Posts

There are tire fires, and then there are tire fires. And when it comes to the controversy surrounding President Trump and adult film actress Stormy Daniels, there’s really no better way to describe it than a tire fire. Apparently, thanks to the Tweeter-in-Chief’s April 18 tweeted comment, and retweeting of some Twitter trash talk, about Stormy Daniels, the actress has filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump. The post in question asserts that Stormy Daniels lied about the man who threatened her, and that the sketch artist drawing is actually a former boyfriend....

Supreme Court cases are interesting. But equally interesting is what happens next. The Court’s term just ended, but the fallout has been immediate: the ruling against a Massachusetts abortion protest buffer zone has already led local governments to reevaluate their own variants of the laws, while the media continues to lament the Court’s decision in the contraceptive coverage cases, especially after the Court issued a controversial order late last week regarding exemption paperwork....

Would a small business by any other name be just as successful? When it comes to naming your business, you’ve got to think about everything from how that name will look with a nice logo to how it will resonate with customers and clients. And you’ve got some legal considerations, too. From incorporating and trademarks to website URLs, here’s some of our best legal advice for naming a small business, from our archives:...

The family of an American passenger on board the recent Boeing 737 Max passenger plane that crashed last month in Ethiopia has filed a lawsuit against the plane’s manufacturer. The lawsuit alleges that Boeing was negligent on many different fronts, put profits ahead of safety, and should be held liable for the crash. The allegations explain that a few months before the Ethiopian crash, the same type of plane, being operated by Lion Air in Indonesia, suffered the same sort technical failure causing a similar fatal crash....

Illinois, like many states, was facing a funding crisis: State liabilities to public employees on pensions have been on the rise as more and more employees retire, with no proportional increase in funding for those pensions. The state could either raise more money or cut benefits. Which one did legislators pick? You can guess what happened next. Plaintiffs sued, challenging the law based on Illinois constitutional provisions prohibiting laws “impairing the obligation of contracts,” laws prohibiting state retirement benefits from being “diminished or impaired,” and a state version of eminent domain....

Defendant’s firearm possession conviction is affirmed where: 1) defendant’s prior New York offense of larceny from the person met the first prong of the inquiry required under the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA); and 2) defendant’s offense was roughly similar to an enumerated offense in the ACCA. Read US v. Thrower, No. 08-2016 Appellate Information Argued: September 11, 2009 Decided: October 14, 2009 Judges Per Curiam...

“Bad day” is a relative term. The day we got mugged in broad daylight only ranks as absurdly comical in our memory, but a day plagued with wet pant hems can easily rank among our worst days ever. Here’s one day we hope you never experience: the day that Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge (and living legend) Frank Easterbrook has a hand in your disbarment from federal practice....

Whether reminding you when to file a notice of appeal, or when to take your Benz for an oil change, your calendar controls your life. Calendars can also control whether your client gets another shot at sentencing, according to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Take Stacy Allen’s crack sentence, for example. Allen pleaded guilty to unlawful possession with the intent to distribute crack cocaine. The district court sentenced Allen to a 210 month sentence on the crack cocaine charges, to run concurrently with the 120 month sentence he received on his conviction for being a felon in possession of ammunition....

Client referrals are still the best way to bring in business, no matter what social media says. Referred clients are already inclined to hire you before they walk in the door. They come in because they trusted someone, who trusted you as a lawyer. The second-best way to bring in business is from other professionals, including lawyers. T here are some strategies to it, however. Here are a few: Specialize If you specialize in a particular practice area, you are likely to get more referrals from general practitioners....

Attorneys appearing before the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals are on notice: both substance and style matter when filing in federal court. In an opinion released this week, the Seventh Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision to dismiss a complaint with prejudice after an attorney failed three times to file “an intelligible complaint” for his client. The attorney, Walter Maksym, appealed the district court’s dismissal, arguing that his second amended complaint complied with court rules, and, even if it did not, he should have been offered a third chance to replead....

Prior to Obamacare, most employers weren’t legally required to offer health insurance coverage to their workers. Now, if you have more than 50 employees, it’s mandated by law. And it remains standard practice if you want to attract the best employees. If you have an employee health insurance plan, what are your requirements when it comes to altering or rescinding coverage? Two recent cases have highlighted employers’ requirements under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which governs employers’ responsibilities to give covered employees notice of all benefits coverage and changes....

For the first time in thirty years, and despite recent opportunities to do so, the Supreme Court will address one of the touchiest of all subjects: prayer in public meetings. Greece, New York begins its town meetings with an invocation. Though there is no official policy deciding who can open the meetings with a prayer, and despite the spot being open to all faiths, every single prayer from 1999 through 2007 was delivered by Christian clergy members....

Day laborers have a First Amendment right to solicit work along a California roadside. That’s the word out of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled on Friday in Comite de Jornaleros v. City of Redondo Beach that a Redondo Beach ordinance banning workers from standing on a street or highway to solicit work was a facially unconstitutional restriction on speech. Redondo Beach initially adopted the controversial ordinance, which prohibited workers from soliciting employment from occupants of motor vehicles, in 1987....

Skrzypczak v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa, No. 09-5089, concerned an action against a Roman Catholic diocese alleging gender and age discrimination. The court of appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendants, on the ground that Title VII’s ministerial exception barred plaintiffs’ claims because plaintiff’s position was not limited to a merely administrative role, but it also involved responsibilities that furthered the core of the spiritual mission of the diocese. As the court wrote: “In this case we consider whether the district court correctly granted summary judgment in favor of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tulsa on a former employee’s federal employment law claims, based on the ministerial exception to Title VII....

The Eighth Circuit used a farm case to remind us to exhaust the administrative remedy ladder before suing the government. Thirty-eight farm producers of corn and soybeans in Iowa filed suit against the USDA and five other government entities, claiming the government improperly calculated revenue assistance payments owed to them under the Supplemental Revenue Assistance Payments Program (“SURE Program”). The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s finding that the corn and soybean producers failed to exhaust their administrative remedies before filing suit....

In a Takings Clause challenge to a city’s mobile home rent control ordinance, summary judgment for defendants is reversed where: 1) the city forfeited its right to argue that plaintiffs’ action was not ripe; 2) a facial challenge under Penn Central existed as a viable legal claim; and 3) the regulation was invalid considering (a) the economic impact of the regulation on the claimant; (b) the extent to which the regulation has interfered with investment-backed expectations; and (c) the character of the governmental action....

Two hundred and nineteen days ago, President Obama nominated D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Since then, well, you know what’s happened: not much. The Senate has steadfastly refused to consider Garland’s nomination, on the grounds that the next president should decide who replaces the late Justice Antonin Scalia. As the days tick by and the election approaches, the odds of Garland getting to the Supreme Court grow increasingly slim....

District court order affirming bankruptcy court’s grant of summary judgment for defendant is vacated and remanded where: 1) plaintiff’s objections to the procedures leading up to the grant of summary judgment are without merit; 2) the court erred in granting summary judgment as plaintiff should have been allowed to complete discovery of defendant; and 3) there were genuine issues of material fact regarding plaintiff’s claim of an alleged conspiracy to misappropriate its trade secrets....

Instead of passing his summer lounging in an exotic location while “teaching” law school summer courses, Justice Antonin Scalia has been busy this summer promoting his new book, Reading Law: The Interpretation of Legal Text. Thanks to the hoopla of the Supreme Court’s 2011 Term – and the fact that the Nine tend to shy away from interviews – everyone wants to talk to Justice Scalia about his new book. Those conversations have produced their fair share of interesting sound bites....

The city of St. Johns, Michigan passed an ordinance banning unattended outdoor charitable donation bins. Planet Aid is a nonprofit organization that promotes sustainable food production and healthy lifestyles. Part of its business involves the use of such outdoor bins to get donations of clothes and shoes. Of course you know where this is going, right? In January 2013, St. Johns directed Planet Aid to remove its donation bins, claiming the bins attracted “boxes and other refuse....