Posts

The Fifth Circuit decided one case involving copyright infringement and another concerning Mississippi’s constitutional provision concerning voting by felons. Maverick Recording Co. v. Harper, No. 08-51194, was a copyright infringement action based on unlawful file sharing. The court of appeals affirmed partial summary judgment for plaintiff, holding that 1) the uncontroverted evidence was more than sufficient to compel a finding that defendant had downloaded the files; and 2) defendant infringed plaintiffs’ exclusive right to reproduce their copyrighted works by downloading the 37 audio files to her computer without authorization....

Well, they warned you. And we told you so, too. Last year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidelines for how they believed employers should approach the use of criminal background checks in employment decisions. They gist of the policy was that the background checks should only be used when the crime has something to do with the nature of the position. For example, you might pass on hiring a twice-convicted check forger as an accountant....

An in-house gig is the promised land for plenty of lawyers. If you’re already reviewing documents and handling transactions all day long, why not do it without a billable requirement? While most of us look at in-house job as the treat that follows years of toiling in a firm, some people skip straight into the corporate counsel’s office. But how does an entry level counsel position pay? Can a new lawyer actually afford to pay rent and student loans when starting at the bottom of the in-house food chain?...

Even though you shunned BigLaw and work in a smaller firm setting, doesn’t mean that you have to give up on working for big name corporate clients. You can still work on challenging cases, and get experience with large companies in small firm. Here are three reasons small firms are attractive legal options for large corporate clients. In-house attorneys are always shopping around for a good deal. They’ve had it with BigLaw’s rates, and are always seeking alternative fee arrangements with them....

Jared’s diet helped turn him into a child molester. That’s the novel theory his lawyers developed last week on the eve of his sentencing. Jared Fogle, the former Subway sandwich chain spokesman and famous weight loss champion, was sentenced last week to over 15 years in prison for having sex with minors. But his lawyers argued that he should be shown leniency because he developed a sex addiction only after overcoming his food addiction....

Models won’t be the only ones working for minimum wage at Abercrombie and Fitch this summer. The clothing retailer has announced that it will no longer consider “body type or physical attractiveness” in hiring decisions – it’s even considering letting employees wear shirts to work. Abercrombie’s “hunks only” policy had caused the company plenty of legal troubles over the years, including lawsuits over claims of legal and religious discrimination, one of which is before the Supreme Court right now....

“[T]he district court’s definition just won’t fly,” Judge O. Rogeriee Thompson wrote in not even the first of several puns in a case about making a false report of a bomb threat on an airplane. In a 2-1 split, a First Circuit panel reversed a former flight attendant’s conviction for making false threats, finding the federal district court erred when it defined “malice” for the jury as not requiring an “evil purpose....

First they came for our credit card numbers. Then they turned to our cars. Now, even medical devices are vulnerable to hacking. Pacemakers, insulin pumps and other medical devices are vulnerable to hacking – so vulnerable that the FDA has called for medical facilities to abandon some vulnerable devices. Not only are the hackable medical devices a risk to patients, they’re also a potentially huge liability to medical companies – and perhaps a boon to malpractice lawyers....

In plaintiffs’ civil rights action brought following the death of their son against a facility operated by the Massachusetts Department of Corrections that serves as both a prison and a mental hospital, its superintendent, and others, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) defendant-superintendent is entitled to qualified immunity as a reasonable official in defendant’s place, given the circumstances and the legal standard, could have believed that allowing a certain practice to continue would not lead to events that would violate a patient’s rights; 2) commissioner is also entitled to qualified immunity as a reasonable official in his position could have reasonably believed that staffing that met the hospital’s recommendations was sufficient to avoid constitutional violations; and 3) the district court properly dismissed the plaintiffs’ state law claims as barred by the Eleventh Amendment....

“The Lake Tahoe Region is an area of unmatched beauty surrounding the largest alpine lake in North America,” Judge Mary M. Schroeder writes at the beginning of a recent Ninth Circuit opinion. And she couldn’t be more on point. With its deep-blue waters, towering trees, and majestic mountain peaks, Lake Tahoe is one of the great natural wonders of the American West. Even the Donners must have marveled at their sublime surroundings as they succumbed to cannibalism among Tahoe’s alpine slopes....

Eric Sinrod is a partner in the San Francisco office of Duane Morris LLP (http://www.duanemorris.com) where he focuses on litigation matters of various types, including information technology and intellectual property disputes. His Web site is http://www.sinrodlaw.com and he can be reached at ejsinrod@duanemorris.com. To receive a weekly email link to Mr. Sinrod’s columns, please send an email to him with Subscribe in the Subject line. This column is prepared and published for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice....

A civil rights class action claim filed by over 100 Seattle police officers was dismissed by a lower federal district court in 2014, and has now, finally, had that dismissal affirmed by the Ninth Circuit. The officers were challenging whether new policies regarding the use of force were constitutional under the Second Amendment. Though arguments were held in May, the decision has just issued. The new use of force policy was the result of a 2012 federal consent decree requiring a special master be appointed to independently assess, create, and implement a use of force policy....

‘Prevailing party,’ like the word ‘success,’ is a relative term. In the music world, Ricky Martin is a success. He won even more fame singing “Vida” at the World Cup in Brazil," but a lawsuit says he stole the song from a lesser-known artist. Luis Adrian Cortes-Ramos, a finalist on “Idol Puerto Rico,” sued Martin and his producers in Cortes-Ramos v. Sony Pictures of America. The U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals said the defendants succeeded on a motion, but that’s not the same as being a prevailing party....

In a capital habeas matter, the denial of Petitioner’s petition is affirmed where Petitioner’s ineffective assistance claim failed, because he did not demonstrate that the conflict of interest allegedly affecting his counsel adversely affected counsel’s trial performance. Read Stephens v. Branker, No. 08-14 Appellate Information Argued: May 13, 2009 Decided: June 30, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge King Counsel For Appellant: Jonathan Lee Megerian, Megerian & Wells, Asheboro, NC For Appellee:...

Nelfin Zelaya-Rosales got quite the surprise at his illegal reentry sentencing. Despite the fact that his presentence report recommended a 6-month sentence, the district court opted for an upward departure from the Sentencing Guidelines, and hit him with a 12-month sentence based on his five previous immigration encounters and four prior removals. According to the Zelaya-Rosales, the sentence was unfair because he didn’t have prior notice. According to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, that’s no big deal because there wasn’t a “miscarriage of justice....

It’s hard to laugh at Bill Cosby’s jokes anymore. But it is ironic that one of his jokes was at issue in a critical hearing during his sexual assault case pending in Philadelphia. Prosecutors sought to introduce something Cosby said in his book, “Childhood,” about giving girls the Spanish fly aphrodisiac to get them interested. “They’re never in the mood for us,” Cosby wrote. “They need chemicals.” The judge disallowed the evidence, but will allow even more damning deposition testimony from Cosby himself....

Mergers continue to be a hot topic in the U.S. entertainment and media industry with acquisitions slightly up in 2010. Nevertheless, the total value of the deals declined vs. 2009, despite the fact that the entertainment and media industry outpaced the overall U.S. acquisitions, Pricewaterhouse Coopers reports. Now a new merger between Comcast and NBC has some wondering whether it could set off a chain of increased acquisitions in 2011. If it goes well, it may lead the industry to seek out transaction opportunities as well with an increased demand in social media, international opportunities and video games, the Hollywood Reporter reports....

In case you missed it in the theaters, Machete Kills was the 2013 camp-action film about a Mexican vigilante who is hired by the U.S. president to kill an illegal arms dealer. It starred Danny Trejo, joined by a B movie star-studded cast that included Charlie Sheen, Lady Gaga, and Mel Gibson. Machete Kills didn’t win any Oscars, but it did inspire a First Amendment lawsuit after the Texas Film Commission denied it funding under the state’s film incentive program....

Bargain-basement airline company Spirit Airlines is known for a lot of things. Some of them include very cheap fares; others include nickel-and-diming and a “Draconian” cancellation policy (according to The Atlantic) that allows Spirit to cancel a customer’s reservation, without notice, and without compensation, if the customer isn’t at the boarding gate 15 minutes before the flight (even if he’s already checked in). Bryan Ray was fed up with this. Not only did he file a class action against Spirit, but he made his a civil RICO claim....

The recent SCOTUS ruling clearing the way for states to charge sales tax to out of state online retailers without any physical presence in a state is making big waves, as expected. While the decision really only clears the South Dakota law, the majority opinion provides much guidance for other states, suggesting that the limits placed by South Dakota on which businesses have to pay are rather instructive. In response to the opinion however, there has been a strong push from small business, big online retailers, and small-time sellers, for Congress to act to protect small online business interests....