Charlie Sheen may be winning, but Florida resident Tina Belinda Masta is losing–her teeth. That’s what happens when you pull them and then throw them into a canal. Naturally Masta was allegedly drunk, naked, shouting at strangers and throwing rocks. The incident happened in Naples, Florida at about 8 p.m. last Saturday. When police arrived, they found Tina Belinda Masta, 46, sitting on a dock near her house wrapped in a blanket....
You may love New York, but New Yorkers certainly don’t love out of state drivers! Parking in New York has never been easy, but some citizens want to change that. People living in the Woodhaven neighborhood in Queens are getting fed up with “parking hogs” taking up valuable real estate by parking their cars on the street for long periods of time. According to the New York Daily News, they are taking matters into their own hands by reporting cars with non-New York plates to their home states....
A nudist dad is facing child porn allegations based on naked pictures of underage girls that he claims are family photos of his daughters. Brian Martens, 53, of Palm Beach County, Florida, was arrested on charges that he allegedly had naked photos taken of his three young daughters “and shared them with other men,” the Sun Sentinel reports. Martens claims that since he and his family were living at a nudist colony, these are just family photos....
Conviction for drug crimes is affirmed where trial court did not err in not requiring defendant’s appointed counsel to make a motion to withdraw defendant’s guilty plea as counsel is not required to make legally unsupported motions, and the court is not required to order counsel to make such motions. Read People v. Brown, No. C059314 in PDF Read People v. Brown, No. C059314 in HTML Appellate InformationAPPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Sacramento County, David Francisco De Alba, Judge....
Conviction of defendant for vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is affirmed but modified where the judgment with the sentence of 26 years four months is affirmed as the correct sentence is reflected in the court’s minutes and the abstract of judgment, not in the court’s oral pronouncement of sentence as stated in the reporter’s transcript. Read People v. Thompson, No. D054037 [HTML]...
In plaintiff’s suit against his former partner’s widow for her refusal to sell the trusts’ interests in two partnerships to plaintiff, judgment of the trial court is affirmed as the provision of the partnership agreement which required that upon the death of a partner, the partnership shall purchase his interest in the partnership, was triggered by the death of one of the two men. Read Presta v. Tepper, No. G040427 [HTML]...
In a patent infringement case involving methods for calibrating proper dosage of drugs used to treat gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal autoimmune diseases, summary judgment of invalidity is reversed as the court erred as a matter of law in finding the asserted claims to be drawn to non-statutory subject matter, as the claimed methods satisfy all of the requirements under In re Bilski’s, 545 F.3d 943 (Fed. Cir. 2008), transformation prong for patent-eligible subject matter under 35 U....
Roger Clemens said only four words in court today, “Not guilty, your honor.” Clemens, the seven-time Cy Young Award winner has publicly denied allegations that he used anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. He is charged with six counts federal counts for allegedly lying to Congress in sworn testimony about doping in 2008.The charges are: three counts of making false statements, two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice....
Rutgers has finally fired basketball coach Mike Rice. The firing comes after ESPN aired video clips of Rice shoving, grabbing, and throwing balls at players in practice and using gay slurs. The video quickly went viral and led to outrage on social media, as well as from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and NBA stars like Lebron James. Rice was originally suspended for only three games for his actions. But faced with mounting criticism, the state college of New Jersey decided to terminate Rice....
As if guiding taxpayers away from the hazards of the tax code, the Federal Circuit drew a line: settlement payments are not capital gains; they’re regular income. The difference between capital gain and regular income is material when the different tax liabilities are taken into account. In either case, settlements paid in exchange for someone to go away do not qualify as a “sale or exchange of a capital asset.”...
A squatter in a $2.5 million mansion is trying to assert a claim under Florida law that says the mansion belongs to him. His legal ground: adverse possession. The man, Andre “Loki” Barbosa, 23, a Brazilian national also known as “Loki Boy,” claims that the mansion belongs to him because he was in possession of it for the last six months, ABC News reports. Under Florida’s adverse possession law, a party may acquire title from another by openly occupying that property and paying real estate tax on that property – but that must happen for a continuous period of at least seven years....
In a patent infringement suit involving claims for an improved spring-loaded parallelogram stilt of the type commonly used in construction, district court’s judgment is affirmed in part, vacated in part, and remanded where: 1) the district court did not clearly err in finding that plaintiff had the requisite knowledge to falsely mark as of a particular date; 2) because the district court’s construction of the statute was wrong, an award of $500 in penalties for a single offense of false marketing is vacated and remanded for recalculation of fines under 35 U....
Things are not going well for Galveston County Constable Pam Matranga, who is currently seeking reelection. Former deputy James Gist is accusing the Texas law-woman of sexual harassment and retaliation. His lawsuit reads like a raunchy comedy and includes allegations of forced motorboating. Indeed, Gist says that, on multiple occasions, Matranga “lifted her blouse and pulled it down over [his] head.” She then pressed him into her breasts. The motorboating lawsuit also claims she asked Gist’s fiancee if she could give him oral sex....
Houston police have arrested Abelardo Araujo, a man accused of driving around with a boy on the roof of his car. Facts seem to indicate that the child, Araujo’s 7-year-old stepson, was enjoying the ride. A patrol car spotted the pair in a parking lot that was doubling as the site of a makeshift car show, explains KPRC-TV. Araujo reportedly put the boy on the roof of the car so he could get a better view of the vehicles as they drove by....
A Texas teenager claims he was just joking when he allegedly tried to rob a police station – but now the joke’s on him. Keithan Manuel, 18, is behind bars after he walked into a police station in Wilmer, Texas, and told a dispatcher behind a window to “give me all your money,” police told Dallas’ KTVT. He pointed a hand, covered by a towel, at the dispatcher. The dispatcher says she laughed it off at first....
Remember back in May when there was much ado about whether law degrees were worth it? Maybe not, but the experience was seared into my memory when there were some very loud objections to my proclamation that you can do anything with a law degree. To help bolster my claim, I even created a nifty list of 101 possible things you could do with a law degree. For the jaded few that are still unconvinced, I have more evidence for you....
Don’t forget that men can be victims of domestic violence as well. Danielle Nebelung, of Macomb County, Michigan, has pleaded no contest to assaulting her boyfriend, Anthony Caruso, after biting off his ear during an argument. Nebelung will face no jail time, but must attend anger management classes. How did she get such a lenient sentence? The Attack According to reports, Nebelung and Caruso had just returned from a bar when they got into a heated argument over bills, Caruso claimed that Nebelung punched him in the face and head and jumped on his back, gnawing at his ear....
One issue that keeps coming up is the subject of midterms. Typically, it’s been the case that law school classes – particularly doctrinal 1L classes – centered around a single final exam at the end of the semester. How to Prepare for Midterms Preparing for a midterm is just like preparing for the law school final exam. Make your outlines and take past exams prepared by the same professor. If it’s going to be a closed-book exam, memorize your outline by breaking it up into discrete chunks of material....
Have you been applying to jobs and not hearing back? Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean you’re a bad candidate. You could just have a resume that needs some serious help. In the current job market, employers are swamped with eager candidates, so they won’t think twice before discarding an applicant. One great way to get your resume trashed? Waste time on things employers don’t care about. Here’s three of them:...
Whether you’re a young associate or a veteran attorney, knowing what you should and shouldn’t do at a deposition can be tricky and nerve-racking. Not to mention expensive if you screw up. After all, it’s one of the most important first interactions you’ll have with witnesses and opposing counsel. And it’s arguably where cases can be won, lost, or settled, depending on the outcome. That’s why whenever you conduct a deposition, you should keep the following things in mind....
