An Activist Law Firm

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Wait a Cotton Pickin' Minute: Free Speech and Employment

by Jay Marshall Wolman As an employment lawyer who works for a 1st Amendment firm, I try to keep up with developments in both areas.  Sometimes, they overlap, as they did in my Twitter feed recently.  (Blatant self-promotion, feel free to follow me @wolmanj ). In Trusz v.UBS Realty Investors, LLC, the Connecticut Supreme Court was asked to consider how it

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On Broken Wrists and Suing Children

by Jay Marshall Wolman It seems Eric Turkewitz and Jack Marshall are at it again, this time over the aunt (or first-cousin once removed) who sued a boy (now 12, but 8 at the time of injury) when he greeted her in a fashion that resulted in a wrist fracture.  (Disclaimer:  Marc has represented Eric, and I’ve known Jack for years as

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Watch porn on your lunch break, but no smoking dope

At least in Sicily it is. Good ol’ “Giuseppe Z” was minding his own business, watching a little porn on his lunch break, when some bastone in culo decided that this was too much for him to bear. Giuseppe lost his job, but he sued FIAT to get his job back. At the trial level, Giuseppe lost – with the

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No First Amendment Right to Military Insubordination

In Wayne v. James, a Mormon airman flipped out that there were gay weddings at West Point’s chapel. In reaction to being reprimanded, he claimed that he had a right to express his sincerely held religious opinion under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and under the First Amendment. Both arguments failed. RFRA provides that the government “shall not substantially burden

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Journalist Privilege (To trespass and run someone over?)

Tesla reports that two apparent Reno Gazette Journal reporters trespassed on Tesla’s property, and then ran their car into a Tesla employee who was trying to take down their tag number. (source) This is all Tesla’s side of the story, so I’ll see if there’s more to it. Here’s the Reno Gazette Journal’s side of the story The newspaper’s vehicle

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Disagree with feminists? That is a crime in Canada

Yep, Canada has become such a politically correct sackless nation that you’re not allowed to disagree politically with feminists anymore. (source) Update: A reader correctly pointed out that this is not yet a conviction – just some prosecutor decided that this was a crime. We’ll see what the court and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has to say about

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VanderSloot v. Mother Jones – Brennan's Ghost in Rehnquist's Robes?

While it is only a trial court decision from a state court in Idaho, Vandersloot v. Mother Jones occupies a significant place in my thoughts lately. On its surface, the decision is a wonderful thing. The decision contains more than 50 pages of research and citations, showing that the judge went to great lengths to understand the law before ruling.

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Steve Wynn Files Another Defamation Suit

Steve Wynn is a plaintiff in a new defamation suit — this time in Boston. The Boston Globe reports: In a lawsuit filed Monday in Suffolk Superior Court, Wynn Resorts Ltd. says unknown defendants defamed the company by providing subpoenas to the media related to a City of Boston lawsuit against the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. The suit alleges the city’s

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White People Like Yoga – No Whiteys Allowed

Everyone knows that White people love Yoga. (source) I guess. I love yoga. Rich milfs in yoga pants. My fucking office is located next to the rich-white-lady-in-yoga-pants capitol of the Southwest – the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf on Town Center Drive. I walk in that place and feel like a teenager on his way to the chalkboard sometimes. But,

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Right to Be Forgotten Ruling Means that He Will Never Be Forgotten

In May 2014, the European High Court ruled that EU citizens had a right to data privacy that included a right to insist that Google de-list old or irrelevant links about them. (Case) It was mis-named a “right to be forgotten,” as there is no such right at all. While it is easy to sell the public on a newfound

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Using State Law to Counter a Business Defamation Claim

by Jay Marshall Wolman Readers of this blog know that Marc is giddy that the Federal Trade Commission has sued Roca Labs.  One of the more interesting features of the suit is that the FTC argues that legal action arising from negative reviews, which the FTC terms “gag clause practices”: not only injure the purchasers threatened for complaining or expressing negative

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Lanham Act doesn't get you around the First Amendment

RLG just got a summary judgment order in Tobinick v. Novella. In that case, we first got an Anti-SLAPP order against a California plaintiff who filed a SLAPP suit in Florida (perhaps hoping that Florida’s courts wouldn’t realize that a CA plaintiff can’t run away from his anti SLAPP law). (Order here) However, the Plaintiff maintained that our client’s articles

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Denali Ain't Just a River in Egypt

by Jay Marshall Wolman, CIPP/US I hate to admit it, but I first learned the term “Denali” when reading the Twilight series.  My wife and I had taken a vacation to the Pacific Northwest and visited the Olympic peninsula.  Edward and Bella references were everywhere, and we had no clue what it was all about.  So, I read the books.

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Ashley Madison and Standing

by Jay Marshall Wolman, CIPP/US Recently, this blog has published posts on a new Connecticut law and a 7th Circuit ruling on data breach, both of address the issue of standing in class action data breach suits.  Standing, in plain terms, means having a legal right to sue based on an injury to you.  The Sierra Club may have standing

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Knowing Employee Legal Rights

by Jay Marshall Wolman, CIPP/US Shameless self-promotion: Today, I had the privilege of presenting “Knowing Employee Legal Rights” to a Cornell Alumni Leadership Lunch and Learn along with Prof. David Sherwyn. Video is here: https://vod.video.cornell.edu/media/Leadership+Lunch+and+Learn+Knowing+Employee+Legal+Rights/1_lymufsk9 Downloadable slideshow here:    http://alumni.cornell.edu/caco/documents/CornellLunchandLearn-KnowingEmployeeLegalRights.pdf Enjoy!

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And Then a Sensible Dinner

by Jay Marshall Wolman, CIPP/US I was driving home from Philadelphia this past Sunday after a wedding, when I learned about the dietary habits of Attorney Rand Spear. (Something like the Rand Corporation, only smarter.) The story is nothing new. And, apparently, Mr. Spear holds a trademark in that phrase.  This serves as a reminder that phrases can be trademarked.

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