This week, two New York trial court justices issued diverging opinions on when the statute of limitations begins to run on claims related to the repurchase obligations of securitizers und …
In a much-anticipated opinion, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reversed a New Jersey lower court decision granting summary judgment in favor of video game giant Electronic Ar …
New York Divorce Law Moves Closer To Overhaul -
An independent commission reviewing New York’s alimony laws recommended sweeping changes in a report issued Friday, including revamping formulas and throwing out a unique decades-old legal precedent that counts professional degrees as marital assets.
CITY OF ARLINGTON, TEXAS, et al. v. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION et al. -
Courts must apply the Chevron framework to an agency’s interpretation of a statutory ambiguity that concerns the scope of the agency’s statutory authority (i.e. jurisdiction), and here: 1) the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Declaratory Ruling that the phrase “reasonable period of time” under section 332(c)(7)(B) of The Communications Act of 1934 is presumptively, but rebuttably, 90 days to process an application to place a new antenna on an existing tower and 150 days to process all other applications; and 2) the preconditions to deference under Chevron are satisfied because Congress has unambiguously vested the FCC with general authority to administer the Communications Act through rulemaking and adjudication, and the agency interpretation at issue was promulgated in the exercise of that authority.
PPL CORP. et al. v. COMMISSIONER OF INTERNAL REVENUE -
The U.K. one-time “windfall tax” imposed on privatized companies in 1997 and paid by petitioner, is creditable under Internal Revenue Code section 901(b)(1), which states that any “income, war profits, and excess profits taxes” paid overseas are creditable against U.S. income taxes, where here, the U.K. windfall tax’s predominant character is that of an excess profits tax, a category of income tax in the U.S. sense.
METRISH, WARDEN v. LANCASTER -
Defendant is not entitled to federal habeas relief, where: 1) after defendant’s first trial but prior to his retrial, the Michigan Supreme Court 2001 decision in Carpenter, held that the diminished-capacity defense was not encompassed within the Michigan Legislature’s comprehensive scheme for mental-illness defenses and thus could not be invoked by criminal defendants; 2) in light of U.S. Supreme Court precedent and the history of Michigan’s diminished-capacity defense, the Michigan Court of Appeals’ decision applying Carpenter retroactively at defendant’s retrial is not an unreasonable application of clearly established federal law; and thus, 3) defendant’s due process rights were not violated.
SEBELIUS, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES v. CLOER -
An untimely petition under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act may qualify for an award of attorney’s fees if it is filed in good faith and there is a reasonable basis for its claim.
Report Says Nearly 1 in 3 Youths Arrested by Age 23
lawyers.comA recently released study claims that nearly 1 in 3 U.S. youths will be arrested for a non-traffic offense by age 23. Zero-tolerance policies and a broadened definition of alcohol offenses …
Court Overturns $6.5M Verdict In First Actos Trial
Silvia Hsieh, lawyers.comTongRo Images/ThinkstockSoon after a jury awarded $6.5 million to a California man who claimed the diabetes drug Actos caused him to develop bladder cancer, a court erased the verdict.Jack Cooper , 79, on April 26 won the award against Actos maker…
Dear Doctor letters were front and center in the just-tried case of Tietz v. Abbott Laboratories, Inc., et al., No. 12-L-002715. On Thursday, May 9, 2013, a Chicago jury returned a $2.2 mill …