Weekly Briefs: Protesters target law dean; Florida’s Stop Woke Act blocked at universities

11th Circuit allows block on Stop Woke Act The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to disturb an injunction that prevents Florida public universities from enforcing a law known as the Stop Woke Act pending an appeal. The law bars instruction that promotes eight concepts, including the…

Mar 17, 2023 3:00 PM CDT

North Dakota Constitution protects abortions needed to protect women’s life and health, top state court says

The North Dakota Constitution protects the right to obtain an abortion when it is needed to preserve the life or health of a pregnant woman, the state supreme court said Thursday.

Mar 17, 2023 12:30 PM CDT

Supreme Court gets the scoop on doggy toy, whiskey parody case

Executives at Jack Daniel’s, whose whiskey was first sold under that name in 1875, have requested that VIP Products stop selling dog chew toys shaped like liquor bottles but with parody names and themes, leading to a major trademark case that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up March 22.

Mar 16, 2023 12:26 PM CDT

Can court ban abortion pill? Federal judge considers authority, plaintiffs’ standing

A federal judge in Texas is promising a quick ruling on a lawsuit seeking to ban abortion pills on the ground that they are unsafe and wrongly approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Mar 16, 2023 9:54 AM CDT

Health care providers divulge patient information to Facebook, other third parties, lawsuits allege

An increasing number of lawsuits are alleging that tracking tools on health care websites and patient portals allow Facebook and other third parties to obtain confidential medical information.

Mar 15, 2023 10:55 AM CDT

Daughter sues agency after DNA test IDs likely suspect in institutionalized mother’s rape

A woman who used AncestryDNA to find the man who likely raped her developmentally disabled mother in an institution has sued the New York agency that employed him as a caretaker.

Mar 15, 2023 9:00 AM CDT

Jackson’s votes in Supreme Court’s first 6 opinions make her ‘last justice standing’

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is the only U.S. Supreme Court justice who joined every majority decision without a separate concurrence in the first six merits opinions released this term, making her the “last justice standing.”

Mar 14, 2023 3:22 PM CDT

Law firms can’t be sanctioned for multiplying cases ‘vexatiously’ in federal court, 5th Circuit says

A provision of federal law that allows sanctions for multiplying legal proceedings “unreasonably and vexatiously” applies to lawyers but not their law firms, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Mar 14, 2023 12:46 PM CDT

Stanford apologizes after conservative federal appeals judge is heckled during Federalist Society talk

U.S. Circuit Judge Stuart Kyle Duncan has received an apology after protesters he described as “juvenile idiots” interrupted his March 9 speech with the Federalist Society at Stanford Law School.

Mar 13, 2023 11:32 AM CDT

Court backlogs persist in this state because of shortage of attorneys; ‘the wheels of justice depend on lawyers’

Georgia courts are having trouble addressing case backlogs because the state has a shortage of lawyers, including prosecutors and public defenders, the state’s chief justice said this week.

Mar 10, 2023 1:50 PM CST

Weekly Briefs: Legal sector continues to gain jobs; Roe v. Wade archive auctioned

Legal sector adds 1,500 jobs The legal services sector continues to add jobs, despite reports of layoffs at some BigLaw firms. The sector gained 1,500 jobs in February, according to preliminary and seasonally adjusted figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In January, the industry gained 800…

Mar 10, 2023 11:57 AM CST

DoNotPay doesn’t live up to its billing as a ‘robot lawyer,’ offers ‘substandard’ legal docs, suit claims

A would-be class action lawsuit alleges that the DoNotPay website is engaged in the unauthorized practice of law and is harming its customers by providing legal services that are “substandard and poorly done.”

Mar 10, 2023 9:24 AM CST

States don’t have to ‘stand idly by and watch the carnage,’ 11th Circuit says in upholding age restriction on gun sales

Mar 9, 2023 3:21 PM CST

Ban on ‘rude’ public comments at town meetings violates state constitution, court rules

A policy allowing only “respectful and courteous” public comments at town meetings violates the state constitution, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled.

Mar 9, 2023 11:26 AM CST

‘Gruyere’ is generic description of cheese that isn’t eligible for certification mark, appeals court says

The term “gruyere” is a generic description of cheese and can’t be registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a certification mark denoting the region where the cheese is produced, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Mar 9, 2023 8:59 AM CST