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Willis v. Bender, No. 07-8057, involved an action against a surgeon for lack of informed consent and medical malpractice. As the court of appeals wrote: “Dr. D. Scott Bender, a general surgeon, perforated Marcy Willis’ small bowel while performing a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (laparoscopic surgery to remove her gallbladder). Relevant here, Willis sued Bender for lack of informed consent and medical malpractice. The district court granted summary judgment to Bender on the informed consent claim....

A class-action lawsuit against the makers of the controversial (and seemingly extinct) Lazy Cakes melatonin-laced brownies made a brief appearance in the Ninth Circuit earlier this week. The court, in an unpublished opinion, affirmed the dismissal of the class action lawsuit, yet reversed in part, and remanded with instructions to allow the plaintiff, Lee Cheramie, to amend the complaint. Still with us? The brownies, which attracted the scrutiny of regulators and health professionals due to the cartoon Lazy Larry mascot, which some argued appealed to children, and due to the high melatonin content, disappeared after the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to the company, stating that melatonin was not approved as a food additive....

Capital Habeas Matter In Moormann v. Ryan, No. 08-99035, a capital habeas matter, the court affirmed the denial of petitioner’s habeas petition where 1) trial counsel’s failure to investigate and pursue a Christensen defense did not prejudice petitioner; 2) there was nothing in trial counsel’s declaration to contradict the Arizona Supreme Court’s finding that petitioner knowingly waived the lesser-included-offense instructions; and 3) even assuming there was a plausible argument that trial counsel should have done more, there was no reasonable probability that the Arizona Supreme Court would have reversed petitioner’s capital sentence....

The solitude of life during the coronavirus pandemic is leading many Americans to think about getting pets for companionship. If you are one of them, be forewarned: Scammers are aware of this impulse and are seeking to exploit it. According to a survey by Ameritrade, 33% of Americans have adopted or fostered pets in response to the pandemic or are considering it. For most people, it’s a great idea. Ameritrade’s survey found that 89% of American pet owners say their pet has brought them comfort during the pandemic and 82% say they feel less lonely because of their pet....

In plaintiffs’ case against defendants alleging fraudulent scheme of charging customers for services not performed and using that money to give kickbacks to real estate agents, district court’s order denying class certification is affirmed and the appeal dismissed as the case is moot because plaintiffs have settled and released all of their claims against defendants. Present case is distinguishable from previous cases where the Supreme Court has allowed named plaintiffs to appeal denials of class certification even after the named plaintiffs’ individual claims had become moot where plaintiffs retained a personal stake in the case because they would be able to shift part of the costs of litigation to the class members if they prevailed in their attempt at class certification....

Stolichnaya, the famous Vodka brand that made its fame in the United States during the 80s, has been the subject of a long and bitter decades’ long suit over who owns the venerable Russian brand. Now, it looks like a minion of the Russian state can sue a group of successor companies that arose out of the ashes of the Soviet Union’s fall. The Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit essentially invoked the Doctrines of Comity and Acts of State to save the suit from a lower district court’s ruling that the plaintiff company in the state had no standing....

Edward Snowden remains in Russia. Should he ever return to the U.S. he could face prosecution for exposing a National Security Administration program that collected data on the phone calls of American citizens without court approval, called the “telephony metadata collection program." The program began under President George W. Bush after the attacks on September 11, 2001. Recently, politicians, including President Trump, have floated the idea of pardoning Snowden. While Snowden himself was not directly involved in the case, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that this NSA program violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and may have been unconstitutional....

Fontez Combs was a peddler of wares in Southern Illinois. A noble pursuit, except his wares were cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. Combs, the subject of a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigation, was arrested after a DEA task force executed a federal search warrant on his home and recovered drugs, ammunition, and a gun. Combs’s defense lawyer, who replaced an appointed federal public defender, requested and received a continuance to review the search warrant in the case....

Supporters of cash bail bonds say they provide assurance that defendants will appear in court. Opponents, however, say that too often, defendants simply can’t afford the bail, and it does little more than criminalize poverty. While a few states have taken steps to give judges more leeway to waive cash bail when they think situations warrant it, only one state has decided to take the full dive and ban cash bail outright....

Whether by analytics, pundits, or gut feelings, it’s hard to know when the U.S. Supreme Court will agree to hear a case. But it’s certain that the vast majority of petitions will be denied in any given year. Chances are – literally between 94 percent and 98 percent – that the last court of appeal was the last court. This year is no different, although every case is different. Here are some of the divisive cases that are being turned away:...

In the dark, snowy winter months ahead, nothing beats sitting down by the fire, cozying up with a cup of tea, and playing the latest oral arguments on your gramophone (or computer). Just let them run in the background as you type away at your desk works as well. There are plenty of oral arguments to keep you busy in January and February. Seventeen, to be exact. Here are our top six picks....

Last Thursday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in a First Amendment free speech case involving the University of Minnesota. The Eighth Circuit ruled in favor of the University of Minnesota’s right to free speech, with regard to its suggestion that the Turkish Coalition of America’s website was an unreliable source of information on the Armenian Genocide. The lawsuit arose when the Turkish Coalition sued the University of Minnesota, alleging defamation and a violation of the Coalition’s right to free speech....

Defendant’s perjury sentence is affirmed where: 1) a defendant does not need to commit nor be charged with the underlying offense for the “accessory after the fact” cross reference guideline, U.S.S.G. section 2J1.3(c), to apply; and 2) Defendant was on notice that the grand jury investigation in which he committed perjury pertained to murder. Read US v. Leifson, 08-4103 Appellate Information Filed June 23, 2009 Judges Judge Briscoe delivered the opinion of the Court....

District court’s sentence and conviction of defendants, for knowingly violating EPA work practice standards for the handling and disposal of regulated asbestos-containing material, subjecting them to criminal liability under the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. section 7412 and 7413(c)(1), and knowingly and willfully making materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statements and representations in a matter within the jurisdiction of the executive branch of the United States by transmitting falsified air-monitoring reports to Virgin Islands Housing Authority (VIHA) in violation of 18 U....

When we look back at the COVID-19 pandemic in a few years, a few images will no doubt come to mind: Face masks. CDC vaccination cards. Zoom meetings. But let’s not forget this one: Cocktails-to-go. Before the pandemic struck the U.S. and began to spread in March 2020, a grand total of two states – Florida and Iowa – allowed take-out cocktails, and only on a limited basis. Within six months, though, at least 33 states OK’d them for the duration of the pandemic....

Wife in the Wife-Husband Owned Defunct Corporation Not Secondarily Liable Under the PACA Bear Mountain Orchards, Inc. v. Mich-Kim, Inc., 09-2041, involved plaintiffs’ suit against an officer of a now defunct wholesale produce dealer, claiming that the officer is individually liable to them under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) for money owed by the corporation. In affirming the district court’s holding that the individual was not secondarily liable, regardless of her title, to trust creditors, the court held that the officer is not individually liable for breaching the corporation’s fiduciary duties to the PACA trust because she did not have the actual ability to control its trust assets....

In an action against mortgage lenders alleging that the lenders had engaged in the unauthorized practice of law by charging a fee for preparation of loan documents by nonlawyers, judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) all claims in a case to which the FDIC was a party had “arising under” federal subject matter jurisdiction; and 2) the document preparation fees at issue constituted loan-related fees, including without limitation, initial charges, as enumerated in 12 C....

A federal appeals court ruled that a company did not violate labor laws by asking police to remove union organizers who were promoting the union on a public road and company property. The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the National Labor Relations Board, which had ruled in favor of the Service Employees International Union. The appeals court said the union organizers had walked repeatedly onto the company’s driveway....

This is one of those cases that seems obvious, until you consult the history books. You might think to yourself, of course a city can’t ban its police officers from contributing to political campaigns – that’s ridiculous. Except, in 1917, the “Bloody Fifth” Ward incident happened: Cops beat up an opposition candidate, killed a detective who tried to intervene, and terrorized the candidate’s supporters. Because, ya know, machine politics. A series of reforms followed, culminating in a 1951 ban on political contributions by cops as a prophylactic against corruption....

Do employees waive their rights to bring a class action lawsuit when they sign mandatory arbitration agreements? The Third Circuit Court of Appeals says yes, in a recent opinion. Employees who consent to mandatory arbitration clauses in their employment agreements must arbitrate any controversy instead of litigating it. The Facts Janice Quilloin worked as a nurse at a hospital run by Tenet Healthcare Corporation. She had been employed by Tenet twice and had signed the “Fair Treatment Process” document both times, which document mandated arbitration in lieu of litigation....