Administrative Law

School called 6-year-old boy’s classroom kiss ‘sexual harassment’ and suspended him

Updated: A 6-year-old Colorado boy was suspended from school for planting a kiss on a classmate. A first-grade student in Cañon City was accused of sexual harassment, KRDO.com reports. “They sent me to the office, fair and square. I did something wrong, and I feel sorry,” the boy told the…

Dec 10, 2013 9:15 PM CST

Is Obama’s health-law fix constitutional?

President Obama’s decision to delay enforcement of the health-care law to allow consumers to keep their cancelled policies has raised the question: Is his action constitutional? Some legal observers think the answer is no, report the Wall Street Journal Law Blog (sub. req.) and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).…

Nov 18, 2013 1:59 PM CST

Panel seeks ouster of judge who didn’t reveal conflicts; she calls probate-court cases ‘ministerial’

A New York judge who has served on the state’s probate court for more than a decade should be removed because she failed to reveal conflicts and recuse herself on multiple occasions, a disciplinary panel has recommended. Previously censured in 2007 for her testimony before the State Commission on Judicial…

Nov 14, 2013 11:30 PM CST

Trans fats would likely be banned under FDA proposal

Artery-clogging trans fats would likely be banned under a proposal by the Food and Drug Administration. The FDA is proposing that partially hydrogenated oils no longer be “generally recognized as safe,” report the New York Times, the Associated Press and Bloomberg News. The proposal, which will be open for comment…

Nov 7, 2013 2:47 PM CST

Disgraced as journalist, Stephen Glass faces skeptical Calif. supreme court in law-license bid

Disgraced as a journalist when he was revealed to have fabricated all or part of over 40 articles for The New Republic and other publications 15 years ago, Stephen Glass wound up as the subject of a critically acclaimed 2003 movie that helped make him something of a household name.…

Nov 6, 2013 11:30 PM CST

Victims in $6M client-theft case to get $3.25M; accused lawyer may not be competent for trial

A 78-year-old lawyer may not be competent to stand trial in a federal mail-fraud case over some $6 million in claimed client thefts. However, 47 claimants who say they were targets of the alleged scheme by attorney Anthony J. Lupas of Wilkes-Barre will get $3.25 million from a victim compensation…

Oct 31, 2013 6:15 PM CDT

Law firm’s tactics in black-lung case before federal appeals court

A federal appeals court is hearing arguments today about a law firm’s duty to disclose medical reports to miners and their families who seek black-lung benefits through an administrative law system. At issue is whether lawyers defending the claims should be allowed to obtain medical reports from several experts, while…

Oct 29, 2013 4:00 PM CDT

Civil rights probe launched against Barneys and Macy’s by state attorney general

The state attorney general has launched a civil rights probe of Barneys New York and Macy’s Inc. following claims by several black customers that they were stopped by New York City police after making expensive purchases. In letters sent to top executives for both stores, Kristen Clarke, the chief of…

Oct 29, 2013 3:40 PM CDT

Judge sees no roadblock to digital billboard suit; how many road references did he use?

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., sees no roadblock to a nonprofit group’s challenge to federal guidance that paved the way for an increasing number of digital billboards. The opinion by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg was “heavily trafficked” with road references, according to The BLT: The Blog of Legal…

Oct 24, 2013 12:43 PM CDT

High school football team faces bullying probe over 91-0 blowout

An undefeated Texas high school football team has had an average 77-point margin of victory at every game this season. But that’s not for lack of efforts by Coach Tim Buchanan to slow down his Aledo High School Bearcats so that their opponents aren’t unduly humilitated. “I sit there the…

Oct 23, 2013 5:05 PM CDT

Pitchman Kevin Trudeau jailed until he reveals assets to pay $37M fine in FTC matter

Especially for someone who claims to have no assets with which to pay a penny of a $37 million civil judgment, diet book author and infomercial pitchman Kevin Trudeau is living high on the hog, the feds say. They cite the $12,500 Patek Philippe cufflinks (he says they belong to…

Oct 22, 2013 5:50 PM CDT

Jayhawks fan wins pro se license-plate appeal, can keep slogan disparaging rivals, court rules

Once upon a time, the word “sucks” was considered unprintable. But in recent decades it has simply become a synonym for “subpar,” a Missouri man argued, relying on the dictionary for support. On Tuesday, the Missouri Court of Appeals effectively agreed, deferring to an administrative hearing commission’s ruling on the…

Oct 16, 2013 3:45 PM CDT

As shutdown continues, more federal courts ‘tell Congress to go to hell,’ as blogging judge puts it

Instructed to prepare for the possibility of an ongoing government shutdown if Congress doesn’t resolve a budget impasse and restore funding this week, a growing number of federal courts have taken a more aggressive approach. By declaring all employees “essential,” court administrators are in a position to insist that workers…

Oct 15, 2013 7:15 PM CDT

SCOTUS to review EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases for power plants

Updated: The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to consider the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants and other stationary sources. The U.S. Supreme Court accepted six cert petitions on the topic, but agreed to consider just one issue, report SCOTUSblog, USA Today the Los Angeles…

Oct 15, 2013 2:55 PM CDT

Fertilizer company fined $118K by OSHA over April explosion that killed 15

The owner of a fertilizer depot in West, Texas, at which a fatal explosion occurred in April has been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and fined $118,300. The two dozen alleged violations included unsafe handling and storage of some 540,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate, a fertilizer component…

Oct 11, 2013 6:20 PM CDT