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The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned the federal Department of Transportation’s decision to suspend the increase of the fine amount for automakers that are found to be out of compliance with CAFE standards. Under the Corporate Average Fuel Economy program, automakers are required to meet certain average fuel economy numbers, and if they don’t they must pay a fine of $55 per mpg per car the automaker missed the requirement on....

Provider Reimbursement Review Board Order Affirmed In Beacon Healthcare Servs., Inc. v. Leavitt, No. 09-56246, a healthcare provider’s appeal from the district court’s judgment affirming the Provider Reimbursement Review Board’s (PRRB) determination that it did not have jurisdiction to hear plaintiff’s appeal of a fiscal intermediary’s decision, and concluding on the merits that the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Secretary) was not required by law to adjust plaintiff’s target Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) costs and dismissing plaintiff’s remaining claims, the court affirmed where 1) because plaintiff did not experience an increase in operating costs beyond the TEFRA ceiling, the district court correctly determined that plaintiff was not eligible for a TEFRA target cost adjustment under 42 U....

Strip-searches usually get more attention when they are particularly vile. Strip-search a four-year-old, and it makes all the papers. The courts, too, will do their part and publish a case like Doe v. Woodward. A case like Campbell v. Mack, not so much. A police officer rectally examined a man without probable cause, and the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said it was not for “full-text publication.”. Not Published Generally, courts will publish opinions that establish a new rule of law, discuss an issue of continuing public interest, or qualify for publication under other standards....

The Supreme Court released three opinions today, one day before the end of the term. Following last week’s headline-grabbing opinions on marriage and healthcare, the Court continued making news, issuing rulings on the Clean Air Act, electoral redistricting and, chief among the opinions, the lethal injection. In the lethal injection case, Glossip v. Gross, the Court upheld the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s lethal injection program. Death row prisoners had challenged the state’s lethal injection cocktail, saying it failed to numb the pain of the lethal injection drugs, leading to a horrific death that would feel like being burnt alive....

In a drug prosecution, a denial of petitioner’s habeas petition is reversed where the Bureau of Prisons failed to provide a rational explanation for its regulations categorically excluding prisoners with certain prior convictions from early release eligibility. Read Crickon v. Thomas, No. 08-35250 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted February 2, 2009 Filed August 25, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Rawlinson Counsel For Petitioner: Stephan R. Sady, Chief Deputy Federal Public Defender, Portland, OR...

Spoerle v. Kraft Foods Global, Inc., 09-2691, concerned an employees’ action against Kraft Foods, challenging a tradeoff agreement struck in collective bargaining agreement between union and management that the time spent donning and doffing safety gear is not compensable. In affirming district court’s rejection of defendant’s argument that section 203(o) preempts Wisconsin’s law and entry of judgment in plaintiffs’ favor as a matter of Wisconsin law rather than federal law, the court held that the district court did not err in concluding that plaintiffs are entitled to be paid for all time required by Wisconsin law....

In US v. Howard, No. 08-4748, the Third Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s sentence of a defendant as a career offender under U.S.S.G. section 4B1.1. The defendant argued that the district court erred in relying on uncertified documents in concluding that his two previous drug convictions were felonies. However, in upholding the decision, the court held that for sentencing purposes, the district court was correct to refer to uncertified documents to establish prior convictions....

US v. Rodgers, 09-3364, concerned a challenge to the district court’s imposition of a 78-month sentence in a conviction of defendant for possession of child pornography. In affirming the sentence, the court held that, now that the guidelines are advisory, a district court may vary from the guidelines when it concludes that they do not reflect “empirical data and national experience.” The court rejected defendant’s claim that the sentencing enhancement for sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence impermissibly double counts conduct already taken into account by the base offense level for possessing child pornography, as the application of section 2G2....

Quick primer on disputing a debt under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act: Debt collector sends a notice containing the familiar admonition that “this is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information collected will be used for that purpose.” It also tells the debtor that if they believe the debt to be invalid, they must dispute the debt within thirty days. If they do so, the debt collector is required to “verify” the debt before continuing collection efforts....

As if lawyers needed another reminder to be mindful of what they say on social media, a (former) lawyer for the Florida Department of Corrections appears to have been forced to resign over a Facebook post that made some rather racially divisive statements. While free speech is certainly a hallmark of our nation, and something that lawyers don’t just give up by virtue of being a lawyer, the First Amendment is not a shield for stupidity....

In an action for disability benefits under ERISA, summary judgment for defendant-insurer is affirmed where: 1) the application of Utah Admin. Code section 590-218 to the benefits plan was expressly preempted by ERISA; 2) defendant’s benefit-denial letter could not have violated 29 C.F.R. section 2560.503-1(g) because that provision applied only to denials of benefits, not denials of appeals; and 3) defendant did not deny plaintiff a full and fair review....

Back in the day – and by “in the day,” we mean 2006 – the lure of law school was that most-coveted of starting salaries: $160K. Those were the days when summer associates returned as 3Ls with offers. Those were the days when firms still hired summer associates. Those were the days when law school seemed like a good bet. Those days are no more. Now, we’re living in the days of alternative legal careers....

Craft stores are cool because they’re not cool. It’s all a part of the hipster obsession that we’re supposed to be embracing or rejecting, depending upon whom you ask. Crafting is a connection to the past: A time when you needed a scrapbook to catalog your life because it wasn’t documented in excruciating detail on Facebook. A time when people cross-stitched “Home Sweet Home” instead of the best after-school special lines from Saved by the Bell....

If Tuesday’s oral arguments before a Ninth Circuit panel are any indication, California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard is in trouble. The standard relies on a “carbon intensity score,” which measures pollution from a fuel’s entire life cycle — such as the type of electricity used to produce it, or the fuel used to transport it to California — not just when it is burned in a vehicle, reports The Associated Press....

When you think of an all-terrain vehicle, or ATV, you probably think of it as a buggy designed for rugged off-road use. If you do, you are right. Increasingly, however, ATVs and similar vehicles are popping up on roadways that are traversed by cars and pickups. And the result, as you may expect, has been occasional conflict – and many questions about where ATVs can legally be driven. So where can they be driven?...

Law school applications and enrollment took a nosedive with the 2008 crash and fell for a decade after. That trend has officially reversed, with the last two years seeing a spike in applications. Law schools have thus been able to be more selective about their incoming classes. According to Spivey Consulting, a firm that helps law schools with their admissions processes, the median LSAT score at many law schools increased for the class matriculating this fall....

From covering up data breaches to data mining, big tech companies are no strangers to negative press. This is especially true with how easy it is to access people’s information when they use apps or the internet to use these companies’ products. The most recent company to be accused of improperly using their customer’s data is Apple. More specifically, customers have filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Apple sold their information on iTunes to third parties....

In US v. Caracappa, No. 09-1177, the Second Circuit affimed defendants’ racketeering and drug conspiracy convictions on the grounds that 1) there was no error in the district court’s determination that defendants had suggested that a witness had fabricated his testimony in order to get out of prison; 2) a witness’s alleged improper vouching for another government witness was an isolated incident that did not amount to plain error; and 3) the government’s cross-examination of a defense witness was within the scope of direct examination....

Joe Elliott, a Dupont Elementary School teacher for almost 20 years, had a reputation for being “too rigid,” “sarcastic,” and “moody.” The Indiana school let him go him for his “negative effect on education,” but officials had seen nothing yet. Elliott had tenure, and so he sued in Elliott v. Board of School Trustees of Madison Consolidated Schools. After a ruling by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, it looks like good news for tenured teachers and bad news for Indiana schools trying to shed them....

We typically don’t cover the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ unpublished opinions, but every once in a while there’s a sleeper case that suddenly springs to our attention. (Brief thanks to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.) In 2008, Lorenzo Oliver’s 12-year-old son, C.B., hit an opossum on the head with a shovel after it (allegedly) attacked the Oliver family’s bulldogs. Both Oliver and his son were arrested on animal cruelty charges, though they were never charged....