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The U.S. Education Department cannot collect students loans from thousands of former students of the defunct Corinthian Colleges, a federal judge said. Judge Sallie Kim clarified an earlier ruling because the education department had resumed collections based on “partial forgiveness.” The department acted recently after denying 8,600 student claims. The students’ plight began years ago when Corinthian Colleges defrauded them about job opportunities while raking in loans they could not repay....

In Nebraska, the fuzz can stop a vehicle for tooling about town without license plates. Even if the vehicle has a Nebraska In Transit sticker, the cops can demand the driver’s license and registration. If the driver can’t produce a valid license, it’s game over, according to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Without a validly-licensed driver on hand, the police could impound and search the vehicle. But wait, there’s more....

In US v. Martin, No. 09-3310, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s conviction for being a felon unlawfully in possession of a firearm, holding that the arresting officers had probable cause to arrest defendant as a suspect in the shooting, and they faced exigent circumstances sufficient to justify effecting that arrest inside an apartment building’s entryway. As the court wrote: “Confronted at the entryway of his apartment building by officers whosuspected him of a shooting earlier in the day, Michael Martin was arrested, searched, and found carrying a gun....

Last week, a new President Trump-related lawyer controversy popped into the headlines. This time, it involves former White House counsel Don McGahn and whether executive privilege will allow President Trump to stop McGahn from testifying before Congress about obstruction. Regardless of how you lean politically, the primetime Trump lawyer drama has certainly been educational for attorneys watching the news cycle. From Cohen getting raided, to Giuliani being Giuliani, to the arc of the Avenatti story, to the Mueller report, and now Don McGahn, legal ethical issues have never been more visible in the media....

Update: Frank DiPascali, Bernard Madoff’s former Chief Finance Officer, pleaded guilty to ten felony counts detailed in 47-pages of criminal charges. Read more here. (8:24 p.m. EST) Frank DiPascali, the former CFO for convicted Ponzi scheme investment manager Bernard ‘Bernie’ Madoff’s company, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, LLC, is expected to plead guilty today to ten criminal counts in the investment debacle. According to a filing by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, DiPascali’s charges will include the following:...

Motion by the AARP and the Pension Rights Center to reconsider the denial of leave to participate as amici curiae is denied where Fed. R. App. P. 29(e) requires that the amicus brief be filed within seven days of the principal brief of the party being supported, and the principal brief of plaintiff was filed more than a year before the potential amici tendered their brief. Read Fry v. Exelon Corp....

Prisoners’ mail is almost always subject to being opened and read thoroughly by prison officials looking for contraband, which can include attempting to exchange information between gang members, for example. Legal mail, on the other hand, is supposed to be sacrosanct: Guards aren’t supposed to open mail marked “legal mail” unless they suspect it’s not legal mail; and even then, they can’t read it that thoroughly. Last week, the Ninth Circuit allowed a case to proceed in which a guard went well beyond scanning legal mail to make sure it’s really legal mail....

Mac’s Shell Serv., Inc. v. Shell Oil Prods. Co., No. 08-240, involved an action under the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act (Act) by service station franchisees, alleging that a petroleum franchisor, Shell, and its assignee had constructively terminated their franchises and constructively failed to renew their franchise relationships by substantially changing the rental terms that the dealers had enjoyed for years, increasing costs for many of them. The Court of Appeals partially affirmed judgment for plaintiffs....

Three female track competitors are challenging a Connecticut policy that allows transgender student athletes to compete according to their expressed gender identity. The high schoolers claim they have missed out on top finishes when competing against transgender athletes, and possible college scholarships as well. “We all know the outcome of the race before it even starts; it’s demoralizing,” complained one plaintiff, Selina Soule. “I fully support and am happy for these athletes for being true to themselves....

“We’re not here to demonize ‘boobies.’” Well, that’s a relief. In April, Easton Area School District Attorney John Freund told the Third Circuit Court of Appeals that two middle school students’ “I (Heart) Boobies” bracelets – promoting breast cancer awareness – were disruptive, even if they weren’t actually lewd. The ACLU claimed that the First Amendment protected the students’ decision to wear the bracelets, and that their message should be analyzed in the context of the national breast cancer awareness campaign, reports the Student Press Law Center....

On remand from the Supreme Court of the United States, the matter is remanded to the district court for further proceedings in light of the Court’s decision in Ashcroft v. Iqbal to decide whether plaintiff can seek leave to amend his deficient complaint Read Iqbal v. Ashcroft, No. 05-6352 Appellate InformationOn remand from the Supreme Court of the United States. Decided: July 28, 2009 JudgesBefore: NEWMAN, CABRANES, and SACK, Circuit Judges....

Here’s a question that hungry commuters may want answered: Is it legal to eat and drive? It may seem like a silly question, given the number of drive-thru food options available. But with more states expanding their distracted driving laws, can eating while driving technically be considered unlawful? So far, there’s no law that explicitly bans the act of “eating” behind the wheel. However, because of the way distracted driving laws are worded, local law enforcement could potentially determine that shoveling a muffin in your mouth while maneuvering through traffic is enough to warrant a ticket....

In a gender and age discrimination action by an employee of a university, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed in part where plaintiff failed to produce evidence of an express or implied contract to continue her employment. However, the order is reversed in part where: 1) in the circumstances here, a non-renewal of an employment contract itself was an adverse employment action and the district court erred in requiring plaintiff to show the existence of an unofficial tenured position to satisfy the adverse action requirement; and 2) the circumstances surrounding the non-renewal of her contract gave rise to an inference of age or gender discrimination....

Back in February we mentioned a pending shareholder lawsuit brought by Lululemon shareholders against the company. They claimed that during the class action period, September 7, 2012 and January 10, 2014, Lululemon mislead and defrauded shareholders, reports Reuters. Last Friday, District Judge Katherine B. Forrest, of the District Court for the Southern District of New York, issued her opinion dismissing the complaint against Lululemon. Can we get a collective Namaste?...

In an action seeking payments under a disability insurance plan, the dismissal of the complaint on ERISA preemption grounds is reversed where 29 U.S.C. section 1132(a)(1)(B) did not completely preempt plaintiff’s purely state-law action for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, quantum meruit and estoppel. Read Marin Gen’l. Hosp. v. Modesto & Empire Traction Co., No. 07-16518 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted January 16, 2009 Filed September 10, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge W....

President Barack Obama has probably gotten used to having his judicial nominations blocked by congressional Republicans. When it comes to Third Circuit Court of Appeals’ nominee Patty Shwartz, however, President Obama has had to defend himself from a member of his own party. Menendez is currently in the spotlight for being the first Democrat to block an Obama judicial appointment and said he risked drawing the president’s ire because of Shwartz’s lack of qualifications....

While few attorneys argue before the U.S. Supreme Court regularly, SCOTUS does receive over 8,000 petitions per year. The number of amicus briefs submitted to the court has also risen steadily. In the 2018-19 term, for example, the Supreme Court received 729 amicus briefs. While that’s down from the record 1,003 submitted in the 2012-13 term (a whopping 14 per case, on average), it is still a significant increase from decades past....

Political corruption claims are all-too-common. Usually, such claims are resolved when the politician either winds up with jail time, or beats the charges. Today, however, we have a case in which a political corruption “victim” pushed a case all the way to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the politicians – former New Mexico State Treasurer Robert Vigil and his deputy, Ann Marie Gallegos – violated the victim’s civil rights under the Fourteenth Amendment....

Federal prosecutors have responded to the judicial bias arguments in the case of Mark Ciavarella. Ciavarella is calling for a new trial and alleging judicial bias by U.S. District Court Judge Edwin Kosik in a case involving political corruption, reports the Luzerne County Citizen’s Voice. He is alleging that the district judge expressed bias against him and as such, that his case was prejudiced. Mark Ciavarella, a former Luzerne County judge, was convicted in 2011 in the juvenile prison scandal....

In an action challenging the EPA’s administration of unilateral administrative orders under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the dismissal of the complaint is affirmed, where the jurisdiction-stripping provision contained in 42 U.S.C. section 9613(h) deprived the District Court of jurisdiction. Read Rialto v. W. Coast Loading Corp., No. 08-55474 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted June 3, 2009 Filed August 14, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Graber Counsel...