LAW OFFICES OF GEOFFREY D. MUELLER, LLC

Per The Wall Street Journal:

"A federal judge in New York on Friday ruled that the National Security Agency’s broad collection of U.S. phone customer data is lawful, dismissing a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"The decision by U.S. District Judge William H. Pauley III comes just days after another federal judge, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, D.C., ruled that the NSA program “almost certainly” violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.

"The ACLU lawsuit was regarded as one of the first significant legal challenges against the NSA program after it was disclosed in June.

"'The natural tension between protecting the nation and preserving civil liberty is squarely presented by the Government’s bulk telephony metadata collection program,' wrote Judge Pauley in his 53-page ruling as he dismissed the ACLU lawsuit.

"'While robust discussions are underway across the nation, in Congress, and at the White House, the question for this Court is whether the Government’s bulk telephony metadata program is lawful. This Court finds it is. But the question of whether that program should be conducted is for the other two coordinate branches of Government to decide.'"

Full article after the jump...

Per The N.J. Law Journal:

"A New Jersey jury on Friday awarded $166 million to an infant beaten to the point of permanent blindness and brain damage by a parent that the state child-welfare agency allowed to keep custody.

"The Essex County verdict against the Division of Youth and Family Services came after a two-week trial and about two hours of deliberation.

"The state had made a $10 million settlement offer on Wednesday but plaintiff attorney David Mazie of Mazie Slater Katz and Freeman in Roseland rejected it.

"The suit—brought by the child's maternal grandmother Neomi Escobar, who had alerted DYFS to the father's abusive tendencies—claimed that case worker Felix Umetiti and other agency officials negligently failed to remove Jadiel Velesquez from his parents' care.
Escobar alleged that Umetiti recognized that the father was a danger but failed to obtain his criminal history, order a psychological evaluation or report the case to prosecutors or the regional diagnostic treatment center.

"DYFS violated at least 17 of its own policies, the suit alleged."

Full article after the jump...

Per NPR:

"A federal judge in Washington says the National Security Agency's program for bulk phone record collection violates Americans' reasonable expectation of privacy.

"The ruling (pdf), however, has been stayed pending a likely appeal.

"Judge Richard Leon says the sweeping NSA collection of U.S. phone metadata constitutes an unreasonable search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment.

"The judge says the Smith v. Maryland Supreme Court ruling the Obama administration has used to underpin that program involved only a short period of collection, not the years-long approach the NSA has been taking based on advances in technology.

"In sometimes blistering language, Leon, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, says times have changed since 1979, when Maryland was decided. Leon says advances in technology and people's use of cell phones mean that old case no longer holds."

Full article after the jump...

Per The Courthouse News:

"An Iowa lawyer whose clients lost money in a Nigerian inheritance scam has been suspended for a year by the state's highest court.

"Robert Allan Wright Jr. had been practicing law for 30 years when a client named Floyd Lee Madison asked Wright for help in securing an inheritance from his long-lost cousin in Nigeria.

"Madison told Wright that a payment of $177,600 in taxes would secure an $18.8 million payment. Wright agreed to help Madison in exchange for 10 percent of the inheritance.

"Wright persuaded two other clients to loan Wright $12,000 each in return for $50,000 payments from the inheritance.

"The Iowa Supreme Court Attorney Disciplinary Board filed a complaint against Wright for his dealings with the two clients. Wright then disclosed that he had convinced three other clients to loan Madison a total of $187,000.

"The Nigerian inheritance never panned out, as Madison followed instructions to pick up the money in Madrid, but he was unable to take possession of the funds. Madison, Wright and the five clients received no money."

Full article after the jump...

Per The National Law Journal:

"The American Bar Association has censured and fined Rutgers School of Law-Camden $25,000 for admitting students who had not taken the Law School Admission Test.

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"From 2006 to 2012, Rutgers-Camden ran a special program that admitted students using scores from other graduate tests—including the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) and the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), according to the censure issued by the ABA’s Accreditation Committee.

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"An average of 7 percent of the law school’s new students were admitted under the special program during the six years it was in operation, according to the accreditation committee. That annual figure fluctuated between 1 and 10 percent."

Full article after the jump...