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Wage discrimination claims have specific standards. In order to bring a proper claim of wage discrimination, those standards must be met. In a recent Eighth Circuit case, a professor at St. Cloud State University failed to meet these standards when he alleged that race played a factor in his low salary. Here’s a deeper look at the case and why he lost his wage discrimination argument. The plaintiff was hired at the University and eventually became tenured, in 2006....

The Tenth Circuit decided one criminal sentencing matter and one concerning the Railway Labor Act. In US v. Gonzalez, No. 09-6069, the court of appeals affirmed the denial of defendant’s motion to vacate, set aside, or correct his drug distribution sentence, holding that 1) the testimony excerpts presented by defendant, considered either alone or collectively, were far from sufficient to have allowed the jury to find that defendant withdrew from the charged conspiracy; 2) defendant failed to establish that his counsel’s rejection of the district court’s proffered withdrawal instruction deprived him of his constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel; and 3) reasonable jurists could not debate whether defendant had a due process right to be present during an in-chambers conference....

Following two days of deliberations, a federal jury in Brooklyn found the Jordan-based Arab Bank liable for a series of suicide bombings in Israel and Palestine in the early 2000s. Witnesses testified that not only did Hamas and other alleged terrorist organizations, like the Saudi Committee for the support of the Intifada al-Quds, use Arab Bank to transfer money to the families of suicide bombers, but Arab Bank knew that this was going on....

The federal Borrower Defense to Repayment program has become a financial lifeline to many student borrowers, particularly as for-profit schools proliferated during the 2000s and 2010s. This glut of for-profit schools left hundreds of thousands of students with a subpar or incomplete education and tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. The program permits borrowers who were defrauded by their schools (such as ITT Tech) to have their federal student loans forgiven....

In a First Amendment case against the city of Pittsburgh challenging the constitutionality of an ordinance establishing two types of zones limiting speech around health care facilities, district court’s judgment is affirmed in part, reversed in part, vacated in part, dismissed in part, and remanded where: 1) district court’s denial of preliminary injunctive relief with respect to plaintiff’s facial challenge is reversed; 2) the combination of the ordinance’s “buffer” and “bubble” zones is invalid but either zone, individually, is valid on its face; 3) district court’s denial of preliminary injunctive relief with respect to plaintiff’s claim of selective enforcement is affirmed but vacated with respect to her claim that the ordinance is unconstitutional as applied to particular clinic locations; and 4) plaintiff’s appeal from the district court’s order partially dismissing her complaint is dismissed....

Ask any attorney, and they will likely agree that, yes, telemarketers are the worst. And the worst kind are the ones that use robodialers. It’s like they don’t even personally care that someone might be locked into a three-hour binge of “Cake Boss.” Fortunately, if you’ve had enough of robocalling, there’s a good chance that you might actually be able to take legal action. This is especially true after you’ve asked for the calls to stop or signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry....

In Real v. Shannon, No. 07-4532, the Third Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s denial of defendant’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. As stated in the decision: “The information stated that B.B.’s rape occurred “on or about December 1996.” “Where ‘on or about’ language is used, the government is not required to prove the exact dates, if a date reasonably near is established.” U.S. v. Nersesian, 824 F....

Hertz Corp. v. Friend, No. 08-1107, involved a wage and hour action in which a court of appeals affirmed the district court’s order remanding the case to state court. As the Court wrote: “The federal diversity jurisdiction statute provides that"a corporation shall be deemed to be a citizen of any State by which it has been incorporated and of the State where it has its principal place of business.” 28 U....

In Phillips v. Bradshaw, No. 06-4418, the Sixth Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s denial of defendant’s petition for habeas relief arising from a conviction for rape and aggravated murder and a death sentence, alleging, inter alia, claims of ineffective assistance of counsel and sufficiency of the evience to support his convictions. In affirming the conviction and the sentence, the court first held that the defendant did not meet his burden of demonstrating a reasonable probability that, but for the alleged error of omitting certain mitigating evidence, he would not have been sentenced to death, and he also failed to show that the state court’s decision was contrary to or an unreasonable application of Strickland under the modified-AEDPA standard....

Unless you have been spelunking for the past few months, you know that there is something pretty major going on in Utah right now. A federal district court invalidated the state’s ban on gay marriage and refused to stay the decision until the Tenth Circuit could hear the case. The Circuit Court also denied a stay, leading to an estimated 1,000 gay marriages being performed in the state before the U....

We suspect that a number of drug offenders thought the Supreme Court’s Dorsey v. U.S. ruling would be a get-out-of-jail free card. It’s not. Dorsey addresses only the applicability of the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA) to those defendants who were convicted of crack cocaine offenses prior to the FSA’s effective date — August 3, 2010 — but sentenced after that date. As the Third Circuit Court of Appeals points out, it does not extend the FSA to defendants who were both convicted and sentenced prior to the effective date of the FSA....

Comite de Jornaleros de Redondo Beach v. City of Redondo Beach, No. 06-55750, concerned a First Amendment challenge to Redondo Beach Municipal Code section 3-7.1601, which prohibits the act of standing on a street or highway and soliciting employment, business, or contributions from the occupants of an automobile. The court of appeals reversed the district court’s preliminary injunction in favor of plaintiffs, holding that the ordinance was a valid time, place, or manner restriction....

Though still subject to the whims of certiorari, it looks like the Hobby Lobby contraception case will finally be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, reports SCOTUSblog. For those who haven’t followed the dozens of religious challenges the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) contraception mandate, Hobby Lobby has been one of the most vocal and litigious opponents to providing forms of birth control that conflict with the company’s owners’ religious beliefs. Due to the penalty provisions provided by the ACA, the craft store chain, faced over $1 million in fines per day had they chosen to deny their employees benefits that covered all FDA approved birth control methods, including the most controversial form of all: the morning after pill....

Antitrust litigation charging defendants with conspiring to fix prices of text messaging services In re: Text Messaging Antitrust Litig., 10-8037, concerned defendants’ interlocutory appeal challenging the district court’s grant of plaintiffs’ motion to file a second amended complaint in their class action suit claiming that defendants conspired to fix prices of text messaging services in violation of federal antitrust law. In affirming the ruling, the court held that the district judge was right to rule that the second amended complaint provides a sufficiently plausible case of price fixing to warrant allowing the plaintiffs to proceed to discovery....

As law firms continue to announce pay cuts, furloughs and layoffs, demand continues to rise for certain legal services – but only for some. So, what are law firms and corporate counsel doing to meet increased demand for niche areas while keeping an eye on costs? Like other businesses, they are turning to contractors. Corporate Counsel Looking for Flexibility The increased contracting of legal work is particularly pronounced in corporate law departments....

In a class action for unpaid wages, the district court’s denial of the parties’ motion to certify a class for settlement purposes is vacated where: 1) the voluntary dismissal by a class representative of his personal claims in a putative class action lawsuit did not render moot his appeal of the denial of class certification; and 2) the district court erred in denying class certification without providing any findings or providing any analysis of the Fed....

In an action for breach of fiduciary duties, copyright infringement and other claims, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) the court properly denied of plaintiff’s motion for a new trial on its breach of fiduciary duties and misappropriation of trade secrets claims as the jury could have concluded that defendants’ conduct did not proximately cause plaintiff to lose the customers’ business; 2) the court did not erroneously deny plaintiff’s motion for a new trial on the conspiracy claim as there was sufficient evidence to support the jury findings that accounting defendants and banking defendants did not conspire with the former employees; 3) jury instructions on the conspiracy claim were not erroneous; 4) the court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff’s motion for a new trial on its aiding and abetting claims as the evidence was sufficient for the jury to conclude the defendants did not know the employees’ conduct was improper; 5) the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff’s unjust enrichment claim; and 6) the court did not err dismissing defendant’s counterclaim that he was improperly denied a bonus....

Not quite sure why we still get surprised, but sometimes we read about things people do to each other and it really boggles the mind. Just how exactly does a person come up with the idea to spray a combination of feces, vinegar and some type of machine oil on another person? We have no clue how such an awful idea comes to fruition, but we do know that the Second Circuit Court of Appeals considers it cruel and unusual punishment....

The Supreme Court has refused to grant an emergency stay to a Kentucky county clerk who refused to wed gay couples. This June, the Supreme Court recognized marriage as a fundamental right that cannot be denied to same-sex couples. The Court’s refusal to grant a stay, issued in a one-sentence order this Monday, meant that Kim Davis, the elected county clerk in rural Rowan County, Kentucky, would be required to issue licenses this Tuesday despite her religious objections....

How long can the status quo hold? In the face of a new wave of death penalty problems and legal challenges, the Supreme Court refused to intervene, leaving three cases, involving drugs used in executions, the standard for mental retardation, and judicial overriding of jury sentencing, in place. Though the court didn’t hear these cases, these three issues seem particularly capable of repetition: This may be the be the issue that will end the death penalty....