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The life of a 65 year old attorney is about to change profoundly: he has been charged with using his Philadelphia law firm’s computer to access and view child pornography. According to an affidavit, Lawyer Goerge Bock Ditter told investigators that it all began when he came across child pornography while researching material for his book. In his own chilling words, “this is where I would say I fell off the cliff … I discovered an unknown interest in these images …”...

If you’re waiting on your man in Ohio, you will be waiting a while, and the more often you call to insist on your needs, the more likely it is you will get in trouble with the police. The City of Alliance, Ohio Police Department this week urged the clients of an alleged local drug dealer arrested for selling crystal meth on video to stop contacting the guy, reports UPI, at least while they conduct their investigation of his cell phone....

Look up in the cloud-covered sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s … it’s sure as heck not Superman. But in Seattle, it might just be Phoenix Jones the Guardian of Seattle. Phoenix is one of a group of self-anointed Seattle superheroes who are assisting police in their crime-fighting efforts. Phoenix and fellow crime fighters Buster Doe, Green Reaper, Gemini, No Name, Catastrophe, Thunder 88, and Penelope go forth armed with tasers, pepper spray and a code to live by:...

The D.C. Circuit is cutting the TSA some slack. The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) submitted a Petition for Mandamus, asking the D.C. Circuit to require the Transportation Security Administration to issue a proposed rule on the airport body scanners within 60 days. The petition was denied by the D.C. Circuit earlier this week. But the TSA isn’t off the hook just yet. The scanners in question are those invasive, behemoth boxes at security checkpoints at many national airports....

There’s an app for that, but not for that lawsuit. At least, that’s what Uber might say. A class action, however, says the Uber app is cheating drivers out of money. It’s a little more complicated than that, but it comes down to numbers. When your company uses a money-making program, make sure the accountants have worked out the details. Company Formula In Dulberg v. Uber, the plaintiffs allege they are underpaid using the company’s formula....

Forget the dogs, chickens, and cows–the alligator is taking over the Great White North. In yet another strange story involving the prickly reptile, firefighters in Lewiston, Idaho were called to a local trailer park on Friday evening when a single-wide caught on fire. Though the owners were not home, firefighters still had to rescue a pet alligator. Owner Joseph Witherup doesn’t appear to be too worried about the loss of his trailer, with the Associated Press reporting that he’s merely thankful that his pet alligator, along with a few other animals, were rescued from the blaze....

All states have official birds and flowers. But if we were to designate an official state crime for Lone Star State, it would undoubtedly be the Frozen Armadillo Assault. A 57-year-old Dallas woman fell victim to such a crime late last month, according to new information released by police. She and her assailant met in a parking lot to negotiate a price for a frozen armadillo. Their haggling turned dangerous, and the man threw the dead animal at the woman....

Lawyerist says the summer program is on its way out. The WSJ Law Blog thinks it’s about time summer programs stopped being fun. In other news, the WSJ has never been a big fan of fun. Old lawyers and young lawyers gleefully overgeneralize about each other in a panel discussion. (WSJ Law Blog) Time, like everyone else, can’t quite believe how much a new BigLaw associate can make for not coming to work....

‘Tis the season for holiday shopping. And no one is more deserving of a little gifting attention than the law student in your life. (Really, they’ve had a hard year.) Whether you’ve got a law school intern, nephew, or fiance, you’ll want to get them the perfect law-related gift, something that will make the road to becoming an esquire a little more bearable. Here are our top recommendations. Law students read all the time....

Petition for Review of Nuclear Regulatory Commission Order Granted In Honeywell Int’l Inc. v. Nuclear Reg. Comm., No. 10-1022, a petition for review of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s denial of an exemption from the regulatory requirement that licensees have a tangible net worth at least 10 times the current decommissioning cost estimate of its licensed facility, the court granted the petition where the Commission failed to provide a reasoned explanation for its decision....

Medtronic Navigation, Inc. v. Brainlab Medizinische Computersysteme GMBH, No. 09-1058, involved an appeal by plaintiff and counsel in a patent infringement action concerning defendant’s accused devices, which are image-guided surgical navigation devices that use an array of cameras to detect the position of surgical instruments through triangulation, as well as three other patents. In reversing an order awarding attorney fees, costs, expenses, and interest in an amount over $4 million in favor of the defendants, the court held that the district court committed clear error in finding this case to be exceptional under section 285....

A lawsuit filed against President Obama by the self-styled “America’s Toughest Sheriff” was dismissed today by Judge Beryl A. Howell in the D.C. District Court. In his complaint, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio claimed that Obama’s new immigration policy, announced last month, was unconstitutional. Rather than dismiss Arpaio’s case out of hand for lack of standing, Howell delves into the deep questions of justiciability raised by the lawsuit. Then she dismisses it for lack of standing....

In a patent infringement suit involving a cardiac defibrillator, district court’s sua sponte dismissal of plaintiff-Philips’ suit against the defendant is reversed and remanded where: 1) the district court ignored plaintiff’s request to present new evidence and never heard its argument that its patent had priority, the court did not give plaintiff a full and fair opportunity to ventilate the issues raided in its complaint and improperly entered summary judgment under Ninth Circuit law, and because the parties genuinely disputed issues of material fact as to written description and anticipation; and 2) the district court erred in holding that the Board can apply 37 C....

In plaintiff’s action against an Air Quality Management District (district), challenging the district’s 2002 amendments to its rule limiting the amount of volatile organic compounds allowed in various kinds of paint and coatings, denial of plaintiff’s petition for administrative writ of mandate is affirmed except where: 1) as to the quick-dry enamels and rust preventive categories of coatings, the matter is remanded to the trial court for a hearing to determine whether there is any current state of the art technology available to comply with the district’s 2006 limits on volatile compounds; and 2) if the trial court determines that there is not, the trial court shall grant the relief requested by petitioner as to these two categories of coatings only....

Pass & Seymour, Inc. v. Int’l Trade Comm’n., 09-1338, concerned a challenge to the International Trade Commission’s judgment in favor of the defendants, in plaintiff’s suit against various defendants claiming infringement of its patents related to circuit interrupters for use with household electrical appliances. In affirming the judgment, the court held that, because the accused products at issue here do not meet the “mounting means” limitation as properly construed, and thus do not meet every limitation of the asserted claims, there can be no infringement....

In a conviction of defendant for misdemeanor fishing offenses, trial court’s grant of defendant’s motion to suppress evidence is affirmed where: 1) the language of Fish and Game Code section 1006 does not provide for the inspection of vehicles by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG); 2) neither Perez nor any of the other cases are persuasive that it may be fairly implied from section 1006 and 2012 that it is necessary for the DFG to conduct traffic stops and inspections of specific vehicles on public streets to accomplish the express powers granted to it by those statutes; and 3) based on the review of the totality of the circumstances that the DFG warden did not have, at the time of the traffic stop, specific and articulable facts causing him to suspect some activity relating to crime had taken place and defendant was involved in that activity....

The San Francisco real estate market is rather unique and red hot right now. Most homes and properties that go up for sale get multiple offers, and tend to sell anywhere from 10 to over 30 percent over the asking price. If that wasn’t silly enough, a single parking space can sometimes run $82,000 in the city. And it’s not slowing down. However, there are ways to get a slice of San Francisco without having to spend a million dollars on an entry level home....

The Federal Circuit decided a matter involving one of the last Winstar cases arising from the savings and loan crisis of the later 1970s and a case involving a preliminary injunction to enjoin a antidumping duty order on certain wooden bedroom furniture from China. In American Signature, Inc. v. US, the court faced a challenge to the Court of International Trade’s denial of plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction, for being subjected to a 2005 antidumping duty order on certain wooden bedroom furniture imported from China....

In plaintiffs’ action for negligence and trespass against defendants arising from a flood and damage to their property after a water pipe burst in their leased apartment, dismissal of the suit by the trial court on its own motion is affirmed as the trial court gave proper notice of its order to show cause as to why the case should not be dismissed for delay in prosecution, in accordance with Cal....

It may come as a shock to true believers, but you don’t always get what you pray for – especially when it comes to attorney’s fees. That’s because you literally have to pray for relief from the court, and attorney’s fee awards are not actually that big in Texas. It’s not about the struggling economy or hurricane damage. In the case of an attorney general allegedly gone bad, it’s about the law....