7/9/2015 On Wednesday, Judge Gerald Bruce Lee of the U.S. District Court for Eastern Virginia has affirmed the federal Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s 2-1 decision last year that the Washington Redskins’ nickname and logo are offensive to Native Americans. Last year, the board voted that the trademark violated terms of the Lanham Act, which
7/8/2015 Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood announced in a Tuesday press release that his office will be joining 26 other states who have filed four separate lawsuits since last month over rule changes regarding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforcement of the Clean Water Act. The legal fight is essentially a territorial battle over which
Generally, we expect manufacturers to create products in a way that makes them safe to use. But there are some products consumers buy that will be dangerous no matter how they are created. Washington has adopted comment k to the Restatement (second) of Torts Section 402A, which precludes liability for certain “unavoidably unsafe products.” As
7/8/2015 The senseless killing of 32 year-old Kathryn Steinle, who was shot in the upper torso by a complete stranger, 45 year old undocumented immigrant Francisco Sanchez on July 1st on San-Francisco’s popular Pier 14, has re-inflamed the immigration debate. Sanchez, a seven-time felon, had been deported back to Mexico on five separate occasions, yet
7/7/2015 New York City has agreed to pay six Occupy Wall Street protestors between $52,500 and $60,000 each, totaling $332,500 in a settlement over being illegally pepper sprayed by police in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park. The incident happened in the early days of the original September, 2011 anti-inequality protest, when police Deputy Inspector, Anthony Bologna, was
7/6/2015 In an amazing shift of perspective, South Carolina may finally be willing to abandon its most prominent symbol of Confederate heritage after a three-week public shaming by the majority of the Union. After a 150-year effort to keep alive the spirit of the rebellion that almost destroyed the United States of America, the South
7/6/2015 In a move that many consider to be long overdue, the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy announced that three federal agencies will be coordinating to revamp the decades-old policy towards genetically modified agriculture (GMO) in order to restore public confidence. The current system, called the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of
7/5/2015 For the first time in nearly three years, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) conducted a public hearing on Thursday, July 2nd. In the hearing, the agency scrutinized Fiat-Chrysler’s handling of 23 recalls involving 11 million vehicles. Acting director of the agency’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), Jennifer Timian, began the hearing by
7/5/2015 The Justice Department announced last week that it is undergoing a probe into whether or not several major airlines are colluding to control expansion, limiting routes and seating in order to keep ticket prices high. Although refusing to name specific airlines, Department of Justice Spokesperson Emily Pierce confirmed that the department was investigating “possible
7/3/2015 Following last week’s landmark Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare, two leading health insurers will be combining to form the second largest company in the industry. Aetna, the third-largest insurer will acquire Humana, the country’s fourth largest health plan provider. Aetna will pay a cash and stock equivalent to