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In the wake of the recent Apple iPhone throttling scandal, it is clear that even the most loved companies need to ensure that certain actions are not just transparent, but rather crystal clear. If you are in the dark about the Apple controversy, and you use an iPhone 6, 6S, 7, or SE, you may want to turn your screen brightness down for this: Last year, Apple started throttling (or slowing down) older iPhones (the 7 was only recently added to the list of throttled devices) on purpose....

In plaintiffs’ putative class action suit against defendant and other entities claiming discrimination under the Unruh Civil Rights Act by requiring that U.S. citizens provide a Social Security number to open a particular type of credit card account, while allowing foreign nationals to open such accounts with only alternative forms of identification, trial court’s order sustaining defendant’s demurrer to the complaint is affirmed where: 1) as a matter of law, Bank of America did not act arbitrarily as 31 C....

Some people will do anything for 15 minutes of internet fame. Much of it is harmless, some completely reckless, and some just sort of annoying. A 27-year-old YouTube prankster is finding out that occasionally stunts can also get you into legal trouble. In-N-Out Burger is seeking a restraining order against the YouTube star after a series of pranks inside two of their L.A. restaurants. The Prank Online prankster Cody Roeder posts his videos on YouTube under the name Trollmunchies....

It’s Opening Day! As baseball season begins anew, some fans who wouldn’t normally give two hoots about fantasy games will start betting on fantasy baseball. And strangely, the MLB seems to be OK with that (though the league’s support is “purportedly limited” to free games on a particular site, as Forbes points out). But before you put money on your fantasy picks, consider this: Is it legal to bet on fantasy baseball?...

Law school enrollment is down, but the price of a law degree keeps going up. How do the (fewer) aspiring law students plan on paying for their degree? A recent survey by Kaplan, the test prep company, of over 900 potential law students, asked exactly that. More than a third of potential students, 36 percent of those surveyed, plan on paying their own way, while another 22 percent will foot at least half the bill....

Pet peeve #37: Media and television accounts of legal concepts that are procedurally or substantively inaccurate. As a child, my mother would point out all of the obvious mistakes in E.R., such as shocking a patient through his clothes. The same issue plagues legal dramas (ask leading questions on cross-examination, you fool!) and even news reports on legal topics. A layperson will misstate the holding of a case or the implications of an appellate opinion because he neglected to consult a lawyer....

A baseball game just isn’t the same without a cold beer. Or, in the case of Minnesota Twins fans, Wally the Beer Man screaming, “Cold Beer Here!” The 76-year-old beer hawker, a fan favorite, has been freed. A jury last week found him not guilty of selling alcohol to a 19-year-old decoy. Walter McNeil, affectionately known as Wally the Beer Man, was the victim of an underage alcohol sting last season, reports the Star Tribune....

With oral arguments slated for April, anticipation continues to build in the U.S. Supreme Court case Nautilus Inc. v. Biosig Instruments Inc. Stemming from the Federal Circuit, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on the legal standard of invalidity for indefiniteness. Biosig Instruments Inc. sued Nautilus Inc., alleging that Nautilus infringed on several claims of its patent (No. 5,337,753, or the “‘753 Patent”), which refers to a heart rate monitor associated with exercise equipment and procedures....

As much as we hate, fear, and loathe California’s red light cameras, we have accepted that they are a part of our life. But while we twiddle our thumbs and wait for an anti-camera activist to underwrite a ballot initiative banning the bane of our existence – like this couple in Houston did – some people are waging a war against red light cameras in California’s courts. This week, Carmen Goldsmith sadly lost her traffic appeal in the Second Appellate District after the court ruled that red light cameras images are not hearsay evidence....

Doping allegations have plagued Russian athletes for years. Prior to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, the World Anti-Doping Agency concluded that Russia’s Anti-Doping Agency, its Ministry of Sport, and Federal Security Service operated a “state-directed” doping system and Russian athletes were banned from the competition. Part of the evidence used for that ruling came from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. More allegations appear to have doomed Russia’s participation in the next Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea....

Although it may ruffle the feathers of environmentalists, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the timber industry and against the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia said a lumber association has standing to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over its designation of 9.5 million acres of land as a critical habitat for the northern spotted owl....

When did the legal industry’s decline begin, in 2009 or so? Though that was a long five years ago, the shockwave from the industry took a while to hit law schools – we saw some decline in demand after the bloated Class of 2010 entered school, but the numbers didn’t hit true historic lows until recently. That’s why now, when we’re almost indisputably on a new path, it’s especially interesting to see where students are looking, education-wise....

In a dispute over attorney’s fees in a patent infringement action, the district court’s decision not to award attorney’s fees is affirmed where: 1) nothing in the record compels a finding of exceptionality or otherwise suggests a need for the district court to provide its reasoning, and thus the lack of detailed analysis by the court does not warrant reversal; and 2) the court did not err in failing to entertain a motion for attorney’s fees, and any error that did occur was harmless....

Between “The Good Wife,” “How To Get Away With Murder,” and now the lamentable “Bad Judge,” it looks like lawyer shows are making a comeback – but they’re not all that good. 1. “Serve and Protect.” By day, the main character is a tough-as-nails New York City cop. By night, he’s a tough-as-nails waiter in a hipster Brooklyn gastropub. “No, you can’t sub kale chips for truffle-infused tater tots! Not on my watch!...

Here we are already, rounding the corner to 2014. It seems like 2013 flew by, but the D.C. Circuit saw a good deal of action in that time. As we gear up for yet another year of D.C. jurisprudence, let’s relive some of the lessons the D.C. Circuit taught us in 2013: Filibuster reform does work. After what seemed like half a year’s worth of stonewalling and posturing, the Senate finally confirmed three nominees to the D....

Three daycare workers were arrested in Atlanta for leaving a four year old boy inside a van for an hour. The boy honked the van’s horn repeatedly until he drew the attention of neighbors. Temperatures reached 90 degrees that day in Atlanta, and the boy appeared to be overheated, and had taken off his shirt and shoes. Though the daycare at the Evelyn Redmond Christian Academy is not a licensed daycare, it does have special exemption to have a certain number of children in their care from 10 a....

“Woman seeking dog” is not a legitimate category on Craigslist’s online personal ads. But that didn’t stop three Arizona swingers from allegedly using the site to try to commit bestiality with a dog. Sheriff’s deputies arrested Shane Walker, 38, his wife Sara, 33, and their friend Robert Aucker, 29, after they allegedly went online to find a dog for Sara Walker to have sex with, Phoenix’s KPHO-TV reports. The trio got in touch with a man who offered a male golden shepherd canine mix to fulfill their bestiality fetish....

By Maryam Ansari, Esq. Well, it’s not quite from the underworld. But it is a tale from prison. Only this crime wasn’t committed by a prison inmate. It was committed by a jailhouse employee. A correctional officer has been arrested for trafficking drugs into the prison, reports NBC 13 Indiana. How did he get caught with the controlled substances? Travis Wilbur, allegedly used Taco Bell wrappers to smuggle drugs into the Plainfield Correctional Facility while he was an employee there....

A 65-year-old well-regarded University of Georgia professor was arrested for prostituting himself as a cross dressing drag queen named “Sasha”. In a sting operation, police officers responded to an ad placed by UGA professor Max Reinhart on the website backpage.com for transsexual services. An undercover cop met with Sasha/Reinhart, and the cross dressing professor arranged for 30 minutes of “services” for $60 with the cop. That’s when the cop arrested Reinhart and charged the Georgia professor with prostitution, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution....

A divided D.C. Circuit panel ordered the United States Election Assistance Commission to remove additional, state-specific citizenship questions from the federal voter registration form on Friday. That form already requires U.S. citizenship as a requirement to register to vote, but the states of Kansas, Georgia, and Alabama had requested additional citizenship questions in the section of the form dedicated to state-specific instructions. The brief order from the D.C. Circuit requires the EAC to remove state-specific instructions from the form and ignore those questions on completed forms....