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District court order imposing restitution is affirmed where the requirement in 18 U.S.C. sec. 3664(d)(5) that the district court enter a restitution order within 90 days of sentencing does not divest the court of the authority to enter an order if the timing provision is breached, as such an interpretation finds no support in the text of the statute, would contravene the purposes of the Mandatory Victim Restitution Act and would reward defendants at the expense of their victims....

Defendant’s sex trafficking convictions are affirmed where the government’s evidence showed that defendant had the necessary mens rea in the sense of being aware of an established modus operandi that would in the future coerce a prostitute to engage in prostitution. However, his sentences as to certain counts are reversed where the jury did not find that the offenses were “effected by fraud, force or coercion,” as required by 18 U....

The Second Circuit ruled recently that the law firm of Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP can’t hide up court records in a lawsuit in which a “disgruntled employee” was forced to resign after shining a light on potentially unethical conduct by lawyers at the firm. Weighing the public interest versus potential harm to litigants and individual reputations, the circuit court found that the “the interests favoring secrecy … are weak....

In plaintiff’s suit against defendant for fraudulent misrepresentation and negligence arising from his investment in their microwave technology, district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant is vacated and remanded as the district court’s proximate cause analysis was in error as plaintiff produced enough evidence to raise a genuine issue of material fact as to whether defendant’s misrepresentations were a substantial factor in causing his failed investment. Read Bouriez v....

In an appeal from a district court’s order awarding attorney’s fees directly to plaintiffs rather than to their attorneys under the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), the order is affirmed where the prevailing party, and not her attorney, is the proper recipient of attorney’s fees under the EAJA. Read Bryant v. Comm’r. of Soc. Sec., No. 08-6375 Appellate Information Argued: July 28, 2009 Decided and Filed: August 24, 2009...

Petition for review of the BIA’s finding that petitioner is deportable due to his conviction of counterfeiting over two decades ago is denied where: 1) 8 U.S.C. section 1101(a)(43) does not violate the equal protection component of the Due Process Clause; and 2) Immigration Code section 212(c) is not impermissibly retroactive as aliens who went to trial did not forgo any rights in reliance on the continued existence of the section....

There aren’t enough wheelchair-accessible taxis in New York City, according to a lawsuit filed against the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (ironically, TLC). Plaintiffs in the case, Noel v. New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, claim that the lack of wheelchair accessible taxicabs are a result of TLC’s policies and regulations, thus TLC denied disabled persons who use mobility assistance devices the opportunity to use the NYC taxicab system....

A Border Patrol agent shot across the U.S.-Mexico border and killed a 16-year-old teenager as he walked the streets of Nogales, Sonora. In Rodriguez v. Swartz, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the Mexican boy’s family can sue the agent for violating his civil rights. There is no constitutional protection for agents to shoot people across the border, the appeals court said. As President Trump’s border campaign heats up, it is a lightening rod decision with advocates on both sides of the issue....

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals weighed in on a firefighter discrimination lawsuit this week, finding that the city of Buffalo, New York, did not discriminate against African-Americans with the test it used to promote firefighters, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reports. In upholding the test results, the Second Circuit concluded that an employer can show that “promotional examinations having a disparate impact on a protected class are job related and supported by business necessity when the job analysis that produced the test relied on data not specific to the employer at issue....

Dismissal of motion to confirm an arbitration panel’s interim award denying class arbitration Dealer Computer Serv. Inc. v. Dub Herring Ford, 09-1848, concerned a challenge to the district court’s dismissal of plaintiff’s motion to confirm an arbitration panel’s interim award denying class arbitration for lack of jurisdiction, in a breach of contract suit between some 2,470 car dealerships across the country and a provider of computer hardware and software support. In affirming, the court held that the plaintiff has failed to demonstrate that it is subject to cognizable hardship if immediate judicial review of the interim award is denied....

In a murder prosecution, grant of petitioner’s habeas petition is reversed where petitioner could not argue that his counsel provided ineffective assistance because it would have been legally incorrect for counsel to argue that his sentence to consecutive terms based on judge-found facts was improper. Read Evans v. Hudson, No. 08-3717 Appellate Information Argued: April 23, 2009 Decided and Filed: August 3, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Moore Counsel For Appellant:...

Speaking at the University of Minnesota Law School earlier this week, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the Sixth Circuit cases on same-sex marriage were going to be crucial to the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decisions. When Wasn’t It Urgent? But wait a minute: Saying the court will act urgency if the Sixth Circuit upholds the bans implies that it wasn’t going to act with urgency in the first place. The Supreme Court is already slated to entertain cert....

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action claiming that defendants violated plaintiff’s rights under the Medicaid Act and denied him due process by rejecting his application on the basis of unwritten, unascertainable standards, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) the statutory provisions upon which plaintiff relied did not confer private rights enforceable under section 1983; and 2) defendants did not violate plaintiff’s right to due process, but simply applied a “sole benefit” standard to the particular facts of his case....

In life, persistence often pays off. In an appeal, it can result in costs and damages. In today’s Third Circuit appeal, we have an eager litigant who couldn’t escape the scourge of a res judicata ruling, but narrowly avoided sanctions thanks to a “colorable argument.” For 10 years, Andrew J. Bullock IV owned a home that was managed by the Main Street Village Homeowners’ Association. Several incidents occurred during that time period, ultimately ending with the foreclosure and Sheriff’s sale of Bullock’s home....

Take a walk through the judicial opinions of Justice Elena Kagan, the most recent addition to the U.S. Supreme Court. You’ll probably find something in them that you won’t see in the other justices’ opinions. Contractions, for one. Kagan uses them regularly, and that’s unusual for someone at the highest echelon of legal writing. Most judges think contractions are too colloquial; judicial opinions are supposed to be formal, with the kind of tone that God probably used when he gave Moses those Ten Commandments....

You have to wonder about the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision on old judges. The appeals court affirmed a Michigan law that prevents anyone over 70 from being elected or appointed a judge. A 68-year-old judge sued to invalidate the law because it will make him ineligble for re-election in a couple of years. But, if anyone’s counting, nearly half the judges on the appeals court are over 70....

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments this week in the Christian Louboutin-YSL trademark appeal, once again raising the issue of whether a designer can trademark a color. When U.S. District Judge Vincent Marrero ruled in August that a color cannot be protected, Louboutin, a 20-year veteran of the footwear industry, vowed to “fight like hell” for his sole. He has lived up to that promise. Louboutin’s lawyers suggested that Judge Marrero’s characterization of the Louboutin trademark as a “monopoly” on a color was overly broad, as Louboutin was only trying to protect his signature, Chinese-red soles....

Naturally, we love the trial scene in “Scent of Woman.” Lovable Charlie’s future is on the line, and crotchety Lt. Col. Slade (Al Pacino) walks in, gives a riveting speech, and saves the day. The best part is when the headmaster tells Col. Slade he’s out of order. Pacino yells back, “Out of order? I’ll show you out of order.” What attorney hasn’t dreamed of pulling a Pacino in court?...

In taxpayers’ appeal of a tax court decision granting summary judgment for the IRS and permitting it to proceed with its collection action relating to petitioners’ 1990 tax liability, the order is affirmed where the statute of limitations regarding collection was tolled during the pendency of petitioners’ bankruptcy proceedings. Read Severo v. Comm’r of Int’l Rev., No. 08-70817 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted October 9, 2009 Filed November 20, 2009...

Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act Action In Third Church of Christ, Scientist, of N.Y. v. City of N.Y., No. 08-6022, an action seeking a permanent injunction prohibiting New York City from restricting a church’s use of its facility for private, catered events pursuant to the equal-terms provision of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the court affirmed an injunction in favor of plaintiff, holding that the formal differences the City asserted could not protect its course of conduct and the institutions at issue were similarly situated for all functional intents and purposes relevant here....