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If you’ve ever complained about a legal violation to your employer, chances are that you feared (or experienced) workplace retaliation. But did you know that almost every employee protection law in this country bars employer retaliation should you file a complaint? Well they do, and those provisions may have just gotten easier to enforce. In Kasten v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp., the Supreme Court ruled that, under the Fair Labor Standards Act, workplace retaliation is illegal should an employee file a written or an oral complaint....

Joe Francis, creator of the “Girls Gone Wild” video series, apparently went a bit wild himself after a car crash in Beverly Hills. Paparazzi snapped photos of Francis in handcuffs at the accident scene Thursday morning, celebrity website TMZ.com reports. But minutes later, police removed the cuffs and let Francis go free. The incident made Joe Francis go wild was a car crash on world-famous Rodeo Drive. Francis got in a heated argument with another car’s driver about who apparently caused the accident, TMZ reports....

RD is back with another legal issue to tackle. Kalinda and Cary fall over themselves to testify against Lemond Bishop. After her downfall, Alicia is returning to the firm, or is she? Here’s what you need to know from last night’s episode, entitled “The Deconstruction”: Episode Recap (Spoiler Alert): For his next legal crusade, RD wants to tackle the issue of mandatory minimum sentencing. Cary suggests the case of a man who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for giving painkillers to an undercover cop....

A “Titanic” actor with a bit part in the 1997 blockbuster film is suing Twentieth Century Fox for residuals related to his one line. Vi Jay, who played the generically named “Spindley Porter” opposite the larger-than-life Kathy Bates, is suing “Titanic’s” producers and rights holders for allegedly not paying him his due, after he was given a minor speaking role in the film at the last minute, according to The Hollywood Reporter....

Several older Apple products infringe upon a Samsung patent and cannot be sold within the United States. Apple violated a Samsung patent related to cellular technology with AT&T models of the iPhone 3GS and 4, plus 3G models of the iPad 1 and 2, the ITC ruled in a two-page opinion attached below. The “determination is final, and the investigation is terminated.” Apple and Samsung have been locking horns in courtrooms around the world as the two tech giants have accused one another of stealing patents and designs....

Of course it’s not quite as slick, but the latest Las Vegas robbery is about as close as you can come to Ocean’s Eleven in real life. Las Vegas police say an armed man in a motorcycle helmet robbed the posh Bellagio Hotel Tuesday, escaping with an estimated $1.5 million in casino chips. And it’s not the first time. The Vegas biker bandit has struck before, reports the Associated Press. Las Vegas police think the same man pulled a similar heist at the Las Vegas Suncoast Hotel & Casino in their poker room....

Usher’s stepson, Kile Glover, may be removed from life support in a month if someone does not step up and pay his medical bills. Glover has been on life support since a tragic Jet Ski accident last week. Reports are that Glover’s insurance company is willing to continue paying for the expensive life support only for a couple of months. Without the insurance, Tameka Raymond, Glover’s mother, may have to pay for the life support herself or find someone who will foot the bill, reports Fox 8 Cleveland....

A tentative settlement of $1.25 million has been reached in the lawsuit brought against Westchester County, New York, by parents of a 7-year-old boy killed in an amusement park ride accident. The Playland amusement park was noteably featured in the Tom Hanks film “Big” and the ride at issue was an 80 year old ride with no prior history of fatalities. The child’s parents, Robert and Elayne Cassara of Norwalk, Connecticut brought the suit against the county, which operates the amusement park, and the AP summarized the circumstances of the accident:...

A U.S. coal company will pay the largest civil fine ever levied under the Clean Water Act, after committing wastewater discharge violations for at least seven years. Massey Energy Company, Inc. has agreed to pay a $20 million penalty as part of a settlement for more than 4,500 Clean Water Act violations that occurred at coal mines in West Virginia and Kentucky, according to a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Press Release....

A decision by the highest state court in Colorado may have far reaching implications for states that have legalized recreational and medical marijuana. The big pot-law decision they reached last week has sparked national debate over whether law enforcement must return marijuana seized in criminal investigations. Basically, despite Colorado state law requiring law enforcement to return marijuana seized for a criminal prosecution if the prosecution fails, the court found that officers are not required to return marijuana as it would violate federal drug laws....

Actor Charlie Sheen and wife Brooke Mueller want to kiss and make up and their wish could be granted with a day in court. TMZ reported that the couple have a court date on January 20 and the judge is expected to hear the motion to modify the protection order currently in place. Their lawyers say the pair wants to be together again. Sheen’s attorney, Richard Cummins, said he is asking a judge to modify a restraining order that prevents the couple from having contact....

Jury trials are tough enough for attorneys even when they don’t have to dodge flying purses. A Florida defense attorney was hit with the flying purse after the parents of Yvonne Bustamante, a murder victim, became enraged when a mistrial was declared in the case of the alleged killer. The defendant, Leon Davis Jr., is accused of triple murder for the death of Bustamante as well as her pregnant sister-in-law, Juanita Luciano, and her unborn child, who was born prematurely after the attacks....

Does a ski resort’s ban on snowboarding violate the 14th Amendment? A group of snowboarders believes so. They have sued the Alta Ski Lifts Company, which operates the Alta ski resort in Utah, for banning snowboarders and only allowing skiers on the slopes. The snowboarders’ lawsuit (attached below) claims Alta, which operates on federally owned land, violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. “Discrimination without any rational basis perpetuates inequality by creating, fostering, and encouraging skier-versus-snowboarder attitudes that are hostile and divisive,” argues the complaint, filed in U....

The Justice Department and JPMorgan have reached a possible $13 billion settlement over civil charges that the bank sold bad mortgage loans to investors prior to the mortgage crisis. According to Reuters, this record-setting deal won’t release JPMorgan from criminal liability from some mortgages that were packaged into bonds and sold to investors. But it will go a long way toward reducing the financial institution’s troubles with the federal government....

It’s a homeowner’s worst nightmare. Someone died at your home. Demi Moore must be reeling after she received news that a young man died at the pool at her home. Police aren’t currently investigating the death as a homicide, but is Demi facing any liability? Last Sunday morning, Demi Moore’s housekeeper made a grisly discovery. A young man, identified as Edenilson Steven Valle, was dead, floating in the deep end of the pool on Demi Moore’s Los Angeles property....

The Florida wife that tried to hire a hitman to kill her husband in 2009 may be facing her third criminal trial soon. This week, the jury in Dalia Dippolito’s retrial was unable to reach a verdict. When the judge realized that no amount of deliberation would break the deadlocked jury, he declared a mistrial. This case has been making headlines for over half-a-decade at this point and was even featured on the popular TV show “Cops....

A more-than-tough-love father is alleged to have shot his son during an argument about the boy’s Saturday arrest for shoplifting, leaving the NYC correction officer facing charges for assault and weapons possession. Robert Smalls, 39, is accused of blasting his son in the stomach after his son Quasaun, 17, returned home after his shoplifting arrest and got into a physical confrontation with his dad, reports the New York Post. Quasaun was rushed to the hospital for his injuries and told the Post he’s doing “all right....

The death of a New York man who was placed in a “chokehold” by NYPD officers while being arrested has been ruled a homicide by the city’s medical examiner’s office. Investigators determined that 43-year-old Eric Garner died from “compression of neck (chokehold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police,” reports the New York Post. Chronic bronchial asthma, obesity, and cardiovascular disease also contributed to Garner’s death, according to the medical examiner’s report....

Painkiller patches containing the prescription medication fentanyl are being recalled, because a cut in the patch’s drug reservoir may cause a harmful overdose of the potent painkiller. The affected patches are sold by PriCara under the Duragesic brand name. A generic version of the fentanyl patches is marketed by Sandoz Inc. The recall applies to all 25 microgram/hour fentanyl patches (brand name and generic) with expiration dates on or before December 2009....

Maybe he’ll be able to laugh about this in a few years - or use it in his stand-up act. British comedian Russell Brand was recently deported from Japan, according to his wife Katy Perry’s Twitter account. He was visiting the country for Perry’s Japan concert when the immigration incident went down. The reason for the deportation? Allegedly, a 10-year-old criminal case, reports the Examiner. Brand is no stranger to scrapes with the law....