8th Circuit Court

Kansas Supremes Refuse Legislature’s Punt on Funeral Picketing Law

A Kansas law regulating picketing at funerals has been struck down because of an unusual provision that required the state supreme court to rule on the measure’s constitutionality before it could take effect. Legislators added the so-called trigger provision out of fear the state would have to pay the legal…

Mar 11, 2008 6:27 PM CDT

Speeding Lawyer Not Fast Enough on Her Feet With Court Excuse

An Arkansas lawyer is facing a contempt of court charge after reportedly telling a Carroll County judge she couldn’t appear before him the next day because she was in St. Louis, awaiting a federal appeals court hearing. But after Cindy Baker was ticketed for speeding the next morning in northwest…

Mar 3, 2008 11:30 PM CST

Vick Gets to Keep $20M Bonus

Overturning an October ruling by a special master, a federal judge ruled today that fallen football superstar Michael Vick can keep a $20 million bonus that the Atlanta Falcons had sought to recover from its former quarterback. Once Vick made the team’s 80-man roster, he earned the so-called roster bonus…

Feb 4, 2008 6:18 PM CST

Court Finds No 1st Amendment Right to Witness Full Execution

A federal judge in Arkansas has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of journalists seeking access to report all stages of the execution process. Noting that state law provides that executions are private rather than public events and that only one federal appeals court has recognized a public right…

Jan 12, 2008 12:46 AM CST

‘Forgotten’ Sarbanes Clawback Clause Used Against UnitedHealth Ex-CEO

Two former executives of UnitedHealth Group Inc.—the CEO and general counsel—have agreed to give back stock options gains, unexercised options and retirement pay to resolve stock-options backdating claims by the company. Under an agreement announced by the company yesterday, givebacks by ex-CEO William McGuire are valued at more than $600…

Dec 7, 2007 2:17 PM CST

Court Enjoins Law That Barred Fringe Church’s Funeral Protests

A federal appeals court has barred enforcement of a Missouri law that stopped members of a fringe Kansas church from protesting at soldiers’ funerals. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church say God is punishing the United States for homosexuality by killing soldiers and other Americans. Members show up at soldiers’…

Dec 6, 2007 7:28 PM CST

State-Funded Prisoner Religion Program Tossed

A federal appeals court has ruled that a state-financed program that seeks to rehabilitate prisoners through Christian ideals violates the establishment clause. Americans United for Separation of Church and State had challenged the program run by InnerChange, a group affiliated with Charles Colson’s Prison Fellowship that operates in six states,…

Dec 4, 2007 5:55 PM CST

Minn. US Atty Steps Down, Amid More Rumored Resignations

CORRECTED: Amid rumors that two more top deputies were about to resign, an embattled U.S. attorney in Minnesota has accepted a job in Washington, D.C. Rachel Paulose, 34, announced today that she will move in January to a Justice Department job as a legal policy adviser to Attorney General Michael…

Nov 19, 2007 10:42 PM CST

Fantasy Baseball Stats Protected by First Amendment

A fantasy baseball league does not need a license to run online games, a federal appeals court has ruled. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the use of the athletes’ names and statistics is protected by the First Amendment, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. “The information…

Oct 17, 2007 4:26 PM CDT

Damages ‘Offensive’ in Music Piracy Case, Motion Says

The lawyer for a woman assessed $222,000 in damages for illegally sharing downloaded music contends in a motion for a new trial that the amount is constitutionally excessive. The judgment against Jammie Thomas for illegally sharing two dozen songs amounts to $9,250 for each recording. Her lawyer, Brian Toder of…

Oct 16, 2007 2:15 PM CDT

Hearing Transcripts to Go Online

The policy-making arm of the nation’s federal courts voted today to make it easier for both lawyers and the public to access court materials. For lawyers, the big news is the plan approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States to put transcripts of district and bankruptcy court proceedings…

Sep 18, 2007 7:01 PM CDT

Rape Victim Sues Judge Over R-Word Ban

An alleged acquaintance-rape victim has sued the Nebraska judge who banned her from using the word “rape” in testimony, in what her lawyer describes as a troubling trend. A federal lawsuit filed in Lincoln contends Lancaster County District Judge Jeffre Cheuvront violated Tory Bowen’s rights of due process and free…

Sep 10, 2007 4:39 PM CDT

Plagiarizing Lawyer Sent to Law School

In an acerbic opinion, a federal bankruptcy judge has ordered an Iowa lawyer who submitted a largely plagiarized brief to return to law school and take a legal ethics course. In addition to presenting as his own work a 19-page brief containing 17 pages of material lifted from a scholarly…

Sep 7, 2007 8:46 PM CDT

8th Circuit: Resentence Wal-Mart Exec

A federal judge may have been too lenient in sentencing a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive to five years of probation (including about two years of home confinement) in a $500,000 fraud case, an appeals court has ruled. It says Tom Coughlin must be resentenced. A 28-year employee who rose…

Aug 28, 2007 4:27 PM CDT

Judge Blocks Abortion Law

A federal judge has barred enforcement of a Missouri law requiring abortion clinics to upgrade their surgery facilities. U.S. District Judge Ortrie Smith issued a temporary restraining order and scheduled a hearing for Sept. 10 to hear arguments on a permanent injunction, the Kansas City Star reports. The law, which…

Aug 28, 2007 2:57 PM CDT