9th Circuit Court

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

9th Circuit says Calif. must ensure help for disabled parolees redirected to county jails

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last Friday affirmed a trial court’s decision that California cannot wash its hands of responsibility when, as part of the state’s effort to ease prison overcrowding, disabled parolees returned to custody are placed in county facilities, the Los Angeles Times reports.…

Oct 7, 2013 5:55 PM CDT

First openly gay federal appeals judge confirmed; Obama names 3 nominees for district, circuit bench

September has been a noteworthy month as far as the federal judiciary is concerned. The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Tuesday, in a 98-0 vote, former Department of Justice lawyer Todd Hughes for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He is the highest-ranking openly gay…

Sep 24, 2013 9:55 PM CDT

Customers sue LinkedIn, say company ‘hacked’ their external email for marketing contacts

Customers have sued LinkedIn Corp. in federal court in San Jose, Calif., contending that the professional networking company hacked into their external email accounts in order to obtain email addresses of contacts to which to market its services. The suit seeks class action status and asks for a court order…

Sep 20, 2013 5:38 PM CDT

Officers can’t answer your phone and impersonate you, 9th Circuit says regarding cell phone search

Even if you give an officer consent to search your cell phone, the officer doesn’t have the right to answer your calls and pretend to be you, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found. Andres Lopez-Cruz, the defendant, was stopped by a U.S. Border Patrol agent near the San…

Sep 13, 2013 5:31 PM CDT

Privacy class action regarding Google Street View can go forward, 9th Circuit says

A privacy class-action lawsuit, which argues that Google Street View violated the Wiretap Act because it collected data from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks, can go forward, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The opinion affirms a U.S. district court ruling denying a motion to dismiss the…

Sep 10, 2013 9:21 PM CDT