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 3rd, 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.
The U.S. Supreme Court disfavored setting individual damages through statistical sampling in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes. But Alexandra Lahav, a University of Connecticut School of Law professor, argues there remains a role for sample trials in mass torts... Continue Reading
April 2nd, 2014
An Alabama blogger was released from jail after being held in contempt for five months for not taking down blog posts that a judge had ruled defamed the son of a former Alabama governor, AL.com reports.
The spouse of Roger Shuler, who blogs at Legal Schnauzer, removed most of the subject matter covered by the judge's permanent injunction, AL.com reported. That led to the judge ordering Shuler's release.... Continue Reading
April 2nd, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court, 5-4, has struck down overall limits on campaign contributions to candidates, political parties and political action committees, the Associated Press reports. Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the conservative majority, said the overall limits intrude without justification on First Amendment activities. The court preserved a cap on donations to a single candidate, the AP further reports. Continue Reading
April 2nd, 2014
Legislation is pending again in Connecticut that would reduce the size of the zones near schools, daycares and public housing projects that trigger enhanced sentences for defendants convicted of drug possession and selling within those zones. Here is the piece I wrote about the subject for the Connecticut Law Tribune:
During the crack epidemic of the 1980s, it seemed like a commonsense move to help protect the young and the innocent... Continue Reading
April 1st, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up a case involving Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s top selling drug, Copaxone, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. The case could impact patent litigation, including because Teva asked the Supreme Court to require the Federal Circuit to be more deferential to lower court ruings. Continue Reading
April 1st, 2014
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan has ruled that Chevron can sue law firm Patton Boggs "for fraud, malicious prosecution and making false statements to the New York court during the titanic legal battle between the U.S. oil giant and one of Washington’s most prestigious law and lobbying firms," The Washington Post reports.
Patton Boggs was hired by Ecuadorian villagers to come up with a strategy to enforce the $18... Continue Reading
April 1st, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court seemed skeptical of changing how software patents are enforced during oral argument Monday, Re/code reports: "On Monday, the court heard arguments in a case that could have far-reaching implications for the software industry, as the justices took up the issue of whether the Patent Act authorizes the granting of patents on software based on abstract ideas."
Alice Corp. argues that its patents for... Continue Reading
March 31st, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case next month that could shape the future of broadcast TV and the contours of copyright law. Aereo, an Internet start-up that streams free broadcast TV over the Internet, argues that a ruling against it would "cripple the entire cloud industry," The Hill reports. Broadcasters argue the streaming services violates their copyrights in their programming. Continue Reading
March 30th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court is slated to hear arguments tomorrow on whether software can continue to be patented, The Washington Post reports: "The case, Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank, focuses on software built to eliminate 'settlement risk' in currency and financial transactions where money is held in escrow and one party could renege on a deal and leave the other holding the bag. Alice Corp. claims that CLS Bank offers a service... Continue Reading
March 30th, 2014
Last week, a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court dismissed a case challenging the constitutionality of paying flat fees to Philadelphia defense counsel in capital cases, The Legal Intelligencer's P.J. D'Annunzio reports. Mark Bookman, one of the lawyers who brought the case, told The Legal "'the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had a real opportunity to bring Philadelphia up to, or at least closer to, national standards on how you... Continue Reading
March 30th, 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.
A bankruptcy judge, who found “demonstrable misrepresentation” by plaintiffs' lawyers in several asbestos cases, denied the motions of asbestos defendants and a media outlet to access that sealed evidence.
Ford Motor Co., joined by Volkswagen Group of... Continue Reading
March 27th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court "appeared likely on Wednesday to protect Secret Service agents from being sued for violating the free speech rights of demonstrators. During arguments in Wood v. Moss, justices of all stripes seemed ready to defer to the Secret Service's need to make split-second decisions to protect the president, without being second-guessed in court," Supreme Court Brief's Tony Mauro reported. Continue Reading
March 26th, 2014
The U.S. Supreme Court appeared split on whether private for-profit companies have to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives to their employees, even if it violates their owners' religious beliefs, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy "asked skeptical questions of both sides, but one interaction with US Solicitor General Donald Verrilli might signal trouble for the Obama administration... Continue Reading
March 26th, 2014
Tony Mauro, writing in Supreme Court Brief, reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has no plans to provide wider access to the court. The Coalition of Court Transparency, a network of media and open-access organizations, had asked for broadcast of court proceedings or the same-day release of audio from oral transcripts, Mauro also reports.
March 25th, 2014
President Barack Obama plans to get the National Security Agency out of the business of collecting phone call records in bulk, The New York Times' Charlie Savage reports: "Under the proposal, they said, the N.S.A. would end its systematic collection of data about Americans’ calling habits. The bulk records would stay in the hands of phone companies, which would not be required to retain the data for any longer than they normally... Continue Reading
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