July 2012 Archives

The Defense of Marriage Act challenge is making its way to the United States Supreme Court. We already talked about the petition filed by BLAG, or the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group. BLAG’s petition called for the Supreme Court to invalidate the First Circuit’s ruling that struck down part of the Defense of Marriage Act as unconstitutional this spring.

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley has now filed a 37-page brief, reports Reuters. The brief was in response to BLAG’s petition.

In April, we brought you the news that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit involving a mural in Maine filed a notice of appeal with the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, the case has officially been appealed.

Here's the backstory: In March 2011, Maine's Governor Paul LePage had the controversial mural removed from the waiting area of the Department of Labor in Augusta, Maine. The mural depicted the history of Maine's labor, including visual depictions of a strike.

Anyone looking for an attorney job in Boston?

You have one week left to get your application materials in to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The First Circuit has announced a job opening for Administrative Attorney.

What’s the extent of a bank’s liability when a customer’s account has been hacked?

A district court in Maine held that Ocean Bank wasn’t liable for a hacked account, but the First Circuit Court of Appeals remanded the case, finding that the bank could potentially be liable.

Former Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner isn’t getting any sympathy from the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion on Wednesday upholding Turner’s three-year prison sentence for corruption. The appeals decision rejected his claims that the verdict was in error and that the government was vindictively trying to punish him, reports The Boston Globe.

Here’s a hornbook-style negligence case out of the First Circuit to kick off the week. But the interesting dicta in this case doesn’t come from the negligence analysis. Rather, it takes us back to good old-fashioned jurisdictional issues, Erie style.

In a decision posted on Friday, the First Circuit Court of Appeals talked about the liability of a gun owner, specifically when his gun is stolen to commit a crime.

Innocent spouse relief is one of the more interesting areas of tax law.

Earlier this week, First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a tax court’s ruling in a case involving a tax liability based on the innocent spouse statute.

We knew this day was coming.

We knew it the minute the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Now, the case is formally on its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. A writ of certiorari was officially filed last week, reports Politico.