We break down quite a few legal decisions on our blogs, and we post some of them over on Courtside. So when you’re looking at a court ruling we’ve published or reading one issued in a case you’re involved in, how do you know what you’re looking for? Courts can publish in different formats and employ a lot of “legalese,” so here are a few tips on how to read a court decision....
Girls Gone Wild founder Joe Francis finds himself again at the center of courtroom drama. A Florida judge wants footage to be turned over to the court so he can watch Girls Gone Wild footage at the center of a lawsuit filed last year. The judge needs to watch the Girls Gone Wild footage in order to decide on the defendant’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, the AP reported. The plaintiffs are now adults....
Honda has agreed to pay a $70 million fine for failing to properly disclose more than 1,700 reports of deaths, injuries, and other incidents to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as required by federal law. The fine is the largest auto safety fine in U.S. history, reports The Detroit News. The unreported incidents date back as far as 2003, and include eight reports of injuries or death involving the Takata airbag inflators that have led the carmaker to recall more than 9 million vehicles since 2008....
Both Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin have been named in a federal criminal complaint that alleges the actresses bribed their children’s ways into their respective colleges. The actresses were not alone, but rather part of a much larger group of other parents alleged to have engaged in the same or similar conduct. The mastermind of the criminal activity has apparently revealed all. Details of the Scheme Allegedly, Loughlin and her husband Mossimo Giannulli paid half a million dollars in order to have their non-athletic daughters be considered as athlete-recruits for the university crew team....
Whether you’re making a joke about gun violence or abusing an animal, if you post about it online, chances are you’re going to get in trouble with the police. This is especially true since others will most likely be upset by your post and make an effort to alert the police to your activities. That’s what one Facebook user did when he saw a video of a baby smoking a cigarillo....
New York City’s transit agency has settled a lawsuit over a dress code that allegedly discriminated against Sikhs and Muslims for more than a decade after 9/11. The dress code, which critics called a “brand or segregate” policy, allegedly forced Sikh and Muslim workers to make a choice about their religious head coverings: “Brand” them with a Metropolitan Transit Authority logo, or be “segregated” to a less-desirable job out of public view....
The small town of Ladson, South Carolina was shocked late last month when local pastor Dale Richardson of Free Will Baptist Church was arrested and charged with kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual assault. Accused of kidnapping four women and raping three of them, Richardson, who is well-liked by church members and the community, was back in court last week, where prosecutors added to the charges and requested that he be denied bond and held until trial....
Prisoners are not usually a coveted consumer group, except for a select few companies that profit from incarceration. Among these are prison phone companies Global Tel*Link (GTL) and Securus Technologies, which have been charging prisoners and their families exorbitant rates to communicate. Last year, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a rate cap on calls of all kinds and the companies fought it hard, winning a stay in a March federal appeals court ruling....
Representing yourself in court may seem like an attractive option, but you should weigh the pros and cons before stepping into court on your own. While not hiring an attorney for your criminal case may save you money and give you a sense of pride, you leave yourself – a rank amateur – to navigate the legal corridors of the criminal justice system. And if you falter, it won’t just be embarrassing; it may cost you your freedom....
Getting caught in uncompromising positions can lead people to give some pretty dumb reasons for their behavior. But nowhere is stupidity at its finest than when it’s a stupid criminal excuse. We’ve combed the internet to find the most ridiculous reasons criminals have given to get out of a pair of handcuffs. So, for your cruel enjoyment, here are five of the dumbest excuses ever given to explain a crime....
President Trump has issued a revised executive order addressing travel and immigration from six Muslim-majority countries. The new order comes less than a month after the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously blocked his previous executive order on the issue. While the latest executive order is designed to avoid the same political and legal issues as its predecessor, it retains many of the same travel restrictions. So what’s new in the new travel ban, and will it be any more palatable to protestors, politicians, and, most importantly, the courts?...
Have you heard about the just-busted TSA oxycodone ring? Federal investigators are accusing a group of three TSA officers and two local cops from New York and Florida of shipping tens of thousands of oxycodone pills to residents in both the Big Apple and Connecticut. They’ve all been charged with accepting bribes, conspiring to distribute, and possessing drugs with the intent to sell. That man explained that he regularly flew thousands of oxycodone pills from Florida to New York, and according to the Associated Press, did so by paying the TSA agents and a New York police officer with cash and gift cards....
In a “historic” move, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has settled a class action suit brought over loan discrimination against Native America farmers. As a part of the settlement, the agency has agreed to pay $680 million. When the suit was filed eleven years ago, plaintiffs initially sought $500 million. According to NPR, the 1999 suit claimed that the USDA denied loans to Native American farmers in favor of white farmers from 1981-1999....
When a person is accused of cyberstalking, they may be tempted to try to talk their way out of trouble, or maybe try to delete all the evidence. However, cyberstalking is a serious criminal charge that can carry serious criminal penalties. If you are contacted, investigated, or arrested by law enforcement for cyberstalking, exercising your right to remain silent until you have an attorney present is likely the best course of action any person can take....
George Zimmerman’s jurors racked up $33,000 in expenses, including trips to the mall, bowling, pedicures, and dinner at an Outback Steakhouse. Zimmerman’s trial for the alleged murder of Trayvon Martin had the six-woman jury sequestered at a local hotel for approximately three weeks. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t allowed some down time, reports USA Today. While it might enrage or humor us to think of Zimmerman’s jurors splitting a Bloomin Onion before deciding to acquit him, it is not uncommon for sequestered juries to cut loose....
Fox Searchlight Pictures violated federal and New York minimum wage laws by not paying its “Black Swan” interns, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in a case that could affect American businesses that rely heavily on unpaid internships. Fox Searchlight should have paid two unpaid interns on the movie “Black Swan,” because they were essentially regular employees, ruled U.S. District Judge William Pauley. Tuesday’s ruling may serve as a cautionary tale to employers nationwide that misclassifying unpaid interns can be costly....
Plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that vaccines “played any role at all” in causing their children’s autism and other severe conditions, special masters in test cases ruled today. The cases in the Vaccine Court Omnibus Autism Proceeding involved autistic children of three families, the Cedillos, the Hazlehursts, and the Snyders, whose conditions, the parents argued, were brought on by early childhood vaccinations. According to a Reuters report, the parents “sought payment under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), a no-fault system that has a $2....
The Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter was arrested yesterday for what is being called a bar fight in Key West, Florida. But police refuse to reveal what Carter did wrong and even a manager at the bar where the incident allegedly occurred is resisting the urge to share the news with local radio WILD’s Gossip Cop, which reported the arrest. The pop and reality TV show star was at the Hog’s Breath Saloon in Key West when a dispute erupted....
Last week, Botox mom Kerry Campbell made headlines when she appeared on Good Morning America to explain an unusual grooming procedures for her 8-year-old daughter: Soon after she appeared on TV, Kerry Campbell became the subject of investigation by the San Francisco Police Department and Child Protective Services. According to a source with “knowledge of the situation,” Campbell’s daughter was taken away from her by authorities, reports ABC News. Not all of Campbell’s claims on TV have turned out to be true....
Is Fox’s “Glee” stealing songs from performers without permission? That’s what indie singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton is saying. He claims that “Glee” producers stole his 2005 arrangement of “Baby Got Back,” On The Media reports. What’s worse, the “Glee” version of the 1992 Sir Mix-A-Lot song, which Coulton claims is based on his arrangement, is being sold on iTunes for $1.29. That’s 30 cents more than Coulton’s rendition, which is also available for download....
