How Appealing



Thursday, December 1, 2011

“Bankruptcy judges stake out turf in wake of Anna Nicole ruling”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has a report that begins, “Chief Judge Barbara Houser of Dallas federal bankruptcy court seems to be exasperated with the muddle the U.S. Supreme Court created by its June 2011 ruling in Stern v. Marshall, otherwise known as the Anna Nicole Smith case.”

Posted at 10:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court Says Some Donors of Stem Cells Can Be Paid”: This article will appear Friday in The New York Times.

Friday’s edition of The San Francisco Chronicle will contain an article headlined “Court OKs compensation for some bone marrow donors.”

Carol J. Williams of The Los Angeles Times has a blog post titled “Bone marrow donors can be compensated, appeals court rules.”

And Terry Baynes of Reuters reports that “Court allows payment for bone marrow donations.”

My earlier coverage of today’s Ninth Circuit ruling appears at this link.

Posted at 10:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge Joan Donoghue weighs in on World Court”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “International law has become a bogeyman in American judicial politics – conservative Supreme Court justices denounce it, Republican senators regularly grill court nominees about its dangers, and some states are trying to prohibit their courts from considering Islamic Shariah law or any legal rules from abroad.”

Posted at 10:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court: Some bone marrow donors can be paid.” The Associated Press has this report on a ruling that a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued today.

Senior Circuit Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld‘s opinion for the court concludes:

It may be that “bone marrow transplant” is an anachronism that will soon fade away, as peripheral blood stem cell apheresis replaces aspiration as the transplant technique, much as “dial the phone” is fading away now that telephones do not have dials. Or it may live on, as “brief” does, even though “briefs” are now lengthy arguments rather than, as they used to be, brief summaries of authorities. Either way, when the “peripheral blood stem cell apheresis” method of “bone marrow transplantation” is used, it is not a transfer of a “human organ” or a “subpart thereof” as defined by the statute and regulation, so the statute does not criminalize compensating the donor.

You can access the complete ruling at this link.

Posted at 2:54 PM by Howard Bashman



The December 2011 issue of the ABA Journal magazine is now available online, featuring “The 5th Annual ABA Journal Blawg 100”: You can access the ABA Journal’s listing of its top 100 law blogs by clicking here. This year’s write-up of “How Appealing” states, “We defy you to open the home page and not feel compelled to click on a link.”

Also in this month’s magazine, Mark Walsh has an article headlined “Patents and Patients: Personalized Medicine Is at the Heart of High Court Case.”

Posted at 2:36 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court appears ready to hand legal victory to transgender woman”: Bill Rankin of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a news update that begins, “A panel of three federal appeals court judges on Thursday appeared strongly inclined to grant a legal victory to Vandy Beth Glenn, a transgender woman who was fired as a legislative editor at the General Assembly after she disclosed she was going to make the transition from man to woman.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Court reviews Ga. firing of transgender woman.”

Posted at 2:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court weighs trademark on Maker’s Mark wax seal”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “The red wax seal atop a Maker’s Mark bottle makes the bourbon stand out on store shelves. Whether the bourbon company can keep that distinction is up to a panel of three federal judges.”

Posted at 1:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Biting Ruling Slams Lawyer for Misleading Appeal Court”: Kate Moser of The Recorder has an article that begins, “In a scathing opinion Tuesday, a California court of appeal sanctioned a lawyer, making an example out of him while cautioning trial courts to scrutinize the evidence instead of rubber-stamping default judgments.”

Justice William W. Bedsworth wrote the opinion on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal.

Posted at 8:42 AM by Howard Bashman



“State high court to hear dispute about abortion parental notification law”: The Chicago Tribune today contains an article that begins, “The Illinois Supreme Court will take up the dispute over a long-dormant state law that prohibits minors from getting an abortion without notifying a parent or guardian.”

Posted at 8:15 AM by Howard Bashman



“Question for Justices: If Privacy Act Is Violated, When Is the Government Liable?” Adam Liptak has this article today in The New York Times.

Posted at 8:10 AM by Howard Bashman