Posts

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has made a decision on the RICO case involving cigarette makers. The big cigarette companies aren’t smiling about this one. In April, we brought you details on the oral arguments in the U.S. v. Philip Morris USA Inc case. Back in 2009, the Food and Drug Administration was given authority to monitor the cigarette industry and its marketing practices. This authority came from a case brought under the Racketeering Influence and Corrupt Organizations Act....

Lawrence Mitchell, the dean of Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law, recently wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times that defends law schools and argues that law school is still worth the price of admission. It’s truly a troubling time for young lawyers when deans have to take pen to paper to urge the youngest and brightest to attend their schools. After all, it wasn’t that long ago when law schools were seeing a slew of new applicants; applications in 2012, however, fell significantly....

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier has been criminally charged for his alleged involvement in covering up the Jerry Sandusky child rape scandal. Spanier has been charged for the first time and joins fellow former Penn State officials – ex-Athletic Director Tim Curley and ex-Vice President Gary Schultz – as defendants in the cover-up, reports CNN. Each of the three men face the same charges of obstruction of justice, perjury, conspiracy, endangering the welfare of children, and failure to report allegations of child abuse....

November might not be the best month for the State Bar of California. If bar exam results go the same as every other state, we’ll find out later this month that the July administration had the fewest passers in at least 10 years. The good news for Joseph Dunn is that won’t be his problem anymore. Dunn was abruptly fired from his job as executive director of the State Bar on November 7....

In the wake of several horrifying injuries in the stands, a fan has filed a class action lawsuit against Major League Baseball seeking additional protection from wayward bats and balls. The suit, filed in California by an Oakland A’s season ticket holder, wants MLB to extend existing safety netting the full length of the foul lines. According to a 2014 Bloomberg study, 1,750 fans a year are injured by batted balls....

Former USC assistant basketball coach Tony Bland pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery for accepting cash to steer his players to specific agents and financial advisors. “I knowingly and willfully conspired with others to commit federal funds bribery,” Bland told a federal judge in New York on Wednesday. “I knew that my conduct was wrong.” Bland’s plea is the first of four indicted college basketball coaches targeted in a massive corruption scandal that has rocked the sport....

‘We have made an arrest in the case of the missing animals,’ Santa Fe College Police Captain Ryan Woods said in a statement. ‘Our investigation is continuing, and we are still concerned for the safety of the missing animals and we hope we are able to recover them quickly.’ That’s how we find out that there are laws against having your own zoo in your own apartment, apparently. And here I thought we lived in America....

Girls Gone Wild owner Joe Francis became rich and infamous for filming Spring Break drunkenness and nudity. Now he’s being undressed by a Florida judge for fumbling through his first attempt at being a lawyer. That’s right, Francis has put down the camcorder and beads and is serving as his own attorney in a Florida court and let’s just say he hasn’t ingratiated himself to the exasperated judge nor the jury composed of 8 women....

In a ruling that is making waves throughout New Orleans, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the federal government’s liability, under a takings theory, for damage caused by the Hurricane Katrina flooding in St. Bernard Parish. In short, the case alleged that the government’s construction, and failure to properly maintain, the MRGO canal resulted in additional damage during Katrina. Significantly, the appellate court held that the government could not be held liable for its failure to maintain the canal and surrounding area....

It’s been a big day for high profile attorneys getting busted. Attorney Michael Cohen, known for his former role as President Donald Trump’s lawyer-fixer, has accepted a plea deal. And on the same day, Paul Manafort was found guilty. The shocking news isn’t wholly unexpected. The media coverage of both scandals indicated that Cohen was going to cooperate with authorities and that Manafort was just doomed from the get-go. Cohen entered his plea of guilty to five counts of tax evasion, one count of false statements to a financial institution, another count of willful cause of unlawful corporate contribution, and finally one count for an excessive campaign contribution....

The United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims decision that attorney-petitioner was not entitled to fees for the representation of her veteran-client in connection with a service disability claim is affirmed as, the client does not qualify for fees as the client’s claim did not include the requisite evidence to support a total disability rating based on individual unemployability claim before the Board of Veteran Appeals, and as such, his claim was not part of the case as defined in 38 U....

Law firms are starting to recover from the economic recession. Profits are up and the legal industry only shed 2,700 jobs last year. That’s nothing when compared to the 41,900 jobs lost in 2009. But recent graduates and young associates are still feeling the strain of the failing economy. Clients – corporations in particular – continue to look for ways to cut legal costs. Some have brought more work in-house, and others refuse to pay for junior associate work....

The San Antonio Spurs are being sued by a lawyer – a Miami Heat fan who claims that the team violated Florida’s deceptive and fair trade practices law. The lawyer filed the class action lawsuit after Spurs coach Greg Popovich decided to send his best players home before the Spurs’ Nov. 29 matchup against the Heat. The game was highly touted as a meeting between two of the best teams in the league....

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, one Athens, Georgia, man provides insight in what not to do in the days leading up to Mother’s Day. For the second time in just three months, and on the Wednesday before Mother’s Day, Terry Bernard Ball Jr., was arrested in incidents at his mother’s house. What’s more is that each incident that happened involved a pork chop and some rather unbecoming conduct, allegedly....

Do you have any idea how many lawyers are hanging around D.C., not practicing at law firms? It’s a lot. In 2011, the ABA reported that 1 in 12 D.C. residents are lawyers. The national average is 1 in 260, according to the Huffington Post. What makes D.C. a legal mecca? Is an employment pilgrimage in your future? Here are five reasons to head to D.C. Of course, D.C. isn’t cheap, and those nontraditional legal jobs don’t pay especially well....

With companies being hacked virtually every day, the Securities and Exchange Commission released guidelines for them to take more security measures. The Equifax cyberattack, in particular, pushed the agency to publish the new cybersecurity standards. The credit reporting agency failed to report a cyber breach that exposed about 145 million consumer records, even as some company executives sold off their shares before disclosing the breach. Losses The SEC guidelines emphasize the losses that come from cyberattacks, highlighting the duties companies have to protect consumers and shareholders....

Ah, New York City. The Big Apple. The Five Boroughs. The Modern Gomorrah. Home of constitutionally-protected sex shops, topless ladies, and gigantic sodas. The City That Never Sleeps is truly a wonderland for all the heart and stomach desire. Except salt. NYC is requiring restaurants to add a new warning label for any menu item that contains too much salt, but restaurants are not going along without a fight. The National Restaurant Association sued the City, saying health regulators are overstepping their bounds and getting the science wrong....

Originally filed in 2014, a lawsuit by and on behalf of former NFL players claiming the league was complicit in long-term damage and addiction to painkillers has gone through a few ups and downs. A federal judge dismissed the proposed class-action, finding that the players’ collective bargaining agreement with the league required players to turn to arbitration to resolve the dispute. (Meanwhile another painkiller lawsuit was filed and cleared that hurdle....

Legally Weird is full of weird stories that often seem too bizarre to be made up. Here’s a little story of two people by the name of Cynthia Economou and Karl Lambert. The story goes like this: Lambert, of Florida claimed that Cynthia Economou stole his foot after it was severed in a car accident. Economou, a paramedic, admitted to taking the foot, but said she did it to help train her body recovery dog....

Penn State University has settled claims brought by 26 victims of disgraced ex-coach Jerry Sandusky. The victims will receive $59.7 million in total. In a press release issued Monday, Penn State President Rodney Erickson remarked on the settlement’s role in “the healing process” and ensuring that these sorts of incidents “never [happen] again at Penn State.” The settlement will never undo the damage done by Sandusky, but it can be seen as a victory of sorts for more than two dozen men who’d pursued claims against Penn State....