Federal judge finds 2 cities’ public defender programs deficient; will he OK a federal monitor?

Two cities in Washington state’s Skagit County systematically violated the rights of indigent individuals through their inadequate public defender programs and were “willfully blind” to problems caused by cost-cutting, a federal judge has ruled. In a Wednesday opinion (PDF) resulting from a June bench trial of a groundbreaking class action,…

Dec 4, 2013 8:50 PM CST

9th Circuit to provide live Internet coverage of en banc oral arguments

In what is believed to be the first such effort by a federal appeals court, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will launch live streaming Internet coverage of its en banc oral arguments in San Francisco on Monday. “The 9th Circuit has a long history of using advances in…

Dec 4, 2013 1:15 PM CST

‘Link rot’ is degrading legal research and case cites

Dec 1, 2013 9:40 AM CST

Do retailers offer phantom discounts? Suits target pricing

Are those Black Friday discounts for real? The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) says retailers often set starting retail prices so high that the discounted price will give them the profit margins they want. The strategy isn’t deceptive, according to Federal Trade Commission guidelines, if the higher price “was offered…

Nov 26, 2013 3:31 PM CST

Ex-attorney faces federal criminal case over claimed $1M in client thefts

A longtime Oregon personal injury practitioner who gave up his law license last year in the face of complaints from over 40 clients that he had misappropriated their money is now the defendant in a federal criminal case. Bryan Gruetter is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, accused of…

Nov 19, 2013 4:10 PM CST

Still active at 90, federal appeals judge is honored for creating group to help homeless veterans

It isn’t just in the courtroom that a 90-year-old federal appeals court judge has been a dynamo. Judge Harry Pregerson, who has not taken senior status and is perhaps the longest-serving judge in the history of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was also a driving force behind a…

Nov 11, 2013 10:05 PM CST

Judge mulls possible sanctions for Samsung and counsel over Apple info disclosure

A federal magistrate judge in California is mulling potential sanctions against Samsung Electronics and its counsel over the possible violation of a protective order concerning discovery in a hard-fought, big-bucks patent-infringement case. Apple provided confidential information to Samsung’s law firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, which was supposed to be…

Nov 11, 2013 9:30 PM CST

University sued in drunk-driving deaths because housing officer didn’t report alleged domestic abuse

The parents of a young woman who died in a one-car crash soon after earning a bachelor’s degree last year have sued the University of California at Berkeley over the accident. Their daughter, Milanca Lopez, 22, and her 6-year-old son might have survived, the suit contends, if a university housing…

Nov 5, 2013 10:10 PM CST

SCOTUS rules for officer who kicked in gate in pursuit of man who ignored his order to stop

An officer who kicked in a gate to pursue a man who ignored his order to stop was entitled to qualified immunity in a suit by the injured homeowner who was standing behind the gate, the U.S. Supreme Court has concluded. The Supreme Court ruled Monday in a summary reversal…

Nov 5, 2013 3:10 PM CST

Federal lawsuit adds to allegations of excessive force by family court marshals

A federal lawsuit alleging that Nevada family court marshals threw a man headfirst onto the concrete floor of the Las Vegas courthouse for no good reason is the latest development in an ongoing saga of allegations of excessive force and improper conduct at the court. A poor-quality video of the…

Oct 24, 2013 5:40 PM CDT

9th Circuit mulls high school’s ban on US flag T-shirts to avoid Cinco de Mayo trouble

In a case that pits First Amendment rights of young Americans to display pride in their country against the power of high school administrators to take reasonable measures to promote student safety, a federal appellate panel heard oral arguments Thursday about whether to revive a lawsuit brought by former students…

Oct 17, 2013 9:20 PM CDT

Attorney who said he was tax law specialist understates own income on return, gets 20 months

A Hawaii personal injury attorney who advertised his tax law expertise has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for understating his income on his own 2006 return. Andrew Agard was sentenced Tuesday in Honolulu, after pleading guilty in a tax fraud case. He earned about $630,000 in 2006,…

Oct 17, 2013 5:00 PM CDT

As shutdown continues, more federal courts ‘tell Congress to go to hell,’ as blogging judge puts it

Instructed to prepare for the possibility of an ongoing government shutdown if Congress doesn’t resolve a budget impasse and restore funding this week, a growing number of federal courts have taken a more aggressive approach. By declaring all employees “essential,” court administrators are in a position to insist that workers…

Oct 15, 2013 7:15 PM CDT

New trial sought because juror didn’t reveal he was an attorney and blogged about case

A burglar who was sentenced to nearly 39 years in prison as a habitual offender is asking a federal appeals court to reverse his conviction due to the conduct of a California lawyer who served as foreman of the jury that convicted him. Defendant Donald R. McNeely initially filed the…

Oct 11, 2013 3:05 PM CDT

Boy prosecuted for sex crime at age 10 is subject of 9th Circuit appeal

A federal appeals court is considering the constitutionality of a federal aggravated-sexual-abuse statute used to prosecute a boy for sex acts committed when he was 10 years old. The boy was judged delinquent two years ago for engaging in sex acts with five other boys on an Arizona Army base…

Oct 9, 2013 11:05 AM CDT