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Defendants’ murder and firearm use convictions are affirmed where 1) it was the government’s evidence – not any perceived conflict between defendants’ defense theories – that was the basis for the jury’s verdicts, and thus the district court did not abuse its discretion by declining to sever defendants’ trials; 2) given the multiple purposes of defendants’ separate acts at different times and locations, the district court did not err in refusing to dismiss certain counts of the indictment; and 3) 18 U....

In an action under the whistleblower-protection provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for wrongful discharge, summary judgment for defendants is reversed where plaintiffs’ statements to management reported conduct that definitively and specifically related to shareholder fraud. Read Van Asdale v. Int’l. Game Tech., No. 07-16597 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted March 12, 2009 Filed August 13, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Bybee Counsel For Appellants: Margo Piscevich, Piscevich & Fenner, Reno, NV...

Sometime in the mid-90s, to most parents’ chagrin, it was like someone flipped on a light — specifically, a lava lamp or one of those lamps with a scarf draped over the shade. Curious kids no longer had to worry about preserving faded, decades-old copies of Playboy and Penthouse, passed from generation to generation like priceless Picassos. The internet just put it all out there, a quick Lycos search away....

On April 11, the highly publicized defamation trial between Johnny Depp and his ex-wife, Amber Heard, kicked off in Fairfax County, Virginia. Depp has already taken the stand for hours of soft-spoken testimony. Heard is scheduled to testify sometime later during the six-week proceedings. Also on the star-studded potential witness list are James Franco, Paul Bettany, Ellen Barkin, and Elon Musk (if he’s not too busy buying Twitter). Jury duty or movie premiere?...

The Tenth Circuit rejected the use of the continuing wrong doctrine in a New Mexico copyright infringement case. In Diversey v. Schmidly, Andrew Diversey sued the University of New Mexico for copyright infringement when it used his dissertation without his permission. Diversey’s untimely filing issues got his case booted from the district court and he appealed arguing that the continuing wrong doctrine bought him more time to file. So for whom does the law toll?...

One Third Circuit Court of Appeals case may be going to the Supreme Court soon. Earlier this month, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on two cases involving off-campus speech by students, namely, their conduct on social media websites. In both cases, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled for the students. Now, the lawyers for the Blue Mountain School District have announced plans to file a writ of certiorari with the U....

The issue of baby Holden and his viral “dancing baby” is still kicking and making waves in the world of the fair-use debate. The ruling last year was technically a win for free-use proponents, but it could hardly have been called a knock out of the park. The Ninth Circuit recently revisited its ruling for the EFF and clarified the otherwise confusing victory for the free-Internet advocacy group. Almost decade ago, Stephanie Lenz posted a video to YouTube of her toddler-son Holden dancing to Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy....

In a win for religious conservatives, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a high-school football coach has a First Amendment right to pray at the 50-yard line following games. The court reversed a lower court’s determination that the coach’s employer, a public school district, could not permit his prayer because of the very same amendment. The ruling highlights a conflict between First Amendment rights: the right to freely practice and express your religion in public and the right of others to be free from a state-established church....

In an ERISA action challenging defendant pension fund’s denial of disability benefits, judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) the fund’s trustees did not abuse their discretion when they determined the date of plaintiff’s disability; 2) 29 U.S.C. section 1054(g) did not apply to “employee welfare benefit plans” such as that of defendant; and 3) the Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) applied by the trustees was a separate interest QDRO, and plaintiff thus could not share in any of the benefits allocated to his ex-wife....

Bruce Matthews played football in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 years, first for the Houston Oilers and later for its successor team, the Tennessee Titans (Titans). He retired in 2002. In 2008, Matthews filed for workers’ compensation benefits in California. Matthews claimed pain and disability resulting from injuries incurred while he was employed by the NFL at “various” locations over years of “playing and practicing professional football.” He didn’t allege that he sustained any particular injury in California....

The latest in a long string of apocalyptic headlines in 2020 is the wildfires currently smoldering along the West Coast. Over 7,000 acres were burned by one particular California blaze that was recklessly sparked by a gender reveal party. Could the soon-to-be parents face criminal charges for their stunt gone wrong? Arson Laws by State Every state has at least some form of arson laws, though the specifics vary. Punishments can vary between fines and prison time depending on what was burned, whether people were injured, and whether the fire was set deliberately or by accident....

Turning the tide against environmentalists, a federal appeals court has upheld the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule on water transfers. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals said the Water Transfers Rule is not subject to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, which permits and scrutinizes water quality throughout the country. The EPA rule has allowed water providers to transfer water from one body of water to another – without NPDES permits – for decades....

US v. Alaka, 09-3423, concerned a challenge to the district court’s determination finding defendant responsible for the entire loss caused by the operation at his sentencing hearing, in his prosecution for participating in a conspiracy to steal identifying information from customers of Washington Mutual bank and use it to make fraudulent transfers from their accounts. In affirming , the court held that the district court’s determination that defendant, through the conspiracy, was responsible for $267,000 in loss is not clearly erroneous, and any error with respect to loss from a certain individual’s account is harmless....

Ten years after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review their case, and 30 years after they were convicted, two half-brothers have been cleared of a 1983 sexual assault and murder thanks to DNA. Henry Lee “Buddy” McCollum, 50, has spent three decades on death row, while Leon Brown, 46, was serving a life sentence. Both are expected to be released today, reports The New York Times. Their case is notable for a number of reasons: McCollum’s low IQ, said to be in the 60s, puts him at or near the territory for categorical ineligibility due to his intellectual disability....

US v. Williams, 08-2070, concerned a challenge to a conviction of defendant for conspiracy to distribute cocaine. In affirming the conviction, the court held that the circumstances of defendant’s 2005 confession do not show involuntariness, and rejected defendant’s claim that the district court violated Rule 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence in admitting the confession. Court also held that the jury had plenty of reasons to find defendant guilty, and that the evidence presented at trial did not depart from the conduct charged in the indictment....

During his campaign for the presidency, Joe Biden acknowledged that his powers to institute a national mask mandate to slow the spread of the coronavirus would be limited. Only governors have the power to require masks. But he did point out one action that would be within his grasp: A requirement that all passengers using public transportation must be masked. On Jan. 20, he signed an executive order requiring masks on all public transportation, and at midnight on Feb....

Samantar v. Yousuf, No. 08-1555, involved an action by persons who were persecuted by the Somali government during the 1980s, alleging that defendant, who then held high-level government positions in Somalia, exercised command and control over the military forces committing the abuses, knew or should have known of such acts, and aided and abetted in their commission. The Supreme Court affirmed the Fourth Circuit’s reversal of the dismissal of the action, holding that the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) did not govern petitioner’s claim of immunity because there was nothing to suggest that “foreign state” in the FSIA should be read to include an official acting on behalf of that state....

An increasing number of courts throughout the country are shutting down, barring public access and postponing trials. Those that haven’t shuttered completely are generally implementing strict protocols to keep people safe. The United States is keeping track of the various federal court orders on us.courts.gov. A few examples include: In the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, which includes Chicago, proceedings are being postponed, with filing deadlines being extended accordingly....

Gilberto Leyva and Alejandro Reyna were convicted of drug and conspiracy charges after police officers who pulled them over for speeding discovered a large quantity of methamphetamine hidden in their truck’s radiator. Leyva and Reyna claimed on appeal that the conviction should be overturned because the government presented insufficient evidence at trial to suggest they knew of the drugs. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals explained this week why their insufficient evidence theory was almost as ill-considered as their decision to store methamphetamine in a radiator....

The recent Flowers v. Mississippi case is an odd one. The appellant in the case, Curtis Flowers, was charged with a quadruple murder and has been tried six times and convicted four times, with each of those convictions being overturned – the latest one thanks to the recent SCOTUS opinion. In short, in this most recent conviction overturning, the High Court found that the state’s prosecutor improperly relied on race when using his preemptory challenges to remove black individuals from Flowers’s jury....