U.S. Supreme Court Rules Facebook Threats Not a Crime

On Monday, June 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Anthony Elonis, a man convicted for making threats on Facebook against his estranged wife. He originally received a 44-month sentence from a Pennsylvania Court for the online threats, but U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts disagreed, saying there wasn’t enough to support the conviction.

Of importance in the ruling was that Elonis wrote under a pseudo name: “Tone Dougie.” He argued that his social medial postings were stylized as rap …

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U.S. Supreme Court Rules Facebook Threats Not a Crime

On Monday, June 1, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Anthony Elonis, a man convicted for making threats on Facebook against his estranged wife. He originally received a 44-month sentence from a Pennsylvania Court for the online threats, but U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts disagreed, saying there wasn’t enough to support the conviction.

Of importance in the ruling was that Elonis wrote under a pseudo name: “Tone Dougie.” He argued that his social medial postings were stylized as rap …

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One Giant Accusation: Motion to Disqualify Judge Now Pending in Giants Fake Merchandise Lawsuit

Eric Inselberg, a memorabilia dealer bringing suit against the New York Giants, has moved to disqualify Superior Court Judge James DeLuca, contending that his impartiality is at issue. Judge DeLuca has disclosed that he is the owner of two personal seat licenses that enable him to purchase season tickets for Giants home games. Additionally, he has stated that while his son essentially controls the tickets, he does attend one or two of the games per season and has been a fan of the franchise since …

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Jay-Z Sanctioned as “Big Pimpin’” Copyright Trial Date Approaches

On Thursday, May 28, a federal judge in California sanctioned Jay-Z for his failure to properly comply with a discovery request in the current litigation regarding Jay Z’s sampling of the Egyptian song “Khosara, Khosara” for use in his hit single “Big Pimpin’.” Jay Z was ordered to pay plaintiff Osama Ahmed Fahmy $3,000 for the expenses and attorneys’ fees Fahmy incurred while compelling the production of an unredacted agreement between Jay Z and concert-promotion company Live Nation.

Fahmy had originally requested $15,000 in attorneys’ …

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Duerson Family Backs Off NFL Concussion Settlement Appeal; Heimburger Presses Forward

Former NFL lineman Craig Heimburger recently filed a notice of appeal in an attempt to put a stop to the current $1 billion NFL Concussion settlement. The appeal of the settlement has the potential to delay care for players in medical need of its proceeds by many months. Heimburger’s decision is in stark contrast to that recently made by the family of the late Dave Duerson, who decided against an appeal as they

“[didn’t] want to hold up awards for retirees who need

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Second Lawsuit Filed in St. Louis Stadium Fight

There’s a new update to a story out of St. Louis we covered back in April.

Late last month, a second lawsuit was filed in Cole County, Missouri seeking a declaratory judgment and writ of prohibition that Governor Jay Nixon and his appointed Task Force’s proposed funding of their $985 million stadium in St. Louis is illegal.  The suit is brought by six state legislators and on behalf of Missouri Taxpayers and names Governor Nixon and the Regional Convention and Sports Complex Authority (RSA) …

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FIFA Under Fire: United States and Switzerland Each Alleging Corruption

On Wednesday, May 27, more than a dozen Swiss law enforcement officials arrived at the Baur au Lac, a luxury hotel in Zurich, where they proceeded to arrest several top soccer officials and extradite them to the United States on federal corruption charges.  The U.S. Justice Department announced that it had charged nine current and former FIFA officials and five others with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracies, among other offenses, in connection with their participation in a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through …

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Two B.B. King Heirs Allege Murder by Poison; Police Deny Investigation

Following the sorrowful death of B.B. King, two of his daughters, Karen Williams and Patty King, accused his two closest aides of hastening his death by way of poison.  They allege that family members were prevented from visitation while B.B. King’s business manager, LaVerne Toney, and his personal assistant, Myron Johnson, were the only people with him.

Toney and Johnson have declined to comment on the accusations, but Toney, who worked for B.B. King for 39 years and had power-of-attorney over his affairs, has shrugged

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New Suit by Retirees Alleges NFL was Pushing Pain Pills

Yet another suit was filed against the NFL by former players on Thursday May 21. This time, the retired players are accusing all 32 NFL teams of intentionally providing players will painkillers and pushing the players to use them. This suit repeats some of the allegations in a suit filed in May 2014, which was ultimately dismissed because of the collective bargaining agreement.

The new suit names each of the NFL teams as a defendant and 13 retired players as plaintiffs. It is, however, brought …

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8th Circuit Affirms NFL Player Publicity Settlement

On Thursday May 21, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit affirmed a 2013 settlement between NFL retirees and the NFL. A group of former players brought suit against the NFL seeking to be compensated for the use of their images.

The $50 million settlement received final approval of a Minnesota federal judge in November 2013, despite the objection of 19 players. Some of those players appealed and echoed their contentions that the settlement was unfair to the Eighth Circuit. Their main argument …

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