In an action challenging an IRS refund policy regarding certain excise taxes, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed in part where plaintiffs failed to exhaust their remedies with the IRS before filing suit. But the dismissal is reversed in part where IRS Notice 2006-50 operated as a substantive rule rather than a general policy statement, and thus was subject to review under the Administrative Procedure Act. Read Cohen v. US, No....
On Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments regarding whether marijuana should be removed from the Schedule I drug list. Perhaps arguments didn’t give the judges quite enough to think about. Hours after arguments concluded, the appellate court ordered supplemental briefing on whether plaintiff Michael Krawitz has individual standing to challenge the classification. A Schedule I drug is considered to have a high potential for abuse and no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the U....
In Florida, bestiality is now outlawed. But, did they accidentally outlaw sex entirely? The new Florida statute reads that a person may not “knowingly engage in any sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal.” Let’s consider: what are humans? Are we not a type of animal? Humans definitely aren’t fungi, or bacteria, or plants. Or algae. No, we are mammals. Living, breathing mammals. And animals. But, of course, definitions are the crux of every law....
Do you remember golden boy Edward Golden? He is the guy who was captured on film attacking his Uber driver, Edward Caban, and then expressed remorse when he became a national laughing stock. The Uber driver Caban posted the video of Golden, a drunken Taco Bell executive, on YouTube. It immediately went viral and Golden lost his job promptly, CNBC reports. He issued a public apology about attacking the driver and tried to repair his reputation to no avail....
Who’d have thought an automatic swimming pool cleaner would make such a splash on patent law? But such is the case in Aqua Products, Inc. v. Matal after a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. Divided on the core question of a patent owner’s ability to amend claims, the appeals court issued what it called a “narrow” opinion. The justices said a petitioner in an inter parties review has the burden to prove unpatentability in amended claims....
Welcome to “First Week at the Firm,” a new FindLaw feature for beginning associates, focused on helping you navigate the transition into firm life. We hope you’ll enjoy this new series and come back regularly for more insider tips. Finally land the firm job you’ve been dreaming of? Congrats! You’ve taken the first steps to fame and fortune in the law world. But there’s still work to be done. Let’s start with the start: how to make a good first impression....
Being in house means being there through thick and thin. When a corporate disaster strikes, or there’s a merger, that’s when you may truly be tested, or just left out in the cold in your European sports car having to find another ten to four to call your own. Generally, there are two ways to approach big changes and corporate disasters: You can either keep your head down in hopes of avoiding the culling, or you can lift your chin up, put your best foot forward, and try to influence where the chips will fall....
Litigation is expensive – really expensive. The cost of going to trial is one of the great motivators for settling, behind only the unpredictability of a jury. Just how expensive a trial can be is easy for lawyers to forget. But, as Above the Law recently pointed out, normal people can still be shocked. A prime example is Peter Sterne, a writer for Politico’s Capital New York, who amusingly found the cost of expert witnesses to be newsworthy....
Most lawyers don’t live for CLEs, to put things mildly. However, there’s a lot to be gained from CLEs, beyond whatever educational value they may have. While some CLEs can be solo activities, done in the dark at home, or from your phone on the go, many still bring together practitioners for some old-fashioned face to face learning. And any gathering of lawyers is a chance to network. Get the most out of your education by using CLEs as a chance to make new connections with your fellow lawyers....
At least one school we know about is weathering the law school admissions storm: Harvard Law. As lesser ranked schools struggle to survive, the nation’s top law school has adopted a strategy that few others have the privilege of doing: sucking up the talent from other great schools. Transfers Into Harvard In 2015, Harvard Law accepted 55 transfer students from other schools according to the ?ABA and Bloomberg Business. According to those sources, the school never took in more than 35 transfer students over the last four years....
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals found that the district court judge had erred in reversing the jury’s invalidity finding and entering a judgment as a matter of law. The court noted that a general jury verdict of invalidity should be upheld if there was sufficient evidence to support any of the alternative theories of invalidity. “A failure of proof with respect to any single item of evidence does not justify a grant of either judgment as a matter of law or a new trial; even if some of the proposed factual grounds … are not generally sufficient to support a verdict, that is not fatal, because the critical question is whether the evidence, taken as a whole, was sufficient to support the jury’s verdict....
After another awful California bar exam, things could get worse – again. Test-takers in July turned in the lowest scores in 67 years, the pass rate falling for the fifth year in a row below the half-way mark. The overall pass rate was 40.7 percent, down almost 9 percent from last year. Now lawmakers are calling for another evaluation of the bar exam, but we saw this movie already. It didn’t end well....
Maybe Eric Dannenmaier, former dean at Northern Illinois University College of Law, saw the writing on the wall. Two women alleged that he created a “hostile work environment” when they worked for the dean as temporary staff at the law school last summer. An investigation found he violated university policy, but did not confirm the hostile workplace claims. Before school trustees could act on the report, Dannenmaier resigned. He said he was “highly shocked” by the allegations, but chose to resign rather than distract the law school....
Floyd Mayweather, Jr., who holds the second-best record in American boxing history, has won a round against his ex-girlfriend. But the fight is not over. Shantel Jackson will get another shot at the title holder, who still faces claims that he beat, assaulted, falsely imprisoned, and otherwise traumatized her. In an unpublished decision, a California appeals court said Jackson may not pursue defamation and invasion of privacy claims against the boxer....
In a prisoner’s application to proceed in forma pauperis (IFP) on appeal, the application is denied where, although plaintiff had only two “strikes” under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) and thus the PLRA did not automatically bar him from proceeding IFP, the court denied the application as a discretionary matter because of plaintiff’s pattern of abusive litigation in the past and his failure to qualify for IFP status under the imminent danger exception....
This is literally true. Apparently not ticked off enough by tip-skipping patrons, drunken brawls, slurred boasts, and the state of a public house’s restroom at the end of the night, one New York City bar is literally banning patrons from using the word ’literally’ under its roof. A sign, posted on the premises of the Continental in Manhattan, notifies patrons that such illicit illiterateness will require their departure. After finishing their drink, naturally....
Burgle me once, shame on you. Burgle me twice, shame on me. Although one would never condone any type of vigilante justice, a touch of sweet, sweet revenge might be just what the doctor ordered. Or in this case, the pharmacist. Reports are circulating of a pharmacist in downtown Edmond, Oklahoma, who, tired of being targeted by thieves, took matters into his own hands. According to KOCO News, Duane Lawrence, owner of the Clinic Pharmacy on Bryant Avenue in Edmond, had been hit by thieves before....
With continued political spin, “fake news” has come to mean “news reports that are not true.” It’s a political definition. But there is another kind of “fake news.” It’s when the government or others pretend to be reporters and disseminate false information. That’s what the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press is looking for – records that FBI agents impersonated reporters for its investigations. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia says the “real press” is entitled to it....
Duc Nguyen, owner of Duc’s Place in New Haven, wanted to discourage dog walkers from letting their dogs pee on the pot outside of his storefront. He posted a sarcastic sign that read “Attn: dog owners. This is a pay-per-pee flower pot. (Pay inside or leave your address and we’ll kindly return the favor.)” The city responded with a not-so-sarcastic charge of two public nuisances and a $250 fine. A public nuisance is generally an unreasonable, unwarranted, or unlawful interference with a right common to the general public....
A California lawyer was sanctioned, and bench slapped, by the Northern District of California on Tuesday, for disrupting depositions, failing to comply with discovery orders, and, well, being a bit of a sleaze ball. Peter George Bertling, a partner at Bertling and Clausen in Santa Barbara, California, earned a special rebuke for telling opposing counsel that “it’s not becoming of a woman” to “raise your voice.” Not Your Average Violation In his brief order granting sanctions against Bertling, Judge Paul Grewal, begins by noting that N....
