9th Circuit Court

Around the Blawgosphere: Why Can’t We Deduct Student Loan Interest from Taxes?; 10-Year Blawggers

Home? Schooling? Philadelphia lawyer Kelly Phillips Erb has already disclosed to her blawg’s readers that she has substantial student loan debt. This week at Taxgirl, she wonders why the government severely limits what student loan interest can be deducted from one’s personal income tax. “There are practically no restrictions on…

May 11, 2012 1:30 PM CDT

US ‘Pattern or Practice’ Suit Says Ariz. Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Office Discriminated Against Latinos

An Arizona sheriff who calls himself the country’s toughest is overseeing an office that routinely discriminates against Latino residents and retaliates against critics of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, contends a lawsuit filed Thursday in federal court in Arizona by the United States government. It contends that the Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff’s…

May 10, 2012 6:16 PM CDT

Longest Serving Federal Appeals Judge Dies at 93

Judge James Browning of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has died at the age of 93. Browning was the nation’s longest serving federal appeals judge, the Associated Press reports. President Kennedy appointed Browning to the court in 1961; he was chief judge from 1976 to 1988.…

May 9, 2012 12:07 PM CDT

Senate Confirms First Asian American Woman to Federal Appeals Court

With her Senate confirmation on Monday, Jacqueline Nguyen becomes the first Asian American woman to be seated on a federal appeals court. Nguyen, a federal trial judge, will be elevated to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, report the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.…

May 8, 2012 2:33 PM CDT

Man Says He Was Held for 5 Days as Forgotten Prisoner in DEA Cell, Files $20M Claim Against Feds

At first, a 23-year-old engineering student at the University of California-San Diego says he was simply annoyed to be left for hours in a federal Drug Enforcement Administration holding cell after he was told he would be released without charges once his paperwork was processed. But as hours turned into…

May 3, 2012 10:30 PM CDT

9th Circuit Nixes Padilla Suit Against Lawyer John Yoo, Author of So-Called DOJ Torture Memos

Reversing a federal district judge’s determination that an enemy combatant could sue a Justice Department lawyer over his “torture memos” authorizing the use of harsh interrogation methods by U.S. authorities on terrorism suspects, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that John Yoo is immune from Jose Padilla’s suit seeking a…

May 2, 2012 7:03 PM CDT

Federal Judge Roars re ‘the Lowest Moment in Attorney Representation the Court Has Ever Witnessed’

Known for his merciless sanctions, as a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal puts it, a federal judge in Nevada didn’t hold back about a lawyer he deemed lacking in a bankruptcy hearing last year. Attorney Jeremy Mondejar’s representation of clients at the Oct. 12, 2011 hearing was “the lowest…

Apr 26, 2012 7:06 PM CDT

Federal District Court Judge Makes Chapter 7 Filing for Personal Bankruptcy

It isn’t just recent law graduates who are struggling in a difficult economy. A federal district court judge in California has made a Chapter 7 personal bankruptcy filing, reports the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright II has only been on the federal bench a few…

Apr 25, 2012 10:40 PM CDT

Federal Judge Nixes Duty-to-Warn Case Against Lawyer by Victims of Elderly Client’s Shooting Attack

Updated: A federal judge in Helena is pushing the estate of an elderly Florida retiree to settle the tort case brought by a Montana woman and her daughter after he became obsessed with the girl, drove to her home more than 2,000 miles away and attacked the mother outside their…

Apr 24, 2012 4:54 PM CDT

Ex-Attorney, a Harvard Law Grad, Gets Nearly 5 Years in $7M Ponzi Scheme

Unlike most convicted Ponzi schemers, Robert Tunnell didn’t live high on the hog, his defense lawyer, Edward Swanson, said in a federal court filing. But the 73-year-old Tunnell couldn’t bring himself to admit, Swanson said, that he’d failed in investing nearly $10 million, most of which came from friends and…

Apr 24, 2012 3:52 PM CDT

The Supreme Court Spurns Wikipedia, But Federal Appeals Courts Cited It Nearly 100 Times in 5 Years

Federal appeals courts are increasingly citing the reader-edited encyclopedia Wikipedia, though the trend has not spread to the U.S. Supreme Court. Federal appeals courts have cited Wikipedia about 95 times in the last five years, according to a search by the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. In the Chicago-based 7th…

Apr 24, 2012 1:18 PM CDT

9th Circuit Says Privilege Waived re Superman Comic Docs Stolen From Lawyer and Sent to Warner Bros.

Attorney Marc Toberoff cooperated with prosecutors after he said privileged documents concerning his efforts to help survivors of the creators of Superman gain rights to the famous comic character were stolen by another lawyer then working for him. But because of that he has lost his legal battle to prevent…

Apr 17, 2012 11:31 PM CDT

9th Circuit Narrows Computer Fraud Law, Protecting Lying Homely People and Web-Surfing Workers

An en banc federal appeals court has tossed part of the criminal case against an executive headhunter accused of accessing a confidential database at his prior employer. The 9-2 decision (PDF) by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals narrows the reach of the Computer Fraud and Abuse…

Apr 11, 2012 12:38 PM CDT

Calif. Gov’s Clemency to Woman in Shaken-Baby Case Ends 9th Circuit’s Legal Battle with Supremes

For five years, a federal appeals court has been trying to free Shirley Ree Smith. It held in 2006 that the evidence on which her second-degree murder conviction was based in the death of her infant grandson just wasn’t sufficient to establish her guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in the…

Apr 9, 2012 8:01 PM CDT

Lawyer and Disbarred Attorney Among Latest 14 Defendants to Take Pleas in Federal HOA Fraud Case

A lawyer and a disbarred attorney are among the latest 14 defendants to take pleas in a federal homeowner association fraud case in the Las Vegas area. Participants in the alleged scheme are accused of taking control of HOA boards, property managers and general counsel in order to forward their…

Apr 9, 2012 6:35 PM CDT