How Appealing



Thursday, August 23, 2007

“Before us are cross-appeals arising from the reduction of a $30 million punitive damages verdict to $2 million.” So states the opinion that the majority on a divided three-judge Third Circuit panel issued today. The majority further reduced the punitive damages award to $750,000, while the dissent laments the difficulty in discerning the “spirit” of an appellate court’s mandate.

Posted at 11:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“[A]s a matter of first impression, we must decide whether, or under what circumstances, appellate attorney’s fees are ‘costs on appeal’ that a district court may require an appellant to secure in a bond ordered under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 7”: A unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued this decision today.

The decision also addresses whether a district court may include in a Rule 7 bond appellate attorney’s fees that might be awarded by the court of appeals if that court holds that the appeal is frivolous under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 38.

Posted at 11:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Federal Circuit Will Change Its Web Page Address and Domain Name Effective October 1, 2007”: The old web site provides the details here, while the new web site is not yet up and running.

Posted at 10:58 PM by Howard Bashman



Three-judge Eighth Circuit panel affirms federal district court’s rejection of claims that that Missouri law violates the Equal Protection Clause; Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; and section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 by disqualifying persons under court-ordered guardianship from voting: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

Posted at 10:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“We hold that the actual-malice standard applies to Compuware’s breach of contract claim because the contract pertains solely to the publication of protected speech, the claim exclusively relies on arguments grounded in negligence and vague implied contractual duties, and the plaintiff has not suffered a contractual injury but complains only of reputational or defamation-type harm.” A lawsuit that plaintiff Compuware Corporation filed against defendant Moody’s Investors Services Inc. produced this interesting ruling today by a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The dissenting opinion begins, “The extension of First Amendment tort law principles to contract cases is unwarranted and entirely unprecedented, except for a lone bankruptcy court case.”

Posted at 8:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Padilla sues US officials over confinement; Despite his conviction on terror conspiracy charges, his lawyers say he suffered ‘psychological abuse’ during military detention”: Warren Richey will have this article Friday in The Christian Science Monitor.

And online at Reason, Jacob Sullum has essays entitled “The Disappearing Dirty Bomber: Jose Padilla’s trial was not so swift, and neither was he” and “The Terrorist Trainee, the Terrorist’s Lawyer, and the Pizza Guy.”

Posted at 6:54 PM by Howard Bashman



“Viewing Child Porn on Computer Enough For Possession”: The Legal Intelligencer provides this news update reporting on a ruling that a divided en banc panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania issued today in Commonwealth v. Diodoro.

The original three-judge panel ruling in the Diodoro case was a subject of the December 4, 2006 installment — headlined “Just Looking: Should Internet Ignorance Be a Defense to Child Porn Charges?” — of my “On Appeal” column for law.com.

Posted at 6:35 PM by Howard Bashman



Programming note: A busy day out of the office (my son and I will be heading here momentarily) means that new posts won’t appear until sometime later today.

Posted at 10:02 AM by Howard Bashman