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“Dogs are man’s best friend,” asserted U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue, “and, as the defendant is about to learn, we are drug dealers’ worst enemy.” Donoghue was referring to the recently extradited Andres Lopez Elorez, a former Colombian veterinarian who admitted to sewing balloons filled with heroin into the stomachs of live puppies to smuggle drugs into the U.S. “Elorez is not only a drug trafficker,” Donoghue continued, “he also betrayed a veterinarian’s pledge to prevent animal suffering when he used his surgical skills in a cruel scheme to smuggle heroin in the abdomens of puppies....

The Naval Research Laboratory maintains a patent portfolio. If the renewal period is approaching, the man in charge, NRL patent attorney John Karasek, checks to see whether the patent has been worth anything and whether anyone has asked to license it. If not, he lets it lapse. One time, however, he let it lapse, and shortly thereafter, he received an inquiry about licensing the patent from someone who had been trying to get a hold of him for some time....

The D.C. Circuit Court takes the lead, and the rest shall follow. Back in January of this year, the court found President Obama’s recess appointments unconstitutional. Now the Third Circuit is following in its footsteps with a similar decision. The circumstances of Obama’s recess appointments involve a fight over technicalities much like an old Friends episode where Ross would continue to declare to Rachel, “We were on a break!” The technicalities for Obama’s recess appointments involve whether or not the Senate was on a recess when they were taking breaks in the middle of a session....

In an action by an insurer seeking a declaration that plaintiff had no duty under its title insurance policies to defend or indemnify defendant, judgment for plaintiff is affirmed where defendant was not an insured under the policy because it was not a successor in ownership of the mortgage at issue. Read First Am. Title Ins. Co. v. XWarehouse Lending Corp., No. A119931 Appellate Information Filed August 28, 2009 Judges...

A Florida man who raped his puppy was sentenced to five years in state prison on Friday. James Guy Bull, 62, a real credit to the Sunshine State, was sentenced on two counts of felony cruelty to animals and various misdemeanor charges related to sex with and cruelty to animals, reports USA Today. Bull pleaded guilty to the charges based various incidents where neighbors had seen him “fondling” or “in the act of having sex” with his 8-month-old female pit bull, Coco....

A massive collection of 130,000 pages of government UFO documents is now available for free online, thanks to one man’s use of Freedom of Information Act requests. For the past 20 years, John Greenwald has been requesting and collecting UFO-related documents from the government, reports ABC News. He has now posted the entire collection online for public perusal at his website The Black Vault. Most of the documents are from a U....

On July 22, 2017 Louisville was under a heat advisory. The heat index the previous day had been 107 degrees. Still, the Saint Xavier cross country team conducted practice, including a 12-mile run, at a local park. One runner, Cooper Marchal, suffered a heat stroke during the practice, during which he lost consciousness, was hospitalized, and was put in a medically-induced coma. Now Marchal is suing the school, claiming it “was negligent in hiring, training, educating, and supervising its coaches and coaching staff,” who “failed to adequately supervise, screen, test, monitor, and treat the student runners for heat-related injuries and illness....

In a tragic case of middle school bullying, a seventh grade boy was intimidated and assaulted by a larger sixth grade boy off the grounds of their school, Sleepy Hill Middle School, in Lakeland, Florida. To make matters worse, the sixth grade boy continued to stalk and bully the assault victim after the incident. Fortunately, Judge James Yancey of Polk County thought enough was enough, and issued a restraining order requiring the sixth grader to stay at least 50 feet away from his accuser for one year....

In a contract dispute involving material distribution services for the military, Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals judgment is reversed where: 1) the billing and payment for minimum military packing of off-base transshipments is governed by contract line item 0002 rather than contract line item 0001 based on the plain language of the contract; and 2) plaintiff should be compensated on a per-package basis under contract line item 0002 rather than per unit....

In your law firm – heck in your life – you’ll encounter people who are wrong. As in, factually wrong. Like, you can point to the fact in the book where what that person says contradicts what the book says. Granted. But what if that “wrong” person is your boss? Or your colleague? Or – gads – a judge? There are different strategies for dealing with different kind of people (and here we’re assuming, of course, that you’ve done your homework and you’re certain that you’re right and the other person isn’t)....

A medical marijuana deliveryman lost a bag of cash and pot Friday night, when he was robbed by two men dressed as ninjas and armed with batons, police said. The masked ninjas confronted the deliveryman outside an apartment building in West Covina, Calif., about 20 miles east of Los Angeles, KNX radio reports. The ninjas used white batons called tong fa to intimidate the deliveryman, who dropped his bag of marijuana and cash and ran off, police said....

Trial court order committing defendant to the Department of Mental Health (DMH) for an indeterminate term following a jury’s finding that he is a sexually violent predator is affirmed where: 1) the commitment to the DMH for an indeterminate term of custody does not violate defendant’s due process rights as sexually violent predators are afforded a full panoply of due process protections under sections 6605 and 6608 before being committed; and 2) the commitment for an indeterminate term does not violate his equal protection rights as defendant has neither shown nor attempted to show that sexually violent predators are similarly situated with mentally disordered offenders and persons committed because they were found not guilty by reason of insanity....

The facts of this case are not terribly exciting. Robert Allen had a payment system used in the automotive industry. With David Gillman’s help, he filled out patent paperwork, giving Allen sole inventorship, for using the system to process health care claims. Other licensing agreements and ownership agreements gave Gillman some rights, though it seems most of those rights seemed were transferred to Allen’s company, StoneEagle, in 2010. In 2011, it turned out that the patent was valuable....

Concerned with law firm data breaches, more and more in-house lawyers are using encryption to communicate with outside counsel on sensitive matters. The increased focus on email data security comes after a series of reports on law firms being hacked, including, recently, hackers who targeted M&A firms, swiped sensitive information, then made millions on insider trades. So, should you follow suit? When it comes to protecting your email, encryption can certainly help....

It seems that the world’s largest trafficker in illicit drugs likes his prison in Mexico, or at least, he doesn’t want to face jail and court time in America where he is less likely to escape this country’s maximum security prisons. It’s a bit of an annoying development for American prosecutors who quietly agreed to drop multiple murder charges against Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in order to ease his extradition and to face justice here....

At the recent Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, some crafty photographers were creating, in essence, photobombing situations. Actors would pose for photographers standing in front of them, but a strategically placed paid muse would stand at an angle, displaying a commercial product, while a coordinated photographer would take a photo with both the actor and the muse in the photo. Taking the Photo – Privacy and the First Amendment Someone’s right to take a photo of any inanimate object in a public place is pretty much accepted, based on First Amendment free speech rights....

A three-person appeals panel overturned Roger Goodell’s suspensions of Jonathon Vilma and three other players. The players were ruled eligible to play - but it may be a temporary victory. In the wake of the decision, Vilma tweeted: “Victory is mine!!!!” Vilma may want to hold back though, as the appeals panel decision may merely just delay Roger Goodell from handing down the exact same penalty again, this time outside of the purview of the appeals panel, reports The New York Times....

Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock on “Star Trek,” passed away last week, and grieving fans have turned to Canadian currency for comfort. Amateur artists were encouraged to “Spock” their Canadian $5 bills, turning cold hard cash into monetary memorials to the late actor and musician – who kind of resembles a former Canadian prime minister, if you draw in some pointy ears and angular eyebrows. The question is: Is this kind of tribute legal?...

File this under “Things They Don’t Teach You In Law School”: The nuances pertaining to the electronic case filing (ECF) system in the D.C. District Court. Sure, it may seem like a no-brainer and you’ve probably used the ECF system in other jurisdictions, but there are certain exceptions, requirements and ways to handle a computer meltdown that are applicable to the district court. So, here are five things to remember when e-filing your documents....

Yesterday, we talked about Pay As You Earn 2014, President Barack Obama’s expansion of an income-based repayment system for student loans to pretty much any borrowers whatsoever. On the surface, it looks great: ten-years to forgiveness for public sector, twenty for private (compared to traditional IBR’s 15/25), plus payments are limited to ten percent of your discretionary income. Basically, you won’t go broke under PAYE 2014 while making payments, and you won’t make payments forever....