China Fishery had a noble plan to feed the world, but it didn’t quite work out. The company, which owned the world’s largest factory ship, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016. A court trustee has managed to liquidate some assets to pay creditors, but is investigating one in particular. The trustee issued subpoenas to HSBC in the case, and now an appeals court has stymied the bank’s efforts to block the subpoenas....
Assault Conviction Affirmed In US v. Barrera, No. 09-3873, the court affirmed defendant’s assault conviction where 1) even if some jurors understood a witness’s comment to refer to something that happened during defendant’s and the witness’s past relationship, there was no reason for them to suspect that defendant had physically abused the witness; and 2) the combined strength of the government’s testimony made defendant’s contention that he did not cause Apodaca’s serious bodily injury implausible....
Conviction for armed bank robbery and related crimes is affirmed where: 1) the evidence is sufficient to support defendant’s conviction for aiding and abetting the use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and 2) the district court did not err in dismissing defendant’s first indictment without prejudice as the period of time spent in appeals did not violate the Speedy Trial Act. Read US v....
District court’s denial of Arkansas death-row inmate’s petition for habeas relief claiming ineffective assistance of counsel is affirmed where: 1) defendant’s claims are procedurally defaulted as he failed to develop the factual basis for his claim in state court; 2) counsel’s conduct, although deplorable, was not an external factor that would remedy the default; 3) counsel’s misconduct did not destroy the agency relationship between counsel and defendant; 4) defendant’s actual innocence claim is rejected as the district court did not err in determining that the evidence tendered by the new counsel did not create a reasonable probability that a jury could have acquitted defendant or found the death-qualifying aggravator inapplicable; and 5) district court correctly rejected defendant’s Rule 59(e) motion and his motion to stay federal proceedings as defendant’s motion to Recall and Reopen is not a proper vehicle for exhausting state remedies in Arkansas or creating a state record that might support federal habeas claims....
An increasing number of people have set up home businesses that allow them to sell homemade goods, but with sales occurring on a hyperlocal basis and over the Internet, few consider the legality of their actions. As shown by recent stories of officials shuttering lemonade stands, there are a number of prerequisites one must meet before selling homemade goods–even if done on a small scale. So before you go out and sell your goods, be sure to do the following:...
When Cheryl Kellogg was hired to teach life science at the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities in 2006, she thought the salary offer of $32,000 a year seemed low. After all, she had a master’s degree and had been teaching for more than a decade. And the Academy was an elite residential high school that shared a campus with Ball State. But the school’s co-director quickly dismissed her attempts to negotiate, saying she didn’t need a higher starting salary because he “knew her husband worked....
In plaintiff-police officer’s ADA claim against defendant-village, dismissal of his case on the ground of judicial estoppel is affirmed where: 1) to succeed on an ADA claim, a plaintiff must show that with or without reasonable accommodations, he can perform the essential functions of his job; and 2) here, accepting plaintiff’s sworn testimony before the pension board as true, the court could not see how he could perform essential police functions with or without accommodations....
A 16-year-old Chicago high school student has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city’s police, alleging excessive force for tasing her multiple times, dragging her down a flight of stairs by her foot, pushing her down another flight stairs, hitting her, stomping her chest, and more, all while her father watched. What’s more, this entire incident happened at the student’s high school and was captured on camera. According to reports, the student was removed from class for refusing to put away her cell phone....
You know that saying, “Don’t kick a man while he’s down”? Apparently, the City of Los Angeles doesn’t. The City, it seems, has been seizing and destroying Skid Row homeless individuals’ momentarily-unattended personal possessions while the owners attend to “necessary tasks, such as eating, showering, and using restrooms.” That’s not cool. No, really. It’s unconstitutionally not cool. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that cities cannot seize and destroy unabandoned property that homeless people temporarily leave on the sidewalks, Los Angeles Times reports....
US v. Awad, No. 07-4483, involved defendants’ appeal from an order of criminal forfeiture against defendants pursuant to 21 U.S.C. section 853. The court of appeals affirmed the order, on the ground that section 853 permitted imposition of a money judgment on a defendant who possesses no assets at the time of sentencing. Huth v. Haslun, No. 08-2203, concerned an action claiming that defendants, who were employees of the New York State Thruway Authority, violated plaintiff’s rights under the First Amendment by initiating disciplinary proceedings against her resulting in her demotion....
In a dispute involving a federal income tax refund, summary judgment in favor of the government is affirmed where the court properly held that that 26 U.S.C. sec. 162(k)(1) disallows plaintiff from claiming the deduction available under 26 U.S.C. sec. 404(k)(1) for payments to an Employee Stock Ownership Plan trust in redemption of the preferred stock, as it inevitably involves an amount paid or incurred by a corporation in connection with the reacquisition of its stock....
In US v. Van Buren, No. 08-6262, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s conviction for failing to comply with the requirements of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), on the grounds that 1) defendant’s conduct in terminating his residence to travel to North Carolina, with no intention of returning to his residence in New York, qualified as a “change” in his residence regardless of which definition of “change” one uses; 2) between SORNA’s language and legislative history, it was clear that a registrant must update his registration information if he alters his residence such that it no longer conforms to the information that he earlier provided to the registry....
Donald Trump’s presidency has been notable for many reasons, but throughout his term one unique characteristic of his leadership has been to seemingly use Twitter to announce policy decisions and opinions before any official statements are made elsewhere. Do Trump’s tweets count as official U.S. policy, or are they all just talk? Court Rulings In 2017, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University brought suit against President Trump. Their suit argued that Trump blocking users on his Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, was violating those users’ First Amendment rights by preventing them from participating in a public forum because of their political views....
Three fathers filed suit against Israelis officials including two former cabinet-level Ministers, a current Israel Supreme Court Justice, and a current Haifa Rabbinical Court District Judge, all because they were unhappy with the outcome of their child custody proceedings, claiming that Israeli family law unfairly discriminates against fathers. Their litigious grasp also ensnared three non-profit organizations who they accused of “financing radical feminism.” Sharon Ben-Haim alleged that his wife kidnapped their child from the U....
Here at FindLaw, we understand the pressures of being a legal professional - most of us are recovering lawyers - so we want to help by tossing you that preferred life preserver of the legal profession, the short list. Back in the 80s and 90s, the name Stephanie Seymour was most commonly associated with Guns’N’Roses videos and Vogue editorials. But as Axl Rose’s former girlfriend left modeling behind for domestic er, tranquility, it made room for another Stephanie Seymour, who had been waiting in the wings to reclaim her name....
In debtors’ appeal from a bankruptcy court’s order allowing them, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. section 522(d)(11)(E), to exempt from their bankruptcy estate only part of a settlement payment they received, the order is affirmed where: 1) debtors’ contention that all of one debtor’s earnings following the termination of his employment could be exempted because they would be termed future earnings under tort law was unpersuasive given the different purposes of tort law and bankruptcy law; and 2) debtors provided the bankruptcy court with no evidence based on which it could determine their actual income....
Google is no longer the “darling of Silicon Valley,” according to a complaint filed by the Justice Department and several state attorneys general this week. What began as a “scrappy startup” has become an industry behemoth, to the point that the agency has remembered the United States has antitrust laws - and it’s their job to enforce them. The U.S. government hasn’t gone after a tech company in this way since the late 1990s - when it filed against Microsoft....
In a victory for gender equity but a hollow one for a man facing deportation, the U.S. Supreme Court said immigration laws unlawfully discriminated against men by requiring them to be citizens longer than women when they seek citizenship for their children. “The gender line Congress drew is incompatible with the requirement that the government accord to all persons ’the equal protection of the laws,’” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority in Sessions v....
California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed into law a bill that will require companies to have members of underrepresented communities on their boards. On Monday, conservative legal group Judicial Watch announced plans to sue on the basis that the law is unconstitutional. What are the grounds of such a suit, and who is likely to come out on top? Not California’s First Rodeo The new law states that by the end of 2021, boards of directors of companies headquartered in California must have at least one member who self-identifies as “Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Native, or who self-identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender....
In an action for injuries sustained by plaintiff while attempting to inflate the right-front tire on a motor grader that was designed and manufactured by defendant, judgment for defendant is affirmed where the district court did not err in instructing the jury that defendant could not be liable if the machine’s condition had “substantially changed” before the accident. Read Martinez v. Caterpillar, Inc., No. 08-2074 Appellate Information Filed July 16, 2009...
