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 9th, 2015
The Arkansas Supreme Court has ruled that the current lineup of justices should decide whether to legalize same-sex marriage, according to the Associated Press. The court said that Special Justice Robert McCorkindale, a gubernatorial appointee who heard oral arguments, should not decide the case. Instead, the court ruled that, under the state constitution, that Justice Rhonda Wood, who took office in January after... Continue Reading
May 8th, 2015
After an appellate court ruled that cities can't charge more for water than the cost of providing it, California water districts have been left scrambling on how to curb heavy water usage during a time of drought, the Los Angeles Times' Matt Stevens reports: "Now, agencies must prove that the high water rates for heavy users are not meant as punishment but actually reflect the cost of delivering the extra water."
The... Continue Reading
May 8th, 2015
There was an interesting bioethics ruling in Canada last month at the crossroads of traditional medicine and modern medicine. A young aboriginal girl has leukemia, and a Canadian judge ruled that her mother has a constitutional right to seek indigenous medicine, rather than chemotherapy, to treat her daughter, the Toronto Star's Jacques Gallant reports. The judge later clarified his ruling, writing that "'recognition and... Continue Reading
May 8th, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Thursday that the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' phone records is illegal, The New York Times' Charlie Savage and Jonathan Weisman reports. The panel ruled that the Patriot Act can't be interpreted to allow the bulk collection of domestic call metadata, but noted that Congress could choose to authorize "'such a far-reaching and... Continue Reading
May 3rd, 2015
Alabama lawmakers have passed a bill to shield brand-name drug companies and medical-device manufacturers from liability for generic versions of their products, Reuters' Brendan Pierson reports. Last year, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that drugmakers and device makers could face liability for innovating a product that harmed patients who take generic versions of their drugs.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley is expected to sign the... Continue Reading
May 3rd, 2015
Half of the 17 state-run insurance exchanges set up under President Barack Obama's health law are struggling financially, The Washington Post's Lena H. Sun and Niraj Chokshi report. The exchanges are facing financial distress because of "surging costs, especially for balky technology and expensive customer call centers — and tepid enrollment numbers." Federal funding for state-run exchanges has ended and exchanges now... Continue Reading
May 3rd, 2015
California charities must disclose the names of their major contributors, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled last week. The Los Angeles Times' Maura Dolan reports that the Center for Competitive Politics lost the argument that its First Amendment right to the freedom of association is violated by the reporting requirement.
California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris ordered nonprofits to disclose donors who... Continue Reading
May 2nd, 2015
The federal government is liable for some of the flooding damage from Hurricane Katrina because of failures in the hurricane protection system, the New York Times' John Schwartz reports. U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Susan G. Braden found that a canal built by the Army Corps of Engineers led to flooding in the New Orleans area, and that private plaintiffs and the St. Bernard Parish government can recover under the takings clause of... Continue Reading
May 1st, 2015
The Association of Corporate Counsel is arguing in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that nonprofit in-house lawyers should not be allowed to blow the whistle to the state attorney general about the misuse of funds, Corporate Counsel's Sue Reisinger reports. The Supreme Court, in a case titled Redacted v. Redacted, is going to decide if in-house counsel may disclose information about wrongly diverted funds to the attorney general's office... Continue Reading
May 1st, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals of the Seventh Circuit has ruled that Wisconsin must criminalize video poker before it can ban an American Indian tribe from engaging in it, the Associated Press reports. As a result, the Ho-Chunk Nation can offer video poker at its Madison casino because video poker is only a civil offense when establishments that serve alcohol possess them.
May 1st, 2015
Banks may be running out of time to get their money back in New York foreclosure cases because some cases could become time-barred by a six-year statute of limitations, The New York Law Journal's Andrew Keshner reports. One Long Island judge ruled that the statute of limitations starts when the entire mortgage balance was declared due in full but a bank failed to file its second mortgage complaint within six years.
Elizabeth Lynch... Continue Reading
April 30th, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, Wednesday that states can bar judicial candidates from personally asking for campaign contributions, The Associated Press' Mark Sherman and Sam Hananel report. Chief Justice John Roberts, along with the four liberal members of the court, opined that '"judges are not politicians, even when they come to the bench by way of the ballot. A state may assure its people that judges will... Continue Reading
April 29th, 2015
It is unclear who will pay the fees for the attorneys who have been negotiating settlements of Superstorm Sandy insurance cases, The New York Law Journal's Andrew Keshner reports. The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency say that they are not statutorily authorized to pay legal fees to plaintiffs' lawyers. But insurance carriers don't want to pay the fees out of concern that they could... Continue Reading
April 29th, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on whether a drug used in Oklahoma's lethal-injection executions violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, Christian Science Monitor's Warren Richey reports. At issue is whether midazolam, the first drug used in a three-drug cocktail, is "reliably effective in preventing condemned prisoners from suffering an intolerable level of pain during the... Continue Reading
April 28th, 2015
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has reinstated the conviction of the first Catholic Church official to be convicted criminally for the sexual abuse of children for whose welfare he was responsible for but who he did not directly abuse, The Legal Intelligencer's Gina Passarella and Lizzy McLellan report.
The intermediate appellate court found that Monsignor William Lynn could not have been convicted for endangering the welfare of children... Continue Reading
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