Author Archives: Lawyer Team

About Lawyer Team

This blog scans breaking news to find significant and interesting legal settlements. Lawyer.com is a directory website for lawyers. Featuring the best search in its field, lawyer.com connects people who need legal advice to the most qualified professionals who can provide it.

Police K-9 Searches Coming to a Neighborhood Near You

Knock, Knock. Who’s there?

Imagine you are sitting in your home enjoying some television when all of a sudden you see a group of policemen stroll down the street with a K-9 unit.  This specialized drug hunter barks in the direction of your house indicating there may be illegal substances in your dwelling.  The police have the right to break down the door and search your home because that may now be considered probable cause.  The United States Supreme Court heard two cases back to back, Florida v. Jardines and Florida v. Harris,  that will decide just that.

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Mardi Gras And Superbowl Put The Law On Hold

She will be at the Superbowl

The U.S. District Court Judge, Carl Barbier, has been appointed to a trial regarding BP’s 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.  He has moved its start date from Jan. 14th to Feb. 25th in an effort to  decrease distraction from Mardi Gras and the Superbowl.  The trial’s main purpose is to uncover why the tragedy happened and to determine who is at fault.  New Orleans, which has taken the brunt of the BP spill’s effects, has been invested in restoring the average citizen’s quality of life since 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.  Though BP is expected to pay close to $8 billion in resolving the claims filed in this case, it is not hard to imagine that the tone of the trial itself could bring down the community. Read more

Murderer Resurfaced As Teacher’s Aide

Can’t trust anybody

As Halloween approaches children become frightened of urban legends and old murder stories.  Kids could never imagine that an old murder story could have involved their teacher’s aide, but in a school in Conrad, Iowa, that is exactly the case.  Paula Pace, formerly known as Paula Baniszewski, has been fired from her teacher’s aide position after the school discovered she was directly involved in the beating and killing of Sylvia Likens, 47 years ago.  The death of Sylvia Likens is recognized as, “the most terrible crime committed in the state of Indiana,” and her story was also made a movie in 2007, “An American Crime.” Paula, her mother, her brother, and neighborhood children had beaten and tortured Sylvia, taking turns burning her and throwing her down the stairs.  Even going so far as to stick Coke bottles in her privates.  She was found dead in the basement of the Baniszewski home.  Paula was arrested alongside her mother, brother, and neighbor.  She was sentenced to only 7 years in prison and was released in 1972.  She eventually moved to Iowa and changed her last name to Pace where she started a new life working in a school.

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Who Owns Your LinkedIn Account?

Ownership?

A recent court case, Eagle v. Moran, raises new questions regarding employee LinkedIn accounts and opens the door to ownership issues across the accounts of all social media platforms. Linda Eagle, former President of Edcomm, had come across predicament when she left the company. She created an account on LinkedIn to promote her company like millions of people in this country do as well.  Edcomm’s SOP has its employees use LinkedIn accounts to increase professional connections.  If they left the company, it was Edcomm policy to ‘mine’ the data on the account.  When Ms. Eagle employment  was terminated, an Edcomm employee who knew her password changed it, thus barring her from accessing the account she created.

Ms. Eagle filed suit, claiming Edcomm had illegally accessed the account and the intrusion was a violation of the Computer Fraud & Abuse Act.

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Lawsuit Over Batman Shooting

Did Not Rise To The Occasion

Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik, LLP, a New York-based law firm settled claims for more than 10,000 first responders in the 9/11 tragedy and is now representing nine victims in the Aurora, Colorado movie theater shooting. The survivors are alleging negligence and a lack of sufficient security on behalf of Cinemark and the Century 16 Theater where the event occurred.  Though it is the seventh lawsuit filed regarding the horrific July 20 events, it is unique in that its the first to specifically name employees.  These employees include the owner, general manager, and manager of the theater.  The nine victims are seeking millions of dollars in damages. Read More