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Employers and employees rely on each other. Yet, there is often a deep divide between them, and a disparate understanding of needs. Though it seems simple enough, there is more to recruiting and keeping talent than finding the right person to fill a role. In an article about updating human resources practices in Forbes, veteran recruiter Liz Ryan explains that businesses can drive good workers away with bad practices. Here are some tips on how to build what Ryan calls “a human workplace” that attracts and keeps talent....

In Beckon, Inc. v. AMCO Ins. Co., No. 09-2460, an insurance coverage dispute over the validity of an insurance policy defendant issued to plaintiff, summary judgment for defendant is reversed where 1) defendant was not entitled to have the entire policy voided even assuming plaintiff lacked an insurable interest in the building; and 2) the highest court of Missouri cabined Edmister as a material misrepresentation case, rather than one which turns upon the lack of an insurable interest....

A federal appeals court ruled that American Airlines can compel arbitration for a whistleblower. In American Airlines v. Mawhinney, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the company did not waive its right to arbitrate by waiting to invoke the right until after a government probe into the whistleblower’s claims. It was the second time in a week that the appeals court has ruled in favor of arbitration. In the American Airlines case, however, it was only half a favor....

Just because it’s a stock image doesn’t mean you can use it for free. And even if you really thought it was free, that doesn’t mean you won’t be liable for copyright infringement. So says the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, reviewing an infringement claim from a commercial photographer who said a production company used his photo that he posted an image sharing site, Flickr, all without his permission or paying him....

A group of blind voters, along with the National Federation of the Blind, successfully appealed the dismissal of their lawsuit against Ohio’s Secretary of State, Jon Husted, to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The case involves a challenge to Ohio’s absentee voting process claiming it is discriminatory against blind voters under the ADA. The case was dismissed after the state filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings. The state asserted that the requested relief was not reasonable or practical because the plaintiffs sought the implementation of certain online voting tools that had not been certified by the state’s election board....

US v. Li, 09-2229, concerned a challenge to a conviction of defendant for harboring an alien for commercial advantage or private financial gain. In affirming the conviction, the court held that a reasonable jury could have concluded that defendant’s inattentiveness reflected his knowledge or reckless disregard of the two aliens’ illegal status. The court also held that the evidence supports an inference that defendant sought to conceal the aliens’ presence, and an inference that defendant derived financial advantage from the aliens’ illegal status....

Brooks v. Gaenzle, No. 09-1489, concerned an action claiming that defendant-officers violated plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure by use of excessive force when they shot him after he fled the scene of a violent crime. The court affirmed summary judgment for defendants on the grounds that 1) the authorities did not gain “intentional acquisition of physical control” over plaintiff; 2) the mere use of physical force or show of authority alone, without termination of movement or submission, did not constitute a seizure; and 3) the officer’s gunshot may have intentionally struck plaintiff, but it clearly did not terminate his movement or otherwise cause the government to have physical control over him....

Actress Felicity Huffman has agreed to plead guilty to charges that she paid a college admissions consulting company to doctor her daughter’s SAT score. Huffman was just one of 35 parents (along with college coaches and administrators) charged in the massive bribery scheme, and is now one of 14 to plead guilty. “My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions, and in my misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her,” Huffman said in a released statement....

Double Eagle gold coins are extremely rare and extremely valuable. The only Double Eagle that is legally-owned by a private collector set the winning bidder back $7.6 million in a 2002 auction. Last year, a Philadelphia family went to court to argue that the government couldn’t keep 10 Double Eagles they found in their father’s safe deposit box because it couldn’t prove that the coins had been stolen, The New York Times reports....

Get ready to resell your books, ladies and gentlemen. The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the first sale doctrine does apply to works made overseas, Publishers Weekly reports. The first sale doctrine in copyright law allows the owner of a lawfully-purchased copyrighted work to resell it without limitations imposed by the copyright holder. Wiley argued that the first sale doctrine only applied to copyrighted works produced within the U.S., and that its right to control prices abroad was actually part of its copyright grant, Ars Technica reports....

There’s attorney-client privilege, and then there’s attorney-client privilege. One is a noble calling to protect the rights of the common people. The other is a pathetic scheme to use your position as cover to get your jollies. Chalk another one up for Florida (naturally) Lawyer. Prison Pornography In a tale too lurid for Penthouse Forum, attorney (and former Florida Assistant Attorney General!) Andrew Spark met adult film auteur Shauna Boselli at a convention....

Is it illegal to drive barefoot? This question typically is on drivers’ minds during the summer months. Maybe your driver’s education teacher or parents drilled the illegality of driving shoeless into your brain as a teen. But the fact is that it’s a complete urban legend that comes from the safety concerns associated with barefoot driving. No federal or state laws prohibit driving a car without shoes. But local jurisdictions may also put their feet down when it comes to driving barefoot....

A federal judge revived a class-action lawsuit against Poland Spring for allegedly selling bottled water that is not actually from a spring. The judge had dismissed the case last year, but the the plaintiffs amended their complaint sufficiently to proceed against the company for alleged false advertising in eight Eastern states where it sells water. Poland Spring is owned by Connecticut-based Nestle Waters North America. Nestle says the lawsuit is “meritless,” and contends its spring water labels meet all legal requirements....

Before you can understand the latest file-sharing case, it might help to understand how Bittorrent works. Let’s say you want to download a pirated movie (or a legitimate copy of free software). You go to an indexing site, like isoHunt, search for the file, and download the .torrent key. This key contains information on the file size, provides links to “trackers,” and describes the number of pieces that make up the file....

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals doesn’t care if you directed Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October. You have to be able to support a burden of proof, not a blockbuster cast to win a criminal appeal in this circuit. Die Hard director John McTiernan hired former private investigator Anthony Pellicano in 2000 to illegally wiretap the telephone conversations of two individuals. When the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) questioned McTiernan about Pellicano’s activities, McTiernan claimed that he knew nothing about any wiretapping....

In plaintiff’s 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action against the defendants claiming violation of her First Amendment rights of free speech and expression during a primary election campaign for judgeship on the County Court of Common Pleas, district court’s order granting defendant’s motion to dismiss is affirmed as defendants are not state actors and their actions toward plaintiff were not state actions that would subject defendants to section 1983 claims. Read Max v....

Plaintiff’s constitutional challenge to the traffic camera ordinance McCarthy v. City of Cleveland, 09-4149, concerned a challenge to the district court’s dismissal of plaintiffs’ suit for failure to state a cause of action under the Takings Clause of either the United States or Ohio Constitution, in plaintiffs’ 42 U.S.C. section 1983 suit against the City of Cleveland, claiming that the city’s decision to enforce its traffic camera ordinance against drivers who lease their cars constituted an unconstitutional taking of private property without just compensation because the ordinance originally did not provide for lessee liability....

People have argued throughout the entire Michael Flynn saga that federal law enforcement and judges have overstepped their legal authority. First, Trump supporters argued the FBI overstepped by setting up a trap to catch Michael Flynn lying. Then, liberals argued Attorney General William Barr continued to turn the Justice Department into a political tool by dropping charges against a defendant who had already pled guilty. Conservatives again became offended when District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan, who refused to drop the case, instead appointed an amicus curiae to argue the government’s case for it....

In plaintiff’s 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action against an officer who arrested her for domestic disturbance, district court’s partial denial of defendant-officer’s motion for summary judgment on the ground of qualified immunity is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff offered sufficient evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact regarding each element of the handcuffing test, including the injury requirement; and 2) a reasonable juror could find that no threat to the officer existed, and in the absence of a threat to officer safety, defendant cannot argue that he acted reasonably under the Fourth Amendment when he pushed plaintiff’s face into the ground while she was incapacitated because use of force after a suspect has been incapacitated or neutralized is excessive as a matter of law....

In the state of Oklahoma, a person convicted of an aggravated sex offense is required to get a driver license that has a marking indicating that they are an aggravated sex offender. Ray Carney is one such offender, and he filed a lawsuit ahead of his release to try to avoid this punishment. And while this level of punishment is more than just the Hawthorn-ian Scarlet Letter of sorts, it was dismissed at the federal court level and won nothing in or on appeal....