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FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. We keep hearing about how teenagers have gone inward. They spend more and more time staring into their televisions, computers and handheld devices. Indeed, they can be online practically anywhere, anytime. We have been told that the failure of teens to engage as much in the real world around them is having negative affects, with increasing rates of depression and anxiety, as well as heightened risks of self harm and harm inflicted on others....

There’s good news for the Good News Club at Jenny Lind Elementary School in Minneapolis this week. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that a Minneapolis school district likely engaged in impermissible viewpoint discrimination when it barred a religious club for elementary students from an after-school program open to other community groups, Education Week’s School Law Blog reports. The Child Evangelism Fellowship of Minnesota (CEF) is a chapter of an international non-profit organization that conducts weekly “good news clubs” (GNC) for children ages 5 through 12....

Have you tried to get your auto-insurance to foot the bill for damages arising from an incident that happened before you bought their policy? Sounds ridiculous, right? Well that’s essentially what Urban Outfitters tried doing. The Third Circuit ruled that Urban Outfitters can’t crash into someone’s mailbox, then buy insurance and have the insurance pay for the mailbox. Hanover Insurance will not be indemnifying Urban Outfitters’ trademark violations of the Navajo Nation’s trademark on goods that evoke the Navajo, or alleged market confusion....

As a handcuffed George Floyd gasped for his life while being pressed to the pavement under the knee of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, bystanders begged for mercy. Hundreds of millions of people have seen that video, shot by a bystander, and have heard the concerned and angry voices of those first-hand witnesses who are part of its audio. “Get off of him now!” “What is wrong with y’all?” “What the f—-!...

Finding a missing person can take a while. Procedural delays in investigations can cost precious minutes, hours, and days, making it more difficult as time goes on. As police and searchers hit roadblocks, many wonder if there’s a way to provide them with crucial evidence early in the process. After a recent uptick in interest in “true crime” podcasts and documentaries, more and more people are creating “If I Go Missing” packets....

Usually one of the quieter circuits, the Tenth Circuit is now giving legal professionals something to talk about. With cases percolating, and being argued before the Tenth Circuit (with almost-certain cert petitions following soon), three big issues have come to the forefront in the circuit home to states across the ideological board – Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming. Here’s what you need to know about the big three issues to watch in the Tenth Circuit....

This post was updated on November 4, 2022. On the day after Thanksgiving, nearly 155 million Americans will descend upon their local retail stores searching for the best bargains of the holiday season. It’s the busiest shopping day of the year! For many, Black Friday can be exhilarating. Some love negotiating their way through the large crowds in search of steep markdowns. But for others, the yearly spectacle can be downright dangerous....

It’s been a long and historical term for the Supreme Court. The High Court has issued momentous rulings upholding Obamacare, recognizing a constitutional right to marriage equality, expanding anti-discrimination law, and knocking down environmental regulations. Oh, and it ruled that fish weren’t tangible objects, at least not the kind that the corporate-focused Sarbanes-Oxley Act had in mind when prohibiting evidence destruction. As always, many important rulings didn’t make major headlines. Here are three cases that deserve more attention than they got, both for their immediate impact and what they might tell us about future decisions....

Witness tampering? That’s old and busted, run-of-the-mill, hardly worthy of news. How about when the person doing the tampering is a police officer? Yeah, suddenly you’re interested. Christopher Eaton, the (former, at this point) sheriff of Barren County, Kentucky, was convicted of witness tampering for ordering officers under his command to make false statements in an FBI investigation into excessive use of force on a suspect named Billy Stinnett. Stinnett was arrested following an hour-long car chase....

The Apple App Store has been accused of being a monopoly, and the U.S. Supreme Court just agreed with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, that the case should move forward against Apple. The claim boils down to consumers being charged more for purchased apps because Apple takes a 30 percent commission on every sale, there being no readily available alternative for apps for Apple devices. App Appeal The SCOTUS opinion explains that Apple’s defense that the plaintiffs cannot bring the lawsuit was correctly denied by the Ninth Circuit....

For lawyers and legal professionals, finding good podcasts that are more than just entertainment can often be a struggle. It’s impossible to shut off that automatic cringe when lay-folk get the law so horribly wrong. And it can often be quite the let-down when a show doesn’t provide any useful information about a legal topic you’re actually interested in. Fortunately, we here at FindLaw have created this handy list of some of the best podcasts for lawyers that promise to do more than simply entertain....

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld a ban on the after-hours use of public school property for worship. As we discussed in a previous blog post, a group by the name of Bronx Household wanted to use the school for Sunday worship services and were denied such use based on a 2007 policy of the school board. This policy, while allowing the use of school property for “nonexclusive” use “open to the general public” also states that “no permit shall be granted for the purpose of holding religious worship services, or otherwise using a school as a house of worship....

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” The ivy league-SCOTUS connection Kagan and “Harvale” Law How does this affect your chances of becoming a SCOTUS justice? Related Resources: The Harvard-Yalification Of The Supreme Court (NPR) What do you think? Share your opinion on LawBrain (LawBrain: Elena Kagan) Yale, Harvard Law Taking Over Supreme Court (New York Times) 5 Commencement Speeches by Famous Lawyers in 2010 (VIDEO) (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates) 51 Reasons People Are Still Going to Law School (FindLaw’s Greedy Associates) 60 Famous J....

In plaintiff’s ERISA case, district court’s judgment on the administrative record approving defendant’s discontinuance of plaintiff’s long-term disability benefits is affirmed as, taking the record as a whole and applying the highly deferential arbitrary and capricious standard, defendant’s decision appears to have been based on a principled and deliberative reasoning process. Read Cox v. Standard Ins. Co., No. 08-2033 Appellate Information Argued: October 8, 2009 Decided and Filed: October 29, 2009...

We’re a long way from November 2020. But the Democratic debates and campaigning have already begun, so naturally people have one eye on the issues and another on the polls. And we mean actual voters voting, not just how candidates will fare at the polls. Under the guise of cracking down on voter fraud, states have been making significant changes to voter registration requirements and identification needed to cast votes. Does that mean you have to make a trip to the DMV if you want to head to the polls on election day?...

In Garcia v. Holder, No. 07-71182, a petition for review of the BIA’s order denying petitioners’ motion to reopen their removal proceedings, the court granted the petition in part where the BIA erred by failing to exercise its discretion to consider or decline to consider petitioners’ supplemental brief and the attached exhibit relating to a new medical condition allegedly incurred by mother. However, the court denied the petition in part where the BIA did not abuse its discretion in concluding that petitioners’ daughter’s new medical condition did not warrant reopening....

In an adversary proceeding brought by the trustee of a corporation and the subsidiaries it had acquired in related leveraged buy-outs, seeking to recover payments the shareholders of the acquired corporations had received for their shares on the grounds that the payments to them had been fraudulent transfers avoidable under Delaware law and the Bankruptcy Code, grant of shareholders’ motion to dismiss is affirmed as, in accordance with prior case law, the payments were exempt settlement payments under section 546(e)....

District Lodge 26 v. United Techs. Corp., No. 10-0702, involved an action claiming that defendant’s announced plans to close two facilities in Connecticut and move the work performed at those facilities outside the State violated the collective bargaining agreement between the company and the plaintiff union. The court of appeals affirmed a permanent injunction in favor of plaintiffs, on the grounds that 1) the district court did not err in finding that defendant’s actions did not constitute “every reasonable effort” to preserve work within the bargaining unit; and 2) the district court did not err in finding that the Closure Plan violated defendant’s implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing....

Steven Kimble must’ve been quite the Spider-Man fan. In 1990, he invented a toy that mimicked the superhero’s ability to shoot spider-webs from his wrists, by attaching a can of foam string to a string, which could be pulled by the user’s hand. (See below). He first patented the idea, then presented it to Marvel, which promised to provide royalties if they decided to go through with the idea. They did, and they didn’t....

If we’ve learned anything from Regina George or Draco Malfoy, it’s that no one likes a bully. It’s commonly understood that bullying is bad. But behaviors that define bullying are constantly changing, which makes it difficult to know for certain when bullying occurs. So what exactly is considered bullying? And is it against the law, or is it just something you get in trouble for at school? What about cyberbullying or other activities that take place off-campus?...