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A disgraced priest sexually abused a young woman during an exorcism ritual, a lawsuit claims. The spirit is now moving her to seek $5.3 million in damages, but not from her abuser. The woman, identified as Jane Doe, has already settled her claims against the Rev. Thomas Euteneuer of Palm Beach, Fla., Reuters reports. The financial settlement’s terms were not disclosed. Euteneuer resigned as president of an anti-abortion group and its endowment in 2010 after the woman came forward with her allegations....

Guess what day it is? It’s National Cat Day! Every October 29, cat owners and admirers alike have a purr-fect excuse to honor some of the most popular domestic pets in the country – and of course, the Internet as well. In the ultimate showdown of dogs v. cats, feline afficionados will adamantly boast that cats are low-maintenance, they won’t eat your homework, and they’re just as great for companionship....

Good Friday lived up to its name for Shirley Ree Smith. Last week, California Governor Jerry Brown commuted Smith’s 15-years-to-life sentence to time served, based on the “unusual circumstances” in Smith’s case, reports The Associated Press. In October, the Supreme Court told the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the verdict against Smith, scolding the Ninth Circuit for repeatedly supplanting the jury verdict in the case with its own opinion....

Cheeseheads from coast to coast are buying themselves more bragging rights: They’re the newest part-owners of a storied NFL franchise, thanks to the Green Bay Packers’ stock sale. For the fifth time in franchise history, the Packers’ stock sale kicked off last week. More than 20,000 shares were sold in the first two hours, the Green Bay Press Gazette reports. That number soared to 185,000 after the first two days. At a cost of $250 per share, the team had raised $43 million by last Thursday morning, according to an Associated Press tally....

One foreign eco-terrorist won’t be breaking rocks in prison, she’ll be cracking books instead. Rebecca Rubin, 40, of British Columbia, Canada, was convicted in federal court in Oregon for her part in a “massive eco-sabotage campaign” as part of the Earth Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front. According to The Oregonian, Rubin was sentenced to five years in prison … and advised to read two books by pop science writer Malcolm Gladwell....

On October 23rd, the Southern California Gas Company’s natural gas storage well sprung a leak in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Porter Ranch. For over two months, it has spewed gas, releasing over 80,000 metric tons of methane. No one seems able to stop it, either. While the leak pumps out thousands of tons of toxic greenhouse gases, the lawsuits are already piling up: 25 so far and climbing. The leak has been described as one of the worst environmental disasters in decades....

Whether you’re on the job hunt, searching for a mentor, or just trying to connect with other professionals, you’re going to want to network. Developing a strong professional network lets you keep ahead on industry developments, helps inform you of new jobs and legal opportunities, and provides support should you need advice or assistance. But, making a connection takes more than a handshake and a business card. If you’re a bore – or a boar – while networking, you may be doing more harm to yourself than good....

Plaintiffs’ suit against family members for elder abuse of their deceased grandmother dismissed for lack of standing Lickter v. Lickter, C061782, concerned a challenge to the trial court’s grant of defendants’ motion for summary judgment for lack of standing, in plaintiffs’ suit against their father, their half-sisters, and their half-sisters’ mother for elder abuse and other related causes of action that had belonged to their grandmother when she died. The court also held that there was no triable issue of fact as to whether one of the half-sisters acted in bad faith or engaged in reckless, malicious, oppressive, or fraudulent conduct, she cannot be deemed to have predeceased the grandmother under Probate Code section 259....

Louisville Slugger is probably the most famous name in bat making. But a group of customers are suing the legendary brand, claiming it manufactured a defective bat and then tried to avoid liability by claiming the defect was intentional, to help customers improve their swings. It’s a novel approach, but will it be a home run in court? Foul Bat Lead plaintiff in the case George Alea claims he bought the $400 Louisville Slugger Prime BBCOR for his son, who noticed that the handle of the bat moved independently from the barrel when he swung it....

Some people take their morning coffee seriously. Very seriously. Tony Lee Pennington is on trial for shooting his house guest, a friend of over 40 years, with an assault rifle for failing to make him a cup of coffee. The victim, Dewayne Turner, is kind enough to say he feels it was an accident, but the alleged assailant is trying to escape all responsibility by claiming the rifle dropped and shot Turner, ironically right after the assailant threatened to shoot him....

Missouri Pub. Serv. Comm’n. v. FERC, No. 09-1121, concerned a petition for review before this court of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) decision regarding the inclusion of acquisition premium costs in petitioner-utility’s initial rates. The court of appeals granted the petition, on the ground that FERC’s action was plainly inconsistent with its own precedents and also inconsistent with the agency’s treatment of the acquisition premiums embedded in the costs associated with the pipelines at issue....

While no one expected a repeat of the 1995 Major League Baseball strike, labor negotiations came down to the wire between the MLB and player representatives this week. With little more than 24 hours before the prior player agreement was set to expire, the players and management were able to agree to terms for another five year renewal. Surprisingly though, one of the terms of the new deal prohibits new players from using chewing tobacco, also known as chew, dip, and smokeless tobacco....

Melissa Rodriguez, a former Oak Room pastry chef at New York’s Plaza hotel, has filed a $25 million lawsuit against former Executive Chef Eric Hara, claiming that, as her boss, he subjected her to sexual and physical harassment for the year she was on the job. In one of the stranger allegations, Rodriguez accuses Hara of throwing her in the trash, and dumping cream, chocolate sauce, and honey in her hair on a near-daily basis....

This is the fifth in a series about this year’s California ballot propositions. Hopefully we can help sort out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to claims about what these propositions do and don’t do. In case you missed them, here are our discussions of Propositions 46, 47, 48, and the missing-in-action Prop. 49. Remember the Affordable Care Act? Yeah, it was in the news from time to time....

Every lawyer is expected to opine about the outcome of a case, but not to make psychic predictions. Attorney Steven F. Macek, however, is not like every lawyer. He is not like any lawyer because he is also a psychic. “I do it more than law,” he told the Boston Globe. Macek has an interesting side gig for an attorney, but then how does any lawyer know what they’re going to do in the future?...

Air Transp. Ass’n of Am. v. US Dept. of Transp., No. 08-1293, involved a petition for review of amendments to the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) 1996 Policy Regarding Airport Rates and Charges allowing an airport to charge aircraft higher landing fees at peak times, a practice known as congestion pricing. The court of appeals denied the petition on the grounds that 1) the court deferred to the DOT’s reasonable interpretation of the statutory prohibition of unjust discrimination; 2) setting landing fees that complied with all applicable statutes and regulations was within the scope of an airport authority’s power as proprietor; and 3) because the amendments left only two variables to the discretion of the airport proprietor, and thus set out a nearly complete pricing algorithm, the DOT provided sufficient guidance....

Satire: “A way of using humor to show that someone or something is foolish, weak, bad.” - Merriam Webster Apparently, one Tennessee woman didn’t know satire when she was reading it. Pamela Downs allegedly couldn’t understand why police arrested her for counterfeiting money when President Obama had already made printing your own money legal. This story is a good reminder not to believe everything you read online – especially given the wide range of satire websites peppering the web with their “news” headlines....

If you’re planning on starting law school this coming fall, you might be wondering what kind of technological devices you need to get before you’re elbow deep in legal scholarship. Assuming you already have a newer laptop and smartphone, as well as a functional printer, you probably don’t need anything else. After all, there’s an app for everything, even the finer things in life. Below, you’ll find a few of the must-have pieces of hardware that’ll make law school just a little bit better....

Mootness is something every lawyer knows about, theoretically speaking. When obtaining equitable relief, however, the issue of mootness need to be thought of well in advance of appeal, as proper steps need to be taken early in the game. Here’s an example from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, where preemptive thinking could have kept the issue ripe for appeal. A housing complex for elderly and disabled residents was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina....

Spending too much money is a common temptation for many successful professionals, including lawyers. Like professional athletes who sometimes burn through fortunes without saving for retirement, some attorneys will spend their money on a flashy BMW while student loans burn holes in their pockets. That’s a money-management sort of thing. The biggest temptation for some practitioners, however, is a criminal sort of thing. It’s tax fraud. Underreporting Income Michael Cohen, for example, has been in the news for paying women hush money for the president....