My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
May 22nd, 2015
The pace of patent litigation has fallen for the first time in five years, which can be directly traced to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling last year about software patents in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank, The Washington Post's Brian Fung reports. That case raised the bar for patentability and enforcement of software patents. Continue Reading
May 22nd, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether a defendant in a class action case can end litigation by offering full payment to the lead plaintiff, Bloomberg's Greg Stohr reports.
Plaintiff Campbell-Ewald Co. is facing hundreds of millions of dollars for allegedly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by sending automated text messages. The lead plaintiff was offered $1,503 for each text mesage he received,... Continue Reading
May 20th, 2015
Financial Services Superintendent Benjamin Lawsky said New York's foreclosure system is "'broken and badly in need of change"' because of delays in the settlement conferences that must be held before houses can be foreclosed, New York Law Journal's Joel Stashenko reports.
The Department of Financial Services found that it takes nine months, on average, from when a foreclosure is filed in New York to when the... Continue Reading
May 19th, 2015
Andrew F. March and Mara Revkin have a fascinating analysis in Foreign Affairs of the legal underpinnings of the Islamic State (ISIS)'s efforts to build an Islamic Caliphate state. They note that ISIS is governing millions of people and sees itself as building an authentic legal order based upon a "social contract with the Muslim population it aspires to govern." For example, ISIS has issued administrative guidelines for... Continue Reading
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
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