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Could you tell the difference between a parking lot with a 2 percent grade and one with 2.1 to 2.7 percent grade? Matt Strong is a C-5 quadriplegic, and a regular customer of Peter Piper Pizza. Based on his experiences with the restaurant, he found a number of Americans with Disabilities Act violations, including a parking lot and ramps with greater than 2 percent slopes, improperly marked and sized accessibility areas next to handicapped parking spots, and improper bathroom stalls....

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided a criminal case and a maritime shipping case. In Fortis Corp. Ins. SA. v. Viken Ship Mgmt. AS, No. 08-4478, the court decided a maritime shipping case involving a claim for rust damage to steel coils caused by exposure to seawater. In affirming the district court’s judgment the court held that a ship manager charged with providing a Master, officers and crew, and performing various other ship-management tasks for the shipping vessel is not a “carrier” under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), and as such, the one year statute of limitations does not bar the underlying suit....

Lewis and Clark Law School Dean Robert Klonoff has an impressive résumé. According to the school’s website, he graduated from Yale Law School, clerked for the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, and worked as an Assistant to the Solicitor General. He’s even argued before the Supreme Court eight times. But he clearly doesn’t know that first thing about Supreme Court press policies. On April 4, Chief Justice John Roberts joined Ninth Circuit Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain and District Judge Anna Brown at Lewis and Clark to judge a moot court competition....

The Third Circuit ruled Wednesday that certain truckers are entitled to overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, finding that drivers of lighter vehicles are subject to a “carveout” from the FLSA’s overtime exemptions. The FLSA establishes minimum wage and overtime requirements that apply to the majority of workers. Covered workers are entitled to “time and a half” overtime, except, of course, the many workers who fall within the Act’s numerous exemptions....

As the kids say, Justice Sotomayor is woke. In the era of #BlackLivesMatter, a time when Travon Martin, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner (and so many more) are household names, Justice Sotomayor is taking on the criminal justice system from the Supreme Court bench. Over the past term, she has increasingly called out, often in solitary dissents, abuses in the criminal justice system. Hers is a voice concerned with not just the logic of the law, but the way it plays out in real life....

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected challenges to politically gerrymandered voting districts, saying the courts have no say over such political issues. In a decision divided along ideological lines, the justices favored neither Republicans nor Democrats from two states involved in Rucho v. Common Cause. Republicans controlled the voting districts in North Carolina, and Democrats had the advantage in Maryland. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said partisan gerrymandering presents a political question beyond the reach of the courts....

Law firms have shown resiliency and ingenuity in the age of COVID-19. Lawyers, courts, and in-house counsel, forced to adapt to new technology and business operations, have been admirably agile. But now school is back. In many places in the country, students are distance learning yet again. As is well-documented, distance learning has significant drawbacks. It may, however, be the status quo for the next year (or longer). Schools that are back in the classroom may be forced to go to distance learning again if a COVID-19 outbreak occurs, particularly considering the upcoming cold and flu season....

How much documentation must Indiana policyholders provide to their insurers to collect on a claim? According to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, it’s everything the insurer asks for in the “Your Duties After Loss” section of the policy, as long as the company doesn’t badger policyholders with irrelevant demands. On January 3, 2009 – while Harry and Linda Foster, their family members, and the family’s eight dogs were out – a fire severely damaged the Fosters’ Indiana home....

District court’s sentence and conviction of defendant on drug related offenses is affirmed where: 1) district court did not err in denying defendant’s request for a Franks hearing to determine the veracity of the warrant as defendant has not established that any of the alleged falsities in officer’s affidavit were made intentionally or recklessly; and 2) district court did not err in using other mitigating factors to further reduce defendant’s sentence, as section 3553(e) prohibited the district court from reducing his sentence for any factor beyond his substantial assistance to the government....

Sentence of defendant for conspiracy to buy, sell and transport firearm from Mississippi to streets of Chicago is affirmed as the district court did not clearly err, based on factual findings, in increasing the offense level in calculating the Guidelines range to the statutory maximum. District court did not abuse its discretion by ordering defendant to serve two consecutive sentences and imposition of a sentence that was different from that received by co-defendants was not unreasonable....

So you had a bad day, forgot about your court date, and just found out that the judge issued a bench warrant for your arrest. What is that, and what are you supposed to do now? What Is a Bench Warrant? A bench warrant, like any other warrant, authorizes the police to arrest you when they find you. The primary difference is that a judge issues a bench warrant instead of it coming from the police....

When Wisconsin passed a voter ID law in 2011, requiring voters to present photo identification at the voting booth, opponents argued that the law unfairly punished those who had difficulty obtaining photo IDs. Such laws often make voting disproportionately difficult for minorities and the poor. But when those opponents sued, they lost. The Seventh Circuit ruled that the entire law cannot be enjoined just because “some voters faced undue difficulties.”...

Happy Birthday, Justice Alito! No, Samuel Alito doesn’t turn ten today (he’ll turn 66 this April Fool’s day, however). Instead, this week saw Justice Alito celebrating his tenth anniversary as a Supreme Court justice. To celebrate, we’re pulling together our favorite Alito-related posts. For while Justice Alito often gets overlooked – he doesn’t have the acid bite of conservative colleague Justice Scalia, nor does he require the same fawning attention as Justice Kennedy, and he lacks some of the swag of the Notorious R....

Shawn Allison, a native and citizen of Jamaica, entered the U.S. without inspection in 1994. In 2011, the Department of Homeland Security charged him with removability as an alien present without being admitted or paroled. Allison conceded removability, but disputed his date of entry. The immigration judge found him removable as charged. Allison filed an application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). While he admitted that he was never physically harmed in Jamaica, he claimed to fear returning “because the Jamaican police and local gangs are anti-American and would torture or physically injury him....

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reached a conclusion as surprising as the name of the food truck at the center of one of the more curious recent federal First Amendment appeals: Wandering Dago v. the State of New York. The appellate court actually ruled in favor of the food truck with questionable (arguably offensive) branding, finding that the state’s reason for excluding the food truck from a lunch program violated the First Amendment, despite the business’s use of ethnic slurs in its branding and menu....

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action alleging that Defendant officials breached their duty to monitor whether Plaintiff’s sentence was void and take steps to effectuate his release, the dismissal of the complaint is affirmed in part, where Plaintiff’s federal claims were barred by prosecutorial immunity; but reversed in part, where Plaintiff’s state law claims were not subject to an immunity defense. Read the full decision in Cousins v. Lockyer, No....

Soon after Stephanie Lenz uploaded a YouTube video of her toddler dancing, she received a notice from Universal Music Group: take down the 29 second clip or risk being sued. Lenz’s son had been baby-dancing to Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy” … and Universal said that use of the fuzzy background track violated copyright law. The Pennsylvania mother didn’t take down her video, however. Instead, she got pro bono representation from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and won big in the Ninth Circuit on Monday as the court announced that companies must consider fair use before sending take down notices....

Differences Between Murder Charges To help make sense of the degrees of murder, we’re going to start with the most serious crime in the murder spectrum. We will also pinpoint exactly what differs between a first-, second-, and third-degree murder (or manslaughter) charge. First-Degree Murder First-degree murder usually falls into one of the following two categories: Premeditated, intentional killings (like stalking someone before murdering them)Felony murder Second-Degree Murder Second-degree murder is generally either:...

Call it the egg conspiracy case. It’s easier than In Re: Processed Egg Products Antitrust Litigation, but you choose. Unfortunately, like most conspiracy theories, it is not that simple. When a court has to use diagrams to show the connections between conspirators and non-conspirators, it is at least novel. The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals also said it presented a question of first impression. Egg Conspiracy The case hatched from a series of individual and class actions that accused egg producers of price-fixing; one recently settled for $75 million....

In an appeal from the district court’s order vacating the attachment of an electronic funds transfer (EFT), the order is affirmed and the case is remanded for an order to show cause why the action should not be dismissed for lack of personal jurisdiction where: 1) the rule announced recently in Shipping Corp. of India Ltd. v. Jaldhi Overseas Pte Ltd., __ F.3d __, No.08-3477, 2009 WL 3319675 (2d Cir. Oct....