri’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. Like many other same-sex marriage cases, the issue arose because same-sex Missouri residents had tied the knot in other jurisdictions where same gay marriage was legal. Equal Protection Missouri places limits on who can marry....

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that California’s university affirmative action ban does not violate students’ constitutional rights, reports the Associated Press. A three-judge panel unanimously agreed that the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action’s (CDAA) challenge to the state’s affirmative action policy was foreclosed by the circuit’s 1997 opinion in Coalition for Economic Equity v. Wilson. California voters approved Proposition 209, an initiative that banned racial, ethnic and gender preferences in public education, employment and contracting, in 1996....

In a petition for review of a BIA order finding petitioner ineligible for relief from removal, the petition is denied where: 1) petitioner did not establish prima facie eligibility for naturalization; and 2) he was barred from relief under Section 212(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act by virtue of Section 511(a) of the Immigration Act of 1990, because he had been previously convicted of an aggravated felony. Read Perriello v....

There have always been gray areas of the law. There always will be. An increasingly common phenomenon in the U.S., however, occurs when businesses try to exploit these gray areas for profit. Law professors Elizabeth Pollman and Jordan Barry coined the term “regulatory entrepreneurship” in 2017 for companies that knowingly operate with massive legal risk and make it a priority to change laws in their favor. Both federal and state legislatures can be slow to keep up, meaning several regulatory entrepreneurs have exploited these legal gray areas to massive success....

For the first time in awhile, Arizona seems to be getting a break when it comes to its voter registration laws. The state had been slapped down in the Supreme Court after requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration just two years ago. Last year, they lost a similar suit in the 10th Circuit over federal registration forms (no, they didn’t move – they just joined Kansas in that lawsuit)....

Back in February, the Ninth Circuit struck San Diego’s policy of denying concealed carry permits absent a showing of “good cause.” General concern for one’s own safety wasn’t enough; an applicant for a concealed-carry license had to come up with a pretty good reason for needing to carry a gun around in public. Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain, relying on the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions in District of Columbia v. Heller (the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own a gun) and McDonald v....

A “bung,” in the English vernacular, is a payment made to someone to do something dishonest. Like “kickback,” it has its origins in football. Some speculate it started with cheating in exchange for “snuff, moustache wax and several pints of pale ale.” Some two hundred years later, a kickback and a bung seem wrong by any definition. In any case, the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals said three kickback cases based on state laws certainly don’t belong in federal court....

This post was updated on November 3, 2022 This year Merriam-Webster added 370 new words to its dictionary and clarified the meaning of even more. “Supply chain” now has its own entry. “Yeet” was added as both an interjection and a verb. In 2019, the definition of “snowflake” was updated to include its use as a pejorative (for someone who is overly sensitive). Language changes. But one change that seems to flummox some legal writers unnecessarily is the use of pronouns for people who are transgender or non-binary....