Recent Updates
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Conn. high court rules same-sex couples can marry
Lawyer Blogs 10/10/2008Connecticut's Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex couples have the right to marry, making that state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions.The court agreed with the plaintiffs, who said the state's marriage law discr...
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Ore. court rules frozen embryos can be destroyed
Lawyer Blogs 10/09/2008The Oregon Court of Appeals has ordered six frozen embryos destroyed after ruling they can be treated as personal property in a divorce.The court ruled unanimously on Wednesday that an agreement leaving the final decision up to the ex-wife must be fo...
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High court could block 'light' cigarettes lawsuit
Lawyer Blogs 10/07/2008The Supreme Court picked up Monday where it left off last term, signaling support for efforts to block lawsuits against tobacco companies over deceptive marketing of "light" cigarettes.The first day of the court's new term, which is set in law as the...
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Train crash may be linked to text message
Lawyer Blogs 10/06/2008Top officials with the firm that contracts to run Metrolink trains made their first public comments Sunday night about last month's deadly head-on collision of a passenger train with a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth."Words cannot express h...
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Top court stays out of DVR patent fight
Lawyer Blogs 10/06/2008The Supreme Court refused Monday to disturb a $74 million judgment against Dish Network Corp. for violating a patent held by TiVo Inc. involving digital video recorders.Without comment, the justices declined to consider Englewood, Colo.-based Dish's ...
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Supreme Court rejects jury Bible case
Lawyer Blogs 10/06/2008The Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a murder case in which a jury foreman read passages of the Bible to hold-out jurors who subsequently voted to impose the death penalty.Without comment, the justices declined to consider whether the jury...
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Railroad regulators issue emergency cell phone ban
Lawyer Blogs 10/04/2008Federal regulators issued an emergency order Thursday banning use of cell phones and other electronic devices by rail workers, a day after investigators said a commuter-train engineer was text messaging moments before a deadly crash last month.Violat...
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NY appeals court overturns terrorism verdicts
Lawyer Blogs 10/03/2008A federal appeals court Thursday overturned the convictions of a Yemeni cleric and his deputy, finding they were prejudiced by inflammatory testimony about unrelated terrorism links in a case the United States once touted as a victory in its war agai...
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Court denies GOP appeal on Ohio early voting
Lawyer Blogs 10/01/2008The Ohio GOP suffered another legal defeat Tuesday, as a federal appeals court ruled against the party's appeal involving a disputed early voting window that allows Ohio voters to register and cast a ballot on the same day.A three-judge panel of the ...
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Top court will review who pays for Superfund site
Lawyer Blogs 10/01/2008The Supreme Court has agreed to decide what share railroads and an oil company should bear of the cleanup of a contaminated industrial site in Arvin, Calif., near Bakersfield, that threatened drinking water supplies.Shell Oil Co. and the railroads — ...
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Conservative judges fault Scalia opinion on guns
Lawyer Blogs 09/29/2008Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is no stranger to criticism. He gives as good as he gets.But two recent critiques of his opinion in the landmark decision guaranteeing people the right keep guns at home for self-defense are notable because they c...
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Pa. high court says newspaper can protect source
Lawyer Blogs 09/26/2008The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that a newspaper reporter does not need to reveal the identity of a confidential source used in a story about a grand jury investigation into alleged prison brutality.The 4-1 decision dated Wednesday and released ...