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Has there ever been a more brilliant hacking scam in the history of America, or the world, for that matter? Ransomware is a virus that takes over your computer, locks the screen and all functionality, and then demands a ransom before it (sometimes) returns control over your computer. Sometimes, when payment is sent, an unlock code is passed to a server, which then releases the “kidnapped” system. Other times, they’ll take the money and run....

Do you get excited when a character in a show or movie says the name of the show or movie even though it just doesn’t make sense? If so, and you like the Beatles, you’ll likely get a big kick out of the First Circuit’s opinion in the Evans v. USA case. Judge Bruce Seyla, in writing the opinion in a case that loosely relates to the invasion of the Asian Longhorn Beetle, the jurist makes numerous references to the Beatles and how the band caused so much chaos during the British Invasion they spawned the phrase “Beatlemania....

If Law & Order ever wants to give a civil dispute its “ripped-from-the-headlines” treatment, this case is an excellent contender. Adam Anhang Uster was murdered in September 2005 while leaving a restaurant with his wife of six months, Áurea Vázquez-Rijos. In March 2006, Vázquez sued Adam’s parents, Abraham and Barbara Anhang, in Puerto Rico Superior Court, alleging that the Anhangs had assumed control of Adam’s estate and had prevented her from accessing the assets therein....

In June, Cameron Bates, a former Florida sheriff’s deputy, was convicted of possessing child pornography. But Bates also had sexual relationships with adult men, and he figured this information would be used at trial (which it was). Bates tried to head the problem off during voir dire by seeking to exclude potential jurors who were prejudiced against men who had sex with men. The trial court denied the request. As expected, evidence of Bates’ sexual relationships with adult men “was repeatedly paraded before the jury, over several objections from Mr....

Junk food addiction may become your firm’s new practice niche. That is, if it catches on. One Yale professor seems to think it might. Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity says that she thinks new scientific finding about junk food could change the legal landscape. Apparently, scientists are now finding that junk food affects the brain similar to a drug. Those addicted to junk food seem to suffer from similar impacts on the mind as individuals addicted to cocaine and nicotine....

We feel so dirty. The Wall Street Journal ran an interesting story last week about a new tactic that companies are employing to deal with cybersecurity threats and data breaches - hiring lawyers. Now, that probably isn’t surprising to you - for nearly every significant data breach, there’s a class action lawsuit filed in response. However, the real surprising part of the story was that the firms aren’t being hired for their legal skills - they’re being hired for privilege....

In Paredes v. Thaler, No. 07-70009, a capital habeas matter, the court affirmed the denial of petitioner’s habeas petition, holding that 1) the Texas courts did not unreasonably apply clearly established federal law as determined by the U.S. Supreme Court because whether the jury charge at issue went beyond the limits of how a state may define a single offense of multiple murder was not clearly established; and 2) petitioner could not establish prejudice from the disjunctive jury charge because the jury was also permitted to conclude that he was criminally responsible for the murders under Texas’s law of parties even if he did not personally shoot any of the victims....

One of the more ridiculous inventions in the law has to be the waiver of the right to appeal, especially the right to bring claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Imagine if we could all make our missteps and mistakes go away by having clients sign waivers – there would be no malpractice suits, no insurance requirements, and maybe even no disciplinary proceedings. There would also be a whole heck of a lot more misconduct and far less faith in the justice system....

First it was Alexa and now it is Fitbit – these smart devices are going to court to catch alleged killers. Richard Dabate, the accused, said that a masked intruder shot his wife Connie Dabate. Her Fitbit, however, tells a different story. “The Fitbit could be the star witness in all of this,” reported CNN. Last Movement Dabate, who is being held on $1 million bail in the fatal shooting, told police that the intruder burst into their home and subdued him....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the Internet. Back at the dawn of the commercial Internet era in 2002, the Federal Trade Commission provided guidance to search engines in terms of differentiating between true search results and advertisements. However, over the past 11 years, the FTC has determined that search results and advertisements have become less distinguishable from each other. Accordingly, in correspondence recently sent to major search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo and AOL, the FTC has updated its 2002 guidance....

The United States and Joshua Harman will split a $525 million jury award following a fraud suit in Texas federal court against Trinity Industries, a company that makes those metal highway guard rails that are supposed to stop cars. Key words: supposed to. As it turns out, some of the rails instead turned into metal skewers, slicing through car bodies and killing at least five people, injuring even more. Trinity and the Deadly Inch Here’s the problem: The guard rail “head” – which absorbs the impact of a car hitting it – is supposed to slide along the rail track, safely out of the way....

We occasionally enjoy bouncing out our frustration over bad appellate rulings at the trampoline park, which is great fun as soon as we forget about the electronic liability waiver form we had to complete to get in the door. That waiver says jumping is an inherently dangerous activity, and that we won’t hold the facility liable for injuries resulting from things like exposed springs, or lack of proper equipment, safety measures, or supervision....

Do you ever wonder what the judge is thinking in a case? In this case, you may wonder what was the judge thinking. A former judicial secretary says the judge fired her because he disapproved of her Facebook posts. It is far from a proven allegation in court, but everybody knows a Facebook post can go viral long before a court decision. In any case, the First Amendment usually wins....

What happens when you wait years to release an office suite for mobile, then put it behind the Office 365 paywall? Our best guess: Nobody was using it. That very well might change now that Microsoft has just made Office for iOS (both iPhone and iPad) free to use, with only a handful of advanced features blocked by the paywall. And, if like me, you aren’t carrying an iPhone or iPad, there’s still hope: Both Android and touch-friendly Windows tablets will soon have their own versions of Microsoft’s industry standard suite....

In an action seeking to foreclose on plaintiff’s security interests in loan collateral, district court’s order allowing the foreclosure is affirmed where: 1) collateral estoppel precluded defendants from raising the statute of limitations; 2) plaintiff would be prejudiced by a subrogation that would allow one defendant to compete on an equal or superior footing for the secured interest in the irrigation equipment at issue; and 3) plaintiff was entitled to attorney’s fees under the debt contracts between the parties....

The trial of Ross Ulbricht, the alleged founder of the underground website Silk Road, began in Manhattan on Tuesday. We can eliminate the “alleged” in front of “founder” because Ulbricht, who had always denied involvement with Silk Road, conceded in court that he did found the website, which trafficked predominantly in illegal drugs. But Ulbricht claimed he abandoned it after a few months. It sort of seemed like an open-and-shut case....

Steven Fabrizio, a veteran attorney in the entertainment industry, is taking his work in content protection to new heights as he has accepted a position as senior executive vice president and global general counsel of the Motion Picture Association of America, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Recognized “as one of the preeminent copyright and content protection lawyers in the country,” Fabrizio has represented the MPAA as lead outside counsel as a partner at the Washington, D....

Today was a big day for oral arguments, but not just in D.C. While the Supreme Court grappled with gay marriage and lethal injection, the Fifth Circuit heard panel arguments over Texas’s voter ID law. Texas’s law requires voters to produce specific types of identification in order to cast a ballot. A district court judge found that the law not only had discriminatory effects, but that it was also passed with an unconstitutional discriminatory purpose....

How do you look for new hires? If you’re like most lawyers, you probably spread the word amongst your network, and probably post job listings on various websites. But, there’s a new trend in hiring: holding a hiring contest. A contest? Yes, a contest. One company holds contests for getting successful referrals, according to Inc., and even BarBri got in on the action earlier this year. So how does it work exactly?...

District court’s denial of defendant’s motion to suppress a gun involving a Terry stop is affirmed as the totality of the circumstances supports the district court’s conclusion that officers had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant. Read US v. Wright, No. 08-1063 Appellate Information Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts Decided September 23, 2009 Judges Before: Torruella, Lipez, and Howard, Circuit Judges Opinion by Torruella, Circuit Judge...