Even if you weren’t cut out for a federal judicial clerkship, you can still clerk for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. The Third Circuit’s Office of the Clerk - Legal Division is accepting applications for federal clerkships until Friday, October 19, 2012. Clerkships are for one or two-year terms beginning September 2013. Office of the Clerk - Legal Division is the court’s fancy new name for Office of Staff Attorneys....
In one of the most closely watched criminal trials in recent memory, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted on all three counts in the death of George Floyd. After announcing Chauvin guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter, Judge Peter Cahill revoked Chauvin’s bail, immediately sending him back to prison. Chauvin’s sentencing hearing is on June 16. While guidelines are clear about the sentence Chauvin should receive, prosecutors are seeking a longer sentence....
Not many people have the luxury of taking days off of work and giving up money. However, despite your willingness to work, you may not have a choice if your work shuts down. If your employer shuts down the business temporarily due to an emergency or other reason, do they still have to pay you? Can’t Do Business Sometimes, a business may shut down temporarily either because there isn’t enough work for employees or because of government action....
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Pamela Rymer passed last week after a two-year battle with cancer. Judge Rymer was 70. President Ronald Reagan appointed Judge Rumer to the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in 1983. Six years later, President George H.W. Bush nominated her to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. During her 22 years on the appellate court, Judge Rymer sat on more than 800 merits panels and authored 335 panel opinions....
In an inmate’s 42 U.S.C. section 1983 claim against two correctional officers alleging violation of his Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by requiring him to work despite a prior shoulder injury, summary judgment in favor of defendants is affirmed where: 1) the district court correctly concluded that, in the absence of evidence showing that the officers actually knew of plaintiff’s shoulder injury before he reinjured it, it could not be reasonably inferred that the defendants exhibited deliberate indifference to any serious medical condition of the plaintiff when they made him work; 2) the district court correctly found that, even if the defendants knew of plaintiff’s previous injury, such knowledge would not have raised a question of material fact as to whether they acted with deliberate indifference; and 3) evidence shows without any issue of material fact that the officers responded to plaintiff’s injury as prudently as they could while maintaining proper safety procedures at the work site....
The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals clarified this week that a state Supreme Court’s finding of laches is binding on a federal district court in parallel litigation. In 1942, the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Church (FLDS) established United Effort Plan (UEP), a community trust. FLDS followers shared in the assets. In 2005, Utah seized control of UEP, amid allegations of mismanagement by church leaders, including Warren Jeffs, Deseret News reports....
“I thought Instant Pot was the greatest invention,” Mary Cooper told Denver’s Fox 31. “I thought it was going to help my soup cook faster. I thought that was fantastic. Anything that makes dinner faster and easier is great for a young mom.” That was until her Instant Pot exploded after cooking some soup, scalding her 9-year-old daughter Caroline and leaving her with third-degree burns on about 16 percent of her body....
Everyone loves puppies, kittens, and bunnies. But should pet stores be banned from selling them? In the state of New York, this is a burning question, and all eyes are on Gov. Kathy Hochul to answer. In June, lawmakers passed the Puppy Mill Pipeline Act with rare bipartisan support. If Hochul signs it, New York will become the sixth state in the last three years to ban the retail sale of puppies, kittens, and rabbits in pet stores....
Armslist is a website that provides a place for private gun owners to sell guns to each other. It has several disclaimers excepting it from liability because it “does not certify, investigate, or in any way guarantee the legal capacity of any party to transact.” Demetry Smirnov met Jitka Vesel online (though not on Armslist). Vesel rejected Smirnov, and in response, Smirnov illegally purchased a gun through Armslist (illegal because, under federal law, a gun can’t be transferred directly to someone from a different state; the seller was from Washington and Smirnov lived in Chicago)....
Big Supreme Court news today: two new justices, Andromache Karakatsanis and Michael Moldaver, joined the highest court of Canada, our friendly neighbor to north. What? You have neither the license nor the interest to argue before the Canadian Supreme Court? You wanted news of our own Supreme Court granting writs in the individual mandate appeals? You want to know when we’ll find out if the Affordable Care Act will be deemed unconstitutional?...
In a petition for review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of a settlement agreement establishing rate-setting mechanisms for the sale of energy capacity, circuit court’s partial grant of the petition is reversed where: 1) the Mobile-Sierra presumption does not depend on the identity of the complainant who seeks FERC investigation, and the presumption is not limited to challenges to contract rates brought by contracting parties; and 2) contrary to the ruling below, the Mobile-Sierra presumption applies when a rate challenge is brought by a non-contracting third party....
In plaintiffs’ case against the school district under the Individuals in Education Act (IDEA), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the school district is affirmed, but its ruling with respect to the applicability of the Pennsylvania personal injury statute of limitations to the plaintiffs’ claims under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is reversed. Read P.P. v. W. Chester Area Sch....
In this brave new world we are living in, smarthome devices are really starting to deliver on those promises of futuristic living we’ve all grown to expect. What About Privacy? So What Can Nurse Alexa Do? As of yet, Alexa’s uses in the medical field are rather limited. In a few states, certain patients in participating hospitals are able to make appointments and order prescriptions. For some patients with compatible medical devices, such as certain blood sugar readers, Alexa can read back the most recent test results....
The confirmation hearing for Judge Kavanaugh may have concluded, but the controversy hasn’t seemed to die down one bit. After the hearings concluded, political pundits, reporters, and legal scholars closely scrutinized Kavanaugh’s testimony, and not just from this confirmation hearing, but also from his prior hearings for the district and appellate court benches. There are several instances where it is alleged that he lied under oath. Perhaps one of the most damning examples involves his claim that he did not access stolen documents in 2002 while working as a White House lawyer....
Congress creates federal agencies to enforce the laws it passes. In some cases, Congress has specifically forbidden the President from terminating the leadership of such a federal agency except for cause. You can see the rationale for why: A president could theoretically use political pressure to enforce policy decisions aimed specifically at reelection, rather than for the purposes created by Congress. An illustrative example is pressuring the Chairman of the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates a year or two before the election to provide a boost to the economy, regardless of whether that is sound economic policy....
A federal lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Texas last week accuses administrators at Berry Miller Junior High School of using a Sharpie marker to color in a black student’s stylized fade haircut. The 13-year-old student, named as “J.T.” in his parents’ lawsuit against the school, faced this bizarre punishment for allegedly violating the school’s dress code. An Impossible Choice According to the complaint, J.T. arrived at school on April 17 with a new haircut, a fade with a stylized letter “M” shaved into one side....
If your law firm isn’t on Yelp, you might be missing out on some of that sweet sweet Yelper business. Also, whether or not you want to be there, a client, or potential client, or adversary, can put you on there in order to leave their feedback, so not being on there means you can’t do anything to manage your Yelp reputation. Interestingly, to get an idea of what sort of reviews Yelpers leave, taking a look at the United States Supreme Court’s 4....
For one Texas woman, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruined what was looking to be a nice payday for going through the pain of receiving 163 unwanted robocalls. The case, King v. Time Warner, was appealed after the district court ruled in the plaintiff’s favor on summary judgment and awarded treble damages. Unfortunately for Araceli King, since the ruling came down in her favor, the interpretation of what qualifies as a robo-dialer has changed....
1. What Laws Apply in a Swimming Pool Accident? 2. Can You Sue if You Slip and Fall at a Pool? 3. Is Your Swimming Pool an Attractive Nuisance? 4. Should Your Neighbors Have a Fence Around Their Pool? 5. Are Hotel Pool Liability Waivers Enforceable? Related Resources: Find Personal Injury Lawyers in Your Area (FindLaw’s Lawyer Directory) Premises Liability: Who Is Responsible? (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law) Learn More About Swimming Pool Injuries (FindLaw’s Learn About the Law) 6 Tips to Lawsuit-Proof Your Pool Party (FindLaw’s Law and Daily Life) You Don’t Have To Solve This on Your Own – Get a Lawyer’s Help Civil Rights Block on Trump’s Asylum Ban Upheld by Supreme Court...
President Trump will nominate Amul Thapar to the Sixth Circuit, the White House announced on Tuesday. Thapar currently sits on the District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. This is not the first time Trump has considered Thapar for a promotion, either. The judge was included on President Trump’s short list of candidates to replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court. That spot went to the Tenth Circuit’s Neil Gorsuch, but a shot at the Sixth isn’t a bad consolation prize....
