Wednesday, April 27, 2016
- US Supreme Court: The Court held that when an employer demotes an employee out of a desire to prevent the employee from engaging in political activity that the First Amendment protects, the employee is entitled to challenge that unlawful action under the First Amendment even if the employer makes a factual mistake about the employee’s behavior and the employee had not actually engaged in First Amendment protected activity
- First Circuit: In § 1983 action, the court held that accepted Rule 68 offer of judgment for $300,000 that was silent as to whether that amount was inclusive of costs allowed plaintiff to recover costs (including attorney’s fees because 42 U.S.C. § 1988 subsumes attorneys’ fees within costs) in addition to the $300,000, despite defendant’s pre-acceptance attempt to clarify with an amended offer of judgment that $300,000 included attorney’s fees and costs
- Law Court: In finding Maine Health Security Act absolute immunity provision barred defamation and tortious interference claims by physician denied hospital staff privileges against two physicians who allegedly made negative statements about him to credentials verification organization, the court held, in part, that immunity applied even if the statements were false or made with ill will, and without regard to whether they were voluntary or mandatory
- First Circuit: The court affirmed exclusion of expert occupational medicine physician’s opinion that exposure to benzene from paints and other products caused Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia, finding opinion unreliable under Rule 702
- First Circuit: The court found that removal of class action was improper where defendants did not meet their burden of showing that the amount in controversy exceeded $5 million threshold under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005
- DOJ: New accessible technology section of website offers links covering Enforcement, Technical Assistance and Guidance, Regulations, and Technology Initiatives, designed to help people with disabilities undersand their right to access web sites, electronic book readers, online courses, and point-of-sale devices
- MHRC: May 23rd Commission Meeting Agenda posted