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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

Media Has Right to Juror Names

Posted on August 05, 2008
The Legal IntelligencerIn a ruling that could have far-reaching effects on the handling of high-profile trials, the 3rd Circuit has ruled that the media has a presumptive right of access to jurors' names, and that a federal judge erred when he sought to empanel an anonymous jury in a former coroner's corruption trial...

Rising Debt Cases Reveal Erratic System

Posted on July 29, 2008
The National Law JournalState judicial officials across the U.S. and attorneys who specialize in suing people behind in their bills are joining with debtor advocates to change how cash-strapped courts handle a rising tide of debt-collection lawsuits. Creditors' attorneys are seeking to streamline processing of the cases...

Today's dumbest lawsuit

Posted on July 24, 2008
Woman To Sue Designer Of Racist T-Shirt Because She Got Attacked While Wearing It (Today's dumbest lawsuit) A 25-year-old woman buys a t-shirt with words demeaning to black people and decides to go walking around New York City while wearing it. What can possibly go wrong? After being attacked by 4 black teenagers in New York City for wearing an "Obama is my slave" t-shirt, which she paid $70 for, a 25-year-old Manhattan graduate student says she is going to sue the designer, Apollo Braun, for "all he's got...

Court Tosses 'Wardrobe Malfunction' Fine

Posted on July 23, 2008
3rd Circuit Tosses 'Wardrobe Malfunction' Fine Against CBS The Legal IntelligencerThe 3rd Circuit ruled Monday that the FCC should not have imposed fines on CBS for the "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl in which singer Janet Jackson's breast was exposed because the agency had unfairly imposed a new, stricter standard without first informing broadcasters...

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Fearing Political Backlash, Judges Speak

Posted on July 15, 2008
Fearing Political Backlash, Judges Decide to Go PublicThe National Law JournalThe rise of nasty political campaigns targeting elected state judges nationally, coupled with the cost of judicial elections and a potential backlash over the California Supreme Court's gay marriage decision, has prompted that state's chief justice to hold the first public forum on preserving impartial courts...

A break on your traffic ticket?

Posted on July 15, 2008
TRAFFIC VIOLATION DISMISSALS AGAIN ARE LINKED TO FUTURE CRASH RISK Drivers whose traffic violations are dismissed by courts following completion of traffic violator school are more likely to be in another crash within a year than drivers whose convictions remain on their driving records, reports a California Department of Motor Vehicles study that updates a prior DMV study on the same topic...

Those secy hot female lawyers...

Posted on July 08, 2008
'Hot Attorney' Web Site Gets Chilly Reception, Then Gets Iced http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202422828879 The National Law Journal A Web site featuring "hot" young female associates at several prominent law firms quickly pulled the plug Monday after some of the women on the site discovered that their photos and profiles were posted...

Employers use law to cheat employees

Posted on July 05, 2008
Employers use federal ERISA law to deny benefits AP - Sat Jul 5, 11:04 AM ET WASHINGTON - Dying of cancer, Thomas Amschwand did everything he was told to make sure his wife would collect on the life insurance policy he had through his employer. "He was obsessed with dotting every `i' and crossing every `t'," Melissa Amschwand-Bellinger recalled about her husband, who died in 2001 at age 30...

Will the Supreme Court stop being lazy?

Posted on July 04, 2008
Next Term: A Fatter, Faster Calendar for Supreme Court Legal TimesThe current term is history, so what's up for the Supreme Court's next term, which begins Oct. 6? More cases, heard more quickly, posing a range of tough and possibly divisive issues from religion in the public square to expletives on the public airwaves...

Florida Overcharges to file court cases

Posted on July 03, 2008
Attorneys Predict Hardship From Hikes in Fla. Court FeesDaily Business Review "Justice is going to be very expensive." That is how David Mankin, supervising attorney in the housing unit of Broward Legal Services in Plantation, Fla., describes the impact -- particularly on the poor -- of legislatively mandated increases in 144 court fees taking effect statewide today...

Man sells stolen items near robbery site

Posted on July 02, 2008
Man sells stolen items near home that was robbed AP - Wed Jul 2, 2:47 PM ET AP OCALA, Fla. - Police say an Ocala man was selling stolen property at a yard sale in the same neighborhood as the home he robbed. Fred and Betty McAteers, who live in Ocklawaha, arrived at a home they own in Ocala on Monday to find that it had been burglarized.

Buying beer at the drive-in that isn't

Posted on July 01, 2008
Woman crashes into store then tries to buy beer AP - NORWALK, Calif. - A convenience store became an unwilling drive-in when a 74-year-old woman plowed her car through the front window and then tried to buy a six-pack of Budweiser, police and the owner said.

Juveniles have right to jury trial

Posted on June 20, 2008
Kan. court says juveniles have right to jury trial AP TOPEKA, Kan. - The Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday that juveniles have a constitutional right to a jury trial, a surprise decision that could influence courts in other states and force local prosecutors to retry hundreds of open cases.

Court overturns father's grounding

Posted on June 20, 2008
Court overturns father's grounding of 12-year-old AFP - Wed Jun 18, 2:08 PM ET OTTAWA (AFP) - A Canadian court has lifted a 12-year-old girl's grounding, overturning her father's punishment for disobeying his orders to stay off the Internet, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Stanford Law Drops Letter-Grade System

Posted on June 16, 2008
The National Law JournalStanford Law School plans to drop letter grades as early as this fall, joining Yale University and the University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. The goals are to shift students away from the focus on grades and prevent course selections that have started to include calculation of instructors' grading habits, according to Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer...

9th Circuit's Chief Judge Loves Porn

Posted on June 13, 2008
9th Circuit's Chief Judge Snared in Web of KinkThe RecorderNinth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski's Web-browsing habits have long been a touchy subject. In 2001, it was then-Chief Justice William Rehnquist who was sounding the alarm, according to the federal court system's former top administrator...

Legal Sector Sees 3rd Month of Job Loss

Posted on June 09, 2008
Legal Sector Sees Third Month of Job LossesThe American LawyerThe U.S. legal service sector lost 1,100 jobs in May, according to Labor Department statistics released Friday. The decline marked three consecutive months of losses for the industry, with layoffs at large firms, along with tightening throughout the market generally, contributing to the numbers...

Texas Judge abuses child in court

Posted on June 06, 2008
Here's a Judge that only should (if this story is true) be removed for life from the bench, but should be arrested and criminally prosecuted for a party to a crime of battery. There is no excuse for this. Texas judge sued over paddlings Wed Jun 4, 10:50 PM ET BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) - A family sued a justice of the peace Wednesday, complaining that he ordered a man to paddle his teenage stepdaughter in the courtroom and threatened to convict her of truancy if he didn't...

Major layoffs at law firms

Posted on June 06, 2008
Law Firms See More Layoffs, Departures of Staff and AssociatesThe Legal IntelligencerAs at least one law firm leader puts it, 2008 is a good time to look at staffing. Among the firms that have recently shed either staff or associates, Blank Rome saw the departure of nine associates after the firm's annual review period, Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll let go of 13 support staff and Reed Smith let go of 50 legal secretaries firmwide...

Just what we need - more lawyers...

Posted on June 05, 2008
A Deluge of Law SchoolsThe National Law JournalAs many as 10 new law schools are in the works, with the majority of them proposed in the Eastern part of the country. While proponents insist that the schools will serve the needs of their communities and beyond, the plans are drawing sharp criticism from those who argue that creating more law schools is irresponsible...

Drunk Male Judge Wears Heels, Dress

Posted on June 05, 2008
Dress-Wearing Judge Will Not Return to the BenchThe National Law JournalMassachusetts federal bankruptcy Judge Robert Somma, who tried to rescind the resignation he tendered after a drunk driving arrest, will not return to the bench. In a two-sentence press release, the 1st Circuit said that Somma is "leaving to pursue other endeavors" and that "the court appreciates the service that Judge Somma has rendered...

Crocodile Tears for Clarence Thomas

Posted on June 03, 2008
Did Affirmative Action Really Hinder Clarence Thomas?The American LawyerU.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas blames Yale Law School -- specifically, its affirmative action program -- for his difficulties securing a job as a first-year associate after his graduation...

Controversy Over Miami Shooting

Posted on May 30, 2008
Legal Blogs Reignite Controversy Over Miami ShootingDaily Business ReviewMore than four years after a Miami-Dade police officer shot and killed 17-year-old Leonardo Barquin during a burglary attempt, a string of interoffice memos from the state attorney's office has surfaced on the Internet, thrusting the open investigation of the shooting back into the spotlight...

Judge: Del Cheats, Abuses Customers

Posted on May 28, 2008
NY judge: Dell engaged in fraud, false advertising Reuters - Tue May 27, 6:08 PM ET SEATTLE (Reuters) - A New York judge ruled against Dell Inc on Tuesday, saying the computer maker engaged in fraud, false advertising, deceptive business and abusive debt collection practices.

Leap Year Doesn't Shorten Statute

Posted on May 22, 2008
Leap Year Doesn't Shorten Statute of LimitationsNew York Law JournalOn March 22, 2007, right on the cusp of a five-year statute of limitations, Jerry Brooks was indicted for allegedly lying on forms he needed to win a contract. His attorney argued that the period for bringing charges had expired because 2004 was a leap year...

California legalizes gay marriage

Posted on May 15, 2008
A landmark decision came out today from the California Superme Court: California court overturns gay marriage ban (AJC) Decision says domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage. ---------------------------- From Findlaw: CIVIL RIGHTS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, FAMILY LAW, HEALTH LAW, INSURANCE LAW, LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAWIn re Marriage Cases, No...

Bush Sending Consensus Nominees

Posted on May 14, 2008
Bush Sending Consensus Nominees to SenateLegal TimesReality is setting in. With time dwindling for President George W. Bush to get his nominees through, he's looking for compromise. Said one observer of the latest round of nominations and confirmation hearings, "The White House is being realistic knowing that it's the end of the [presidential] term, and they are not going to get their people...

Court blasts Vegas federal prosecutor

Posted on May 14, 2008
9th Circuit Blasts U.S. Prosecutor for Withholding DocumentsThe National Law JournalRoundly denouncing a Las Vegas federal prosecutor for withholding 650 pages of evidence potentially helpful to two lawyers charged in a stock fraud case, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld dismissal of all 64 charges and refused to allow a retrial...

Meet America's Worst Judge

Posted on May 10, 2008
Nevada judge accused of demanding royal treatment Fri May 9, 5:52 PM ET LAS VEGAS (AP) - Elizabeth Halverson is a judge. But the way courthouse staffers see it, she expects to be treated like a queen. Her former bailiff, for example, says Halverson made him feel like a "houseboy...

Lawyer Hopes F-Word Means 'Forgiven'

Posted on May 07, 2008
Lawyer Hopes F-Word Means 'Forgiven,' Asks Court to Lift SanctionsThe Legal IntelligencerThe lawyer who was hit with sanctions for failing to rein in a foul-mouthed client is asking a judge for permission to drop the client and begging for the sanctions to be lifted...

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