In March, two members of the Oakland (California) City Council finally resolved an epic and high-stakes legal battle after a fight that lasted three months and spawned a legal opinion by the city attorney. The burning question: who was entitled…
Here's one that's pretty darn concise: J.H. GILLIS, Judge. The appellant has attempted to distinguish the factual situation in this case from that in Renfroe v. Higgins Rack Coating and Manufacturing Co., Inc. (1969), 17 Mich.App. 259, 169 N.W.2d 326. …
Here's another one for the Case Law Hall of Fame. The question in this case was whether the city of Augusta, Georgia, could impose an "occupation tax" on the plaintiffs under the circumstances. The circumstances were that plaintiffs owned a…
In this opinion from 1982, a judge dismissed Kent © Norman's complaint against Ronald Reagan, then President of the United States. (It wasn't clear whether he claimed a copyright in "Kent" or had changed his middle name to ©.) While…
This one may take you a little while to get through, but it’s worth it: United States v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, AFL-CIO; Commission of La Cosa Nostra; Anthony Salerno, also known as Fat…
I am sorry that Mr. Murphrey had to go through what he describes in this letter. I am sorry that attorneys sometimes act unprofessionally and even childishly. I am sorry that I did not have a chance to post this…
Admitting he was "perhaps an unlikely legal illustrator," the Maryland Court of Appeals recently cited Jerry Seinfeld to illustrate the contractual and fiduciary duty of "good faith." The case, Clancy v. King, is not especially notable otherwise, except maybe because…
Here’s a worthwhile addition to the Hall of Fame that may just come in handy these days as well. In Stambovsky v. Ackley (1991), New York’s Appellate Division held that a homebuyer could try to get out of a $650,000 sale contract…
Here’s an order going directly to the Lowering the Bar Legal Document Archive. Apparently, in a lawsuit pending in the Western District of Texas (at Austin), the parties were unable to agree on whether the deposition of a corporate representative…
In a classic opinion of which I have just learned, the California Court of Appeal ruled in 1998 that police were in fact justified in detaining a man they saw on a bicycle at 3:00 in the morning, primarily because…