In Chapter 13 proceedings, the decision of the bankruptcy court in holding that plaintiff’s purchase of a creditor’s claim against the debtors was not valid is reversed where: 1) the bankruptcy court clearly erred in finding that the purchase agreement between the plaintiff and the intermediary did not contain representations about the validity of the [...]
Defendant’s alien smuggling conviction and sentence are affirmed where: 1) officers do not violate the Fourth Amendment simply by approaching an individual on the street or in some other public place and asking a question or asking for identification; 2) the government properly offered a redacted portion of a Form I-213 only to demonstrate that [...]
In two in rem admiralty actions seeking to salvage logs lying at the bottom of Georgia’s rivers, the district court’s denial of the state’s motion to dismiss based on sovereign immunity is affirmed where that doctrine did not apply because the state did not have possession of the logs. Read Aqua Log, Inc. v. Georgia, [...]
The Anchorage Daily News reports that as part of a bankruptcy plan, the Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks will pay abuse victims nearly $10 million dollars. The plan includes sending a bishop to travel to parishes where sexual abuse occurred and putting the names of suspected abusers on the diocese website. Approximately $9.8 million dollars will [...]
Ms. Dee Spears of Texas has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Allergan corporation, the maker of the cosmetic drug Botox, over her seven year old daughter’s death. ABC News reports that the girl was using Botox in order to treat muscle spasms that she suffered from because of cerebral palsy. Ms Spears claims that her daughter’s [...]
The market is now a renter’s market. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that apartment vacancies hit a 30 year high. Landlords are scrambling to entice tenants to move into their rentals. This leaves room for more apartment tenant rights than ever before. The Wall Street Journal quotes Victor Calanog, director of research for Reis [...]
With court testimony drawing to an end in the trial against Prop 8, we have taken the highlights of the end of court testimony in order to give you a snapshot of what went on in Judge Walker’s courtroom in San Francisco (since cameras were banned from the courtroom and all). The plaintiffs closed with Gregory Herek, a UC [...]
We’ve come a long way baby, since the days of blaming the victim for inexcusable behavior like sexual harassment. But maybe not quite far enough. Ex-offshore basketball player and model, Otis Duffy, feels he was the one punished for the inappropriate and upsetting behavior of his female colleagues. Last Tuesday, Duffy filed a $3 million sexual harassment suit [...]
(U.S. 5th Cir., Probate, Trusts & Estates, Tax Law) In the taxpayer’s appeal from the tax court’s approval of the IRS Commissioner’s disallowance of a “qualified family-owned business interest” estate tax deduction to the taxpayer estate, the tax court’s order is affirmed where the “qualified family-owned business interest” deduction of 26 U.S.C. section 2057 is [...]
(U.S. D.C. Cir., Communications Law, Injury And Tort Law, Media Law) In a defamation action regarding defendant’s statement that plaintiff was involved in “crony companies” associated with former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed in part where plaintiff’s claim of intentional interference with a business expectancy failed because he did not [...]