2nd Circuit Court

Can Carrier Block Texts Based on Content? T-Mobile Tells Federal Court the Answer Is Yes

In what the Threat Level blog of Wired describes as the first federal case addressing whether wireless providers are permitted to block text messages based on their content, T-Mobile USA Inc. argued in a filing (PDF) yesterday in federal court in Manhattan that it does have this power. The issue…

Sep 23, 2010 11:41 PM CDT

Defense Lawyers & Others Sue Feds Over Border Searches of Laptops, Other Electronic Devices

A coalition of civil rights groups and criminal defense attorneys has sued the Department of Homeland Security over its alleged border searches and seizures, without reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing, of the laptop computers, cell phones and other electronic devices of some 6,600 people. About half of those subjected to such…

Sep 7, 2010 7:19 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Tosses Ladies Night Suit by Anti-Feminist Lawyer

A self-described anti-feminist lawyer in Manhattan has lost his claim that night clubs are state actors because of liquor sales, making them subject to a constitutional equal protection claim for their ladies night discounts for women. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled “with evident amusement” against…

Sep 2, 2010 12:01 PM CDT

DA Will Reinvestigate Sex-Abuse Case Chronicled in Documentary

Prosecutors in Nassau County are responding to a critical federal appeals court opinion blasting the prosecution of a 1980s sex-abuse case chronicled in the documentary Capturing the Friedmans. District Attorney Kathleen Rice announced Tuesday that her office will reinvestigate the prosecution of Jesse Friedman with a panel of law enforcement,…

Aug 18, 2010 1:49 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Blasts Judge, Prosecutors in Sex Abuse Case Chronicled in Documentary

A federal appeals court has upheld the sexual abuse conviction of a New York man whose case was chronicled in a documentary, even as the panel blasted the trial judge and prosecutors who got swept up in the “moral panic” over child abuse. The New York-based appeals court suggested the…

Aug 17, 2010 3:54 PM CDT

‘Massive Amorphous Blob’ of Evidence Slows Case Against Alleged Madoff Cohorts

What one defense lawyer described as a “massive amorphous blob” of evidence seized from Bernard Madoff is slowing down a criminal prosecution of three of the convicted Ponzi schemer’s alleged cohorts. But prosecutors told a federal judge in Manhattan today that they have a database of documents and would be…

Aug 16, 2010 8:00 PM CDT

Mark Trail

Online companies get a bye on using trademarks

Aug 1, 2010 5:09 AM CDT

Billionaires’ Lawyer Named By SEC in Alleged $550M Insider-Trade Scheme

A lawyer for billionaire brothers Samuel and Charles Wyly has been named, along with the two Wylys and a stockbroker, in an alleged $550 million insider-trading fraud. The defendants are accused in a Securities and Exchange Commission complaint of using offshore trusts and subsidiaries to conceal illicit trading profits from…

Jul 30, 2010 12:20 AM CDT

NYC Settles Sean Bell Case for $3.25M, 2 Other Victims Get $3M and $900K

The city of New York has paid $7.15 million to three victims to settle a civil rights case concerning an unarmed African-American man who was shot to death by police in a hail of bullets outside a Queens night club in November 2006 as he celebrated in anticipation of his…

Jul 27, 2010 11:02 PM CDT

Fed’l Judge Says Cheerleading Isn’t a Sport Under Title IX, Points to ‘Roster Manipulation’

Deciding a closely watched case challenging the way that one university attempts to comply with federal requirements concerning gender equality in college sports programs, a federal judge has determined that cheerleading is not a competitive sport. In today’s written decision (PDF) explaining his declaratory judgment in the Bridgeport, Conn., case,…

Jul 21, 2010 8:31 PM CDT

Naked Cowboy Sues Female Competitor, Says She Stole His Shtick

A New York man who has made a business out of playing a guitar in Times Square while seemingly wearing very little except a cowboy hat and his shoes has filed a federal lawsuit against a female competitor. Best known as the Naked Cowboy, Robert John Burck contends that comedian…

Jul 21, 2010 7:46 PM CDT

Did Facebook CEO Actually Sign Contract on Which 84% Ownership Claim Is Based?

Updated: An individual’s claim to own 84 percent of the popular Facebook Inc. social networking site, based on a years-old two-page “work for hire” website development contract calling for an up-front payment of $1,000, seemed more than a bit bizarre. But a New York state-court judge earlier this month granted…

Jul 20, 2010 5:12 PM CDT

Who Really Won? Record $550M SEC Fine No Big Deal to Goldman Sachs, Says NY Times

Goldman Sachs agreed to pay a record-breaking $550 million fine as part of a settlement announced last week with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of charges that the bank misled investors when it offered mortgage-related securities that turned out to be toxic in a dismal real estate market. But…

Jul 19, 2010 8:53 PM CDT

Goldman Sachs to Pay Record $550M to Settle SEC Suit re Claimed Mortgage-Related Fraud

Accused of misleading investors when it foresaw the mortgage meltdown and offered toxic mortgage-related securities that hedged against it, Goldman Sachs has agreed, without admitting liability, to a record payment of $550 million. The banking titan was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in April. Of the $550…

Jul 15, 2010 9:08 PM CDT

2nd Circuit Strikes FCC Expletive Rule, Says Blanket Ban on F-Word & Others Violates 1st Amendment

Saying that a blanket ban on all use of certain expletives on television is unconstitutionally vague and chills the right of free speech, a federal appeals court has struck down a Federal Communications Commission policy that any use of profanity referring to sex or excrement is inherently indecent and could…

Jul 13, 2010 6:01 PM CDT