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 Mitch Abbott: CEB: What is your practice area and how did you choose it? Mitch: I specialize in handling writs and appeals (mostly in the state courts) on [...]
Filed under: Business, Civil Litigation, Constitutional Law, Legal Topics, Profiles | Tagged: appeals, constitutional law, litigation | Comments Off
You probably know that you can make an organ donation at death, but did you know that you can make an organ donation while you are still living? The newly enacted Altruistic Living Donor Registry Act of 2010 (Health & S C §§7152–7152.2) allows people to register to make an organ donation (mainly kidney donation, because a person can [...]
Filed under: Estate Planning, Legal Topics | Tagged: organ donation, organ donor, registry | Comments Off
Summary judgment is a great way to cut down on the economic and emotional costs of continued litigation. As explained by the California Supreme Court, the law of summary judgment is intended to provide courts with a way to cut through the parties’ pleadings to determine whether, despite their allegations, a trial is actually necessary to resolve [...]
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Legal Topics | Tagged: summary judgment | Comments Off
New technology, same law. As reported by Wired.com, the Second District Court of Appeal has held that when one party to a conversation uses an iPhone to secretly record the conversation, it does not violate the Wiretap Act as long as the recording is done for legitimate purposes. This ruling (.pdf) is consistent with those of other circuits, including [...]
Filed under: Business, Civil Litigation, Criminal Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: iPhone, recording, Wiretap Act, wiretapping | 3 Comments »
The honeymoon with contractual arbitration appears to be over. The advantages of arbitration are disappearing or being outweighed by the disadvantages more and more often, prompting a growing number of attorneys to advise their clients to take their chances in court.
Filed under: Business, Civil Litigation, Legal Topics, Practice of Law, Real property | Tagged: advantages, arbitration, contract, disadvantages | 2 Comments »
In a decision that conflicts with those of at least six other cases from various jurisdictions, the Ninth Circuit, as Law.com puts it, “had no trouble deeming tattoos and the business of tattoo parlors forms of pure expression fully protected by the First Amendment.”
Filed under: Constitutional Law, Legal Topics | Tagged: First Amendment, free speech, municipal law, tattoo, tattoo parlor | Comments Off
Predatory lending is a term used to describe a range of abusive and aggressive lending practices that often target the elderly and people with limited income or in deep debt. But even institutional lenders with respectable reputations in the banking industry can be guilty of lending abuses with their victims being sophisticated borrowers. Although the most recent [...]
Filed under: Civil Litigation, Elder Law, Legal Topics, Real property, Tort Law | Tagged: elder law, predatory lending, remedies | Comments Off
As modern technologies evolve, new areas for right of publicity and right to privacy litigation emerge. Video games featuring representations of actual people present interesting issues — and not just hypothetical ones. In the Northern District of California, a case is pending for the “blatant and unlawful use” of NCAA student athlete likenesses in video games. [...]
Filed under: Business, Legal Topics | Tagged: right of publicity, video games | 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 Tony Serra: CEB: What is your practice area and how did you choose it? Tony: I am a criminal jury trial specialist. I chose such a specialty because for [...]
Filed under: Criminal Law, Legal Topics, Profiles | Tagged: criminal defense | Comments Off
