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The artist Andy Warhol was famous (or notorious, depending on your opinion of Pop Art) for finding new, explosively colorful ways of portraying people and everyday objects. Though he died in 1987, a recent federal court ruling now brings the subject of Warhol’s “appropriations” back into the art world consciousness. Judge: Warhol ‘Transformed’ Original Photo This case revolved around Warhol’s reimagining of a series of portraits of the late singer Prince taken by famous photographer Lynn Goldsmith....

Dick Wolf taught us the basics of criminal prosecution long before law professors could shape our malleable minds. “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders.” As it applies to our world now, we view these “two, separate, yet equally important groups” in terms of qualified immunity and prosecutorial immunity....

With all the attention given to the Supreme Court’s recent rulings on Obamacare, same-sex marriage, and the death penalty, it was easy to overlook several other important decisions. For example, last Thursday, the Supreme Court recognized that housing policies which have a disproportionate impact of certain groups can violate the Fair Housing Act. The ruling is the first time the Supreme Court has approved disparate impact claims, though they have been used widely for decades....

Cumbie v. Woody Woo, Inc., No. 08-35718, was a Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) action claiming unpaid wages. The district court dismissed the complaint. As the court of appeals wrote: “[Defendant] Woo required its servers to contribute their tips to a “tip pool” that was redistributed to all restaurant employees. The largest portion of the tip pool (between 55% and 70%) went to kitchen staff (e.g., dishwashers and cooks), who are not customarily tipped in the restaurant industry....

For kids, no holiday can match Halloween for pure fun: Scary costumes, trick-or-treating, class parties, trips to haunted houses, and lots and lots of candy. Unfortunately, however, it’s also one of the most dangerous times of the year for kids. While the stories of razor blades in apples or poisonous candy are exceedingly rare, children face plenty of other risks on Halloween. Children wearing loose-fitting costumes can trip and fall, pointed objects like canes or swords can cause eye injuries, and pumpkin carving always creates a spike in hand and finger injuries, according to orthopedic surgeons....

Once again, Montana is the wild, wild west: Last week, the Montana Supreme Court challenged the U.S. Supreme Court to a showdown. In a 5-2 decision, the popularly-elected Montana Supreme Court held in Western Tradition Partnership v. Attorney General that the state had a compelling interest in continuing to enforce the state’s Corrupt Practices Act. Montana voters approved the Act, which limits/bans corporate campaign expenditures, in 1912. One of the dissenters in the Montana decision thinks that the Nine will strike down the opinion without a second thought because the ruling contradicts the U....

Is the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) unconstitutional? Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest agreed with plaintiffs – including Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame – that the NDAA might have a chilling effect on free speech and violate due process. The Manhattan-based judge permanently enjoined enforcement of the Act, and found that it did not “pass Constitutional muster,” Reason reports. The Obama administration will appeal the decision, according to Business Insider....

Issue of whether necessary preconditions to arbitration have been satisfied is for the arbitrator to decide Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co. v. Broadspire Mgmt Serv. Inc., 09-4051, involved the parties’ dispute over the arbitrability of four purchase price disputes in connection with a sale of an insurance administration business pursuant to a written Purchase Agreement. In affirming the district court’s conclusion that the question of whether the necessary preconditions to arbitration have been satisfied was for the arbitrator, the court held that the issue of whether the plaintiff has adequately disputed defendant’s price reports is a procedural question about a condition precedent to arbitration....

A rather narrow yet fascinating issue just got a definitive answer from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals: Even if a jury finds an accused murderer not guilty by reason of insanity, if the accused did it, they can’t inherit from their victim. Out of context, it sounds really crazy, but in the context of domestic abuse and spousal or parent murder, it begins to make much more sense. Why should a surviving spouse benefit from an inheritance if they murdered their spouse?...

In plaintiff’s suit on behalf of himself and all others similarly situated, seeking compensation for the time spent changing clothes and showering at the end of each work shift at defendant’s paper mill, summary judgment in favor of defendant is affirmed where: 1) plaintiffs’ daily post-shift activities are done under normal conditions and are merely postliminary non-compensable activities; and 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion to reconsider in concluding that plaintiff merely rehashed the arguments he had made at summary judgment and failed to present evidence of extraordinary and exceptional circumstances under Rule 60(b)(6)....

Benjamin Franklin said only two things in life are certain: death and taxes. Regarding the latter, one should also add, don’t mess with the IRS. Someone should have told Willena Stargell. Stargell formed her own business, Liberty Bell Tax Services, performing tax preparation services for clients. Based on evidence presented at trial, the government claimed that Stargell filed fraudulent tax returns, and obtained refund anticipation loans (“RALs”) from banks, based on the returns containing false statements....

While media coverage of the recent settlement in Hassan v. NYPD report that the settlement was for a paltry $75K split between 11 plaintiffs, many sources failed to include the $950K in legal fees the plaintiffs racked up that the department and city agreed to cover. The case revolves around the NYPD’s post 9/11 policies that included surveilling mosques, schools, and other groups, solely for their Muslim affiliation, without probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or any reason other than religious affiliation (and xenophobia)....

Plus Ruling in Action Claiming Deprivation of Due Process Scott v. Fischer, No. 09-1451, involved an action claiming that defendants deprived plaintiff of liberty without due process of law both by placing her on mandatory post-release supervision without a proper judicial sentence and by failing to take action to remove the supervision before or after she was rearrested for violating the terms thereof. The Second Circuit affirmed the dismissal of the action on the grounds that defendants were entitled to qualified immunity for all actions they took prior to the Second Circuit’s decision in Earley v....

In an action challenging a gas company’s ability to maintain its pipeline easement by clearing certain trees from plaintiff’s land, judgment for defendant is affirmed where a cleared right of way was reasonably necessary to serve the purpose of the easement. Read Rutherford v. Columbia Gas, No. 08-3148 Appellate Information Argued: June 17, 2009 Decided and Filed: July 30, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Rogers Partial Concurrence and Partial Dissent by Judge Clay...

A former cadet at West Point Academy, the nation’s premiere military academy, had her case, Doe v. USA, dismissed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The appellate court explained that a Bivens claim is unavailable for military cadets alleging a violation of their rights connected to their service. Significantly, the court found that cadets are not just students at their military academy, like West Point. Instead, the student/cadets are service-members in training, and thus, any claims arising from their training and education are deemed to be part of their military service....

Most workers who were laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic have few rights to reclaim their jobs. But as businesses begin to reopen, several states and municipalities are taking steps to give some of these workers – particularly those in the hard-hit hospitality sector – first cracks at their old jobs. Part of this protectionist thinking is based on the fear that some employers may see reopening as an opportunity to weed out certain members of their staff like older workers, women, and those who would otherwise be protected by employment anti-discrimination laws....

DaimlerChryster (DCAG) isn’t located on these fair shores. The German corporation is as foreign to Northern California as lederhosen and pumpernickel, yet they are being sued in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. Nor was the alleged tortfeasing done in California. DCAG’s Argentinean subsidiary allegedly committed human rights violations in Argentina in the late 1970s during the “Dirty War,” hiring state agents to remove left-wing dissidents from the plant during the aftermath of a military coup....

The Supreme Court today is not what it was just ten months ago, when the Court kicked off its October 2015 term. Some of the differences are obvious. Justice Scalia is no longer with us, having passed away in February. The Court’s seminal swing justice, Justice Kennedy, has started to swing more decidedly to the left. The vacancy created by Justice Scalia’s death remains unfilled, leading to a series of deadlocked decisions in important cases....

Chances are if you have insomnia and watch late-night TV, you’ve probably seen Kevin Trudeau trying to sell you something. You’re too smart for that of course, but 25 million Americans weren’t, reports the Daily Mail. Kevin Trudeau has reportedly made millions out of duping the American public into buying his life-enhancing (and purportedly life-saving) products … which is funny considering Trudeau has no medical training and a few criminal convictions, according to the Daily Mail....

What’s in a name? That which we call a “trademark” will not – in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals – be automatically deemed a “title or slogan.” When we’re talking about an insurer’s duty to defend, the distinction is critical. Perhaps Interstate Bakeries Corporation (IBC) wanted a piece of the “commercial magnetism,” because Flowers alleges that IBC “is using or preparing to use, or has stated an intent to use and otherwise promoted, the Nature’s Pride and Nature’s Choice trademarks in connection with packaged breads....