Here’s another reason judges should not talk to the media: they might have to recuse themselves. Judge Anthony Mariani should have known his comments on television could come back to bite him. He appeared on “Night Talk” in Pennsylvania and commented on a police shooting. As fate and the assignment desk would have it, the officer was charged with criminal homicide and Mariani got the case. Now the judge has to decide his own fate....
BigLaw firm Akin Gump and Kevin Spacey are somewhat strange bedfellows. Yet here they are, at the center of a legal dispute. Spacey isn’t involved himself. His newest film, Father of Invention, is. Akin Gump alleges that film exec Mark Manuel owes it some money. Manuel helped secure millions of dollars in studio loans for the film. He was only able to do so because of Akin Gump. A lawyer at the firm assisted him with arranging the loans....
Most law firm associates recognize the importance of legal secretaries. They can help streamline a case. They arrange your appointments, make sure you have all the right documents when you’re zipping out of the office, and can be the vital figure that ensures all your motions get filed on time. But are you at a disadvantage in getting that perfect secretary if you’re a female attorney? You might be. It seems that generally, more secretaries prefer to work with male attorneys....
California judges want reform. Over 90 percent of respondents are asking for immediate action from the Judicial Council to adopt recommendations made by the Strategic Evaluation Committee, reports Courthouse News. These recommendations would change the way the Administrative Office of the Courts operates. The responses came during an open call for comments on the reform. Most of the respondents were judges and some of the comments made were harsh. “The AOC is more than just an embarrassment....
Doctors may continue to prescribe life-ending drugs to terminally ill patients who request them in California, according to a state appeals court. The Fourth District Court of Appeals kept the state’s assisted-suicide law alive after a lower court said the law was unconstitutional. The appeals court said the plaintiffs did not have standing to challenge the law because they did not show any harm to themselves. However, the appeals panel also remanded the case for further consideration....
Rumor has it that Kobe, cell phone cameras, and church services simply don’t mix. The Lakers shooting guard is apparently accused of injuring a man during Sunday’s services at St. Therese of Carmel Church in San Diego after he suspected that photos were being taken of him and his wife. He allegedly “wrenched” the guy’s wrist. Kobe allegedly confronted his fellow churchgoer after spotting him acting as though he was taking photos with his cell phone....
If you could ticket yourself, would you? The Groveland, Florida Police Chief did just that this week, issuing himself a ticket and paying a $45 fine for parking his car on the sidewalk in violation of local laws. Melvin Tennyson took responsibility for his failure and told reporters, “I paid my fine like anyone else would.” But one local citizen disputes this, according to the Huffington Post, saying he caught the chief and shamed him into paying by posting pictures of his parking violation online....
The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals’ ruling that defendant was not required to pay interest to the government for a potential violation of Cost Accounting Standard 413, 48 C.F.R. section 9904.413 (CAS 413), is reversed and remanded as defendant’s failure to pay the government in the accounting period required by CAS 413 necessarily resulted in increased costs to the government. Therefore, defendant is liable to the government for compound interest under the CAS clause....
In mandamus proceedings challenging the termination of petitioner’s Medi-Cal provisional provider license by the director of the Department of Health Care Services, specifically disputing that it allowed a pharmacy technician to dispense medication without direct supervision and control of a pharmacist, denial of plaintiff’s petition is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff failed to show a basis for consideration of extra-record evidence; 2) the agency’s decision was not devoid of evidentiary support; 3) plaintiff forfeited its due process argument for failure to provide an adequate legal and factual analysis....
Decision of the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims (Veteran Court) affirming the decision of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals denying petitioner’s claim for service connection for post-traumatic stress disorder is affirmed as, the Veterans Court correctly interpreted 38 U.S.C. sections 5103A and 3.159(c) in holding that VA is not required to obtain disability records from SSA if VA determines, without review of the actual records, that there is no reasonable possibility that such records are relevant to the veteran’s claim for VA disability compensation....
Unsportsman like conduct carries a yardage penalty in professional football. When the ungentelmanly behavior is against a popular Mexican sports reporter, the NFL investigates the claim, and there may more than a yellow flag being tossed into the mix. Ines Sainz, a Jets reporter for Mexico’s TV Azteca may have been the target of harassment on a recent visit to a New York Jets practice. According to the Huffington Post, Sainz was attending a Jets practice to interview team quarterback and standout, Mark Sanchez....
In plaintiff’s suit against a financial lender, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where: 1) defendant was not required to comply with the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act of 1994 (HOEPA), which applies when the finance charges imposed on a loan exceed a certain threshold; 2) two charges imposed on plaintiff, one to pay off a preexisting debt to another lender and another to satisfy a prepayment penalty on a prior home loan, were not finance charges within the meaning of HOEPA; 3) plaintiff has not established a claim against defendant for unfair business practices; and 4) while plaintiff may have a viable claim against her loan broker for financial elder abuse based on various misrepresentations made during the loan process, she failed to link that claim to defendant, who is as much a victim of the broker’s misrepresentations as plaintiff....
Gone are the days when mothers are presumed to be the “chosen parent” for physical custody. Today, all states adhere to the “best interest of the child” standard in determining both legal and physical custody of children. Courts generally believe that children mature best when both parents are active in their lives. But don’t be fooled. Mothers can lose custody for a variety of reasons, and once it’s gone, it may be difficult to regain....
All good things must come to an end, and so do some bad things – even law schools. Since the economy began to push down law school enrollments about seven years ago, the impact has trickled down in a series of law school changes and closures. While the pressure has helped some educators find new ways to attract and retain students, others have looked for solutions in all the wrong places....
Lincoln Memorial University’s law school has won full accreditation from the American Bar Association. It’s cause for celebration at the Duncan School of Law, which has fought for 10 years to achieve full accreditation. The Knoxville-based law school had previously been provisionally accredited by the ABA. At a time when other law schools across the country have lost accreditation or worse, it’s the best of times for students at Duncan School of Law....
Perhaps if you’ve had too many drinks, taking a lawnmower ride in the middle of the night sounds like a good idea. That was the case for an Iowa man who was stopped by deputies at 1 a.m. for drunk drivng a lawnmower down a highway with no headlights, the Associated Press reports. According to authorities the man’s blood-alcohol concentration was .190, though it was unclear what he was doing, or if had been drinking, earlier....
An Iowa man was fired and denied unemployment benefits after he used a forklift to lift a vending machine that had held his Twix candy bar hostage. Robert McKevitt claims that he paid for the Twix candy bar in question, and was only “trying to get the snack he had paid for,” the Des Moines Register reports. Can KcKevitt’s determination for a Twix really keep him unemployed without benefits? This story really would have been a perfect ad for Twix: a man so overcome by his sugar-lust for a Twix bar tries to jostle one free by lifting and dropping the candy machine with a forklift....
Following a pizza robbery in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the robbers got short-shrift when the goods were split. Tony Hamer and another as-yet unidentified man held up a Dominos pizza guy and told him to hand over his money and the pizza he was delivering. The man gave up $20, his cell phone, and the pie. Hamer confessed to planning the crime along with his mystery associate and to acting as a lookout during the robbery....
The Miami-Dade County School Board has announced that it will begin testing high school athletes for steroid use during the upcoming school year. The school district hopes that the pilot testing program, the specifics of which are still being worked out, will discourage the use of performance enhancing drugs by district students, reports the Miami Herald. Announcement of the program comes after Antonio Bosch, founder of the Biogenesis clinic linked to steroid use by Major League Baseball players, admitted to also providing steroids to Florida high school athletes....
Perhaps it was the less-fatigue factor that helped test-takers improve on the California bar exam. The exam – once the toughest bar exam in the country with three days of sometimes impossible questions – slimmed down to a two-day format last July. With that change, the overall pass rate climbed up 6 percent over the previous year. It was a reprieve for students and California law schools, which were so desperate to improve pass rates they asked the state supreme court to lower the cut score....
