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After yesterday’s original deadline passed for acclaimed photographer Annie Leibovitz to repay the $24 million loan she obtained last year, she and lender Art Capital Group are reportedly in negotiations to resolve the legal dispute. “Fine Art and intellectual property;” Manhattan townhouses in the West Village; and Country home in upstate New York A perfect storm of hefty mortgage payments on multiple properties, outstanding tax liens and unpaid bills led Leibovitz to take out the loan last year....

It’s understood that prison is and should be unpleasant. Still, that doesn’t mean prisoners have no protections. The protections are more limited than for a free person, of course. Still, in the case of an inmate attack, under some circumstances, there are claims that even the imprisoned can make. Let’s take a look at vicarious liability for institutions of incarceration. Prison Negligence for Violence First, let’s make some important distinctions. Where the inmate is incarcerated and how the attack and injury occurs will dictate what claims can be made and whether an institution can be held vicariously liable for its failure to protect....

The man who made the 911 call reporting Prince’s death could face criminal prosecution. But the story is convoluted and it is not clear yet that Andrew Kornfeld will be charged for his call or any other involvement in the pop star’s death. A thicket of intersecting and conflicting laws and the specifics surrounding the singer’s demise have to be untangled first. Let’s take a look at what’s known about this complicated story and the many interesting issues it raises....

After having been on the other side of a number of music licensing lawsuits, the Beastie Boys were awarded $1.7 million by a New York jury Thursday in a copyright case of their own against energy-drink company Monster Beverage. The victory is the second legal triumph for the Beastie Boys this year, after settling a dispute with toymaker Goldieblox over the use of the song “Girls” in a commercial for company’s line of toys....

It’s your Second Amendment right to purchase a gun (so long as you aren’t disqualified) but that doesn’t prohibit laws on safe gun storage. While not all states require guns to be locked up at home, the majority of them do. Some states also punish adults when children get their hands on improperly secured firearms and cause harm. These laws don’t just apply to parents. If people under 16 ever come into your home - friends, family, or neighbors - they apply to you too....

Parents who own a Britex car seat should take care, as the company has recalled more than 60,000 of its convertible car seats over a potential choking hazard. So far it doesn’t appear that any children have been hurt by the recalled seats. But to be on the safe side, Britex is asking parents to remove the chest pads from the seats, and is offering free replacement pieces that are safer for children....

Potential uses for risk assessment tools can sound like something out of Tom Cruise’s “Minority Report”: the tools can potentially punish people based on crimes they may commit in the future. But using risk assessments to aid in sentencing isn’t quite as extreme as arresting people based on the predictions of three psychic children. Risk Assessment Tools FiveThirtyEight reported on risk assessments last week: “The tools try to predict recidivism – repeat offending or breaking the rules of probation or parole – using statistical probabilities based on factors such as age, employment history and prior criminal record....

There is a difference between a felony and a misdemeanor. Most Americans are familiar with the notion that a crime’s classification has certain implications. After all, felonies are typically regarded as more serious crimes. They also typically carry heftier punishments. But that isn’t all that is different between the two types of crimes. And the process may become vastly different. Individuals charged with capital felonies typically need to have their case heard by a jury of 12 peers....

Elizabeth Smart awoke with a knife at her throat. The first words she heard were death threats from her captor Brian David Mitchell. Elizabeth Smart testified about her abduction, daily rapes and threats to kidnap other members of her family. She took the stand to detail the events surrounding her 2002 kidnapping that lasted nine months. Brian David Mitchell watched from another room in the Utah federal courthouse. “He said he was taking me hostage for ransom....

Step away from the animals a moment, Farmville folks. You and the users of at least ten of Facebook’s other most popular apps could be the subject of a Facebook privacy breach. The apps involved have allowed access to user’s names and, in some cases, their friends’ names to dozens of advertising and internet tracking companies. According to an investigation by The Wall Street Journal, even those users who thought they had their privacy settings set at the strictest levels have been vulnerable....

FAMU band member Robert Champion’s hazing death has led to criminal charges against 13 people, prosecutors announced Wednesday. Eleven people are facing felony hazing charges, while others face misdemeanor charges in the homicide of Champion, 26, a drum major from DeKalb County, Ga., the Orlando Sentinel reports. Champion endured severe beatings by fellow members of Florida A&M University’s famed “Marching 100” band in a brutal hazing ritual aboard a chartered bus in November, prosecutors said....

Google has reached a settlement with the FTC over privacy concerns regarding Google’s use of Apple’s Safari browser. This agreement comes several months after the FTC began investing Google’s activities in response to a Wall Street Journal article. The article indicated that Google was tracking Safari users by circumventing the privacy controls using a special piece of code. They discontinued that practice after the article was published by the FTC launched an investigation into Google’s privacy practices....

Kanye West is being sued, yet again, for allegedly using unlicensed samples in his music. Remember singing along with West’s hit single “Gold Digger” back in 2005? The song’s golden line, “Get down girl, go ahead, get down,” is back to get Kanye down into a lawsuit. The children of a deceased musician named David Pryor are suing West for sampling a very small part of their father’s song, “Bumpin’ Bus Stop,” CBS News reports....

You don’t want to mess with a Texas cowboy, even a 79-year-old Texas cowboy. An allegedly armed home intruder, Charles Brian Smith, learned this the hard way as he was karate-chopped by Ervin Brittnacher. Brittnacher, a member of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame, heard his dog barking early Monday and got up to investigate, reports Houston’s KHOU-TV. When the homeowner got to the front door, he saw Smith carrying a rifle and trying to break in....

It’s not surprising to hear that comedian Katt Williams has been caught up in some doggy drama, given the fact that he was behind a $575,000 dog-bites-dog attack last year. But, this time, it’s Katt Williams’ bodyguard who caused the problem. In a very bizarre story out of Arizona, TMZ is reporting that Williams’ bodyguard shot a former police dog in a fast food parking lot, which was then replaced with William’s very own puppy....

Kim Kardashian was in an uproar over the weekend after some personal items went missing from her luggage. The star of… hmm, why is she a celebrity again? Anyway, Kardashian has accused British Airways of being the culprit. She ranted via Twitter that the airline opened her luggage and took some irreplaceable and “sentimental” belongings from her. She was flying back to Los Angeles from the Cannes Film Festival in France, Us Magazine reports....

On March 11, The Boston Globe reported that Massachusetts has joined the federal lawsuit against pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson regarding their off label promotion and kick-back program with Omnicare, the nation’s largest pharmacy serving nursing homes. As discussed in a prior post, the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit in January against J&J after settling with Omnicare. According to The Globe, Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley will join the suit over the marketing and promotion of the drug Risperdal for off label use....

November is National Adoption Month. The following links from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Child Welfare Information Gateway (CWIG) and FindLaw for the Public provide more information on National Adoption Month and legal issues related to adoption. November 2006 is National Adoption Month (CWIG) http://www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/nam/ Presidential Proclamation (CWIG)http://www.childwelfare.gov/adoption/nam/presidential.cfm Guide to Adopting a Child (FindLaw for the Public) /content/www/public/family/adoption/adoption-guide/ Adoption: State-Specific and National Resources (FindLaw for the Public)https://www.findlaw.com/family/adoption/adoption-resources/...

Paul Walker Sr., father of the late actor Paul Walker, has filed a $1.8 million claim against the estate of Roger Rodas, the man who drove the car in which Walker was killed in late 2013. The claim involves exotic cars that Walker’s family claims were either wholly or partially owned by the late actor but have remained in the possession of Rodas’ estate, reports Los Angeles’ KCBS-TV. Rodas, who was also killed in the crash, was the CEO of Always Evolving, an exotic car shop owned by Walker....

Hopefully Angela Daywalt, of Waynesboro, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, has a World’s Best Mom coffee mug at home, because she is unlikely to win the actual award any time soon. Daywalt was arrested and charged with DUI, endangering the welfare of a child, and assorted traffic and summary violations after she fled the scene of a drunk driving accident, allegedly after asking her 8-year-old daughter to blow into a breathalyzer device in her car....