Jaikumar Vijayan reports: A federal judge’s decision today to substantially lower the damages in a music piracy case involving Minnesota native Jammie Thomas-Rasset should come as no surprise, considering the massive size of the original $1.9 million jury award against her. But even the reduced amount of $54,000 is huge and is likely substantially higher…
Category: Court
Does asking for a lawyer create reasonable suspicion to search a car?
When police pulled over a young driver for driving without headlights, he immediately asked for a lawyer. Was asking for a lawyer under such circumstances enough to give the police officer reasonable suspicion to search the car? That’s the question making the rounds in the legal blogosphere this week after Crime Scene KC picked up…
Judge Tosses NSA Spy Cases
David Kravets has more on Judge Walker’s decision in two cases involving domestic surveillance: A federal judge is dismissing lawsuits accusing the government of teaming with the nation’s telcos to funnel Americans’ electronic communications to the National Security Agency without warrants. U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker’s decision was a major blow to the two suits…
Judge tosses Twitter libel suit
In 140 characters, the story can be told: A judge has tossed the libel suit against an Uptown tenant for her Twitter post on apartment mold. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Larsen this week threw out Horizon Realty Group’s libel suit against Amanda Bonnen, who had sent out a tweet complaining about mold in…