The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 against a "facial" constitutional challenge. Gonzales v. Carhart, No. 05-380 (U.S. Apr. 18, 2007). The 5-4 majority opinion includes shocking details about the "dilation and extraction" procedure at issue.
As Blawgletter reads it, the decision comes down to the majority’s
The Supreme Court of Delaware today reversed dismissal of claims that a party in "control" of a corporation expropriated from majority shareholders the value of their majority rights. The shareholders alleged that a large minority shareholder used his de facto control to engineer transactions that, in two simultaneous steps, transferred majority voting control to him
The Eleventh Circuit today ordered remand of a case that originated in state court because Florida law didn’t clearly bar claims against a non-diverse defendant. The plaintiffs alleged that exposure to contamination on adjoining property caused them personal injury or death and that a Florida statute extended liability to subsequent owners like the defendants. The
Today, the Eighth Circuit added to the burgeoning jurisprudence on who decides questions of arbitrability — the court or the arbitrator. The district court refused to enforce an arbitration clause, which the plaintiff Matthew Enderlin challenged as lacking mutuality, as unconscionable, and as against public policy under Arkansas law. The Eighth Circuit affirmed. The court
The Fifth Circuit yesterday reversed a summary judgment dismissing Triple Tee Golf’s claims that Nike misappropriated trade secrets relating to designs of golf clubs. The court held that the district court took a too narrow view of the claims by limiting them to post-factory "adjustability" of clubs. Nike’s clubs didn’t allow adjustment by consumers, but
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two opinions that will interest business trial lawyers.
In Global Crossing Telecommunications, Inc. v. Metrophones Telecommunications, Inc., No. 05-705 (U.S. Apr. 17, 2007), the Court upheld a Federal Communications Commission regulation that requires long-distance service providers to compensate payphone operators for processing customers’ "dial-around" calls. (A dial-around call
The Los Angeles Times reports this morning:
The California Supreme Court handed workers a major victory Monday, in effect tripling the back pay they can seek if they are forced to work through meal and rest breaks required by state law.
The long-awaited decision affects hundreds of thousands of white-collar workers in industries such as
The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission today issued a joint report on "Antitrust Enforcement and Intellectual Property Rights: Promoting Innovation and Competition". Blawgletter hasn’t studied the report just yet, but the DOJ press release summarizes some of the conclusions like this:
In his continuing efforts to educate the public, possibly as the result of a run-in with the authorities, Will Ferrell takes us to the horrific world of overbearing debt collectors. You may view the video — starring Ferrell’s two year old landlord, Pearl — here. Warning: Contains language you don’t often hear from toddlers.
The foregoing cases suggest that specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance . . . . Various guarantees create zones of privacy.
Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965).
Barry Barnett
