Recent Updates
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Report shows law firm mergers are up
US Legal News 07/08/2008The second quarter of this year saw the pace of law firm mergers rise sharply in the U.S., according to a new report from legal consultancy Altman Weil Inc. There were 26 new law firm mergers and acquisitions reported in April, May and June, compared...
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Ruling Limits Courts' Role In Environmental Review
US Legal News 07/07/2008Three people are accused of beating, torturing and prostituting a mentally disabled teen. Waquita "Goddess" Wallace, 33, Richard Marquis Harper, 20, and a woman identified only as "April" were charged in federal court with sex trafficking by force, f...
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Texas Fired Her For Dissing 'Creationism'
US Legal News 07/03/2008The longtime director of science curriculum claims the Texas Education Agency illegally fired her because she forwarded an email announcing a lecture by a speaker who opposes teaching creationism in science classes. Christina Castillo Comer claims th...
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Fidelity Director May Be Liable For Insider Trading
US Legal News 07/02/2008The 9th Circuit reversed and remanded a ruling for attorney J. Thomas Talbot, a member of the board of directors of Fidelity National Financial, who was accused of insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Judge Wardlaw found that Ta...
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NY Sets Bar High for Adult Victims of Predatory Clergy
US Legal News 06/30/2008New York’s highest court has set the bar prohibitively high for proving certain civil cases against predatory clergy by ruling that a woman cannot sue a rabbi who had an affair with her because she was not “uniquely vulnerable and incapable of self-p...
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"Parrot Fever" Suit May Not Fly
US Legal News 06/27/2008The family of a Texas man who allegedly died of a disease contracted from a sick cockatiel has sued PetSmart for wrongful death, but the fate of similar cases around the country suggests their products liability theory will not fly.The cockatiel that...
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Naked Cowboy Sues M&M's
US Legal News 06/24/2008"This is the case of The Naked Cowboy versus The Blue M&M," afederal judge wrote in allowing The Naked Cowboy's lawsuit against Marscandy and Chute Gerdeman ad agency to proceed. "Plaintiff Robert Burckis a 'street entertainer' who performs in Ne...
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Supreme Court weighs whales vs war preparation
US Legal News 06/24/2008The Supreme Court will have the final say on whether war preparation trumps whale protection.Acting at the Bush administration's urging, the court agreed Monday to review a federal appeals court ruling that limited the use of sonar in naval training ...
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Fight over White House subpoenas heads to court
US Legal News 06/23/2008Congress issued its demands. The White House refused. Now it's up to a federal judge to settle a dispute over documents and testimony regarding fired federal prosecutors.Lawyers for the White House and Congress were headed to court Monday to argue th...
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Federal court issues stay in SC execution
US Legal News 06/20/2008A man scheduled to be executed on Friday was issued a stay just minutes before he was to be electrocuted, triggering a flurry of legal moves as the state sought to carry out the sentence before a midnight deadline.James Earl Reed had been scheduled t...
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Supreme court puts limits on mentally ill defendants
US Legal News 06/19/2008The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that criminal defendants with a history of mental illness do not always have the right to represent themselves, even if they have been judged competent to stand trial.The justices, by a 7-2 vote, said states can give ...
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City Evicts Boy Scouts For Anti-Gay Bias
US Legal News 06/16/2008The City of Philadelphia wants to evict the Boy Scouts of America from the rent-free property that has been its headquarters since 1928, for violating the city's anti-discrimination policy. The city says the Scouts' Cradle of Liberty openly discrimin...