Recent Updates
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U.S. high court ruling deals blow to patent trolls
Criminal Law News 05/23/2017The Supreme Court is making it easier for companies to defend themselves against patent infringement lawsuits. The justices ruled unanimously on Monday that such lawsuits can be filed only in states where defendants are incorporated. The issue is imp...
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Court revives black TV network's discrimination lawsuit
Criminal Law News 05/07/2017A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit claiming that a North Carolina city discriminated against an African-American-owned television network. A divided three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday reversed a lower cour...
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California court expands endangered-species removal powers
Criminal Law News 03/02/2017The California Supreme Court on Monday said petitioners seeking to remove a subset of coho salmon from the state's endangered species list could present new evidence to argue the listing was wrong. In a unanimous ruling, the court overturned a lower ...
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Joseph Wapner, star of 'The People's Court,' dead at 97
Criminal Law News 03/01/2017Joseph Wapner, the retired Los Angeles judge who presided over "The People's Court" with steady force during the heyday of the reality courtroom show, died Sunday at age 97. Son David Wapner told The Associated Press that his father died at home in h...
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Court ponders mass murderer Breivik's prison conditions
Criminal Law News 01/19/2017An appeals court in Norway is considering whether the prison conditions under which mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik is being held amount to a violation of his human rights. The six-day trial ended Wednesday in a makeshift courtroom inside Skien ...
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Indiana Supreme Court reprimands Floyd County prosecutor
Criminal Law News 01/14/2017The Indiana Supreme Court has publicly reprimanded Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson for a conflict of interest in a triple-murder case but declined to suspend him as its disciplinary commission suggested. The court ruled Friday that Henderson ...
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Cook County, Illinois, lawyer who posed as judge charged
Criminal Law News 11/01/2016A Chicago-area judicial candidate who was once on the fast track to a high-salary, high-status job as a judge now faces charges of impersonating a judge when she was a court staff attorney early this year, prosecutors announced Friday. Rhonda Crawfor...
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High court steps into fight on Vanderbilts' Breakers mansion
Criminal Law News 10/23/2016Rhode Island's highest court heard arguments Tuesday in a fight that has pitted dozens of members of the Vanderbilt family against a nonprofit that owns several Gilded Age mansions in Newport. The nonprofit Preservation Society of Newport County want...
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Grassley: GOP can't stonewall a Clinton Supreme Court pick
Criminal Law News 10/20/2016Republicans "can't just simply stonewall" nominees to the Supreme Court even if the president making the choice is Democrat Hillary Clinton, says the GOP chairman of the Judiciary Committee in a reaffirmation of the Senate's advise-and-consent role o...
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Landowners to court: Exxon Mobil pipeline breaches contract
Criminal Law News 10/19/2016Attorneys for landowners along a crude oil pipeline that ruptured in Arkansas in 2013 say Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. breached its contract because the pipeline interferes with their ability to enjoy their property. Attorneys for the landowners and Exxo...
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Nevada high court blocks funding for school choice program
Criminal Law News 10/01/2016The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that the state's voucher-style Education Savings Accounts program — seen as the broadest school choice initiative in the country — has an unconstitutional funding mechanism that should remain blocked. Justices issue...
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High court temporarily blocks subpoena over sex ads
Criminal Law News 09/09/2016Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday temporarily blocked a congressional subpoena that seeks information on how the classified advertising website Backpage.com screens ads for possible sex trafficking. The order came hours after Backpa...