9th Circuit Court

Jurors Shouldn’t Be Excluded For Sexual Orientation, Lawyers Tell 9th Circuit

In a case involving a gay California inmate convicted of assault after hugging a security guard, federal public defenders told a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel yesterday that judges should consider sexual orientation in Batson challenges. Prosecutors maintain that they excluded a woman from Daniel Osazuwa’s jury because…

Aug 5, 2011 6:28 PM CDT

Mattel Ordered to Pay $225M in Punitives, Attorney’s Fees and Costs in Bratz Doll Case

A federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., today nearly trebled the $88 million that Mattel Inc. was earlier ordered to pay a competitor in a hard-fought case over the rights to the popular Bratz doll line. Mattel must pay MGA Entertainment Inc. $85 million in punitive damages and $2.5 million…

Aug 5, 2011 12:55 AM CDT

Federal Judge Says Zediva’s Rent-a-DVD-and-Player Online Business Infringes, OKs Injunction

A creative concept for providing instant access to movies as soon as they are available on DVD, by renting both a DVD and a player to a single customer via the Internet, arguably complied with copyright law. But a federal judge in central California agreed with movie studios that it…

Aug 3, 2011 6:02 PM CDT

Freelance Law: Lawyers’ Network Helps These Women Keep a Hand in the Workforce

Photo of Laurie Rowen and Erin Giglia by Jonah Light Laurie Rowen and Erin Giglia would like to add a new work status to the law dictionary: freelance. The 2009 founders of the 24-lawyer Montage Legal Group in Irvine, Calif., which bills itself as a network of freelance attorneys, would…

Aug 1, 2011 6:40 AM CDT

Kim Kardashian Sues Old Navy, Says Store Used Lookalike Model in Ads

Reality television temptress Kim Kardashian filed a federal district court lawsuit against Old Navy and the clothing retailer’s parent company yesterday, contending that the store infringed on her right of publicity by using a lookalike model in its advertising. Filed yesterday in the Central District of California, the suit, which…

Jul 21, 2011 5:23 PM CDT

9th Circuit Says Calif. Lawyer Must Be Allowed to Continue to Practice in Federal Court in Oregon

A California lawyer who apparently may not have been allowed to sit for the Oregon state bar exam because he didn’t graduate from a mainstream law school must nonetheless be allowed to practice in federal court in Oregon, a federal appeals court has ruled. Because Mark Corrinet was previously admitted…

Jul 20, 2011 8:54 PM CDT

Online Exhortation to Shoot Obama Was Protected Speech, 9th Circuit Rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that an exhortation to shoot then-candidate Barack Obama was protected speech. The 2-1 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the conviction of Walter Bagdasarian for threatening to kill a presidential candidate, report the San Francisco Chronicle and the…

Jul 20, 2011 12:48 PM CDT

9th Circuit Judge Reinhardt Unfazed by Supreme Court Criticism

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals took another beating from the U.S. Supreme Court this past term, but one of its frequently reversed judges is unfazed by the criticsm. The U.S. Supreme Court considered 26 appeals from the San Francisco-based appeals court, and reversed or vacated the decisions in…

Jul 19, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

9th Circuit Extends Injunction Barring Forced Medication of Loughner

A federal appeals court has extended an injunction that bars the forced medication of Tucson shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay last week that barred prison officials from forcibly medicating Loughner with anti-psychotic drugs. On Tuesday, the appeals…

Jul 13, 2011 3:29 PM CDT

9th Circuit Stays Court Order Forcing Meds on Suspect in Shooting of Giffords and Chief Judge Roll

Granting an emergency motion by the suspect in a Tucson, Ariz., mass shooting spree early this year, a federal appeals court has ordered prison officials not to forcibly administer anti-psychotic medication to defendant Jared Loughner until the matter is finally decided. Loughner’s lawyers have argued that he was not given…

Jul 5, 2011 8:11 PM CDT

Kozinski: The Fourth Amendment Is Dying, and We Are the Killers

The Fourth Amendment is “all but obsolete” in a world where corporations track our store purchases, online companies save our account information, and smartphones reveal our geographic location. That’s the conclusion of Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He and his law…

Jul 1, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

Winklevoss Twins Won’t Ask Supreme Court to Scuttle Facebook Settlement

The twins who claim Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for Facebook have given up their attack on a $65 million settlement reached in the case. Lawyers for Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have notified the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that they won’t seek cert with the U.S.…

Jun 23, 2011 12:31 PM CDT

Attorney’s Failed Dream of Revitalizing Pacific Law Center Leaves Angry Clients, Unresolved Cases

Laura Perry says she paid $2,000 to the Pacific Law Center to handle a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for her. But the law firm, which at the time was reportedly operated by Kerry Steigerwalt, never made the filing, she contends. And, when it last offered her a refund, the 73-year-old tells…

Jun 22, 2011 6:59 PM CDT

Suing Wal-Mart Cost Lead Law Firm $7M

Expecting a big payoff, the lead plaintiffs law firm in a massive class action against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. invested about $5 million in attorney and staff time and $2 million in costs, much of it for discovery, to pursue the case. But after this week’s U.S. Supreme Court victory for…

Jun 22, 2011 6:09 PM CDT

Ex-McGuireWoods Partner Gets Home Detention for Falsifying IRS Doc to Avoid Levy for Unpaid Tax

A former partner of McGuireWoods has been given home confinement and community service for interfering with Internal Revenue Service efforts to collect more than $110,000 she owed in unpaid income tax for 2006 to 2008. When the IRS attempted to levy on partnership payments to Michelle Renee Walker, she provided…

Jun 21, 2011 5:39 PM CDT