Last week the U.S. Supreme Court in Perdue v Kenny A. (U.S. Sup Ct, Apr. 21, 2010, No. 08-970) 2010 US Lexis 3481 ruled that attorney fees awarded under federal fee-shifting statutes may exceed the “lodestar” amount, i.e., the number of hours worked multiplied by the prevailing hourly rates. But such enhancements are only permissible under rare [...]
Filed under: Litigation Strategy, New Legal Developments | Comments Off
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Pub L 111–148, 124 Stat 119). As expected, the health care reform legislation, as amended by the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Pub L 111–152, 124 Stat 1029), includes an additional Medicare tax beginning in 2013 on individuals [...]
Filed under: Estate Planning | Tagged: Estate Planning, health care reform | Comments Off
Think you’re current with wage and hour law? Did you know that the California Supreme Court currently has 7 wage and hour cases on its docket? These cases involve some very interesting and important issues, including
Filed under: Employment Law | Tagged: California Supreme Court, Employment Law, wage and hour | Comments Off
The Judicial Conference of the United States has approved key steps to improve public access to federal court records. These steps include: Increasing the availability of court opinions Expanding court services, and Reducing the costs for many users of the Public Access to Electronic Court Records (PACER) system. They also added a pilot program to [...]
Filed under: Business, Legal Topics, Litigation Strategy | Tagged: court records, federal court, public access | Comments Off
On April 13, 2010 the Associated Press reported in its Economic Stress Index, that the US economy in February was still under “stress” with a score of 11.8, although the number was slightly down from its all time high of 11.9 in January. The Index calculates a score for more than 3100 counties based on [...]
Filed under: Bankruptcy, Real property | 1 Comment »
Update: A State Bar commission will hold a hearing June 10 in Los Angeles to receive testimony on the new and revised Rules of Professional Conduct. Now is your chance to comment on the 69 amended Rules of Professional Conduct set to be adopted by the State Bar’s Board of Governors by September. California is still the [...]
Filed under: Practice of Law | Comments Off
With most data now generated and stored electronically, discovery has significantly changed and a new industry of consultants looking to assist attorneys in gathering and producing electronic data has developed and grown. But how does a tech-impaired attorney hire an e-discovery vendor?
Filed under: Litigation Strategy | Comments Off
As part of CEB’s commitment to bringing together California’s legal community, our blog will post a short interview with one of your fellow attorneys. This week, we profile attorney and CEB contributor James J. Brosnahan: CEB: What is your practice area and how did you choose it? Jim: I am a trial lawyer who tries [...]
Filed under: Legal Topics, Litigation Strategy, Profiles | Comments Off
After 34 years on the Supreme Court, Justice Stevens will retire at the end of this term. As described by the National Law Journal, Justice Stevens leaves a “diverse legal legacy,” including …authoring landmark decisions ranging from Reno v. ACLU, the 1997 decision that anointed the Internet with broad First Amendment protection, to Chevron v. [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Justice Stevens, Supreme Court | Comments Off
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, recently issued an order overturning the FCC’s August 2008 ruling against Comcast. The FCC order would have required the provider to “give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks” according to the Huffington Post.
Filed under: New Legal Developments | Comments Off
