Author Archives: johnpolk
by John W. Polk | March 18, 2019 |
Intellectual Property
Fourth Estate Public Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC, ___ U.S. ___, No. 17571 (4 March 2019). Fourth Estate is a news organization producing online journalism. Wall Street is a news website. Fourth Estate licensed its journalism to Wall Street. The license agreement required Wall Street to remove from its…
by John W. Polk | February 26, 2019 |
Business Litigation
Timbs v. Indiana, ___ U.S. ___, No. 17-1091 (20 February 2019) Eighth Amendment; excessive fines Tyson Timbs pled guilty in Indiana state court to dealing in heroin and conspiracy to commit theft. He was sentenced to one year of home detention and five years of probation, including addiction-treatment.
by John W. Polk | February 14, 2019 |
Business Litigation
Stokeling v. United States, ___ U.S. ___, No. 17-5554 (15 January 2019) Denard Stokeling was either an inept criminal or just plain unlucky. In the course of his checkered career, he managed to acquire three felony convictions; home invasion, kidnapping, and robbery. Then, he acquired a fourth felony conviction, being…
On Behalf of Berenzweig Leonard, LLP | January 29, 2019 |
Business Litigation
New Prime, Inc. v. Oliveira, ___ U.S. ___, No. 17-340 (15 January 2019) Federal Arbitration Act; contracts of employment; statutory authority to compel arbitration In 1925, Congress enacted the Federal Arbitration Act (“the Act”), 9 U.S.C. §1 et seq., in an effort to counteract judicial hostility to arbitration…
On Behalf of Berenzweig Leonard, LLP | January 25, 2019 |
Cybersecurity & Data Privacy
Davison v. Randall, ___ Fd.3rd ___, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit No. 17-2002 (7 January 2019) First Amendment, free speech clause; Facebook; public official In 2015, Phyllis J. Randall became the chairperson of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. After taking office, Randall created a…
On Behalf of Berenzweig Leonard, LLP | January 7, 2019 |
Business Litigation
United States v, Stitt, ___ U.S. ___, No. 17-765 and 17-766 (10 December 2018) Armed Career Criminal Act; meaning of the statutory term “burglary” The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), 18 U.S.C. §924(e)(2)(B)(ii) provides that if a person unlawfully possesses or transports a firearm and has three previous convictions for…