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In a dispute involving a request for a tax refund, Court of Federal Claims’ judgment is affirmed where the government’s interpretation of the law is entitled to deference as its denial of plaintiff’s refund claim on grounds that the assessment period under 26 U.S.C. sec. 6501 had expired was reasonable and not inconsistent with any prior interpretation that was entitled to deference. Read Abbott Labs. v. US, No. 09-5014 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States Court of Federal ClaimsDecided July 29, 2009...

D.C. Circuit judges benchslapped the parties in Illinois Public Telecommunications Association v. FCC with an order to submit briefs that eliminate the uncommon acronyms used in their previously filed final briefs. The judges directed their attention over to the D.C. Circuit’s Handbook of Practices and Internal Procedures and a Notice Regarding Use of Acronyms, which provide as much specific guidance as the order does regarding what’s acceptable. Under the D.C. Circuit’s Handbook of Practices and Internal Procedures, the rule states that there must be a glossary defining abbreviations and acronyms other than those in common usage....

Elmer’s Restaurant in Oregon fell victim to a bug spray burglary earlier this week. Police say that a man looked the part to commit a serious felony. He concealed himself with a green hooded sweatshirt. He covered up traces of fingerprints by wearing gloves. He even wore a blonde wig that was pulled over his face. The only thing the burglar apparently forgot was the right weapon to commit the crime....

Some hostile work environment claims are a little iffy. They are filled with suggestion or innuendo. The summary judgment phase in such claims might be a close call. Placide Ayissi-Etoh’s hostile work environment claim against Fannie Mae is not one of those claims, according to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. In the second exchange, Ayissi-Etoh met with Thomas Cooper, a Vice President of Internal Audit at Fannie Mae, to discuss why he was performing staff-level work despite being promoted Team Lead....

In a legal malpractice action, summary judgment for Defendant law firm is affirmed where previous litigation involving Defendant’s fee applications and the malpractice claim arose out of the same nucleus of facts and the identity element of res judicata was satisfied. Read Capitol Hill Grp. v. Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman, LLC, No. 08-7109 Appellate Information Argued May 11, 2009 Decided June 26, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Brown Counsel For Appellant:...

Do you want to actually have a job as a lawyer after you graduate? Then you should really do your best to get into University of Chicago. Data by the ABA and analyzed by The National Law Journal suggests that 91 percent of grads went out with a full time job, more than any other law school in the nation. It’s another stellar year for the school that had similarly great results for the year 2014....

“We are rationing justice, and it has become more than a fiscal problem. It is, in my view, it is now a civil rights problem. … We know we are denying the protections of an American democracy.” The rhetoric, justified or not, is flowing hard after Gov. Jerry Brown released a budget plan that, despite a $105 million increase in court funding, will do little to keep our court system from teetering on collapse....

If you thought the college admissions scandal that brought down Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin was confined to Aunt Becky, think again. Federal prosecutors also indicted nine college coaches for their role in an alleged bribery scheme that funneled rich kids into elite schools. That’s because part of the scheme involved creating fake athlete profiles for applicants that otherwise could not academically qualify for enrollment. Here’s how it worked. The admissions standards for prospective athletes at many schools are often lower than those for regular students....

Over the weekend, Gov. Gerry Brown signed SB 1172, a bill prohibiting mental health providers from engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with patients under 18 years of age. The soon-to-be-banned “conversion” or “reparative” therapies include a wide variety of techniques, (like counseling, shock therapy, and exorcism), used in an attempt to “cure” individuals of their homosexual and transgender leanings. Gov. Brown explained, “This bill bans non-scientific ’therapies’ that have driven young people to depression and suicide....

Gender dysphoria was a puzzling subject of debate before the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Arguing for President Trump’s policy against transgenders in the military, a government lawyer said people with the condition are not fit for service. Representing the plaintiffs, a private attorney, said the policy unlawfully discriminates against them. The appeals court listened, but had some questions about the condition. One judge said transgender individuals have gender dysphoria by definition, don’t they?...

The doctrine of patent exhaustion remains sound in light of recent Supreme Court rulings, an en banc Federal Circuit ruled last Friday. That doctrine, also known as the “first sale” doctrine, allows patent owner’s to avoid exhaustion of their rights by selling a patented product subject to clear limitations on resale or post-sale use. That doctrine allows, for example, restrictions on the resale of printing cartridges, as was the case here....

In Forecast Homes, Inc. v. Steadfast Ins. Co., G040876, the California Court of Appeals for the Fourth District addressed the issue of whether the self-insured retention (SIR) provision in the insurance policy purchased by subcontractors allowed for indemnity to the general contractor. The Court affirmed the trial court’s holding that, in looking at the pertinent forms of the policy, only the named insured subcontractors, not plaintiff, had the right to satisfy the SIR per occurrence amounts and defendant’s defense obligation had not been triggered....

A Florida grandmother will be serving six months in jail after being caught doing the nasty in a retirement village’s public pavilion. Peggy Klemm, 68, soon to be the hottest cougar in Sumter County jail, accepted a plea deal in the face of indecent exposure and disorderly conduct charges filed after she was caught boinking at Lake Sumter Landing’s Market Square (in a retirement town known as “The Villages.”) Orlando’s WKMG-TV reports that Klemm, a grandmother of 14, was tearful in court as she said “so long” to her husband of 50 years – who was not the man she was caught having sex with....

We all want sports to be fun, especially at the youth recreational level. “That’s the thing,” Ohio parent Tony Rue told WLWT, “those names are not having fun. It’s not so much even if we had black students or African-American students, or any minority students. Our kids were offended.” Rue was referring to the names printed on the back of one youth basketball team’s jerseys, names that included “Knee Grow” and “Coon....

Juvenile court’s judgment terminating a mother’s parental rights over her two children is affirmed as: 1) the mother lacked standing to raise notice and inquiry issues; 2) the mother forfeited any right to raise the notice and inquiry issues; and 3) although the court should have inquired into the children’s absence from a continued hearing, they were provided sufficient notice, and any error was harmless. Read In re Desiree M., No....

Prospective law students typically consider rankings, admissions policies, and personal factors to decide on a law school, but now they really have to look deeper. They have to look at a law school’s financial stability. Too many law schools have been failing, leaving students saddled with debt and scrambling for somewhere else to go. It’s a big problem because many law schools have felt a financial crunch in recent years, but some are dealing with it better than others....

In some of the more ribald news we have had to discuss this year, Cross County District Judge Joseph Boeckmann stepped down from the bench after stories floated to the surface that he handed out softer sentences for men who went to his home and posed nude or who engaged in other related acts. According to findings so far, the allegations against Boeckmann don’t simply stem from recent times: some allegations date back as far as three decades ago, according to Associated Press....

In a petition to terminate Plaintiff’s parental rights, Plaintiff’s Welfare & Institutions Code section 388 petition is remanded with instructions to dismiss, where the Juvenile Court no longer had jurisdiction to hear the matter because the child’s dependency had been terminated. Read M.S. v. Riverside Cty. Dept. of Soc. Servs., No. E045331 in HTML. Read M.S. v. Riverside Cty. Dept. of Soc. Servs., No. E045331 in PDF. Appellate Information APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County....

Few feelings rival the intensity with which parents seek to protect their children. From the helpless stages of infancy well into adulthood, parents try to guard against germs, sharp corners, bad influences, inadequate love interests, and poor life choices. In Michigan, one group of parents is trying to protect their children from the overreach of the state. Their lawsuit claims that Michigan took and stored the blood of over 5 million newborns without consent....

Court of appeals’ application of a 20-year sentence enhancement under Penal Code section 12022.53(c) to a defendant convicted of a gang-related crime is affirmed where, because the felony of shooting at an inhabited dwelling was punishable by a life term under section 186.22(b)(4), and it was committed to benefit a criminal street gang, defendant committed a felony punishable by . . . imprisonment in the state prison for life within the meaning of subdivision (a)(17) of section 12022....