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Laws/Cases
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Student Files Suit over Border
Search and Seizure
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A graduate student has filed a lawsuit against the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security after his laptop was seized as he
crossed into the U.S. from Canada. Border officials say they took the
computer because it contained pictures of rallies by Hamas and
Hezbollah. In his lawsuit, the student claims the pictures were part of
his doctoral research into Shiites in Lebanon. The search and seizure,
he says, "violated the constitutional rights to free speech and to
protection against improper searches." Tiffany Kary,
Bloomberg 07/11/2011
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Read Article: Bloomberg
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Trial Begins in Vet's Claim that VA
Colonoscopy Gave Him Hepatitis C
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Sharply contrasting opening statements were presented in
U.S. District Court in Miami in a medical malpractice case filed
against the VA. It's the first such case to go to trial after about
11,000 U.S. military veterans learned that colonoscopies they had at
three VA hospitals, including Miami's, were performed with improperly
cleaned equipment. The plaintiff tested negative for hepatitis in 2006,
got the colonoscopy in 2007 and was told he has hepatitis C in 2009.
FRED TASKER, McClatchy Newspapers, The Sacramento Bee 07/12/2011
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Read Article: The Sacramento Bee
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Suit: Woman Paid Less than Male
Predecessors
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A former city of Detroit employee has filed a lawsuit
against city claiming she was paid less than the male predecessors in
her position. The plaintiff, the former head of the Detroit Water and
Sewerage Department, alleges in her suit that her salary was almost
$100,000 less per year than men who had come before her. She resigned
in September after her complaints went unanswered. Staff
Report, Detroit Free Press 07/12/2011
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Read Article: Detroit Free Press
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Ford Hit with Patent Violation Lawsuit
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Ford Motor Co. has been hit with a patent infringement
lawsuit over Sync, its in-car communication system. The suit, filed by
Eagle Harbor Holdings, claims the automaker used patented voice command
recognition technology in various aspects of the Sync system and other
in-car features. Lawyers for the plaintiff have estimated that compensation
from the suit could be in the millions. Chris Woodyard, USA
Today 07/12/2011
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Read Article: USA Today
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Student Accused of Rape, Suit
Against School Heads to Trial
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A trial is scheduled for a lawsuit filed against the
University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee by a former student who
was accused of raping another student in 2008. The plaintiff claims in
his suit that the school failed to follow its own policy regarding
sexual assault cases and due process, and that the accusations
"damaged" his reputation. According to the suit, the school
forced the plaintiff to withdraw for a year, a breach of the university
contract. Todd South, Chattanooga Times Free Press 07/12/2011
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Read Article: Chattanooga Times Free
Press
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Issues
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Trial Records at Mercy of Court
Reporters' Performance
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In courtrooms, words matter. Whether a person ends up free
or in prison can turn on precisely what was said. Appeals depend on the
ability of lawyers and judges to examine an exact rendering of who
uttered what and when. So mistakes can be monumentally disruptive.
Perhaps the biggest curiosity of the court reporter system, however, is
that, unlike other official documents generated by a court case, such
as complaints and pleas, the verbatim notes of what occurred at trial
effectively belong to the court reporter. In a 2006 report, the Senate
Jurisprudence Committee urged the incoming Legislature to "enact
legislation to state that the official transcript of court proceedings
is the property of the court, not the court reporter." But
lawmakers declined to act. Eric Dexheimer, Austin American
Statesman 07/04/2011
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Read Article: Austin American Statesman
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Fracking Water Killed Trees, Study
Finds
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A study by researchers from the US Forest Service argues
for more research into the safe disposal of chemical-laced wastewater
resulting from natural gas drilling found that a patch of national
forest in West Virginia suffered quick and serious loss of vegetation
after it was sprayed with hydraulic fracturing fluids. It said that two
years after liquids were legally spread on a section of the Fernow
Experimental Forest, within the Monongahela National Forest, more than
half of the trees in the affected area were dead. MIREYA
NAVARRO, The New York Times 07/12/2011
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Read Article: The New York Times
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TEXAS LAWYER CASE SUMMARIES
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Houston's 14th Court of Appeals:
Torts
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Jane Uche Amadi, Constance Nnadi and World Anointing
Center Ministries Inc. sued the city of Houston and its employee,
Jermaine T. Owens. Amadi alleged that Owens' negligent operation of a
vehicle owned by the city, which caused a collision with Amadi's
vehicle, resulting in personal injury and property damage. Appellants
challenge the trial court's order granting the City of Houston's plea
to the jurisdiction. The government has explicitly consented to suit
through the TTCA to the extent that liability arises from the "use
of a motor-driven vehicle or motor-driven equipment." The plain
language of Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code §101.106(b) provides
that simultaneous filing of this suit against the city and its employee
does not constitute a bar to Amadi's suit against the city because the
city has consented to suit under the facts alleged in this case. The
trial court's order is reversed and remanded. Amadi v. City of Houston,
Houston's 14th Court of Appeals, No. 14-10-01216-CV, 07-07-2011. ,
Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA Members Only) 07/12/2011
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Read Article: Texas Lawyer Opinions (TTLA
Members Only)
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