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As America’s waistline has gotten bigger, so too have the number of lawsuits that have asked the very important question: is obesity a qualifying disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act? Well, the short answer is no, but the more lawyerly answer is “yes, practically.” Below we get into the weeds of obesity and its relationship with the Americans with Disabilities Act. What Is a “Disability”? Rather than list disabilities accepted under the statute, the ADA gives a definition (hence the trouble)....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. If you feel like you have been hearing quite a bit about data breaches in colleges and universities, there is a reason. Institutions from the educational sector reported more breaches than any other sector for the recent period of September 2008 to March 2009, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse. Indeed, colleges and universities reported four times the number of breaches than the institutions within the health care sector; the sector that reported the second most data security breaches....

Pancy Lin, a partner at Lynberg & Watkins, stepped into harm’s way when she arrived to defend Orange County social workers who had lied in a custody case to wrest custody from the plaintiff’s mother. Based on their perjured testimony, the trial judge took custody of her children away from her. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, having read the social workers’ argument that they were immune from liability in the civil rights action, was ready....

It’s a sad day for the legal blogosphere. U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Kopf, who delighted us with his frank response to the government shutdown (“tell Congress to go to hell,”) and his take on a New York judge’s removal from the widely-watched “Stop and Frisk” litigation (he stated that the Second Circuit “acted like an angry and petulant toddler,”) is retiring from blogging, according to a post on his Hercules and the Umpire blog....

Imelda v. US Atty. Gen., No. 09-11920, involved a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) order affirming the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) decision denying her application for asylum and withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“CAT”). The court of appeals granted the petition on the ground that the government did not meet its burden of demonstrating a fundamental change in country conditions such that petitioner’s life or freedom would not be threatened upon removal to Indonesia based on her religion....

Ransomware was really a simple concept: lock up a computer system until the owner pays to free it. And that’s one of the reasons it became a problem for law firms. Lawyers would pay the “nuisance fee” just to get back to business. Simple. But that was yesterday. Today, ransomware is a little more complicated and a much bigger threat. Threat Is Real By now, everybody knows Russians hack Americans. That includes big law firms – 48 top firms in Chicago just a couple of years ago, if anybody is counting....

In a very strange claim, a pilot of a drug boat that sought to evade the U.S. Coast guard is appealing the forfeiture of over $8 million in cash that was thrown overboard as he and his companions were fleeing capture. Petitioner Robert Hovito Von Bommel Duyzing (Van Bommel), a now-deported Columbian national, appealed to the First Circuit after his claim of standing for money that was seized by law enforcement following his arrest was denied....

Nothing makes this ol’ noggin hurt more than trying to understand taxes. Federal taxes. State taxes. Self-employment taxes. Social Security and Medicare and Sales and Gasoline taxes and uggghhhhh. Also, though this is a great starting point for tax planning, you really should be consulting a CPA. Much like your clients you for legal expertise, you’ll need an accountant for tax advise. Plus, the CPA fees might even be deductible....

A unanimous Supreme Court tossed out the criminal corruption conviction of former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell yesterday. McDonnell and his wife had been convicted of bribery after they pulled a few favors for a Virginia businessman who had given them $175,000 in gifts, loans, and more. But those favors were relatively commonplace in the political world: setting up meetings, hosting events, or making phone calls on a constituent’s behalf. Such routine politicking does not constitute an “official act” in exchange for payment as required to sustain a federal bribery conviction, the Court ruled in an opinion certain to make corruption prosecutions more difficult in the future....

Some sobering yet expected data came out of global communications research and consulting firm Weber Shandwick. According to the data, lawyers in both the U.K. and the U.S. agreed that firm reputation was a company’s most valuable asset with a 91 percent agreement; and that social media greatly increased the chances of an all out-crisis (85 percent increase). And yet, for some reason, the very same pool of lawyers seem to think that the purported social media crises they all seem to agree is a problem is not their problem, but someone else’s....

If there is one term in the legal community that generates widespread disdain, it’s “patent troll.” The term isn’t exactly what we would call objective. But an ironic ruling by a US District Judge in Texas can be celebrated as a small victory against those who make a business out of filing bogus claims. Texas is known throughout the profession as the go-to place for patent trolls. In a recent post by EFF lawyer Daniel Nazer, it is noted that 1,387 patent cases were filed in the Eastern District of Texas in the first half of 2015, amounting to a whopping 44....

Bitcoin has been in a “legal grey area” since its inception, and at least one court and the SEC have characterized the virtual currency as money. As Bitcoin gained popularity, so has the question of its validity, and recognition by the government. Late last year, the Department of Justice described Bitcoin as a “legal means of exchange,” says Bloomberg, while this past February, the United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General held a webinar last week to “explore the possibilities” of providing non-banking financial services, including “providing [B]itcoin exchange services at post offices,” according to Main Street....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. Unless you are living on another planet, you are quite familiar with how to summon an Uber car on an app on your phone so that an Uber driver can pick you up and drive you to the destination of your choice. But Uber is not content with just this form of transportation. Indeed, Uber has grand dreams of being an all-encompassing hub for many types of transportation....

If you have any say over how your company’s arbitration agreements read with employees, clients, or anyone for that matter, you should take a look at the recent Eleventh Circuit decision in the JPay v. Kobel matter. The court there ruled that arbitration agreements that did not specifically include or exclude class claims could fall under an arbitrator’s purview to decide whether the claims should be arbitrated or litigated in court....

Big Brother and his ever-watchful video-surveillance camera have been around since at least 1984. But in a new millennium where everybody with a cell phone has a video camera, surveillance has even transcended Big Brother. Not only may government be watching, but the kid walking down the street may be policing the neighborhood. So what’s up with that, legally speaking? In terms of usable evidence, it means that you never know who’s going to catch you in the act....

Can a defendant who signed a waiver of appeal, appeal? In most cases, the answer is no. The waiver isn’t absolute, but the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals won’t allow most appeals once the waiver has been signed. The district court sentenced Scallon to 78 months of imprisonment and to a 5-year term of supervised release that included standard conditions of supervision and additional supervised release terms. Scallon filed a Verified Motion and Request of Modification of Terms of Supervised Release, asking the court to delete or modify standard conditions of his supervised release, which precluded him from leaving the judicial district without permission and required that third parties, including employers, be notified of risks associated with his criminal history....

President Trump is an avid Twitter user, but otherwise avoids technology. (The president doesn’t own a personal computer and rarely sends email, according to reports.) Justice Scalia once wondered, during oral arguments, whether one could print off text messages and share them with their friends. Now Trump has nominated Tenth Circuit Judge Neil Gorsuch to take Scalia’s place. Where does Gorsuch stand on technology generally and how might he impact technology and the law if he makes it to the Supreme Court?...

Did we convince you to hang out a shingle? Before you design your letterhead, consider the flip side: 10 reasons not to start your own firm. 8. Experience? What’s that? “Oh crap, what do I do?” This will be your mantra for a while - especially if you go solo straight out of school. In a firm, you have experienced attorneys to bounce ideas off of. When you’re solo - you’re solo....

In legal technology, there are good tricks and there are bad tricks. Good tricks are those that help an attorney practice better, like artificial intelligence. Bad tricks are those that lawyers use to avoid responsibility, like using an email filter. When it comes to opposing counsel, however, sometimes the bad tricks can be pretty good. Good because it didn’t happen to you, that is. Email Fail 1.0 A Florida law firm missed a deadline and blamed it on spam, which has been known to cause indigestion but not absolution....

First it was Monroe County. Then, late last week, it was Miami-Dade County. And if the plaintiffs have their way, it’ll soon be the entire state of Florida. Circuit Judge Sarah Zabel held Friday that Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional in a case that only applies to Miami-Dade County. The decision came a little more than a week after Circuit Judge Luis Garcia’s similar decision in Monroe County. Both decisions are expected to be appealed, but the plaintiff-appellees in the Monroe County case are asking that the process be expedited by skipping the state appeals court and heading straight to the Florida Supreme Court....