Civil Procedure

ACLU lawsuit says county is jailing people who can’t afford to pay fines

The American Civil Liberties Union is suing a county in Washington state, asserting that it is forcing people who can’t afford to pay their court fines to either go to jail or labor on work crews. The lawsuit against Benton County is part of the ACLU’s national campaign to combat…

Oct 7, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Dozens of VW lawsuits will almost surely be consolidated, but where?

Updated: After news of a U.S. recall over claimed rigging of a half-million Volkswagen diesel-powered vehicles to trick emissions tests came news of a federal criminal probe, the resignation of the company’s CEO and the filing of dozens of civil lawsuits around the country. Among the latest is a federal…

Sep 29, 2015 4:20 PM CDT

PETA lawyer discusses monkey’s copyright suit over selfie

The U.S. Copyright Office has said that a monkey can’t be the author of a copyrighted work. But a lawsuit filed last week on behalf of Naruto, who is allegedly the monkey whose toothy selfies sparked an Internet sensation, is asking a federal court to find otherwise. In an interview…

Sep 28, 2015 2:35 PM CDT

Lawyer who blamed difficulties of solo practice for mistakes in brief won’t get a third chance

A lawyer who blamed destroyed computer files for errors in a first brief and the pressures of solo practice for errors in the second is not getting a third chance. In a decision on Tuesday, Maine’s top court refused to reconsider its order rejecting the second appellate brief filed by…

Sep 24, 2015 9:47 AM CDT

ABA letter says tort reform bill could actually increase litigation

The ABA today urged members of Congress to oppose a bill that seeks to reduce frivolous lawsuits—but which, the ABA Governmental Affairs Office says would actually increase litigation. The letter (PDF), signed by ABA governmental affairs director Thomas Susman, opposes H.R. 758, named the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, which would…

Sep 17, 2015 1:41 PM CDT

Michael Hollander’s digital expungement generator cleans records by the thousands

Many might see life as a software developer in San Francisco as a job with a future (if not a fortune). But it wasn’t enough for Michael Hollander. “I enjoyed the work that I did, but I was solving problems to help businesses do business better,” says Hollander. “I wanted…

Sep 17, 2015 9:00 AM CDT

Deceptive practices suits say McCormick put 25% less pepper in its usual tin containers

Where’s the pepper? That’s what consumers could be asking, after purchasing McCormick & Co. tin containers that allegedly contain 25 percent less of the product than they used to. Federal lawsuits filed in several jurisdictions say McCormick violated consumer laws prohibiting deceptive practices by not reducing the size of the…

Sep 16, 2015 11:10 AM CDT

Kyle Rimel: Using technology to bring court services to remote areas

If you lived in far northwest Mohave County, Arizona, it might take more than an hour to get to the nearest court building in Colorado City, and you’d have to drive into Utah to get there. Residents of the area, called the Arizona Strip, are cut off by the Grand…

Sep 16, 2015 8:02 AM CDT

Trial court should not have dismissed law student’s disability complaint, 9th Circuit says

A federal appeals court Thursday revived a man’s disability claim against the University of Idaho concerning his treatment as a law student there. The trial court should not have summarily denied James Shirley’s pro se motion to file a second amended complaint in a so-called screening dismissal, the San Francisco-based…

Sep 11, 2015 1:38 PM CDT

House has standing to sue Obama administration over health-law payments, judge rules

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ruled the U.S. House of Representatives has standing to challenge Obama administration payments supporting the health-care law that were made after Congress refused to appropriate the money. U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer allowed the challenge to spending on health-care subsidies in a decision…

Sep 10, 2015 12:17 PM CDT

Kentucky clerk who won’t issue same-sex marriage licenses is ordered to go to jail

Updated: A county clerk in Rowan County, Kentucky, who refused to issue gay-marriage licenses has been held in contempt of court and taken into custody. The clerk, Kim Davis, appeared in court today before U.S. District Judge David Bunning. The Washington Post, the New York Times and the Courier-Journal have…

Sep 3, 2015 12:13 PM CDT

Injunction against NSA phone records program is vacated by DC Circuit

A federal appeals court on Friday vacated a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone metadata, while allowing the plaintiff to try to prove standing on remand. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in a suit by…

Aug 31, 2015 9:07 AM CDT

Training-video sanction for deposition interruptions by Jones Day partner is tossed on appeal

A Jones Day partner won’t have to make a training video explaining the impropriety of excessive deposition interruptions as a result of a ruling by a federal appeals court. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Thursday, the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports. The decision…

Aug 31, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Federal judge orders lawyer who leaked docs to media to take ethics classes, do community service

A New York lawyer who was performing work at little or no cost for immigrants held in federal detention centers apparently meant well. But Bryan Johnson admits he made a mistake by providing two documents to the media in alleged violation of a confidentiality order. Following his apology to the…

Aug 25, 2015 2:05 PM CDT

House suit against Obama gets a boost from Supreme Court decision on standing

A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on standing may bolster a lawsuit challenging federal reimbursements under the health-care law with money that was not appropriated by Congress. A federal judge is considering whether the U.S. House of Representatives has standing to sue over the Obama administration’s decision to pay insurers…

Aug 20, 2015 2:44 PM CDT