Cultivated Compendium

Both Rhode Island and Oregon recently expanded their laws allowing for DNA testing by people trying to prove they were wrongfully convicted.

Both states have enacted laws to expand access to DNA testing for people convicted of a crime who are no longer in prison, The Oregonian's Maxine Bernstein and The Providence Journal's Katie Mulvaney respectively report.

Steve T. Wax, legal director of Oregon's Innocence Project, told Bernstein that Oregon's law was one of the most restrictive in the country. In that state, the standard to get post-conviction DNA testing will now be showing there is a reasonable possibility that testing would lead to a finding of actual innocence.

Florida's rule providing protection for the honest errors of attorneys in their judgment about a debatable point of law has shielded a law firm facing a malpractice suit for its choice not to use a particular expert witness in support of hurricane damage claim, Harris Martin reports. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit found that Florida's judgmental immunity doctrine applied to the law firm's decision.

Law 360's Jeff Sistrunk reports that a condo association sued Childress Duffy for how that firm handled a breach of contract suit against Citizens Property Insurance Co. The condo association was seeking recovery for property damage from Hurricane Frances, including a $1.5 million claim for an elevator.

The defense wind expert called by the law firm was neither a mechanical engineer nor an elevator expert. A jury trial ended in a directed verdict.

The Economist opines that lawsuits over what it means to be an employee should shape the future of several industries.

For example, ride-sharing service Uber is facing cases, including a ruling by the California Labor Commissioner, that its drivers are employees, not independent contractors. McDonald's is being treated as a joint employer, together with franchisees, by the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel.

The problem, The Economist argues, is that employment law is based upon the Fair Labor Standards Act, which dates from 1938. However, the "'on-demand' economy is all but obliterating [the distinction between employees and independent contractors], by letting people sell their labour and rent out their assets—from cars to apartments—in a series of short-term assignments arranged by smartphone app."

In light of the fact that a divided Congress is not likely capable of updating labor law anytime soon, The Economist suggests that judges should be as conservative in possible in ruling that independent contractors are employees in order to not snuff out the on-demand economy.

The American Lawyer's Susan Beck reports that big law firms are failing legal aid nonprofits representing people too poor to afford their own lawyers. Even the most generous firms are contributing little more than one-tenth of 1 percent of their gross revenue.

She profiles the need for legal services in Cleveland, noting that "a lack of adequate public funds and private donations means that, as in Cleveland, more than half of those who seek help are turned away." Overall, there's just one legal aid lawyer for every 8,893 low-income Americans who qualify for legal aid.

Meanwhile, profits are healthy at Am Law 200 once again. Revenue passed the $100 billion mark for the first time in 2014.

"In a country with one of the highest concentrations of lawyers in the world, poor people often are forced to navigate the potential loss of their home, their children or their benefits on their own," Beck reports.

Ohio Governor John Kasich has signed a state budget that continues the expansion of Medicaid, the Associated Press reports. The plan would require about 1 million low-income Ohio residents to pay a monthly charge for Medicaid health coverage.

However, federal regulators would have to approve requiring some adults to pay into a health savings account regardless of their income: "Beneficiaries, except pregnant women, could be cut from the program if they don’t annually contribute 2 percent of their family income or $99, whichever is less."

More than 2.9 million Ohio residents are on Medicaid, making up about a quarter of the state's population.

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down the Environmental Protection Agency's power plant regulations, environmental groups say that the decision was narrow and temporary, The Washington Post's Steven Overly report.

The court ruled that the EPA should have considered the financial burden on power plant operators when crafting the regulations of emissions of mercury by power plants. The case has been remanded to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for further litigation. Overly notes that the D.C. Circuit could put the regulations on pause while the EPA conducts the analysis of the regulatory costs, but advocates note the regulation was not thrown out entirely.

Overly also notes that many power plants have already installed equipment to curb their emissions of mercury.

As of this morning, U.S. District Judge Callie Granade has ordered all probate judges in Alabama to issue same-sex marriage licenses, NBC News' Pete Williams and Kathryn Robinson report.

Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling Friday that denying same-sex couples the right to marry is a constitutional violation, there was back-and-forth in Alabama on whether to issue same-sex marriage licenses. Granade overturned Alabama's ban on same-sex marriages, but Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore ordered probate judges not to issue licenses to same-sex couples.

The Second Circuit, 2-1, has upheld a finding that Apple violated antitrust laws with its e-book pricing, Fortune's Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports.

The majority found that the Sherman Antitrust Act was violated if a conspiracy results in higher prices to consumers--no matter other factors, he notes. Dissenting Judge Dennis Jacobs argued that market conditions like competitor Amazon's e-book monpoly and Apple's status as a book distibutor should be considered.

Philip Elmer-DeWitt notes that Apple can either seek en banc review by the Second Circuit or seek the slender chance it will be granted certiorari by the Supreme Court.

There have been a lot of headlines about a Canadian truth and reconciliation commission taking that country to task for how it has treated its indigenous peoples.

The Truth and Reconcilaition Commission has called for Canada to adopt the United Nations Declaration On the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, The Toronto Globe and Mail's Kim Mackrael reports. But critics are raising the concern that the declaration isn't compatible with Canadian law: "At issue is a legal requirement to consult and accommodate aboriginal people in circumstances in which their rights may be affected. Ottawa has argued that a shift to free, prior and informed consent – a concept envisioned in the UN declaration – could go further, possibly giving aboriginal people the power to veto a proposed project," Mackrael reports. But aboriginal groups point out that the rights in the document are relative, not absolute.

Even though Canada endorsed the non-binding declaration, it has not taken any steps to implement its protections for indigenous peoples.

The Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld a 2002 state law that expanded the statute of limitations for bringing sex abuse claims, the Associated Press reports. The court also upheld a $1 million jury verdict against the Archdiocse of Hartford, ruling that the retroactive application of the law did not violate the archdiocese's due process rights.

A jury determined that the archdiocese was reckless and negligent in letting a priest work with children again after getting treatment for abusing other boys. The plaintiff in the case sued the archdiocese, saying he was sexually abused by that priest around 20 times.