Stanton v. Sims, United States Supreme Court (11/4/13) Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law Officer Stanton and his partner responded to a call about a disturbance involving a person with a baseball bat. Stanton was familiar with the LaMesa neighborhood, known for gang violence. The officers, wearing uniforms and driving…
Articles Posted in Legal Research
Courthouse News reported this week on the “land grab” in California’s local court systems. When the courts announced last year that they were killing the CCMS (California Case Management System), vendors pounced on the opportunity to provide contracted solutions in its place. CCMS was a project started by the California…
IMO Advisory Letter No. 3-11 and Opinion No. 12-08 of the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Extrajudicial Activities, New Jersey Supreme Court (9/19/13) In this appeal, the Supreme Court held that a judge's acting and comedy career is incompatible with the Code of Judicial Conduct and therefore he may not…
Seaton v. TripAdvisor, US 6th Cir. (8/28/13) Communications Law, Constitutional Law, Injury Law, Internet Law Grand Resort, which has operated in the Great Smoky Mountains since 1982, claims that TripAdvisor’s publication of a survey that concluded that Grand Resort was the dirtiest hotel in America caused irreparable damage to its…
Shore v. Maple Lane Farms, LLC, Tennessee Supreme Court (8/19/13) Agriculture Law, Injury Law, Zoning, Planning & Land Use Certain amplified music concerts were conducted on farm land in a rural county. The county board of zoning appeals later ordered the business owners who hosted the concerts to limit the…
Seltzer v. Green Day, Inc., et al., US 9th Cir. (8/7/13) Copyright, Intellectual Property, Trademark Plaintiff filed suit against Green Day and others, alleging violations of the Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 101 et seq., and the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1051 et seq., because Green Day used plaintiff's illustration, "Scream…
Brown v. Electronic Arts, Inc., US 9th Cir. (7/31/13) Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Consumer Law, Entertainment & Sports Law, Intellectual Property, Trademark Retired Hall of Fame football player, James "Jim" Brown, filed suit against EA, alleging that EA violated section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. 1125(a), through the…
There’s great news out of Washington today on the open government and transparency front. House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor have announced via press release that the United States Code (the “Code”) will now be available for download in XML format. Users will be able to download…
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has created a public docket for declassified opinions. The documents have been released through the efforts of providers like Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google, as well as advocacy groups like the ACLU and the EFF, who filed requests to publish the opinions and filings in the…
Hobbs v. John, U.S. 7th Cir. (7/17/13) Copyright, Entertainment & Sports Law In 1982 Hobbs was working as a photographer on a Russian cruise ship where he had a brief affair with a Russian waitress. Based on the experience, he wrote a song, “Natasha” about an ill-fated romance between a…