Posts

In Virginia, a class action case is heating up as the Department of Justice has decided to enter the fight. The gist of the case is that in Virginia, if a driver fails to pay court costs or fines, they may have their driver’s license suspended without consideration of whether the failure to pay was intentional or a result of poverty. To date, nearly 1 million Virginia drivers have had their licenses suspended as a result of unpaid court costs and fines....

George Bronk, known as the Facebook stalker, was sentenced to four years in prison for snooping around women’s Facebook pages and e-mail accounts. The crimes started in December 2009, and spanned months until the California man was caught last September. Bronk broke into women’s e-mail accounts after figuring out the answers to their “security questions” by looking over their Facebook pages, reports the New York Daily News. Once inside his victim’s e-mail accounts, he found nude pictures that they had sent, and then forward the pictures to everybody in their contact list, the New York Daily News reports....

The makers of a number of popular prescription painkillers will need to impose new guidelines and stronger restrictions to prevent abuse and misuse of the drugs, federal health officials announced this week. On February 6, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent letters to manufacturers and marketers of certain prescription extended-release pain medications called “opioids”. The agency’s letters ordered the companies to attend a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) meeting to evaluate whether the benefits of opioids continue to outweigh risks of misuse, abuse and accidental overdose – problems that have seen marked increases over the last 10 years....

Does movie actor (and former lawyer) Gerard Butler have an evil twin, and if so, is he being sued by him? The answer is no. And, yes. Gerard Butler does have an evil twin, better known as “Evil Twins” and it is his production company started with business partner Alan Siegel. The problem is, Evil Twins also has an evil twin, better known as “Evil Twin Prods.,” a promotional company started in 1996....

A federal judge ordered Google to release private customer data to the FBI, despite the fact that the FBI has no warrant for the information. Google must comply with the FBI’s secret “National Security Letter” demands for customer data, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston held in the attached ruling. Every year the FBI sends thousands of NSLs to banks, telecommunication companies and other businesses, the AP reports. NSLs are controversial because they allow FBI officials to send secret requests for “name, address, length of service,” and other account information about users as long as it’s relevant to a national security investigation, CNET reports....

Notorious former “Hollywood madam” Heidi Fleiss seems to have turned her attention to marijuana. Fleiss’ home in Nevada was visited by sheriff’s deputies on Tuesday. She now faces charges for growing nearly 400 pot plants in her desert home. Although Fleiss was not arrested, officers did seize 392 pot plants, grow lights, and other marijuana cultivation tools that Fleiss claimed she was using to sell cannabis to a Las Vegas pot collective – though she lacked a legal license to grow, reports TMZ....

Does a handshake still mean anything? It’s hard to say, but it is reported that last December, lead government lawyer Elie Honig shook the hand of alleged mob boss John Gotti Jr., as his fourth trial ended in mistrial and wished him well. The gentlemanly gesture may have met something after all, because press reports today say the government has decided not to seek a fifth trial against the defendant who seems to be the newer version of his father, the “Teflon Don....

If you asked a layperson, they would probably guess that job opportunities for people of color have never been better, and that corporations are getting more racially diverse. But that’s not always the case, especially in the financial sector. Bloomberg reports that major banks have been losing more and more black workers every year, and JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., has seen its share of black employees drop six consecutive years, from 16 percent in 2011 to 13....

Judge Hellerstein of the United States District Court in Manhattan, New York, offered a strong endorsement for the new settlement. Part of the reason for the Judge’s support came after attorneys agreed to reduce their fees from 33% to 25%. “It’s not perfect, but it’s very, very good,” Hellerstein said. The case began in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack and the years of cleanup that followed. Thousands of workers filed lawsuits against the city and private contractors over illnesses related to their work....

The Seventh Circuit has written a scathing rejection of a “scandalous” class-action settlement by in which a lawyer inserted his father-in-law as a named plaintiff and negotiated a $2 million advance on his fee. Judge Richard Posner wrote in the opinion (attached below) that the lower court should have heeded dire warning signs. “Almost every danger sign in a class action settlement that our court and other courts have warned district judges to be on the lookout for was present in this case,” Posner wrote....

The rapper Juvenile was arrested over the weekend after a large fight allegedly broke out at a Miami Beach nightclub, The Miami Herald reports. Juvenile, whose real name is Terius Gray, had just reunited onstage with fellow rapper Lil Wayne at the LIV nightclub in Miami Beach. The two had a long-running feud that spanned a decade and this was reportedly their first appearance together since the feud began. Following the performance, Juvenile was allegedly involved in a fight that started inside the club and spilled out into the street, reports TMZ....

Last week, a juvenile carjacker in New Jersey made headlines for being arrested twice within 48 hours for two separate carjacking incidents. Police released the minor into the custody of a relative after his arrest on a Friday for carjacking, and on Sunday, the teen was rearrested for another carjacking. The juvenile carjacker, surprisingly, is only 13 years old. Fortunately, there were no injuries as a result of his actions, however, police have linked an additional two to three car thefts from surrounding communities to the young suspect....

A judge hearing the Michael Jackson manslaughter case says prosecutors can show jurors two images from the singer’s autopsy. Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ruled Thursday that prosecutors trying Dr. Conrad Murray can show what Pastor described as benign photos that are not graphic or gruesome, the AP reports. Deputy District Attorney David Walgren told the judge that he intends to introduce photos during the upcoming trial that will be carefully displayed....

Military sexual assaults are on the rise, and a new survey suggests the problem may be much more widespread than officially reported. The official number of sexual assaults in the military rose 6% between 2011 and 2012, when more than 3,300 service members reported such incidents, according to a Pentagon report released Wednesday. But the true number is likely much higher. The Pentagon estimates as many as 26,000 military members may have been subject to sexual assault in 2012 but didn’t report it, according to the Associated Press....

Beware of Obamacare scams. Open enrollment officially starts today, October 1. This means that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, is now in full effect. But so are scammers, and they’re hoping to target vulnerable consumers and business owners who are unfamiliar with the new law, Forbes reports. What do some of these scams entail? Here’s an overview, and how you can protect yourself: New Law, New Scams If you’re confused about Obamacare or unsure of what’s required of you, you may be especially vulnerable to these scams....

Toys ‘R" Us and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) have announced a recall of the “Imaginarium” 213-Piece Wooden Coloring Case, due to excess levels of lead in paint on the packaging and in the paint set inside the case. According to a CPSC Press Release on the Recall, the Imaginarium 213-Piece Wooden Coloring Case “includes crayons, pastels, colored pencils, fiber pens, paintbrush, pencil, water colors, palette, white paint, ruler and pencil sharpener in a light tan wooden carrying case” which measures approximately 14 inches high and 19 inches wide....

Christopher Montgomery was arrested by Philadelphia police two years ago for videotaping a fight in which police were involved. So the Philly chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is suing the cops on his behalf. Montgomery, 24, is a photojournalism student at Temple University, and in January 2011 he saw a fight break out in downtown Philadelphia. Police arrived and began making arrests. At that point, Montgomery took out his iPhone and started recording the interaction....

JetBlue Airways and TSA officials will pay $240,000 to an airline passenger who was forced to cover his T-shirt containing Arabic writing before he could board a plane. The AFP reports that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) brought the lawsuit claiming that Raed Jarrar, a U.S. resident, was discriminated against based on the Arabic message on his T-shirt and his ethnicity. The T-shirt read “We Will Not Be Silent” in English and Arabic, and Raed Jarar was told other passengers felt uncomfortable because wearing an Arabic-inscribed T-shirt in an airport was like “wearing a T-shirt at a bank stating, ‘I am a robber....

They say you should follow your dreams, keep your eyes on the prize, and never let trivial roadblocks get in the way on your path to glory. And so it is that Scott Spina, “Insta-famous sneaker outfitter,” has filed a federal complaint against Joseph “Fat Joe” Cartagena, claiming the rapper froze him out of their shared All the Way Up luxury sneaker company, despite Spina being sentenced to nearly three years in prison for stealing credit card info from the company’s customers....

Ray J is facing a slew of misdemeanor charges, including sexual battery, for allegedly grabbing a woman’s breast in the lobby of a Beverly Hills hotel. Ray J, born William Ray Norwood Jr., was arrested May 30 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel after an altercation at the hotel bar and a struggle with police. TMZ reports that although police originally believed Ray J “incidentally” touched a woman’s butt during the incident, new evidence points to the singer grabbing a woman’s breast....