March 2013 Archives

Nathaniel Benjamin was arrested while on parole and living with his fiancée, Stacy Esprit. Benjamin’s parole officer, who knew that Benjamin’s license had been suspended, observed Benjamin driving, and he organized a search of Esprit’s home, where Benjamin was residing.

That search turned up way more than we can detail in one post: drugs, a pit bull in a cage, etc. We’re just going to focus on the gun from the search.

Comcast may have won the Supreme Court battle, but it has lost the public relations war.

Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that lower courts had improperly certified millions of disgruntled Comcast customers as a class because the plaintiffs didn’t properly outline an adequate method for issuing damages to the affected customers, Ars Technica reports.

Tamika Covington just wants to ref boys’ high school varsity basketball games.

After more than 10 years as a basketball official in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Covington sued various entities that have some role in high school athletics in New Jersey, alleging gender employment discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX of the Education Amendments, and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

Do law enforcement agents need to obtain a warrant based on probable cause to track a vehicle's movements? Didn't we get an answer to this question last year in U.S. v. Jones? Are we stuck in a time warp?

Not quite.

Tuesday, lawyers for a trio of brothers accused of robbing Philadelphia-area pharmacies asked the Third Circuit Court of Appeals to decide whether warrantless GPS tracking constitutes an unreasonable search.

Atlantic City is New Jersey’s second-city of gambling, so why shouldn’t New Jersey be able to offer visitors that same perks that Nevada receives?

No, no. New Jersey isn’t asking for those extra-perky perks. The Garden State just wants sports gambling. Except sports betting violates federal law in most states.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a preliminary injunction this week against a Pennsylvania school district that said bah-humbug to a fifth-grader who wanted to invite her classmates to a Christmas party.

According to the appellate court, the invites passed the Tinker test because there was "no evidence that distribution of the invitations would threaten a substantial disruption of the school environment or interfere with the rights of others.

Ray Caprio filed a complaint against Healthcare Revenue Recovery Group, LLC (HRRG) alleging two claims under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

Last week, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals revived his claim.

Judge Anthony J. Scirica is trading his gavel for a gradebook after 25 years on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

The former chief judge — who reigned over the Philadelphia-based appellate court from 2003-2010 — is joining the law school faculty as a Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.