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Legal News

It's (Barely) Legal

A regular compilation about the law and legal news from Glen Ashman, who has been a municipal judge since 1988 and a lawyer since 1980
By Glen Ashman

Post Frequency: 3.2/day

Last Entry: March 24, 2011 at 11:49:36

Car was a-rockin', law went a-knockin'

Posted on July 11, 2009
Police: Couple charged with having sex in drug car AP SAN ANTONIO ? The car was a-rockin', so the law went a-knockin'. Bexar County sheriff's deputies drawn by the actions of an amorous couple in a parked car allegedly found more than amour. Deputy Ino Badillo told the San Antonio Express-news that they also found enough equipment and chemicals in the car to start a methamphetamine lab.

Catholic law professors are ministers?

Posted on July 10, 2009
Seeking to Avoid Termination Suit, Catholic Law School Claims Professors Are MinistersThe National Law JournalAre Catholic law school professors really ministers? A Michigan trial judge will decide that next week in a controversial employment dispute involving Ave Maria School of Law, which is trying to declare law professors as ministers to avoid a wrongful termination suit filed by three former professors...

State sues feds over gay marriage

Posted on July 09, 2009
Massachusetts AG challenges Defense of Marriage Act National Law Journal Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a federal law defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman, which denies same-sex couples married in Massachusetts access to certain federal benefits...

Big Class Actions Against the Feds

Posted on June 22, 2009
Big Class Actions Against the Feds May FalterThe National Law JournalA case quietly winding through the federal courts in Washington could dramatically change the rules for plaintiffs across the country who file big-money class actions against the federal government...

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Supreme Ct:Innocents Should Stay in Jail

Posted on June 19, 2009
Court rules that DNA testing is not a prisoner's right Kansas City Star WASHINGTON | The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that prisoners have no constitutional right to DNA testing that might prove their innocence long after their convictions.� The court?s conservative majority prevailed 5-4 in a ruling that could be limited because 47 states and the federal government already allow DNA testing in some circumstances...

The Catcher in the Rye, Revisted

Posted on June 18, 2009
Federal Judge Mulls Copyright Status for Salinger's Holden CaulfieldNew York Law JournalA federal judge on Wednesday said she had "serious" doubts about whether a purported meditation on the relationship between author J.D. Salinger and his creation Holden Caulfield is a fair use of material from Salinger's classic novel "The Catcher in the Rye...

What happens if you've sued GM?

Posted on June 15, 2009
Plaintiff Suits Against Automakers Stall OutThe National Law JournalAs Chrysler and GM dispose of billions of dollars in assets and debts, there are potentially thousands of death and injury claims that either will be out of luck or will face near insurmountable obstacles to success...

Lawyers Can Send Junk Faxes

Posted on June 12, 2009
N.Y. High Court Finds Attorney's Unsolicited Faxes Did Not Violate Communications ActNew York Law JournalUnsolicited faxes distributed by a lawyer specializing in attorney malpractice cases were basically informational, not promotional, and did not violate federal laws and rules against improper solicitations, the New York Court of Appeals ruled Thursday, reversing an appeals court finding that Andrew Lavoott Bluestone's faxes "indirectly proposed a commercial transaction...

Bribe a judge with campaign money?

Posted on June 08, 2009
Supreme Court Issues Landmark Ruling on Judicial RecusalThe National Law JournalIn a landmark ruling that could affect state judicial elections nationwide, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that due process requires a state judge to recuse when a party in a case before him or her has had a "significant or disproportionate" influence on placing the judge on the court through a large campaign donation...

FTC Pulls Plug on Child Porn ISP

Posted on June 07, 2009
FTC Pulls Plug on Vile ISP TechNewsWorld�-�Jun 5, 2009 In its first enforcement action against an ISP, the FTC squelched a company accused of aggressively soliciting business in the distribution of child pornography, violent pornography, depictions of bestiality and other sordid criminal wares...

Attorneys Who Defend Poor Want a Raise

Posted on June 04, 2009
Attorneys Who Defend Poor Want a RaiseThe Associated PressAttorneys who are paid by the state of Wisconsin to defend the poor say they deserve a raise. The State Bar of Wisconsin and the state public defender's office are pushing for a $30 an hour increase in the rate paid to private attorneys who volunteer to defend people who can't afford a lawyer...

If you touch my butt ...

Posted on May 27, 2009
Attorney Convicted of Sex Abuse for 'Cupping' Buttocks of Law GuardianNew York Law JournalA 72-year-old New York lawyer has been convicted of harassing a law guardian during a court proceeding, a misdemeanor charge of third-degree sexual abuse. Robert Kahn was accused of "cupping the left side of [the law guardian's] buttocks" as she leaned over to retrieve a file, according to the DA's office...

Two landmark court rulings today

Posted on May 26, 2009
Supreme Court Rules Suspects Can Be Interrogated Without LawyerThe Associated PressThe Supreme Court has overturned a long-standing ruling that stops police from initiating questions unless a defendant's lawyer is present, a move that will make it easier for prosecutors to interrogate suspects...

Female Lawyers in Skimpy Skirts

Posted on May 21, 2009
From the ABA Journal: Women lawyers tempted to go to court looking like Ally McBeal should take note: Male judges find the look distracting. Two male judges confessed that they can?t help but look at a panel session during the Seventh Circuit Bar Association...

Prosecutors keep innocent men in jail

Posted on May 18, 2009
Prosecutors Block Access to DNA Testing for Inmates By SHAILA DEWAN - NY TimesProsecutors' resistance to reopening cases is causing years of delay, sometimes eliminating the chance to try other suspects...A recent analysis of 225 DNA exonerations by Brandon L...

Man uses 'cahier's check' at FBI office

Posted on May 09, 2009
Man allegedly uses 'cahier's check' at FBI office AP - Fri May 8, 9:04 PM ET MONROE, La. - If you're going to buy something with a forged cashier's check, don't misspell "cashier's" or use an FBI office as your shipping address. Monroe police said they arrested 44-year-old man after he did both...

SC court halts thousands of foreclosures

Posted on May 05, 2009
SC court halts thousands of�foreclosures Tue May 5, 4:19 PM ET AP COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina's highest court on Tuesday temporarily stopped thousands of pending foreclosure sales in the state to give homeowners more time to take advantage of a new federal program to help them refinance mortgages...

8-year-old girl divorces 50-year-old man

Posted on May 01, 2009
8-year-old Saudi girl divorces 50-year-old husband AP - CAIRO - An 8-year-old Saudi girl has divorced her middle-aged husband after her father forced her to marry him last year in exchange for about $13,000, her lawyer said Thursday. Saudi Arabia has come under increasing criticism at home and abroad for permitting child marriages...

Landmark decision from Supreme Court

Posted on April 22, 2009
Supreme Court limits warrantless vehicle searches AP - Tue Apr 21, 2:56 PM ET WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that police need a warrant to search the vehicle of someone they have arrested if the person is locked up in a patrol cruiser and poses no safety threat to officers...

Mom ordered daughters out, drove off

Posted on April 21, 2009
Police say mom ordered daughters out, drove off AP - WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Usually, it's an empty threat: "If you kids don't stop fighting, I'm going to stop this car right now and leave you here!" But a mother from an upper-crust New York suburb went through with it, ordering her battling 10- and 12-year-old daughters out of her car in White Plains' business district and driving off, police said Tuesday...

8-Year-Old's Marriage OK'd by Court

Posted on April 17, 2009
8-Year-Old's Marriage OK'd by Court WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday called the case of an 8-year-old Saudi girl married to a man 50 years older a "clear and unacceptable violation of human rights," in a rare criticism of its oil-producing ally...

Atty loses license for not paying loan

Posted on April 14, 2009
FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE �|� Texas appeals court revokes attorney's license for failing to repay student loan, other debts National Law JournalAn appeals court in Texas has revoked the license of Houston attorney for failing to repay his students loans and other debts...

F-U (it's not what it seems)

Posted on April 09, 2009
Woman's tofu license plate curdles in Colo. AP DENVER - One Colorado woman's love for tofu has been judged X-rated by state officials. Kelly Coffman-Lee wanted to tell the world about her fondness for bean curd by picking certain letters for her SUV's license plate...

Good deed by new lawyers

Posted on April 09, 2009
�National Law Journal�|� Public interest law lures deferred associates Call it a mixer for the new economy. Law school grads and 3Ls interested in public interest law met at Newark's Performing Arts Center with public interest organizations looking to hire them for the short term ? and for free...

When prosecutors lie...

Posted on April 02, 2009
Govt. seeks to reverse Ted Stevens' conviction AP - Wed Apr 1, 5:00 PM ET WASHINGTON - Faced with embarrassing revelations about withheld evidence, the Justice Department on Wednesday moved to reverse the conviction of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, who lost his bid for re-election just days after a jury found that he had lied about gifts and home renovations...

Officer! Stop that chair!

Posted on March 31, 2009
Ohio man charged with drunken driving on bar stool AP - Tue Mar 31, 5:10 PM NEWARK, Ohio - Authorities in Ohio say a man has been charged with drunken driving after crashing his motorized bar stool. Police in Newark, 30 miles east of Columbus, say when they responded to a report of a crash with injuries on March 4, they found a man who had wrecked a bar stool powered by a deconstructed lawn mower.

Judges Jail Kids for Cash

Posted on March 26, 2009
Pa. judges accused of jailing kids for cash AP Feb. 11 2009 WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - For years, the juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses...

Justices reject speedy trial challenge

Posted on March 17, 2009
Justices reject speedy trial challenge National Law JournalThe prosecution cannot be held responsible for the inability or unwillingness of public defenders or assigned counsel to move a defendant's case forward, the U.S. Supreme Court held in a speedy trial challenge in which it took six lawyers and nearly three years to bring the defendant to trial...

Update on a Multi-Billion Ponzi Scheme

Posted on March 09, 2009
Madoff Waives Indictment, Set to Plead GuiltyNew York Law JournalDue to appear in federal court Thursday, Bernard Madoff seems set to plead guilty in the multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that shocked the nation. If Madoff has pledged to cooperate with the government in a plea deal, it would signal that the government considers the investigation far from over and may be close to obtaining charges against others in the scheme...

Inmate access to records becomes problem

Posted on February 22, 2009
Wash. might limit inmates' access to records Sun Feb 22, 1:57 PM ET AP SEATTLE - An entrepreneurial spirit struck Allan Parmelee last fall as he sat in a Washington state prison, where he's serving 17 years for bombing the cars of two lawyers. According to the state attorney general's office, Parmelee wrote to his brother — who's serving 11 years in Michigan for child pornography — saying they could make a killing collecting fines from government agencies around the country that take too long to respond to burdensome requests for public records...

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