Cultivated Compendium is my personal website with the occasional link to my reporting and to important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news.
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May 18th, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that police are immune from being sued over the shooting of a mentally ill woman in San Francisco, the Associated Press reports. While the shooting victim Teresa Sheehan said the police should have made reasonable accommodations for her under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the court said that it was not taking up that question because it hadn't been fully considered by the lower courts... Continue Reading
May 18th, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that nonunionized child care providers in Michigan can't form a class with union members to sue over union dues being deducted from their state subsidies, Courthouse News' Lorraine Bailey reports.
Under a collective bargaining agreement, all home child care providers in Michigan who were receiving state subsidies had to become a union member or have a portion of their... Continue Reading
May 18th, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that black employees of a Nucor Corp. steel plant can proceed as a class with their claims that their employer violated the Civil Rights Act with discrimination in job promotions, the Daily Labor Report's Lisa Nagele-Piazza reports.
The Fourth Circuit, 2-1, reversed a lower decision to decertify the class action in which the black steelworkers allege that they faced disparate... Continue Reading
May 17th, 2015
Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a bill limiting the use of drones when anyone has a "reasonable expectation of privacy," the Tampa Bay Times' Michael Auslen reports. The law goes into effect July 1. Continue Reading
May 17th, 2015
During the current session of the U.S. Supreme Court, protesters have interrupted oral arguments multiple times, and they have been arrested for it. The Legal Times' Zoe Tillman reports that some of the protesters are arguing that a prohibiting "a 'harangue or oration' or other 'loud' language at the high court violates the First Amendment." In particular, their lawyer is arguing that the law is... Continue Reading
May 17th, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled earlier this month that British Petroleum has the right to appeal some damage claims awarded in the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill, Reuters' Jonathan Stempel reports.
The circuit court found that the settlement agreement did not resolve claims itself, but established a mechanism for the trial court to resolve claims. As a result, BP can appeal claim determinations by U.S. District... Continue Reading
May 17th, 2015
Even though the Supreme Court is going to issue rulings that could affect health care, capital punishment and same-sex marriage in the next few weeks, Pew Research Center's Meredith Dost reports that polling shows many Americans know very little about the highest court in the country. For example, only one-third knew that there are three women on the court and only 28 percent correctly identified Justice Anthony Kennedy as the swing... Continue Reading
May 15th, 2015
The New York Times' Andrew Jacobs had an unsettling feature on the Chinese criminal justice system, writing that many convictions in China depend on confessions that are obtained through coercion. Even though President Xi Jinping has made legal reform part of his effort to boost support for the Communist Party and China's highest court have ruled against using evidence obtained through abuse, "Chinese lawyers and human rights... Continue Reading
May 11th, 2015
For the first time, the Securities and Exchange Commission has provided guidance on when it chooses in-house judges to preside over securities cases, the Wall Street Journal's Aruna Viswanatha reports. The SEC revealed "it would consider bringing cases before its in-house courts when the alleged misconduct was old or if it presented unsettled legal issues."
The SEC got the ability to bring cases before administrative law... Continue Reading
May 11th, 2015
Robert May, the director of a documentary about the corrupt Pennsylvania judges convicted of wrongdoing regarding juvenile crimes, writes in the Washington Post that children should not be shackled when brought into courtrooms if adults are not. He notes the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently "held that shackling adult defendants in handcuffs, leg irons and belly chains should be limited to the most extreme cases. The court, however, has... Continue Reading
May 10th, 2015
Legislators in Nevada are considering a bill that would regulate drones, including the protection of privacy interests, the Associated Press' Riley Snyder reports. The bill would set "250 feet as the lowest level a drone can fly before trespassing, with some exceptions, and it requires a warrant for certain police observations by a drone on a private home," Snyder reports. The bill passed out of Assembly, but the Senate has not... Continue Reading
May 10th, 2015
The Chicago City Council has voted to make $5.5 million in compensation available to at least 119 people tortured by police officers into giving false confessions, the Chicago Reporter's Adeshina Emmanuel reports. Police officers beat victims, burned them with cigarettes, handcuffed them to hot radiators, tied plastic bags over their heads and came close to suffocating victims, and electrocuted victims in their mouths and on their genitals... Continue Reading
May 10th, 2015
Indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorean Amazon have split with their American lawyer on having their pollution case against Chevron retried in the United States, Courthouse News' Adam Klasfeld reports: "Ecuador's rainforest residents have been defending a multibillion-dollar judgment against Chevron from the oil giant's counteroffensive on three continents that label the verdict an extortionate 'shakedown.'"
The... Continue Reading
May 9th, 2015
Homeowners who think they were shortchanged in the money they received for damage from Superstorm Sandy are going to get another chance to seek reimbursement through the National Flood Insurance Program, the New York Law Journal's Andrew Keshner and the Associated Press report. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has agreed to reexamine about 142,000 claims from policyholders "amid concerns that altered damage reports have caused... Continue Reading
May 9th, 2015
The Federal Aviation Administration and the drone industry are finally starting to see eye to eye, The Washington Post's Matt McFarland reports. For example, the FAA now appears to be committed to testing if drones can be operated safely outside of the line of sight of operators, including by CNN. The cooperation between industry and the FAA is a change from when the governmental agency was highly criticized for missing deadlines for... Continue Reading
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