In a video gone viral, an unnamed man at the Los Angeles Zoo stares at the camera of what must be a friend recording the incident. He hops over a protective railing, leans over the sunken enclosure, and smacks a baby hippo on the butt, right in front of the hippo’s mother. The man then jumps back over the railing, waves wildly at the camera, and lets out a victory “whoop!...
So your client happens to be a strip club with a delinquent tax bill. And this client of yours really doesn’t want to pay a hefty tax bill. Solution? At least, so says a New York Court. Nite Moves, a New York strip club trying to appeal a $125,000 tax on its lap dances from a 2005 audit, reports Reuters. The court was not convinced, ruling instead that the lap dances were in fact rightfully taxable, according to Reuters....
An Ohio woman is suing a cemetery for placing her husband in the wrong crypt. Barbara Brown attended the funeral of her late husband last year and noticed that something was off. The ashes of William Brown were supposed to be placed next to her parents. Instead, the remains were placed in a crypt, three niches to the right, reports The Chronicle-Telegram. The Resthaven Memory Garden Cemetery acknowledged the error, dug up William Brown’s remains, and moved them to the correct crypt....
In plaintiff’s action against her insurer over disputes arising from a fire of her commercial premises, district court’s ruling sustaining defendant’s demurrer to a cause of action under the Unfair Competition Law (UCL), Business and Professions Code section 17200, is vacated and remanded with directions to reinstate the cause of action as an insurer connected with conduct that would violate Insurance Code section 790.03 can also give rise to a private civil cause of action under the UCL....
Charlene Idelle Hunziker learned the hard way that police can, and do, arrest Republicans if they break the law after a drunken public outburst. Hunziker was in a P.F. Changs in West Des Moines, Iowa when she started ranting about politics. In front of other patrons she started yelling about the virtues of Mitt Romney and was extremely agitated when the restaurant asked her to leave. Didn’t she ever learn that politics isn’t polite dinner conversation?...
When it comes to television programming for lawyers and law students, not every show about lawyers and the justice system are going to hit the mark. After all, entertainment is rather subjective. But, if you crave “who-done-its” or law-related dramas/comedies, below you can find a list of five binge-worthy series to jam into your nights and weekends. The newest season of Better Call Saul is doing what it does best, making every lawyer out there thankful they are not Jimmy McGill....
The Federal Circuit, for the first time, had the opportunity to determine whether a proposed trademark was disparaging under section 2(a) of the Trademark Act. After thorough analysis and review of the facts on the record, the Federal Circuit adopted a test, and found that the proposed trademark in issue was in fact, disparaging. Pamela Geller and Robert B. Spencer filed a trademark application to use “‘Stop the Islamisation of America’ in connection with ‘providing information regarding understanding and preventing terrorism,’” in February 2010....
California’s Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Public Safety voted yesterday to suspend expansion of the Court Case Management System (CCMS) due to escalating costs, reports the Los Angeles Times. The full legislature can now consider whether it wants to halt program expansions. CCMS is a statewide computer modernization initiative to develop and deploy a unified case management system for the state’s 58 superior courts. The California Judicial Branch’s website claims that “CCMS will reduce operating costs, increase efficiency, and give Californians an unprecedented level of access to their courts....
As the allied forces stormed Normandy on June 6, 1944, Hitler slept. His generals were afraid to wake him, and they were not allowed to make decisions on their own. Their delay – and the victory on D-Day – marked the beginning of the end for the Germans. General counsel should take a lesson from their history, says attorney and leadership consultant Ken Grady. Rather than follow flawed practices, they should empower outside counsel to win more battles in the courtroom....
Does the Environmental Protection Agency have the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit will decide later this year, as it sits poised to hear oral arguments this week from four major lawsuits challenging the authority of the EPA. These lawsuits are brought by four industry groups. In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA had the authority to regulate greenhouse gases by virtue of the Clean Air Act....
Gillig v. Nike, Inc., No. 09-1415, involved a suit against Nike, Inc. alleging inventorship claims of various patents relating to golf clubs owned by Nike and that Nike had misappropriated trade sefrets involving golf club technology. Although the court affirmed the district court’s holding that the trade secret claims are barred by statute of limitations, the district court’s dismissal of Gillig’s inventorship claims are reversed as res judicata in general does not bar the claims, as a dismissal on the ground that the plaintiff is not a real party in interest should not preclude a later action by the real party in interest....
Thirty-two years ago, a woman says in a new lawsuit, a Sacramento doctor artificially inseminated her with his own sperm and without her knowledge. In Grinnell v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, the woman says she didn’t know it happened until last year. In the meantime, she says, the doctor had been performing gynecological exams on their child. The complaint does not identify the doctor by name, but his identity is certain. The plaintiffs confirmed it by genetic testing....
Herbert Bristol got a primo parking space. Authorities charged him recently after he purposely drove his vehicle through the side door of a North Carolina courthouse building. His car continued down a hallway of the Morganton courthouse and came to a stop near the tax assessor’s office in the main lobby. According to local news reports, Herbert Bristol drove his car through the building then calmly got out, cigarette in hand....
In some dire news for general counsels, their average pay fell to only $1.7 million this year. Corporate counsels’ base salary, non-equity bonuses, stock awards, and stock options all took a major hit, says a survey of Fortune 500 corporate counsels. After experiencing double digit percentage gains in salary and pay last year despite the economy stagnating, general counsels’ total pay fell by a whopping 5.7 percent this year, reports the ABA Journal....
Step One: Look at phone. Step Two: Walk. Step Three: Get in an accident. Step Four: Get $161,000 from a jury. A jury in DeKalb County, Georgia awarded a woman six figures for injuries she sustained after striking her head on a lowered bucket truck ladder. DeToya Moody allegedly never saw the bright orange ladder of a bucket truck coming, mostly because it was not moving. The ladder, surrounded by bright orange cones, was raised across a Publix sidewalk the first three times Moody walked by....
The years since 2008 must have passed for former pitcher Roger Clemens like one long, slow walk to the locker room after a particularly tough game. Since his testimony to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in February of ‘08, investigations based on his statements have been on-going. In the last 18 months, a grand jury investigation has reviewed witnesses and evidence against him. Now, on August 19, an indictment against Clemens has been announced....
A California man has been arrested after being accused of cooking and serving his ex-girlfriend’s dog. Ryan Watenpaugh of Shasta County was arrested last week after his ex-girlfriend called police. She said Watenpaugh had left the severed paws of her missing Pomeranian on her porch after sending her harassing messages, reports the Redding Record Searchlight. Among the messages was one in which Watenpaugh allegedly asked the women “how her dog tasted,” according to police....
If 19-year-old Justin West of Yakima County, Washington learned anything over the weekend, it’s that a little bit of Facebook bragging can lead to a lot of trouble. The teen had been spotted by local law enforcement riding his off-road motorcycle in a residential area Saturday evening, but when they tried to stop him, he sped off into a ditch where the cruiser was unable to follow. He then followed up with a Facebook post bragging about his escape....
Alan Bartolozzi, former tax collector for the New Jersey town of Secaucus, is expected to be sentenced this week after pleading guilty to two counts of theft back in May. The accusation? He stole in excess of $800,000 in city tax payments and funds from the local municipal union between February 2008 and May 2009. And what did he do with it? Prosecutors believe he used it to pay a dominatrix....
Defendant’s conviction for committing a criminal offense while released on bail is reversed and remanded where, although the trial court properly denied defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of a vehicle stop, it is unclear from the record whether the prosecution was commenced within applicable limitations periods for the crimes. Read People v. Dotson, No. C060310 [HTML] Read People v. Dotson, No. C060310 [PDF] Appellate Information Filed November 30, 2009...
