Vermont

Blind Law Student Sues to Win Permission to Use Screenreader Software on Multistate Ethics Exam

Corrected: A blind student at Vermont Law School has filed a federal lawsuit against the National Conference of Bar Examiners, seeking permission to use the same screenreader software she relies on in her studies on the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. The NCBE and co-defendant Act Inc. offer a number of…

Jul 6, 2011 12:09 AM CDT

Vermont DUI Convictions May Be in Jeopardy Over Alleged Breath-Test Errors

Hundreds of Vermont DUI convictions are being challenged by defense lawyers, who claim there was a mistake in the breath analysis machine’s software setup. Whistler-blowers’ complaints about unethical lab work also figure in, the Associated Press reports. Human error resulted in one machine at the Royalton State Police barracks operating…

May 16, 2011 3:58 PM CDT

Mummy CT Scans Help in Child Abuse Death Investigations

New techniques developed for CT scans of a 2,700-year-old mummy are now being used to help determine the cause of death for young children. Dr. Jason Johnson, a radiology resident, arranged to put a mummy from a University of Vermont museum under a CT scanner to learn more about the…

Apr 27, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

Can Law Student Be Disciplined for Suing Accuser? Federal Judge Says Yes

A Vermont Law School student has sued the institution, an official there and another law student over the handling of a sexual assault and sexual harassment complaint in which he was exonerated by an internal code of conduct board. But Joshua Vaughan’s disciplinary problems may not be over yet. In…

Feb 8, 2011 8:18 PM CST

Lawyer is Suspended Over Hit-and-Run for Which He Initially Blamed His Wife and ‘Road Raged’ Bikers

A Vermont lawyer who reportedly is a former traffic court judge caused an accident in September 2007 by braking abruptly after passing two bikers. Then he blamed the crash on his wife—falsely claiming that she had been the driver—and the “road raged” bikers for the fact that he didn’t stop…

Jan 3, 2011 8:26 PM CST

Vermont Lawyer Criticized for Lifting Language from Utility Filing

The top lawyer for the Vermont Public Service Department is being criticized for copying long passages from utility company documents for her own filing with the Public Service Board. More than two pages of the six-page motion for summary judgment filed by government lawyer Sarah Hofmann were “word-for-word identical” to…

Jul 14, 2010 3:53 PM CDT

Drew U Sued, Accused of Purloining Poetry Program & Students

A federal judge in New Hampshire has given the green light to a lawsuit accusing New Jersey’s Drew University of stealing a competing college’s graduate-level poetry program and many of its students. Poet Anne Marie Macari created the Drew program while serving for less than a year as interim director…

Oct 26, 2009 6:39 PM CDT

Pillow Fight Organizer in Vt. is Charged With Disorderly Conduct

Some 50 individuals briefly pummeled each other with pillows in a staged—and videotaped—event in Burlington, Vt., on Friday. But only 21-year-old Darin Cassler has been criminally charged over the incident, apparently because he allegedly blew a whistle that signaled those involved in the fluffy and apparently good-natured free-for-all to start…

Apr 21, 2009 5:31 PM CDT

Suits Filed Against Peanut Corp.; FDA Says Managers Knew of Contamination

The Georgia peanut plant linked to an outbreak of salmonella sold its products despite a dozen internal tests over the last two years that indicated contamination with the disease, according to officials of the Food and Drug Administration. Michael Rogers, director of field investigations at the FDA, told reporters yesterday…

Jan 28, 2009 12:09 PM CST

Ex-Judge Suspended After Pot Bust

A former family court judge in Vermont has been suspended from law practice for three months as a result of a pot bust at her home. Officials found more than two pounds of marijuana at the Windsor home of part-time Judge Martha Davis last year, the Rutland Herald reports. The…

Dec 10, 2008 4:28 PM CST

Death Penalty Expert Michael Mello Dies

Vermont Law School Professor Michael Mello, a well-known national expert on the death penalty, died at his home over the weekend after a short illness. He was 51. “He was my colleague for 20 years,” Professor Joan Vogel told the Rutland Herald. “It hasn’t really sunk in to me that…

Nov 25, 2008 5:07 PM CST

Prison Food Unconstitutionally Bad? No Way, Courts—and Dinner Guests—Say

Can food served to prisoners be so bad that it’s unconstitutional? That is the question in a series of lawsuits filed in various states over “Nutraloaf,” a blended food intentionally served up to misbehaving inmates as punishment, reports Slate. “Nutraloaf (sometimes called Nutri-loaf, sometimes just ‘the loaf’) is served in…

Jun 25, 2008 6:22 PM CDT

DOJ Opinion OKs Social Security Benefits for Gay Couple’s Child

A Justice Department legal opinion says federal law does not bar the Social Security Administration from paying benefits to the nonbiological child of a woman who entered into a civil union in Vermont. The October opinion (PDF), released on June 9, says the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal…

Jun 18, 2008 1:01 PM CDT

Va. Supreme Court Requires Enforcement of Vt. Ruling in Same-Sex Dissolution

The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that state courts must enforce a child custody order issued by a Vermont court in the dissolution of a same-sex civil union. The ruling requires recognition of the Vermont ruling, despite a Virginia law that says same-sex unions from other states are void there,…

Jun 9, 2008 11:30 AM CDT

Vermont Law Student and Cuban Wife Sue Over Travel Restrictions

A student at Vermont Law School and his Cuban wife have sued the U.S. government over restrictions that bar Cuban Americans from traveling home more than once every three years. Jared Carter argued the case last week in a federal courtroom in Burlington, the Burlington Free Press reports. He told…

Jun 3, 2008 2:22 PM CDT