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Remember the days before the Affordable Care Act when reimportation was one of the biggest healthcare controversies? Consumer groups argued that pharmaceutical drugs were cheaper in Canada than in the U.S., so patients should be allowed to import prescription drugs from our northern neighbor. Today’s First Circuit Court of Appeals appellant had a similarly industrious plan, except that he was part of a conspiracy to import marijuana from Canada for re-sale in Maine....

When it comes to filing a lawsuit against a former employee, companies, particularly those that trade on their good reputation, might want to think carefully before pulling the litigation trigger. Sure, companies don’t want to be seen as weak, but when push comes to shove, former employees are not very likely to have deep enough pockets to satisfy judgments, begging the question of whether it’s good business judgment to even file an action....

Here at FindLaw, we understand the pressures of being a legal professional - most of us are recovering lawyers - so we want to help by tossing you that preferred life preserver of the legal profession, the short list. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals released two opinions this week regarding the civil commitment of sexually dangerous persons. In one case, US v. Hall, the circuit affirmed a district court decision dismissing civil commitment charges, while in the other case, US v....

In media law, The Journalist v. The FCC is almost David v. Goliath. In Prechtel v. Federal Communications Commission, freelance writer Jason Prechtel sued the agency after it ignored his public records request for allegedly fraudulent comments submitted during its repeal of net neutrality. A judge has ruled he is entitled to documents to “prevent fraud in future processes.” It was a partial victory, however, because the judge said the FCC can withhold records about its deliberations....

What should a bank do when $58,000 goes missing? Hook employees up to a polygraph machine and demand answers. In February 2007, the new manager of the Piedmont Commons Washington Mutual (WaMu) bank branch conducted a cash audit and discovered a shortage of approximately $58,000. The entire amount was missing from two teller cash dispenser machines that Plaintiff David Cummings, a former branch manager, had access to during his tenure at the branch....

Gent v. CUNA Mut. Ins. Soc’y, 09-1703, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of a long-term disability insurance provider’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s ERISA suit, claiming that the insurer had unlawfully terminated her long-term disability benefits after determining that plaintiff was subject to the “mental illness limitation,” in its policy. After determining that the clinical evidence undermined a Lyme disease diagnosis, the court went onto state,“Gent’s history of depression makes the Lyme disease diagnosis more susceptible to questioning....

FindLaw columnist Eric Sinrod writes regularly in this section on legal developments surrounding technology and the internet. The short-term lodging landscape has changed radically in recent years. Rather than always book hotels when away from home, people now frequently book to stay in the homes or apartments of other people through sites like Airbnb and VRBO. The growth in this area is reflected by the $30 billion estimated worth of Airbnb....

By Abacus Data Systems Hit with budget cuts while workloads increase, agencies are struggling to find ways to save money, without sacrificing the requisite quantity and quality of their work. With AbacusLaw Prosecutor software, legal professionals in government agencies get the benefits of case management technology (lowering their cost per case and simultaneously handling more cases effectively), previously enjoyed only by private practice attorneys. Cost and time saving benefits include:...

A Texas law firm’s SLAPP appeal has been denied by the Fifth Circuit, which found that the firm’s ads were not protected under Texas’ anti-SLAPP laws. Anti-SLAPP jurisprudence is still evolving, and this was a new issue for the Fifth Circuit: whether law firm ads disparaging a Texas dentist could escape liability under the Lanham Act through an anti-SLAPP motion. Here’s why this ruling left the Texas firm no longer smiling:...

Take a moment. Think of your all-time favorite boss. It doesn’t have to be a lawyer, or even a “professional” type. It could be the guy who managed the toy store where you had your first job. What was it about that boss that motivated you? What could you do to be more like that person? The answer can improve the way you run your law firm. One of the trickier aspects of running your own firm is managing personnel....

#MeToo is not a thing; it’s a statement. It says that women are demanding – and getting – better treatment in the business world. It’s gone way beyond protection from sexual harassment, diversity in employment, and equal pay for equal work. But if that’s not enough to re-evaluate your company policy, here are three reasons to gender-balance your business: It’s About Time #MeToo started a revolution against sexual harassment that has changed American culture....

Despite movement from some of the nation’s largest law firms, the legal industry has not yet fully embraced social media. LinkedIn is the big winner, according to a new survey on law firm social media use. Approximately 77% of respondents have firm profiles. But then there’s Twitter. Only 31% of firms surveyed use the microblogging service. This is a shame. Twitter is better than email. At a forum held earlier this year, a group of corporate counsel let it be known that few of them read client alerts....

For a day, attorney Gino Benedetti probably felt like Brett Kavanaugh testifying before the U.S. Senate. Benedetti, general counsel for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, had to testify in court about a controversial “no-politics” policy. His agency enacted the policy to ban certain advertising after a judge struck down its previous “public issue” policy. Unlike Kavanaugh’s case, however, it had nothing to do with sexual misconduct. But like the Supreme Court nominee, Benedetti felt the pressure of having every word strictly scrutinized in the free speech case....

Last night, Twitter announced that it was setting its IPO price at $26 per share, more than the $23 to $25 per share that analysts expected. According to Ars Technica, that puts the company’s value at $18 billion, and it brings in $1.8 billion in cash, more than the $1 billion the company targeted. It got crazier. The stock opened at $45.10 per share, and was up 92 percent in the first hours of trading, reports Reuters....

The FTC filed its complaint in federal court on Thursday, and Uber settled the case before the court closed the same day. That’s about as fast as Uber gets, no disrespect intended to many Uber drivers out there. To show its good faith, Uber will pay $20 million to be distributed to those drivers who received less than the average pay that the company has advertised. The FTC alleged the company falsely advertised on Craigslist and other websites that drivers earned between $15 and $29 an hour....

As time goes on, technology has not only assumed a larger role in the layman’s life, but in the lawyer’s as well. Today, wearable tech is all the rage – and whenever something is all the rage, that’s when professionals should let cooler heads take the lead. Because any sane-minded professional should realize that wearable tech presents an enormous security risk. Beating the Dead Horse We hate beating a dead horse into tomorrow’s meatloaf, but it has to be said again....

When corporations break the law, individuals will be held accountable. That’s the gist of a DOJ memo released this month affirming the Department’s commitment to pursuing individuals for corporate wrongdoing. (It’s almost like they saw the VW emissions fraud coming, or finally learned from years of criticism over their handling of Wall Street rule breaking.) The so-called Yates memo, named after its author, Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates, marks a notable change from past practice....

I have to admit: The idea of fingerprint unlocking is pretty damn appealing. Passcodes? Too much work. Like, four digits worth of work. And those little swipey gesture things you can do on Android? They work, I suppose, but it’s so hard to get those correct without looking when driving. Plus, you can’t crack a fingerprint. You can crack a passcode. However, a judge in Virginia just complicated the equation a bit with a simple reminder of legal precedent: A fingerprint isn’t constitutionally protected, but a passcode is....

Facebook’s very own Mark Zuckerberg’s suffered the sting of hackers recently when his Twitter and Pinterest accounts were compromised. All fingers seem to be pointing to the 2012 LinkedIn hack that proved to be a major embarrassment for the professional networking site – and may have revealed Zuckerberg’s password. But it looks like the Facebook CEO could be gaining: his password for multiple accounts was ‘dadada’. For shame. It’s one thing if your college room-mate who uses a pizza box as a pillow has a terrible password....

The First Circuit tossed out most of a lawsuit against the biotech company Genzyme last week. Genzyme is the sole producer of Fabrazyme, the only treatment for Fabry disease, a rare, deadly genetic disorder. Facing a shortage of the drug due to production complications, Genzyme instituted a rationing plan, giving patents a reduced dosage of the medicine they needed to survive – until the supply dried up entirely. Patients who needed Fabrazyme to avoid vision and hearing loss, stroke, and even death sued Genzyme, alleging everything from statutory violations to breaches of contract to loss of consortium....