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Earlier this week, there came the news that President Barack Obama had nominated not one, but two, people to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. We already talked about the nomination of Caitlin Halligan and the controversy surrounding her nomination to the bench. As you may recall, she had already been nominated once and her nomination had been filibustered by the Senate Republicans. Now, let’s talk about the other nominee, Sri Srinivasan....

What do you get when you cross a bunch of goat hunters with the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)? Apparently, a bunch of very speculative appeals. In an unlikely team-up, hunters and conservationists had sued the FWS, officially through the Secretary of the Interior, for blatantly ignoring their applications to have the markhor, a goat that inhabits a hilly area of Pakistan, downgraded from an “endangered” to a “threatened” species....

The U.S. Justice Department is streamlining prosecutions to avoid doubling-up on corporations accused of misconduct, according to reports. “Repeated punishment for the same conduct has the potential to undermine the spirit of fair play and the rule of law,” said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. If only individuals – straddling charges from multiple agencies – could get the same break. That would be news, too. Corporate Benefits President Trump has made good on campaign promises to corporations, easing taxes on business and loosening up on regulation....

If you had counterfeit fifty dollar bills, what would you buy? A basketful of groceries? Some new clothes? All the Taco Bell you can eat? Or maybe you’re worried that a big business will recognize your fake money, so you look for an unsuspecting rube to exchange your counterfeit $50 for smaller, real bills. Maybe that little girl running a lemonade stand to raise money for Alzheimer’s research. If that’s what you’re thinking, congratulations – you are a terrible person....

A lawsuit about an insomnia medication has kept lawyers awake at night for the last five years. Who would have thought? Tyco Healthcare manufactures Restoril, an insomnia medication. The patent covers formulations of Restoril with a particular surface area. Its competitor, Mutual Pharmaceutical, wanted to make a generic version of Restoril with a larger surface area. Tyco sued for patent infringement, but a district court agreed with Mutual, finding that a generic version of Restoril with a larger surface area couldn’t possibly infringe on Tyco’s patent....

Denial of plaintiff’s petitions for writ of mandate directing defendants to set aside a 2001 County General Plan Amendment (GPA) that alters the definition of “net acreage” for failure to prepare an environmental impact report (EIR) is reversed in part and affirmed in part where: 1) substantial evidence supports a finding that the GPA could have a significant impact on the environment, and therefore, the County should have prepared an EIR; and 2) in all other respects, the orders of the trial court denying the writs of mandate are affirmed....

Dismissal of former government employer’s grievance appeal as untimely vacated Johnson v. Dep’t of Veterans Affairs, 09-3292, concerned a challenge to an arbitrator’s dismissal of petitioner’s grievance for lack of jurisdiction in finding petitioner’s grievance appeal untimely In a former government employee’s request for arbitration regarding her discharge from the Department of Veterans Affairs. In vacating the judgment, the court held that, under the terms of the CBA, petitioner could have, and did, file a letter which simultaneously served as a formal grievance and requested ADR, and it was legal error for the arbitrator to find otherwise....

Let’s take a look at what’s behind the numbers, and any potential ramifications. June 2014 LSAT Figures The Law School Admission Council released test taker figures for the June 2014 exam, which show that 21,802 students sat for the exam: That’s a 9.1% dip from last June and is an overall 14-year low for the June exam. What makes it even worse is that there was a short reprieve in February, with a small increase (no matter because it was the first increase since 2010) for the February exam, reports The Wall Street Journal....

Reading someone else’s text messages is generally frowned upon but sometimes it happens. At least, that’s what Assistant District Attorney Doug Mann and defense lawyer Eric Perkins are arguing. The pair have been ordered to attend ten and five hours of ethic classes, respectively, by a judge who claims she caught them snooping. Judge Angelica Hernandez recused herself from a capital case involving the pair and banned Mann from her courtroom until he completes the class....

Forget about traveling light. DEA agents arrested California socialite, Lisette Lee, carrying 506 pounds of marijuana in 13 suitcases, the Columbus Dispatch reports. She was arrested with the pot at the airport after flying to Ohio from California on a private jet. Lee, 28, was picked up by Drug Enforcement Administration agents with a body guard and two assistants in tow. Lisette Lee is accused of bringing 23 bales of marijuana to Columbus and is now facing charges in U....

If the allegations are true, Texas resident Benito Apolinar has some serious Facebook rage. Police in Carlsbad, N.M. arrested Apolinar last week after he allegedly punched his estranged wife in the face. He was in New Mexico to drop off the pair’s children, but returned to his wife’s home while intoxicated. A fight then ensued, and Apolinar berated his wife for not “liking” his Facebook status. He had posted about the anniversary of his mother’s death....

A South Carolina man faces littering fines in connection with a massive tire pile visible from space, and now authorities are piling on more charges. Grand juries in two counties have indicted George Fontella Brown, 39, for violating the state’s waste disposal law. The indictments accuse Brown of dumping at least 250,000 used tires across more than 50 acres of property, The Times and Democrat reports. “You can see it from space,” Calhoun County Council Chairman David Summers told the Associated Press....

An unnamed 33-year-old woman from Delavan, Wisconsin has filed a herpes lawsuit against her former Edgerton lover, alleging that he exposed her to the sexually transmitted disease and failed to disclose the fact prior to their tryst. Which happened in the back of his pickup truck. While they were both married. Unable to recover from the embarrassment, will the woman be able to recover the $350,000 she has asked for?...

California’s anti-SLAPP statute can be one of the most powerful tools in a civil litigator’s toolbox. The law is meant to counteract “strategic lawsuits against public participation” such as libel claims against a coworker who opens up an internal investigation, or intentional infliction of emotional distress suits over a negative online review. California’s anti-SLAPP statute is the oldest in the nation and arguably the best. Not only can it result in the dismissal of a suit, an anti-SLAPP motion halts proceedings and, if successful, can achieve an award of attorney’s fees....

Conviction of defendant on multiple counts of kidnapping and sex-related crimes is affirmed where defendant’s Sixth Amendment right of confrontation was not violated by admission of a lead nurse practitioner’s testimony regarding a report prepared by a nontestifying nurse, as People v. Geier (2007) 41 Cal.4th 555 is still controlling law after Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 129 S.Ct. 2527 (2009), where the supervisor of the analyst who prepared the reports testified at trial and Melendez-Diaz involved only “near-contemporaneous” affidavits that were prepared almost one week after the tests were performed, whereas this case involves contemporaneous recordation of observable events....

It’s all fun and games until a kid gets a Coke with his Happy Meal. Or at least that’s what anti-fun town Davis, California thinks.* The Davis City Council rained on every child’s fast food parade by outlawing soda as the default drink of choice for kids’ meals. Instead, restaurants must offer children milk (blegh!) or water (double-blegh!) unless their parents, who we hope are more awesome than the city council, ask for soda specifically....

Talk about being the butt of a potentially dangerous joke. A North Carolina teenager allegedly spiked a teacher’s coffee with butt-enhancement pills, Charlotte’s WBTV reports. Butt-enhancement pills? Yes, they exist, and they’re being sold online for about $50 per bottle. The pills allegedly used in the teacher’s coffee, called GluteBoost, promise “a bigger booty 100% risk free.” But that doesn’t cover the risk of getting caught spiking a teacher’s coffee....

Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International was one of the most anticipated patent decisions this term, as companies and attorneys alike, were eager to see how the Supreme Court would determine the fate of software patents. And all that waiting with bated breath was for naught. Instead, the Court gave us a ruling that did little to change the existing legal landscape. In a one-paragraph per curiam opinion, that was shorter than the four pages needed to list the attorneys involved in the case, the Federal Circuit held that Alice Corp’s “method and computer-readable media claims are not directed to eligible subject matter under 35 U....

In litigation, the “prevailing party” often wins attorney’s fees and costs, in addition to bragging rights. But what happens if neither party wins? In that case, the issue of whether or not a party “prevailed” depends on whether you’re addressing costs or attorney’s fees. California Code of Civil Procedure §1032(a)(4) offers some guidance with regard to costs: Let’s try applying that section to a fact pattern, shall we? “Prevailing party” includes the party with a net monetary recovery, a defendant in whose favor a dismissal is entered, a defendant where neither plaintiff nor defendant obtains any relief, and a defendant as against those plaintiffs who do not recover any relief against that defendant....

If you’re wondering why today is Star Wars Day, consider that it’s May 4th and then make a list of all the terrible “Star Wars”-based puns you can think of based on that. There aren’t any lawyers in A Galaxy Far, Far Away, but that doesn’t mean lawyers couldn’t learn a thing or two from George Lucas’ universe. Here are some takeaways for you – from the original trilogy, of course....