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Avid Identification Sys., Inc. v. Crystal Import Corp., No. 09-1216, concerned a plaintiff’s suit alleging infringement of a patent directed to a multi-mode radio-frequency identification system for reading encoded biocompatible chips for implantation in aninals. In affirming the district court’s judgment that the patent was valid and infringed, but unenforceable for inequitable conduct, the court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in rejecting the argument that plaintiff’s founder and president owed no duty of candor to the PTO as he withheld material information regarding his sales demonstrations of products that reflected the closest prior art to claims of the patent....

As they say, no good deed goes unpunished. Volunteer rescuer Nick Papageorge’s IV (not a typo; that’s apparently his real name, though the Los Angeles Times spells it without the “s” or the apostrophe) was injured in April 2013 when he went searching for two missing hikers in Cleveland National Forest (which is actually about an hour east of San Diego, for some reason). Papageorge’s fractured his spine after falling off a 110-foot cliff while looking for 18-year-old Kyndall Jack and 19-year-old Nicholas Cendoya....

Scientists are still wrapping their heads around chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease discovered, most notably, in ex-NFL players. Researchers still haven’t found tests to definitively identify CTE in living people, but they are pinpointing signs and symptoms displayed by those with CTE before they die, from confusion, disorientation, dizziness, and headaches in early stages to dementia, depression, suicidality, social instability, and impulsive behavior in later stages. And while science is still trying to sort out how CTE works, criminal attorneys are trying to figure out if the brain disease can work as a defense to criminal behavior....

A bidding war is on for a 27-year-old medical student’s virginity, with the top bid Tuesday listed at $300,000. Is this even legal? Going by the pseudonym “Elizabeth Raine,” the med student opened the auction on March 31 and plans to close it by May 7. “Raine” told The Huffington Post that she fears “getting kicked out of medical school” if officials discover her “Med School Virgin” identity. Can “Raine” legally auction off her virginity?...

In plaintiffs’ products liability suit against defendants for injuries caused by exposure to asbestos-containing products aboard US Navy vessels, trial court’s judgment in favor of the plaintiffs is reversed in where: 1) plaintiffs have not shown that defendant manufactured, supplied, or distributed the products which caused his exposure to asbestos; and 2) defendant is not liable in strict liability for failing to warn of the dangerous properties of those products or for a design defect in those products....

Harrun Majeed, a navy veteran and current college student, was picking up supplies for his son’s birthday when he lost his credit card. Unable to find the card and needing to prep for the family party, he headed home to give the bank a call, reports local station WTSP. Unfortunately, he was too late. Someone had already used the card. Turns out Richard Ludwig, a millionaire dentist, was the culprit. He bought two large pizzas and arrogantly sprung for extra olives....

Recently, the issue of whether unaccompanied minor immigrant detainees, including unaccompanied minors, should have the right to get an abortion has been in the national spotlight. This is due to a change in federal policy that now prohibits the feds (HHS) from “facilitating” an abortion for this specific class of detainees. That policy seems to have led to the recently espoused and misguided sensationalist view that immigrants are illegally entering the country in order to secure free abortions....

With NFL training camps set to open this week, two of the game’s biggest defensive stars were wrapping up a little off-season defensive work in the courtroom. San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith and Carolina Panthers defensive end Greg Hardy were both convicted in separate criminal cases last week, with Smith pleading no contest and Hardy being found guilty following a trial. What were the players convicted of and how serious are their sentences?...

A “Ding Dong Ditch” prank by a few teenagers has resulted in a serious lawsuit. The parents of a boy who was shot in the leg during a game of Ding Dong Ditch have filed a $2.5 million gross negligence lawsuit, the Tennessean reports. Jeff and Sherri Robinson have filed a gross negligence lawsuit against a man who thought his home was being broken into and opened fire, shooting their 17-year-old son Joseph in the leg....

Defendant’s battery conviction is affirmed where: 1) counsel was not ineffective for failing to pursue his Pitchess motion, because defendant made it abundantly clear that he wanted the trial to commence as quickly as possible, even if it meant giving up his Pitchess motion; and 2) a violation of Cal. Pen. Code section 4501.5 is a necessarily included offense of a violation of Cal. Pen. Code section 4501.1.3. Read People v....

Trial court’s judgment revoking defendant’s probation and sentencing him to prison is affirmed as, the evidence of the probation report admitted was in the nature of documentary material that is admissible in a probation revocation hearing. Read People v. Gomez, NO. B213013 [HTML] Read People v. Gomez, NO. B213013 [PDF] Appellate Information Filed February 4, 2010 Judges Opinion by Judge Mallano CounselFor Appellant: Joseph T. Tavano For Appellee: Edmund G. Brown, Jr....

Philosophically speaking, is it more humane to get a lobster stoned before you steam it to death? Or, similar to Gertrude Stein’s famous quote, a death is a death is a death, especially when you are boiled alive. Charlotte’s Legendary Lobster Pound in Southwest Harbor, Maine, has expressed interest in hotboxing its lobsters before killing them in order to ease their anxiety. Lobsters slated for imminent consumption are removed for the lobster tanks, placed in a box, where marijuana smoke is blown in, so as to pacify the lobsters....

Retail apocalypse. It conjures up images of angry workers, desolate parking lots, dogs and cats living together … Well, angry workers and desolate parking lots will be at the mall closures for sure. Dogs and cats living together, only if a pet store chain is closing. In any case, the retail apocalypse is coming and it’s not going to be pretty. More than 3,500 mall-based stores are shutting down in the biggest wave of retail closures since the Great Recession....

The connection may seem odd to those of us who have partaken of a 24 Hour Fitness Yoga class (never again!), but the droll series of stretches and mind-numbing meditation that has become an American pop culture phenomenon actually began as a Hindu religious practice. So, when a non-profit foundation, named for Sri K Pattahbi Jois, gave a massive $533,000 grant to teach Ashtanga (Eight Limbed) Yoga to public school children in the San Diego area, it raised a few eyebrows and one big lawsuit....

Darlene Fraga is understandably upset that the Virgin Mary on her front yard was decapitated and the head replaced with a garden gnome, but does that make it a hate crime? That’s her claim for now after the incident which took place in Windsor, Connecticut. It happened several weeks ago when Fraga woke up to find her Virgin Mary statue sitting headless in the front yard. A week after that a gnome was placed on the statue where the head used to be....

I don’t even know where to start with this one: the “bar” puns or “lawyers are such alcoholics …” trope that this feeds so well into. The American [Legal] Bar Association has a wine club. That’s right, our office just got an email from ABA Leisure presenting their wine club and wine store (via Uncorked.com). The unsolicited email promises “curated” wines for “all palates and budgets,” and if you’re the type that doesn’t need monthly deliveries of booze to your doorstep, there’s also a store for one-off purchases....

A Pennsylvania woman was fined $500 by a judge for audibly cursing in open court after being chosen for a criminal jury. The ever-genteel Kathleen Port was picked as a juror in a weapons case, much to her chagrin. She thanked the court by uttering what a reporter described as “the worst curse word of them all,” and was held in contempt of court by the trial judge, reports Erie Times-News....

It’s been a rough offseason for the NFL North. The Detroit Lions have had their fair share of legal troubles ranging from DUIs to drug possessions. Now formerly squeaky clean Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been arrested following an altercation at a Houston nightclub. Peterson, 27, originally from Palestine, Texas, was allegedly hanging out outside a club right around closing time. An off-duty cop who was working security approached Peterson and his group and told them to leave, reports The Associated Press....

Ashley Alford sued rent-to-own furniture store Aaron’s Inc. with sexual harassment. An Illinois jury has now awarded her with $95 million in damages. Her attorneys believe that this is one of the largest jury verdicts ever in a sexual harassment lawsuit, reports the New York Daily News. Alford was a former employee at Aaron’s, Inc. in St. Louis. She suffered some strange - and likely humiliating - sexual harassment from her former manager, Richard Moore, according to the New York Daily News....

Attorneys general from 26 states filed an amici curiae brief in a suit over San Francisco’s “gun locker” ordinance last week, increasing the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court will take the case (which they were probably going to, anyway). On March 25, 2014, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit determined that the ordinance, which requires that handguns stored at a residence be kept in a locked container or disabled with a trigger lock, didn’t violate the Second Amendment....