On July 29, 2021, the California insurance law firm Gianelli & Morris filed a class action complaint in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The case is Brenda Honeycutt v. Anthem, Inc. (Case No.: 2:21-cv-6124). The complaint seeks benefits due under the insurance policy at... Read More »
At the onset of the pandemic, a federal moratorium on evictions was put in place by the Centers for Disease Control. Last Saturday, the moratorium which had been extended several times throughout the pandemic had reached its end. President Biden explained that the moratorium would no longer be in effect... Read More »
A once-private bitter divorce between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt is making legal news. Judge John W. Ouderkirk was ordered to step down after Jolie successfully accused of him taking sides with her former husband. Pitt did not agree to remove the judge from their case. The judge handling the... Read More »
California no doubt leads the nation in protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) residents living in senior-care facilities. But now, one of the key provisions of a four-year-old landmark LGBT-senior protection bill has been struck down by a state appellate court. The court ruled it is... Read More »
Vacationers planning a cruise that leaves from a Florida port might want to unpack their swimsuits if they want to travel without fear of COVID-19. A new ruling from an appeals court has reinstated a law, struck down by a lower court, that said ships leaving the state can no... Read More »
California Lawmakers Consider Bill to Stop Employers from Discriminating Based on Marijuana Use. Untold Californians are currently basking in the rapidly expanding recreational marijuana industry. Pot has become so mainstream in California that dispensaries are offering home delivery and advertising on billboards. Yet some California employers are still, rightly or... Read More »
Texas’ efforts on border security have ramped up as the state has begun arresting migrants for trespassing if they cross the border. This move is part of Gov. Abbott's latest border control efforts under what has been dubbed Operation Lone Star. As part of the initiative, Abbott announced that the... Read More »
On July 19, 2021, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland banned the use of warrants, subpoenas or court orders to seize reporters’ records from communications firms, publishers, or the reporters’ employers in attempts to discover confidential sources when leaks are being investigated. The prohibition applies to testimony, telephone records, metadata, documents,... Read More »
On July 22, 2021, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced the seizure of 17 “manuscripts and scrolls” of community records from Jewish communities in what are now Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine. The manuscripts disappeared during the Holocaust and were assumed lost. They were... Read More »
On July 26th, Governor Gavin Newsom announced a statewide vaccine mandate for public employees. For individuals who opt-out of inoculation, weekly testing will be required. This mandate will include not only healthcare workers but other employees in “high-risk congregated settings” such as jails, nursing homes, and homeless shelters. Under California’s... Read More »
On Saturday, two students at Loyola Marymount, a private Catholic university located in Los Angeles, California, sued the institution over new COVID-19 policies. Loyola Marymount is one of over 400 universities to implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students. In preparation for the return of in-person classes this fall, the... Read More »
The defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. At sentencing, he wanted to change his plea. The judge told him that sentencing was not the proper place to do that. He appealed. The Ninth Circuit agreed with the judge. In an opinion authored by Judge Ronald M.... Read More »
Drugmaker Endo has agreed to pay $35 million to settle a lawsuit that was brought by several Tennessee local governments and on behalf of a newborn child who was born addicted to opioids. The settlement agreements come after the drugmaker was accused of helping fuel the opioid epidemic that ravaged... Read More »
Ford Motor Company has issued a worldwide recall on approximately 775,000 2013-2017 Ford Explorer vehicles due to issues with steering that have been linked to at least six injuries in North America. While the recall is worldwide, 676,152 vehicles under the recall are registered in North America, with 59,935 in... Read More »
Ever since the Supreme Court recognized a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy by abortion in its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade and 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions, states have been chipping away at that right by enacting increasingly stringent pre-viability restrictions. Now Mississippi has decided to stop chipping... Read More »
