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The Supreme Court affirmed the Third Circuit today in Kurns v. Railroad Friction Products, finding that the Locomotive Inspection Act (LIA) preempts a state-law tort for asbestos exposure. Lead plaintiff George Corson worked as a locomotive welder and machinist for 27 years, installing brakeshoes on locomotives and stripping insulation from locomotive boilers. In 2005, Corson was diagnosed with malignant mesothelioma, the singular cause of which is asbestos exposure. In 2007, Corson and his wife sued 59 defendants that manufactured and sold locomotives and parts containing asbestos in Pennsylvania state court, alleging that Corson’s injuries were caused by the defendants’ defective design and failure to warn....

The High Court just issued its opinion in one of the bigger cases this term, with far reaching implications for businesses large and small throughout the country. The issue of whether a state can collect tax from an out-of-state seller that makes a sale to an individual within the state has been decided in the state’s favor. And while SCOTUS warned that its specific decision only narrowly applies to the South Dakota law in question, commentators and the Court know that every state that collects sales tax is likely going to be looking over its tax codes after reviewing the guidance in the opinion....

The Supreme Court had a busy morning that included oral arguments, two per curiam opinions, and an orders list. Let’s review the high points together. This morning, the Court heard oral arguments in Zivotofsky v. Clinton and Kawashima v. Holder. Zivotofsky examines whether the political question doctrine deprives a federal court of jurisdiction to enforce a statute that explicitly directs how the Secretary of State can record the birthplace of an American citizen on a Consular Report of Birth Abroad and on a passport....

The Back-Up Plan. A terrible movie, but not a bad legal strategy. Though challengers to Arizona’s HB 2036, a law that, in part, restricts providers’ abilities to provide medical (drug-based) abortions according to accepted medical practice rather than a more restrictive FDA protocol set forth before experience dictated different treatment regimens, already have a credible argument making its way through the Ninth Circuit, they haven’t limited themselves to federal courts and constitutional questions....

The FCC met with defeat in the Sixth Circuit recently when that court ruled that states could limit municipal broadband networks in towns in rural Tennessee and North Carolina. The effect of the appellate ruling means that some parts of the two states must continue on with internet access that does not qualify as broadband. Slower internet speeds are the norm for many rural residents in that area – a reality that some had hoped to change....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Since the advent of the most rudimentary technology, criminal activity has followed. And in more recent times, the internet certainly has been no stranger to criminal enterprises. Indeed, governmental entities, companies and individuals are falling victim to all sorts of cyber-crimes on a constant basis. A look at just one criminal target drives home the rampant nature of online attacks....

US v. Payton, 09-3930, concerned a challenge to the district court’s denial of defendant’s motion for sentence reduction, in a prosecution of defendant for possessing approximately 5.44 grams of cocaine base with the intent to distribute. In affirmin, the court held that, a defendant convicted of crack-related charges, but sentenced as a career offender under U.S.S.G. section 4B1.1, is not eligible for a reduction based on Amendment 706. Teamsters Local Union No....

Psychologists say one of the reasons people love watching true-crime shows is because they remind them that their own lives could be worse. Right now, Netflix lists about 40 original shoes on its true-crime page, including horrible tales of monstrous people and their victims. People consider themselves fortunate that they are not the victims of horrible crimes, of course. But they’re also happy that they don’t have to deal with the pain of being a victim’s survivor....

Earlier this week, we mentioned In re National Security Letter was on appeal to the Ninth Circuit. In the context of Twitter’s lawsuit against the DOJ, National Security Letter was Twitter’s best chance for success, with Judge Susan Illston having agreed that NSLs are unconstitutional. As it happens, a Ninth Circuit panel heard oral arguments in National Security Letter two days ago. How it went could be a gauge of Twitter’s success in its suit against the DOJ....

How many times must a person refuse to let the cops search her home? Des Moines police officers asked to enter Krista Stoekel’s home to search for Travis Collins. Stoekel denied knowing Collins, and refused to admit the officers. Twice. The officers asked to step in and question Stoekel about Collins. She opened the door and said, “You can go no further than the living room.” After the cops explained they had an arrest warrant for Collins for a parole violation, and didn’t want Stoekel to be in trouble, she became upset, admitted knowing Collins, and conceded that he could have been in her house....

In US v. Miller, No. 09-1246, the court of appeals dismissed defendant’s appeal from his sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methylenedioxyamphetamine, holding that the preconditions of defendant’s appeal waiver in his plea agreement were satisfied, and that the waiver should be enforced. In US v. Jones, No. 09-1731, a prosecution for being a felon in possession of a firearm, the court of appeals affirmed the district court’s order suppressing the firearm on the ground that the officer who performed the search at issue failed to comply with the mandate in Terry that there must be reasonable suspicion of on-going criminal activity justifying a stop before a coercive frisk may be constitutionally employed....

The latest viral footage showing an in-store confrontation with shoppers is a bit different from the rest. Instead of customers being confronted for not wearing masks, these Walmart patrons were confronted and then banned for a year because of what adorned their masks: a swastika design. While the content of their masks might be enraging, do businesses have the right to kick out or ban customers for these types of actions, or is wearing a Nazi symbol protected under free speech?...

If you go on a Facebook rant over an inconvenience at your local Starbucks, nothing really comes of the matter. They’re a big company, the most they might do is reach out and offer a gift card. If this rant was related to a local business, however, your words may cost them greatly when it comes to attracting future customers. Nick Olsen recently bought 75 beehives from Nancy and Keith Budke, who have been in the beekeeping business for over 40 years....

After three years of getting the run-around from her former employer, a Chicago-based immigration attorney was recently awarded $229,498 in a default judgment based on her claim of pregnancy discrimination. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer presided over the case and did not mince words when it came to condemning the defendant law firm’s foot-dragging in discovery. “Sir, your client has amply earned a default order,” Judge Pallmeyer said in a hearing on February 7, 2019....

Class Action Fairness Act Permission to Appeal Granted In Coleman v. Estes Express Lines, Inc., No. 10-80152, a class action based on multiple alleged violations of California wage and hour statutes, the court granted defendant’s application to appeal from the district court’s remand order under the Class Action Fairness Act, holding that the array of courts on both sides of the question decided by the district court indicated that it was at least “fairly debatable” and that appellate review would be useful....

US v. Begay, No. 09-2163, involved the government’s appeal from the district court’s order dismissing with prejudice a superseding indictment charging defendant with multiple counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child in Indian Country, and directing the parties to proceed to trial on the original indictment, which charged defendant with a single count of aggravated sexual abuse of a child in Indian Country. The court reversed on the ground that, although it was true that the government delayed seeking the superseding indictment in the sense that it had been privy for some time to the evidence underlying each count of the superseding indictment, nothing in the record established that this was the type of “unnecessary delay” envisioned by Fed....

In plaintiff’s Title VII case against his employer for racial harassment, discriminatory wage, and retaliation, district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the employer is affirmed where: 1) there is no genuine issues of fact with respect to the existence of racial harassment; 2) plaintiff has failed to satisfy the fourth element regarding disparate wage treatment because he adduced no evidence that higher paid workers were similarly situated; and 3) plaintiff has failed to present evidence that he suffered an adverse employment action because he engaged in an activity protected by Title VII....

Former Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert Boochever died at his home in Pasadena, Calif. on Sunday. He was 94. During his legal career, Boochever practiced law in Alaska before it was a state, and eventually served three years as Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court. As Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, Boochever wrote a now-famous opinion in Aguchak v. Montgomery Ward Co., which limited a creditor’s ability to collect a debt against a resident of the Alaska Bush by filing a case in a distant Alaska court....

Does a front yard count as curtilage? According to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, not when it’s a front yard with a motorcycle displaying a “For Sale” sign. What does and does not count as curtilage is often perplexing to practitioners and law students alike. While the Eighth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Bausby fleshes out the rule out a bit, it still leaves much to the legal imagination....

Judicial restraint. It’s a concept that makes us all feel warm and fuzzy. Judges don’t go too far, or reach unnecessary conclusions in a case, because that’s the way it should be, right? Repeat after me: judicial activism is bad. Narrow holdings are good. Except, imagine where marriage equality would be if the Court just said what it seemed to want to say. (The parties would certainly save on filing fees....