Ninth Circuit Issues Decision Regarding First Amendment Battle – Sabrina M. Dolson, Esq.
Courthouse News Service (“CNS”) filed a lawsuit against Michael Planet, who is the clerk for Ventura Superior Court, challenging the Court’s policy regarding access to filed civil complaints. According to the policy, the Court can delay the press’s access to newly filed complaints until it enters the filings into a case management system. CNS argued […]
GPS and Your Fourth Amendment Rights – Sabrina M. Dolson, Esq.
The Supreme Court of Nevada recently issued a decision regarding whether it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment for law enforcement to locate a person for whom they have an arrest warrant by retrieving that person’s Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates from his cell phone. Meisler v. State, 130 Nev. Adv. Op. 30 (Apr. […]
Ninth Circuit Rules on Constitutionality of Actions Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act
On February 4, 2014, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) confer Article III standing regardless of any actual harm resulting from the defendant’s violation(s). See, Robins v. Spokeo, Inc, 11-56843, 2014 WL 407366 (9th Cir. Feb. 4, 2014). “Article III standing” refers to the constitutional requirement […]
Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Finds Debt Collector Liable Under the FDCPA for Improper Fee Arrangement
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently found a debt collector liable under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) for collecting fees based on a percentage of the principal owed, when the underlying contract only permitted collection for actual costs incurred. Bradley v. Franklin Collection Serv., Inc. No. 10-1537, 2014 WL […]
False Online Reviews Cannot Hide Behind Free Speech Protection
The Virginia Court of Appeals ruled that Yelp must turn over the names of seven anonymous reviewers who criticized a prominent Virginia carpet cleaning business. The owner of the Virginia-based Hadeed Carpet Cleaning claims that non-customer users are leaving negative reviews – an action which violates Yelp’s terms of service. To support his claims, the owner’s attorneys issued a […]
Moderate Offenders Program
The Moderate Offenders Program is an alternative sentencing program in Clark County, Nevada that provides misdemeanor DUI offenders (people arrested for a first or second DUI) the opportunity to participate in intense alcohol counseling in lieu of incarceration. Participation in the program generally lasts one year, although it can be reduced to six months or increased […]
WHAT GOES ON FACEBOOK DOES NOT STAY ON FACEBOOK: Facebook Privacy
A case decided by a Federal court in Georgia just two months ago determined that a school district’s use of a photograph taken from a student’s Facebook page was neither a violation of the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment freedom from illegal search. A Georgia school district hosted a countywide “Community Awareness Seminar” at a local […]
Unfair Debt Collection Practices
BLACK & LOBELLO FILES FEDERAL COMPLAINT AGAINST CASHCALL, INC. AND WS FUNDING, LLC FOR UNFAIR DEBT COLLECTION PRACTICES Complaint against Cashcall, Inc. and WS Funding, LLC On August 9, 2013, Black & LoBello filed a federal complaint alleging Cashcall, Inc. and WS Funding, LLC engaged in violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) […]
Workers’ Compensation Law 101
In the often complicated world of workers’ compensation law, employers’, insurers, and injured workers all have parts to play, and each may be significant in a workers’ compensation claim. Nevada employers, defined as “every person, firm, voluntary association and private corporation,…which has in service every person under a contract of hire,” may challenge either their […]