Law Reports

A Santa Monica, Calif., city bus driver cannot keep the $177,905 in damages she was awarded after a jury found she was fired because of her pregnancy, because evidence of the city’s mixed motives meant she should have been required to show that her pregnancy was a substantial rather than just a motivating factor in [...]

A Houston man agreed Feb. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to pay almost $60,000 to resolve Securities and Exchange Commission charges he bought stock based on inside information about Texas Instrument’s (TXN) pending acquisition of Santa Clara, Calif.-based National Semiconductor Corp. (SEC v. Balchan, S.D. Tex., No 4 [...]

A bill that would make drug company pay-for-delay settlements presumptively illegal was introduced in the Senate Feb. 4 by Sen. Amy J. Klobuchar (D-Minn.). The Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act addresses the practice in which a patent-owning brand name drug manufacturer pays a generic maker to cease its patent validity challenge in court and [...]

An internet service customer did not owe a duty of care to a copyright owner to protect against infringement that might occur through the unauthorized use of his internet connection, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ruled Jan. 29 (AF Holdings L.L.C. v. Rogers, S.D. Cal., No. 3:12-cv-01519-BTM-BLM, 1/29/13). The copyright [...]

By Lorraine McCarthy PHILADELPHIA–Gov. Tom Corbett (R) proposed a $28.4 billion fiscal year 2014 spending plan Feb. 5 that would raise additional revenue for transportation infrastructure projects by phasing out a cap on the wholesale gasoline tax paid by the oil and gas industry and attempt to spur job growth by trimming a number of [...]

A worker at an Iowa meat processing plant could not show she was fired in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act for missing work where a co-worker gave contradictory testimony about the information she relayed to the employer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held Feb. 5 (Bosley v. Cargill [...]

By Laura Mahoney SACRAMENTO, Calif.–In a win for the City of Stockton, a federal bankruptcy judge said Jan. 30 the city does not need the court’s permission to settle a lawsuit against its police force while its bankruptcy case is pending (In re City of Stockton,, Bankr. E.D. Calif., No. 2012-321118, motion to approve settlement [...]

Taxpayers in several New Jersey and New York counties affected by Hurricane Sandy will now have until April 1 to file tax returns and various payments due in or after late October 2012, the Internal Revenue Service said Feb. 1. Affected individuals and businesses in Monmouth and Ocean counties in New Jersey will receive tax [...]

A California man pleaded guilty Feb. 1 in the U.S. District Court the Eastern District of California to charges stemming from his alleged role in an investment fraud scheme that collected at least $80 million from more than 300 people (United States v. Vassallo, E.D. Cal., No. CR-_, 2/1/13). As recounted by U.S. Attorney Benjamin [...]

A federal district court in Ohio Jan. 31 decertified a nationwide Fair Labor Standards Act collective action that potentially could have included more than 44,000 hourly nursing home and rehabilitation center employees, because the class members failed to show they are similarly situated (Creely v. HCR ManorCare Inc., N.D. Ohio, No. 09-02879, 1/31/13). HCR ManorCare [...]

By Stephanie M. Acree A transfer of proceeds from an involuntary Chapter 7 debtor’s sale of livestock on another company’s behalf could not be avoided because the debtor had no equitable interest in the property, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois concluded Jan. 18 (Mississippi Valley Livestock Inc. v. J&R Farms, [...]

The Securities and Exchange Commission Jan. 24 announced that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Jan. 18 sentenced self-employed securities trader Randy M. Cho to 12 years in prison for perpetrating an investment scheme between 2001 and 2009, resulting in almost $8 million in losses from 57 investors (United States v. [...]

By Andrew M. Ballard ORLANDO, Fla.–Although the United States has committed to achieving reciprocity regarding the exchange of financial transaction information under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, domestic banks are not subject to the same reporting requirements as are their foreign counterparts, an Internal Revenue Service official said Jan. 25. According to Ted Setzer, [...]

A counterclaim of trade secret misappropriation, asserted against the maker of Barbie dolls by the maker of Bratz dolls, was not compulsory and therefore never should have been submitted to the jury in the lengthy dispute between the two toy manufacturers, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled Jan. 24 (Mattel Inc. [...]

Legislation (H.B. 472) was enacted Dec. 20 to amend Ohio Rev. Code Ann. Section 5701.11 to allow a taxpayer to irrevocably elect to incorporate the provisions of the Internal Revenue Code or other laws of the United States for the tax year ending after March 7, 2011, but before Dec. 20, 2012. Text of the [...]

By Aaron Lorenzo The confirmation process for Treasury Secretary nominee Jacob “Jack” Lew is moving forward as expected, with few significant speed bumps foreseen on his path, several outside observers have recently said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held Jan. 25 that President Obama’s recess appointments of three members to the National Labor Relations Board were invalid and the board lacked a valid quorum to support an unfair labor practice order against a Washington bottling firm (Noel Canning Div. of Noel Corp. [...]

An inter partes reexamination challenger was improperly barred by the Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences from presenting an obviousness argument, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Jan. 23 (Rexnord Industries L.L.C. v. Kappos, Fed. Cir., No. 2011-1434, 1/23/13). After an examiner concluded that the reexamined patent’s claims were obvious, the [...]

By Paul Barbagallo The Federal Communications Commission lacks the statutory authority to restrict the use of so-called “encoding” technologies that block consumers from recording television programs, a federal appeals court has ruled (EchoStar Satellite LLC v. FCC, D.C. Cir., No. 04-1033, 01/15/13). The decision handed down Jan. 15 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for [...]

By Paul Barbagallo Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee, said she will soon reintroduce a bill that would require wireless carriers to disclose detailed information about their fourth-generation mobile broadband services to consumers. In remarks during the Broadband Breakfast Club Jan. 15, Eshoo suggested that the [...]