In an unfortunate situation, the Georgia Supreme Court will be deciding who will recover damages from the death of a teenager involved in an accident with a police car… The parents, or the boy’s baby girl whom he never got to meet?

“The unusual legal battle has raged since October 2007, when Byron Trent Pyles, who went by Trent, died at age 16 after his automobile crash with a Locust Grove police officer. Trent had been driving to apply for a pizza parlor job when the officer’s police van veered into oncoming traffic, according to Atlanta lawyer Frederick D. Burkey, who represents Trent’s parents. The parents, Rebecca Lynne deVente and Byron Keith Pyles of Henry County, are pursuing a wrongful death action in Henry County against the officer and the city police department.”

“The problem is that another family has brought a wrongful death action against the city over Trent’s death. Five months after Trent died, another teenager, Heidi Flora, gave birth to Trent’s daughter, Allison Trent Flora.”

“Before Allison was even born, Heidi’s mother, Hannelore H. Flora, filed a declaratory judgment action against Trent’s parents, asking for a ruling that Allison is Trent’s only heir and the sole potential claimant over Trent’s death. Trent’s parents initially contested that Trent was Allison’s father but conceded that point after paternity testing was conducted during the litigation. Still, they are fighting the Floras’ claim that Allison is the sole rightful beneficiary of any wrongful death recovery.”

When the money comes, stuff gets ugly. Now I’m not going to say  too much, but I would think that these two families should be consoling each other and working together correct? I mean, regardless of what happens, these are the child’s grandparents on both sides. Will they ever be able to have a healthy relationship after this fiasco?

“State wrongful death statutes provide that a surviving spouse may recover the full value of the life of the deceased in a wrongful death action. If there’s no surviving spouse, the children of the deceased are next in line, followed by the deceased’s parents.”

“On behalf of Trent’s parents, Burkey has argued that in order for Allison to fit the definition of a surviving child under the wrongful death statute, her family needs to show that the baby was “quick” in the womb at the time of Trent’s death. Georgia case law has defined “quickening” as the point at which a fetus is first capable of moving within the mother’s womb, generally putting that time between the 10th week and the fourth month of pregnancy. Burkey argues that a just result would be one in which Trent’s parents divided any recovery in a wrongful death lawsuit with baby Allison.”

Sounds a lot trickier than I imagined. Check out the origanal article: Families Feud Over Dead Teen’s Damages

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com. SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

Popularity: 26% [?]

“Rent, Rip and Return”. It is a phrase that sends chills up the spine up of movie industry executives. These same executives contend that this phenomena is one of the biggest technological threats to the movie industry’s annual $20 billion DVD market.

“Rent, Rip and Return” is basically renting a movie, and using  various software programs that allow you to copy a film without paying for it.

“On Friday, the showdown over the issue will take place in federal court in Los Angeles, where an army of lawyers representing Hollywood will argue that Real Networks Inc.’s DVD ‘ripper’ is an illegal digital piracy tool.”

“The company, in turn, will say the $29.99 software that allows DVDs to be easily copied to computer hard drives is legitimate.”

Although it is only one tool out of many that people interested in doing this can use,the verdict will send a message out to companies developing this software, either, “quit developing this type of software”, or “go for it”.

“The same federal judge who shut down the music-swapping site Napster in 2000 because of copyright violations will preside over the three-day trial, which is expected to cut to the heart of the same technological upheaval roiling Hollywood that forever changed the face of the music business.”

“The studios fear that if RealNetworks is allowed to sell its RealDVD software, consumers will quickly lose interest in paying retail for movies on DVD that can be rented cheaply, copied and returned.”

I can see where the companies are coming from, but I don’t really agree with this last statement at all. The people that will burn DVD’s are not people that were going to buy the DVD in the first place. If you are interested in buying a DVD, you want the whole experience, not a crappy burnt DVD with your handwriting on it, no menus, no bonus or special features, stuffed in a big old case hiding in your closet. You want that DVD so you can put it on your shelf and display it as part of  your glorious DVD collection.

Lawyers opposing the software are going to claim that the software violates a federal law known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes software and other tools that enable digital piracy illegal.

“For its part, the Seattle-based company that develops the software says its RealDVD product is designed to simply let customers back up a purchased DVD and that the software allows for only one copy to be made.”

“The company argues that the contract it signed with the DVD Copy Control Association, which equips DVD player manufacturers with the keys to unscrambling DVDs, allows RealDVD because the software doesn’t alter or remove anti-piracy encryption on DVDs like illicit software that is easily obtained for free online.’

“RealNetworks says its product legally fills growing consumer demand to convert their DVDs to digital form for convenient storage and viewing.”

To view the original article, click here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com.
SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

Popularity: 6% [?]

On Monday, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the internet giant, Google, has to face a trademark infringement lawsuit for selling keywords that trigger ads.

A three judge panel reversed the decision from a lower court in the case Rescuecom v. Google, 06-4881. Computer-repair company Rescuecom claimed that users could be confused by links to competitors’ ads that appear alongside Google search results for the company’s trademarked name.

Google succeeded at getting the lower court to throw the case out, “arguing that its use of Rescuecom’s trademark was internal and not a “use in commerce,” which constitutes trademark infringement. The dismissal was hailed as a big victory for Google and other search engines, for which keyword advertising is a lucrative business.”

The appeals court ruled Friday that “Google’s recommendation and sale of Rescuecom’s mark to its advertising customers are not internal uses,” sending the case back to the trial court.

“We are all looking for definitive answers about the permissibility of keyword advertising — it’s a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry,” said Eric Goldman, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law”

IP lawyers have been anticipating the decision on this case because of mixed rulings on keyword cases.

“Every single district court outside of the 2nd Circuit found that the purchasing of a competitor’s keyword to trigger ads at least met the threshold question of stating a claim,” said Ian Ballon, an Internet lawyer at Greenberg Traurig. “This is a significant effort at harmonizing the law.”

Click here to check out the original article.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com.
SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

Popularity: 3% [?]

A heated battle over the famous Shepard Fairey Obama images has taken the spotlight and raised questions about copyright license agreements when it comes to artistic expression.

The Associated Press has sued Shepard Fairey for for violating a copyright license agreement on the photo taken by Mannie Garcia that Shepard Fairey turned into the famous graphic image of Obama with “Hope” or “Progress” emblazoned below.

Shepard Fairey insists that his artistic rendition of the photo does not violate the copyright license agreement as he dramatically altered Garcia’s photo.

Nevertheless, the AP disregards Fairey’s artful amendments and demands compensation from the profits Shepard Fairey and his companies have made off of the image as reparations for the copyright license agreement infringement.

In response to an attack on copyright license agreements, Fairey poses the issue of free expression rights. As far as the AP sees it, “The dispute turns partly on the legal concept of fair use, which allows exceptions to copyright law. Courts decide based on factors including how much of the original is used, what the new work is used for and how the new work affects the original.”

To read what clauses are contained in a copyright licesnse agreement, visit any one of the numerour online legal document resorces, like RealDealDocs.com to view actual execution copies of copyright license agreements and other legal documents.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com.
SmartRules provides step by step guides to local rules and civil procedure for state courts & federal courts throughout the country.

Popularity: 5% [?]

The American Civil Liberties Union attorneys filed a federal lawsuit today to overturn a city ban on sleeping in public, while simultaneously blaming the city for “creating homelessness”.

“Attorney Mark Rosenbaum of the ACLU of Southern California said the organization used a similar strategy to reverse policies on the homeless in Los Angeles and Laguna Beach.”

Attorneys are also looking to keep all 200 beds in the Casa Esperanza shelter open past April 1st, which is when half of them are scheduled for their annual closure until December. the shelter is unable to stay open the full year due to lack of funding.

The Mayor of Santa Barbara, Marty Blum, has said that she believes her city’s homeless policies are humane.

To view the original article, click here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com, the first online practice guide for the national litigator and the national litigation practice.

Popularity: 6% [?]

A federal lawsuit was filed against Craigslist today. Cooks County (Illinois) Sheriff Tom Dart is claiming that the hugely popular online classifieds site promotes and facilitates prostitution on a massive scale.

He is looking to get the site to eliminate it’s “erotic services” section, claiming that the sections ads are blatant solicitations for prostitution.

“Missing children, runaways, abused women and women trafficked in from foreign countries are routinely forced to have sex with strangers because they’re being pimped on Craigslist,” Dart said.”

The San Francisco based company did not return e-mail and telephone messages seeking comment.

The company allows users to post classified ad’s and generally does not check erotic postings or remove them until somebody complains. Federal law offers grant immunity to service providers for the content that is posted by users, as long as the company responds to specific complaints.

The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Chicago follows repeated requests for Craigslist to shut down their “Erotic Services” section.

The “Erotic Services” section of Craigslist has made nationwide news resulting from numerous prostitution arrests in the past few months.

“Federal prosecutors charged a New York man in November with being a violent pimp who forced young girls and women into prostitution, alleging he advertised the services of women between the ages of 15 and 20. And in January, two Wisconsin women were charged with misdemeanor prostitution after allegedly offering sex for money in Craigslist ads.”

Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist’s CEO, said at the time that the agreement would allow legitimate escort services to continue advertising, while discouraging illegal activity by requiring anyone posting “erotic services” ads to provide a working phone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card.

Craigslist also agreed to provide that information to law enforcement if subpoenaed.

To view the original article, click here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com, the first online practice guide for the national litigator and the national litigation practice.

Popularity: 6% [?]

The family of Oscar Grant filed a $50 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency today.

Oscar Grant, a 22 year old unarmed transit rider, was shot and killed by BART police in San Francisco on New Year’s Day. The shooting grabbed national attention after cell phone videos of the incident began circulating on the Internet and television.

in January Grant’s family filed a $25 million legal claim against BART, but the lawsuit is seeking double the amount originally sought since the family has received more information about the shooting.

“Since then, I’ve had the benefit of listening to more interviews, seeing more tape and I have a fuller understanding of the facts that Mr. Grant’s civil rights were violated long before he was shot.”

Grant family attorney John Burris  said Grant was unlawfully detained, arrested and deprived of urgent medical care after he was shot by officer Johannes Mehserle on a train station platform in Oakland.

Dale Allen, an attorney representing BART, called the shooting “a tragic accident,” adding that BART has discussed mediation with Burris “in hopes of bringing some closure to the Grant family.”

Johannes Mehserle has pleaded not guilty to murder and is free after posting $3 million bail, while the other officers involved, Tony Pirone and Marysol Domenici remain on paid leave. BART is conducting a criminal investigation of the officers’ actions which will be turned over to Alameda County prosecutors to decide on possible charges.

To view the original article, click here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com, the first online practice guide for the national litigator and the national litigation practice.

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Popularity: 8% [?]

If you have ever seen this book at your local Barnes and Noble, odds are you picked it up and flipped through the pages briefly. It’s not something I would buy but I definitely got a chuckle or ten out of it.

Well last week three women that were pictured as arm candy in the book are the latest plaintiffs to seek a big payday over the book Hot Chicks with Douchebags.

Yvette Gorzelany, Joanna Obiedzinski, and Paulina Pakos claimed that the use of their photographs in the book Hot Chicks With Douchebags were defamatory. I don’t know what part about “Hot Chicks” with douchebags they didn’t get.

“The facts were undisputed: The three allegedly hot chicks attended Club Bliss, apparently a lair of douchebaggery so foul that vinegar and water should be served at the bar. While there, they apparently consorted, at least momentarily, with a few douchebags – and thus became background fodder in the author’s photographs.”

The Court found that as a matter of law, the book was not about the chicks, and no defamatory meaning could be imputed to any of the photographs.

To view the original article click here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com, the first online practice guide for the national litigator and the national litigation practice.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Pennsylvania Filmmaker George Kalman tried to register his company “I Choose Hell” productions as a business in 2007. His request was turned down due to a state law prohibiting names that contain blasphemy or profanity.

Well on Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s Department of State, contending that the statute is unconstitutional because it relies on religious standards and violates Kalman’s freedom of speech rights.

They are seeking undetermined damages and use of the name.

As far as what the name means, “Kalman says he chose the name because he believes it is better to struggle through difficult times — that is, live in “hell” — than to commit suicide.”

Fair enough.

For the original article, click here.

RealDealDocs.com is a division of Practice Technologies, Inc. the creators of SmartRules.com, the first online practice guide for the national litigator and the national litigation practice.

Popularity: 8% [?]

A former associate in Foley & Lardner’s Chicago office named Zafar Hasan is suing the firm for employment discrimination. Hasan, a Muslim of Indian descent stated that in 2004, his partners at the firm were pushed to fire him based on his race, religion, color and national origin right after the September 11 attacks.

Allegedly, the firm said that Hasan was getting the boot because of his poor work performance. However, positive work evaluations were later discovered, making the firm’s accusation false. The firm came back claiming that they didn’t have enough to keep him busy.

When the suit was presented to the U.S. District Court, they granted summary judgment to the law firm, saying that Hasan didn’t have “convincing mosaic” of evidence of the discrimination that could permit a jury to agree that Foley had discriminated against him. However, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision and gave Hasan the OK to proceed.

Popularity: 8% [?]