Legal Industry News

Marley Engineered Products Recalls Baseboard Heaters Sold at Grainger Due to Fire Hazard

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Source: SettlementBoard.com In a Recall Alert posted on July 6, 2010,the The Office of Information and Public Affairs states, "The following product safety recall was voluntarily conducted by the firm in cooperation with the CPSC. Consumers should stop using the product immediately unless otherwise instructed. It is illegal to resell or attempt to resell a recalled consumer [...] Read the rest of the...

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Appeals Court Says ‘See No Evil’ Approach Can’t Shield Law Firm in Investor Suit

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Source: ABA Journal Top Stories A “see no evil, hear no evil” approach can’t shield a law firm from an aiding-and-abetting claim in an investor suit, a New York appeals court has ruled. The appeals court reinstated the claim against Lum, Drasco & Positan, formerly known as Lum, Danzis, Drasco & Positan, the New York Law Journal reports. The court said the investor plaintiffs, who lost $1.9 million in a real estate investment company that turned out to be a $22 million Ponzi scheme, had adequately alleged lawyers at the firm had actual knowledge of the fraud. The plaintiffs had claimed Lum Drasco lawyers were… Read the rest of the...

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‘Sequel’ or ‘Spinoff?’ For Actor, a Distinction With a Big Difference

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Source: WSJ.com: Law Blog - WSJ.com The divorce agreement between actor Michael Douglas and his former wife, Diandra, contains language that Diandra says entitles her to money from "spinoffs" of work created when the couple was married. But what is a sequel and what is a spinoff is a matter of debate.

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SOCIAL NETWORKING: A TRAP FOR THE UNWARY.

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Source: Federal Employment Law Articles We live in a world dominated by the Internet, and increasingly, social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and Twitter. According to its most recently published statistics, Facebook now has over 400 million active users, half of whom sign on daily to check their accounts. These users include many employees who communicate with Facebook “friends” and Twitter “followers” (and likely work colleagues) while sitting in their office, from their mobile devices while on the road, and from their homes. Now more than ever, employers, too, find themselves turning to these online resources as a tool to disseminate corporate information, attract and evaluate candidates for employment, and, in some instances, monitor employees’ behavior.

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Are Your Recruiters Exempt or Non-Exempt? Recent Court Cases Scrutinize Staffing Industry Classification Practices

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Source: Federal Employment Law Articles Recently, a California appeals court sent shockwaves through the staffing industry when it ruled in Pellegrino v. Robert Half International, Inc., No. G039985,1 that staffing firm recruiters are not overtime-exempt administrative employees under California law. Since many staffing firms classify their recruiters as exempt administrative employees, there was concern that this decision could have a sweeping effect on staffing industry overtime classification practices. Soon after Pellegrino, a federal district court in Maryland decided Andrade v. Aerotek, Inc., No. CCB-08-2668,2 another case in which a staffing firm recruiter challenged her classification as administratively exempt from the requirement to pay overtime. The Aerotek court held the complete opposite of the California appeals court in Pellegrino, and found that the recruiter was an exempt administrative employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and thus not entitled to overtime.

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Education: Requiring Use of Electronic Book Readers May Violate ADA/504.

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Source: Federal Employment Law Articles On June 29, 2010, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education issued a joint letter to college and university presidents nationwide expressing concern that their institutions might be requiring students to use electronic book readers (e.g., Kindle, iPad) that are inaccessible to those with visual impairments

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China State Secrets. Buyer Beware.

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Source: China Law Blog

Stan Abrams over at China Hearsay has a great post on the China state secrets case against Xue Feng, the Chinese-American recently convicted in China and sentenced to eight years.

I was not going to write about this case for the simple reason that I do not know what to say about it because I just do not have even one tenth the information necessary to opine as to his guilt or innocence. This of course never stops the media, who tend to jump right in and write on these sorts of cases as clear-cut morality plays.  

Abrams will have done of that; he instead does a great job raising (but not answering) the following key questions surrounding Xue's conviction:  

1. Was Xue treated fairly during his incarceration and interrogation? He claims to have been beaten and otherwise abused while in custody. As he has no legal recourse at this point with respect to these accusations, I assume that this matter will simply be dropped.

2. Was this database classified as containing state secrets done so before or after Xue obtained it? Any sort of ex post facto classification would be extremely difficult for the government to...

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