Blog
Law & Beyond provides lawyers and non-lawyers a look at the legal issues of the day.
The Habitual Nature of Sexual Harassment
Sexual harassment usually is not an isolated event. Gretchen Carlson, a former Fox News host, recently filed a lawsuit against (now former) CEO of Fox News, Roger Ailes, alleging causes of action for sexual harassment and retaliatory termination. Ms. Carlson primarily alleges that Ailes propositioned her on numerous occasions, ogled her, demanded that she turn around so he could view her rear, and used sexually demeaning language. Ms. Carlson also alleges that Ailes fired her after she continually rebuffed his overtures over a 9-month...
read moreUber Drivers: Employees or Independent Contractors
Uber recently announced a class action settlement for California and Massachusetts drivers involving a monetary payment of up to $100,000,000. This lawsuit was the first of several class action lawsuits against Uber. WHY ARE DRIVERS SUING UBER? The recently settled lawsuit primarily focused on how Uber classifies its drivers. Uber classifies its drivers as independent contractors, but many drivers feel that they should be classified as employees. How a driver is classified is important because it determines whether the driver or Uber is...
read moreSpokeo: A (sort of) Victory for the Credit Reporting Industry
After much anticipation, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Spokeo, Inc. v. Robins, and – to the relief of credit reporting agencies everywhere – ruled that a bare procedural violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) is not sufficient to satisfy the injury-in-fact requirement of Article III. Spokeo quickly took to the blogosphere to tout its victory, but it was not a total win for the self-described “people search engine.” The 6-2 opinion authored by Justice Alito has serious potential to become a thorn in the...
read more“Let’s Go Crazy” Over Fair Use
Summary On September 17, 2015, a U.S. Appeals Court unanimously ruled that copyright holders must consider “fair use” before sending a takedown notification. (Lenz v. Universal [2015] 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Nos. 13-16106, 13-16107, D.C. No. 5:07-cv-03783-JF.) The three judge panel affirmed the district court’s denial of the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment in an action under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), alleging that the defendants violated 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) by misrepresenting in a takedown notification...
read moreDAPA and executive powers (U.S. v. Texas)
Background In November, 2014, President Obama announced executive action related to immigration. The action, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA), defers deportation proceedings for qualified parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents for at least three years. The action also expanded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) to include individuals who entered the U.S. before 2010. (The original policy, enacted in 2012, only impacted individuals who entered the country before 2007. The original policy has not...
read moreDamages after Howell
In 2011, the California Supreme Court held that a plaintiff could recover as damages for his or her past medical condition no more than his or her medical providers had accepted as payment in full from plaintiff and his or her insurer. (Howell v. Hamilton Meats [2011] 52 Cal.4th 541.) The court found that, “Because so many patients, insured, uninsured, and recipients under government healthcare programs, pay discounted rates, hospital bills have been called ‘insincere, in the sense that they would yield truly enormous profits if those prices...
read moreCalifornia Bar Opinion No. 12-0006
What’s the difference between a blog on your firm website, and a stand-alone blog? According to the California State Bar, there’s a big difference. The first constitutes a “communication”, subjecting attorneys to the rules regulating attorney advertising. The second is not a communication, and therefore not subject to the Rules of Professional Conduct. Are you in compliance? Read the entire Opinion here:...
read moreYour online legal reputation
Remember the “good old days”, when all you had to do was practice good law to have a good reputation as an attorney? Nowadays, our reputations live on the internet, and it is not as easy to maintain a positive reputation on line. It’s certainly not as simple as simply practicing good law. Attorneys in 2016 need to implement a strategy to ensure there is a continuity of your legal reputation from online to “offline”. With technology and how the public finds attorneys changing constantly, it’s difficult to even figure out what to do...
read moreAre you prepared to change firms?
The average U.S. worker will hold 10-20 different jobs in his or her lifetime, and as many as seven different careers. While attorneys are more likely to have only one “career”, there is a very good chance that you will change jobs/firms at least three times before you turn 40. Are you prepared for when that time comes? If you are a 21st century attorney, you need more than just a resume in your hand to stand out at an interview. (If you don’t have much legal experience, firms will look to your law school grades, especially if there is...
read moreNegative review – should you sue?
You just received a negative, anonymous review on Avvo, Yelp, lawyerratingz, or some other legal (or quasi-legal) review site. You’re angry, because you think it’s unfair, inaccurate, or (worse) fabricated just to harm your reputation. You want the review taken down; you want to confront the reviewer, and you want to sue him or her for defamation. Can you do any of these things successfully? More importantly, should you? As discussed below, even if you could, you probably should not. Legal hurdles First, it is undisputed that “The First...
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