Law Advice

Federal judge allows polygamous family's lawsuit challenging Utah's bigamy law …Washington PostSALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has ruled there's sufficient evidence to allow a polygamous family made famous by a reality TV show to pursue a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Utah's bigamy law. US District Judge Clark Waddoups on Friday …and more » [...]

HOUSTON – Allegations of copyright infringement were rejected Jan. 31 by a Texas federal judge, who found that the manuals and drawings at issue could not be copyrighted when they were previously within the public domain (Axxiom Manufacturing Inc. v. McCoy Investments Inc., No. 09-3735, S.D. Texas; 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11504). View full post [...]

NEW YORK – An investment firm being sued by shareholders said in a New York federal court on Jan. 31 that the shareholders’ derivative suit should be dismissed because they have failed to show that the directors and officers of the firm are not independent of their decisions (Brautigam v. Blankfein, et al., No. 11-cv-04544, [...]

NEW YORK – Despite “serious reservations” about a perceived proliferation of ex parte applications for expedited discovery in online file-sharing cases, a New York federal judge on Jan. 30 found that good cause exists for a plaintiff to engage in “cabined, expedited discovery” with respect to several John Doe defendants (Digital Sin Inc. v. John [...]

DETROIT – A former 911 dispatcher’s claim that the city where he worked violated the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) fails because the city’s paid volunteer firefighters are not “employees” under the act and, therefore, the city does not meet the 50-employee requirement for FMLA eligibility, a Michigan federal judge held Jan. 31 (Paul Mendel [...]

Cuccinelli, Coakley to debate federal health care lawWashington Post (blog)By Laura Vozzella Two state attorneys general with opposing views on the federal health care law will square off next week at the National Press Club. Cuccinelli, who is running for governor, and Coakley will appear at 10 am Thursday at the National …and more » View [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A federal judge in Washington on Jan. 31 denied consumers’ motion to invalidate an arbitration provision in a credit cardmember agreement with American Express Co. and certain of its subsidiaries, ruling that state and federal law, as well as U.S. Supreme Court precedent, favor arbitration (Charles Aneke, et al. v. American Express [...]

TULSA, Okla. – Even though an insurer’s investigation into a policyholder’s uninsured motorist (UM) claim was “not perfect,” an Oklahoma federal judge on Jan. 27 held that the insurer acted in a reasonable, thorough and prompt manner in light of a potential Medicare subrogation claim and the insured’s faulty memory (Michael Porter v. Farmers Insurance [...]

PHILADELPHIA – A John Doe copyright infringement defendant on Jan. 30 was denied reconsideration of a ruling that cleared the way for a subpoena to be served that could reveal his true identity (K-Beech Inc. v. John Doe, No. 11-7083, E.D. Pa.; 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10716). View full post on LexisNexis® Mealey’s™ Daily Legal [...]

SANTA ANA, Calif. – Finding that a shareholder did not allege sufficient particularized facts to show that it would have been futile to make a presuit demand on a company’s board of directors, a federal judge in California on Jan. 30 granted the company’s motion to dismiss (In Re: Corinthian Colleges, Inc. Shareholder Derivative Litigation, [...]