Trials Litigation News Today

Googles use of Java code was fair use, SCOTUS rules in Oracle copyright battle   Google Headquarters in Mountain View, California. Photo from Shutterstock.com. Google did not violate copyright law when it copied a portion of Java programming language for use in its Android platform for smartphones, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a 6-2 decision. Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote the majority opinion holding that Google’s use of the code was fair use. Google copied about 11,500 lines of ...

Top state court recognizes same-sex adultery as grounds for divorce   Image from Shutterstock.com. The New Hampshire Supreme Court has overturned a 2003 decision that had defined adultery as voluntary intercourse between members of the opposite sex. Ruling Thursday in a divorce case, the state supreme court defined adultery as intercourse between a married person and someone other than the married person’s spouse, regardless of sex. Intercourse can include any genital contact, not just vagin...

Professional exonerators contributed to more than 60% of last years exonerations     Ricky Davis holds up a shirt with the logo of the Northern California Innocence Project after his release from custody at the El Dorado County Jail in Placerville, California, on Feb. 13, 2020. Davis spent about 15 years in prison after being wrongly convicted of second degree murder. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli) Conviction integrity units and innocence organizations are contributing to an increasing number of...

The power of silence in legal practice Your Voice By James H. Fierberg   “Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence.” —Leonardo da Vinci I have spent 40 years in practice and nearly as long serving as an official and unofficial mentor for young lawyers, as well as more than a decade as an educator at many levels, including law school. All these experiences have informed me of the important skills that lawyers need to master for success, most of which are not taught in law school. ...

In-House Counsel Teslas board failed to appoint general counsel who could keep Elon Musk in line, unsealed suit alleges     Elon Musk at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, in 2011. Photo by Maurizio Pesce via Wikimedia Commons. Tesla’s board of directors failed to secure a general counsel who could curtail “erratic” tweeting Tesla CEO Elon Musk, according to a shareholders’ derivative lawsuit unsealed Friday. The lawsuit, originally filed March 8, says Musk repeatedly tweeted ...

Judge accuses Arizona GOP of gaslighting him, orders $18K payment for flimsy excuses for a lawsuit   Image from Shutterstock.com. An Arizona judge has ordered the Arizona Republican Party and its lawyers to pay more than $18,000 in attorney fees for filing a “groundless” lawsuit seeking a hand count audit of votes in the 2020 presidential election that differed from the method established by the secretary of state. Judge John Hannah Jr. of Maricopa County, Arizona, said he had no power to ...

Comedians podcast remarks during jury duty spur appeal by convicted defendant   Image from Shutterstock.com. A convicted former currency trader has filed an appeal that is partly based on podcasts by an unhappy juror during the federal trial in New York City. Akshay Aiyer has contended that juror Jake Letizia’s podcasts were “a flagrant violation of the judge’s instructions” to refrain from discussing the case with others or on any blog or website, the New York Times reports. Aiyer als...

Legal Writing Justice Thomas goes rogue on the Bluebook with cleaned up citation—to the delight of appellate lawyers   U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas went rogue on the Bluebook when he embraced an appellate lawyer’s suggestion for dealing with “citation baggage” that comes with some quoted material. Jack Metzler, an appellate lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission, outlined the problem in an article at SSRN in March 2017. When c...

5th Circuit sanctions Marc Elias and other Perkins Coie lawyers for redundant and misleading motion   Image from Shutterstock.com. A federal appeals court has sanctioned Perkins Coie attorneys who represent Democratic groups for a “redundant and misleading” motion in election litigation. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans imposed the sanctions on lawyer Marc Elias and his legal team in a March 11 order, report Law360, Bloomberg Law and Law.com. A March 12 press release is...

A Michigan man convicted of second-degree murder has sued car rental company Hertz for failing to produce a receipt that would have backed up his alibi.