Two-thirds of the members of the “youngest” of the federal appellate courts, the Federal Circuit, will qualify for retirement or senior status in the next two years, presenting a rare opportunity for the next president to shape that court. Federal courts scholar Arthur D. Hellman notes that Federal Circuit appointments have generally not been as […]
An environmental group and its director have lost their bid to recover attorney fees and compensatory and punitive damages from an attorney who filed an allegedly frivolous defamation suit against them, a New York appellate court has ruled. The Appellate Division, 1st Department held that the lawyer’s claim did not amount to a “Strategic Lawsuit […]
The term “freedom’s watch” is not distinctive enough to warrant a trademark suit, a federal judge has ruled in a case that pitted a one-time hero of conservatives against President Bush’s former backers. Larry Klayman’s suit accused Freedom’s Watch of appropriating a name he had used to promote his public interest legal work. Judge Paul […]
A jury has awarded $56 million to the family of a teenager left brain-damaged and disabled in a drunken-driving crash following a school party where alcohol was served. As the verdict stands, it would make the boy’s high school and the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami liable for $14 million. But an attorney in the case […]
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to step into a free speech case involving a church that wants to place a religious monument in a park. Officials in Pleasant Grove City, Utah, asked the court to step into the lawsuit brought by the religious group known as Summum, saying that if the group prevails, governments […]
In a rare defamation case over a novel, the Georgia Court of Appeals has cleared the way for a suit by an Atlanta woman who claims an alcoholic, promiscuous character in the book “The Red Hat Club” too closely resembles her. Vickie Stewart has sued author Haywood Smith and St. Martin’s Press over Smith’s 2003 […]