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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News and Reporting
July 29th, 2014
The Alaska Supreme Court ruled last week that same-sex couples should be entitled to receive death benefits when one partner dies--despite a ban on same-sex marriage in Alaska, Reuters reports.
The Supreme Court also ruled earlier this spring that same-sex couples must be given the same treatment regarding tax exemptions for disabled veterans and senior citizens, Reuters also reports.
July 29th, 2014
Microsoft is fighting a U.S. warrant for data stored overseas in Ireland, Corporate Counsel reports. The outcome of the litigation could have big implications for cloud computing and data privacy.
Microsoft argues that the warrant doesn't extend to data stored on servers located overseas, while the U.S. government said that the pre-cloud computing-era Stored Communications Act gives it access, Corporate Counsel also reports.... Continue Reading
July 28th, 2014
I've been covering an asbestos bankruptcy in which there are major allegations that plaintiffs lawyers misrepresented that their clients were exposed to certain sources of asbestos in the tort system, while indicating something different when seeking payments from opaquely-run trusts formed out of the bankruptcy of companies that made products containing asbestos. Last week, a district court ruled that court proceedings... Continue Reading
July 28th, 2014
The Fourth Circuit has become the second circuit court of appeals to uphold a state ban on same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. The Tenth Circuit already ruled that Utah's ban and Oklahoma's bans are unconsitutional, and now the Fourth Circuit has ruled the same for Virginia's ban. The Fourth Circuit, 2-1, ruled today that "'denying same-sex couples this choice prohibits them from participating fully in our society... Continue Reading
July 26th, 2014
There has been a flurry of legal activity eroding Colorado's ban on same-sex marriage. Most recently, a federal judge rejected Colorado Attorney General John Suthers' request to halt proceedings after the judge's decision declaring Colorado's ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the Denver Post reports. Both state and federal judges have declared the ban unconstitutional, and "some attorneys and advocates... Continue Reading
July 24th, 2014
Politico reports that President Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order to develop privacy guidelines for commercial drones. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration would be put in charge of developing the guidelines.
The Federal Aviation Administration faces criticism for lagging in developing regulations about integrating commercial drones into U.S. airspace There is a September 2015 deadline for... Continue Reading
July 24th, 2014
At the conclusion of a judicial corruption trial, four Philadelphia Traffic Court judges were found guilty of perjury and giving false statements, but they were found not guilty of other charges, The Legal Intelligencer's P.J. D'Annunzio reports. All of the defendants were found not guilty of the wire and mail fraud, aiding and abetting, and conspiracy charges.
Continue Reading
July 23rd, 2014
Shawn DuBravac, chief economist of the Consumer Electronics Association, posits in Techdirt that the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings that warrants are needed before police may search criminal suspects' cellphones has struck the first blow to protect digital privacy in the era of the Internet of Things, or physical objects being connected to the Internet like smart thermostats, coffee pots and refrigerators: the decision "comes... Continue Reading
July 23rd, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court is being criticized for not doing enough to open public access to court proceedings by a coalition formed to increase transparency in the judiciary, Legal Times' Tony Mauro reports: "'There remains much to be done to bring the institution in line with our expectations of openness from our nation’s top legal officials,' according to an end-of-term report issued by the Coalition for... Continue Reading
July 22nd, 2014
Congressional leaders blasted the lack of interoperability between different vendors' electronic health records systems, Politico reports. The harshest criticism came from "Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.), who charged that Verona, Wis.-based Epic Systems, the leading EHR company, was operating 'closed platforms' that did not allow information to easily flow into and out of its electronic health records systems," Politico... Continue Reading
July 22nd, 2014
Just hours after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit threw out the federal tax regulation that implements the Obamacare subsidies available to people with annual incomes of up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level, the Fourth Circuit has upheld them, the National Law Journal's Marcia Coyle reports: "In King v. Burwell, the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rejected... Continue Reading
July 22nd, 2014
A major blow has been delivered today to Obamacare, Reuters reports: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit accepted one of the main legal challenges to the policy by conservatives opposed to an expansion of the federal government" and threw out the federal tax regulation that implements Obamacare subsidies available to people with annual incomes of up to 400 percent of the federal poverty level. Continue Reading
July 21st, 2014
The Tenth Circuit has once again acted to strike down a state ban on same-sex marriage. The same panel of judges, 2-1, that voted to strike down Utah's ban on same-sex marriage voted to strike down Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriage, USA Today's Richard Wolf reports. The dissenting judge, Judge Paul Kelly, is the first federal judge to oppose same-sex marriage in any case, USA Today reports. Continue Reading
July 21st, 2014
Navi Pillay, the United Nations' High Commissioner for Human Rights, argues in a draft report that digital privacy is a human right, the Washington Post reports. Wide-ranging surveillance by the National Security Agency and the United Kingdom's General Communications Headquarters undermine that right, Pillay argues. Pillay's draft report argues "'the best remedy of all is to establish strong legal protections to ensure... Continue Reading
July 20th, 2014
A federal court has dismissed a Texas search-and-rescue group's challenge to the Federal Aviation Adminstration's drone policy, the Wall Street Journal reports. The D.C. Circuit ruled that informal emails from regulators, expressing a view of what the law requires, aren't subject to judicial review. Continue Reading
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