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
April 17th, 2014
Government-funded scientists are connecting "terabytes of patient medical records" at 11 sites across the country, The Washington Post reports. The result would be possibly the largest repository of medical information in the country, containing the medical information of 26 million to 30 million Americans. The new repository also raises privacy and propietary concerns, presenting "tricky ethical questions about who owns and... Continue Reading
April 16th, 2014
A federal judge ruled that a Massachusetts state ban on the sale of prescription painkiller Zohydro violates federal law, Reuters reports. Governor Deval Patrick had banned the drug when declaring a public health emergency about the abuse of opoids in his state. But Judge Rya Zobel ruled that the ban interferes with the Food and Drug Administration's "constitutionally mandated" regulatory authority, Reuters also... Continue Reading
April 16th, 2014
Law professor Geoffrey R. Stone, writing in the Daily Beast, said having an evidentiary privilege for journalists' sources is key to democracy. The point of the privilege is that confidential sources will be incentivized to reveal information to reporters without fear of retaliation and exposure, Stone says. It's good for democracy "to gain access to information that otherwise might never see the light of day" because... Continue Reading
April 16th, 2014
The Columbus Dispatch reports on the latest victory for same-sex marriage: Ohio now must recognize other state's same-sex marriages. "A federal judge’s ruling that Ohio must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states is expected to open the door to a variety of issues, including bereavement leave, health-care decisions, taxes and survivor benefits," the Dispatch further reports. Ohio's statewide ban... Continue Reading
April 16th, 2014
Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the copyright dispute between broadcast TV companies and Aereo, an Internet startup that streams broadcast programming online. Broadcasters have a Plan B if Aereo wins, The Wall Street Journal reports: "Plan B options under consideration range from lobbying Congress for a legislative solution to perhaps thwarting Aereo by shifting to cable transmission from broadcast. The most radical of... Continue Reading
April 15th, 2014
The Indian Supreme Court has recognized transgendered people as a third gender, The Times of India reports: "In a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Tuesday created the 'third gender' status for hijras or transgenders. Earlier, they were forced to write male or female against their gender." That means transgendered people in India can have protection from discrimination at work and in school. However, the court... Continue Reading
April 15th, 2014
The Onondaga Nation, one of the Haudenosaunee tribes in New York state, is taking its land claim to the Organization of American States, alleging that the loss of 2.5 million acres of their land violated their human rights, the Syracuse Post-Standard reports. The Nation's land claim was dismissed in American courts and now will be filed in the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Continue Reading
April 15th, 2014
Premiums for health insurance sold on the Obamacare's exchanges are going to be lower than expected, the Congressional Budget Office projects, according to the Wall Street Journal. The federal government is expected to spend $165 billion less than projected on subsidizing health-insurance plans, the WSJ further reports. Continue Reading
April 15th, 2014
Information technology is changing health care. Federal regulators are looking to draft rules to protect patient safety in this new landscape.
The Food and Drug Administration is trying to draw up a framework for the FDA, the Federal Communications Commission and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to regulate information technology related to medical devices, electronic health records, and other... Continue Reading
April 15th, 2014
The Connecticut Supreme Court is considering an issue of first impression: does public policy prohibit exculpatory clauses in deposit agreements between banks and customers? I wrote about the case for the Connecticut Law Tribune:
Nine years ago, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that a ski resort couldn't limit its liability through contractual clauses. Now the court has to decide if the banking industry can be permitted to do what... Continue Reading
April 14th, 2014
Three judges are going to be added temporarily to the Philadelphia family court in order to address a severe backlog in custody cases, The Legal Intelligencer's P.J. D'Annunzio reports. Frank Cervone, executive director of the Support Center for Child Advocates in Philadelphia, told The Legal that the current state of affairs in custody cases is "upsetting" and said the court should add more judges. "The... Continue Reading
April 14th, 2014
I'm writing several times a day about products liability for Law.com/The National Law Journal. Occasionally I cross-post a blog I find particularly interesting.
One plaintiff's lawsuit in Louisiana federal court over allegations that diabetes drug Actos increases the risk of bladder cancer resulted in a $9 billion verdict. What might a jury do in a case consolidating claims by two plaintiffs?
Takeda Pharmaceuticals America... Continue Reading
April 14th, 2014
U.S. District Judge Timothy Black ordered Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, calling the ban "arbitrary discrimination," WKSU Public Radio reports. The order is a global one in comparison to an order in Indiana from late last week that allowed for recognition of an out-of-state same-sex marriage because one spouse has stage 4 ovarian cancer. Continue Reading
April 14th, 2014
A federal judge has ordered Indiana to recognize the out-of-state marriage of a same-sex couple because one of the women has stage 4 ovarian cancer, the Associated Press reports. The court issued a temporary restraining order specific to just that couple. One of the couple's concerns is being able to access the safety net "available to a surviving spouse and the children of the person who has died," the AP reports. Continue Reading
April 13th, 2014
Alabama blogger Roger Shuler was released last month after he spent five months in jail for refusing to delete allegedly defamatory posts about a lawyer and the son of a former Alabama governor, Reporters Without Borders reports. Shuler finally asked his wife to remove the articles in order to get out jail, but his release is conditional.
Reporters Without Border said that the court order "'constitutes prior censorship. It is... Continue Reading
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