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A lawsuit against an airline for allegedly taping a sex toy to the top of a checked bag should survive a motion to dismiss, the Fifth Circuit has ruled. The complaint for intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and negligence can proceed, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in an unpublished opinion (attached below). The lawsuit claims the sex toy had been removed from their luggage, covered in a greasy foul-smelling substance and taped to the top of one of their bags....

An artist’s “Kung Fu Panda” lawsuit has been dismissed. Cartoonist Jayme Gordon, whose suit had actually survived a summary judgment motion a few months ago, has now withdrawn his claim. Gordon had insisted that he was the original artist behind DreamWorks’ “Kung Fu Panda,” which came out in 2008. Gordon had backed up his claim with a copyright registration of his drawings from 2000 that seemed to bear (pun intended) an uncanny resemblance to Po, the main character in “Kung Fu Panda,” according to The Hollywood Reporter....

More than 400,000 Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumpers are being recalled over a hazard that’s led to dozens of infant injuries. At least 60 small children have been hurt, including a 7-month-old boy who suffered a skull fracture from using the baby activity seat. One adult was also injured, suffering a chipped tooth. The problem lies in an attachment toy that looks like a “sun,” the Consumer Products Safety Commission explained in a recall notice....

Brangelina has become official. After years of speculation as to when, or if, the famous couple would ever tie the knot after getting engaged in 2012, Brad Pitt and Angelia Jolie managed to sneak in a private wedding ceremony in France, a spokesman told The Associated Press. What are some of the legal questions the newlyweds may be facing? Having your own legal issues regarding marriage or children? Even if you’re not Brad or Angelina, a family law attorney can help explain the laws in your state....

Washington, D.C. was rocked by the case of missing intern Chandra Levy in the spring of 2001. During the investigation it came to light that she had had an affair with then-Congressman Gary Condit, launching the story into national headlines. Chandra Levy’s body wasn’t found until a year later in the city’s expansive Rock Creek Park. By that time Gary Condit’s career had been ruined. He was never named a suspect, notes Reuters....

Google is often cited as an innovator in the tech industry, and most entrepreneurs and small business owners would love to know how the company trains its staff. And copycats were in luck, until recently. The only problem? The tech giant illegally appropriated those training techniques from a 50-year-old manual on Saharan survival techniques. The “Desert Survival Situation” has been used as a training and team-building tool for almost half a century by a company named Human Synergistics....

Be careful what you keep on your cell phone, because digital data will not be given privacy protection under the Stored Communications Act (SCA), according to a federal court. The SCA prohibits unauthorized access to digital information stored in temporary and back-up storage, but the law doesn’t specify what kind of storage is protected from unsanctioned investigation. That question has been cleared up by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but the ruling is not necessarily consumer-friendly....

Sony Pictures has been hit with multiple lawsuits related to the massive data breach recently suffered by the company. On Monday, the company was sued by two former employees who claimed that they had personal information such as Social Security numbers and salary history made public as a result of the hack of Sony’s computer networks last month, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Two more former Sony employees filed suit on Tuesday, seeking recovery for damages caused by the leak of their private information....

After 16 hours of deadlocked jury deliberations, the judge finally declared a mistrial in Baltimore Police Officer William G. Porter’s trial in the homicide of Freddie Gray. Jurors told the judge they could not reach a verdict on any of the charges against Porter, the first of six officers to stand trial after Gray died in police custody last April. The Baltimore Sun is reporting that a new trial date for Porter will be set on Thursday morning....

Earlier this year, the Hulkster himself won a large jury verdict against Gawker Media for publishing a secret sex tape showing the WrestleMania star having sex. However, the $140 million verdict essentially became uncollectable when the newsgroup filed for bankruptcy. This week, news broke that the Hulkamaniac settled the $140 million jury verdict for a mere $31 million. Why Mr. Hogan was willing to settle for less requires some explanation....

Gary Harrington will be spending the next 30 days in jail for collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his property. The Oregon man was found guilty two weeks ago for breaking a 1925 law for having “three illegal reservoirs” on his property, reports CNSNews. Harrington was convicted of nine misdemeanors and received a $1500 fine in addition to the prison sentence. Harrington surrendered himself to authorities to begin his prison term and said that he was sacrificing himself to stand up for liberty....

Rejecting a bid by convicted al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui to overturn his guilty plea, a federal appeals court affirmed the French citizen’s terror conspiracy charges stemming from his role as an admitted terror camp trainee, member of the terrorist organization, and acknowledged flight-school his ‘intent to obtain pilot training to further “al Qaeda’s plan to use plans to kill Americans.” The appellate court’s decision should not come as any big surprise to followers of Moussaoui’s nearly 5-year period of litigation after the time he was arrested in Minnesota just weeks before the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States....

Ohio is once again, frontier country. The Ohio Supreme Court handed down an opinion on June 9 finding that Ohio businesses can sue in their home state for defamation posted on the internet if it can be shown that anyone in that state saw it. This decision overturned the lower court’s ruling that a Virginia man could not be sued in Ohio by an Ohio business for the defamatory comments he allegedly published on various websites....

Political and public issue advertisements may be coming to a public television station near you. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a federal political ad ban, which had long prohibited the airing of such content on stations like PBS. Congress had enacted the statute to ensure that the public airwaves broadcast only “high quality educational and noncommercial programming.” Two of the three judges agreed that there is no evidence that political and public issue ads would pose a threat to this mission....

Robin Thicke crashes his very expensive looking Porsche into a parked car… then gets a ride home from cops. Talk about star treatment. A look at Thicke’s mangled Porsche and you would think someone was seriously injured. Fortunately for Thicke, he was not hurt and there was nobody inside the parked Volkswagen that he hit. Thicke stayed at the scene of the accident and gave police a statement. He said that a car cut him off as he pulled onto Sunset Boulevard....

Country music star Sara Evans’ restraining order against her ex-husband Craig Schelske is not your typical restraining order. Evans’ restraining order doesn’t forbid her ex from coming near her. Instead, it forbids him from doing one thing: it blocks him from making public statements about their divorce proceedings. Evans obtained the court order after Schelske appeared on Anderson Cooper’s new TV show on September 20. Schelske discussed his recent divorce on air....

Today, the US Supreme Court rejected hearing an appeal to the Fourth Circuit’s ruling striking down several key components of North Carolina’s controversial voter ID law, passed last year. Last summer, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that 5 key components, including the voter ID provisions, were unconstitutional and could not be enforced. Since SCOTUS refused to hear the appeal, the Fourth Circuit’s ruling stands. Although the voter ID law was upheld by the lower District Court, on appeal, the court found that lawmakers targeted African American voters ’ with almost surgical precision....

A former actress from Texas pleaded guilty to a biological weapons charge for sending letters laced with ricin to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The thespian’s ricin plot entailed revenge against her husband and threats against politicians, but her punishment will be limited significantly due to her guilty plea. Shannon Guess Richardson – an actress who had minor roles in the television series “The Walking Dead” and the movie “The Blind Side” – was arrested in June for trying to implicate her estranged husband in a ricin plot after he had filed for divorce, reports the Associated Press....

Way back in 2011, Benchmark Capital was one of Uber’s early and prominent investors. And according to court filings, Benchmark currently holds approximately 13 percent of Uber’s stock, equating to 20 percent of Uber’s voting power. Unfortunately for Uber and its deposed CEO Travis Kalanick, that court filing is a fraud lawsuit, filed by Benchmark in Delaware state court yesterday. The lawsuit involves that voting power, centering on Kalanick’s alleged misrepresentations in stacking Uber’s board of directors in order to solidify his position, possibly with an eye on a return to the company....

You’ve probably seen TV crime shows where police follow a suspect around and collect cups that he’s taken sips from, just to collect his DNA. But in reality, when is it legal for police to collect DNA from a suspect, and when is it crossing a legal line? That’s a common question on our FindLaw Answers Criminal Law forum. The ACLU has argued in the past that DNA is more invasive than a fingerprint and is a violation of privacy....