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The AALS International Human Rights Law Section is repeating its “New Voices” program at the 2009 Annual Meeting on January 7, 2009. Interested individuals should submit an abstract of no more than two pages describing their research or scholarship by August 15, 2008. For detailed information, see the call for papers in the Section newsletter.

Chances are, you’ve probably heard about the issue of sonar and its effect on whale populations [for overview, see video clip narrated by Pierce Brosnan].

The Supreme Court [docket] has recently stepped in and agreed to hear a case on the Navy’s use of sonar for military training exercises off the coast of Southern California. Earlier, the Ninth Court of Appeals upheld a trial court order to suspend or minimize the Navy’s use of sonar when whales are in the vicinity [Natural Resources Defense Council v. Winter, 518 F.3d 658; 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 4504; 38 ELR 20057 (2008)]. Now the Supreme Court will review that decision this fall term.

For more information, read the NYT article, “Justices Take Case on Navy Use of Sonar.”

Blog tip: IntLawGrrls – Do whales have standing? Ask the Supremes…

Westlaw's intranet database of reference attorney tips is now easily available to Westlaw users. Just click on Help (upper right hand corner), click on Help Topics, then click on West Research Assistance. You can find research tips by browsing the folders. The folders are categorized by: (1) researching codes, (2) researching text,periodicals and forms, and (3) legal topics listed alphabetically. There is also a search box, although I had better luck finding items by browsing.

For example, to find Department of Labor Interpretive Bulletins, select Topics F-L, then Labor & Employment. Among the listed articles, is one on DOL Interpretive Bulletins. It says that Interpretive Bulletins can be found in the Federal Register, and gives suggestions for search terms.

Back in February, New York City street musician Robert Burck, known as the Naked Cowboy, filed a lawsuit against Mars, Inc. for outfitting an M & M character in his signature gear (guitar, cowboy hat & boots and briefs) in a video shown in Times Square. Yesterday, Judge Denny Chin granted the motion, filed by the defense, to dismiss the Naked Cowboy's right to privacy claim. However, the Judge denied the defense motion to dismiss the Naked Cowboys' claim of false endorsement. The Judge found that Mars' advertisments could infer the Naked Cowboy endorses their candy. More legal haggling to be done this summer.

See our previous post,
Naked Cowboy Sues for Trademark Infringement

Feeling frustrated and helpless with our Government’s inability to solve the issues you see as top priorities? Take control in the only way you can: play a game. American Public Media’s Budget Hero let’s you make the decisions on how our tax dollars should be used. Indulge yourself.

Thanks to the Law Librarian blog for the tip.

A while ago, I did a post on Prof. Douglas Berman's course blog Legislation Course (at) Moritz College of Law. As you might recall, Professor Berman used the blog to discuss legal issues and course mechanics with students.

Here are some more examples of course blogs:

• What is Fair Use? (Peter Friedman)- Incorporates copyright web sites, music files and videos. (Thanks to the Barclay Blog).
• Entertainment Law, Randazza Tabs at the top of the blog create separate pages for course documents, class policies, etc. The students were required to post blog comments on legal issues and cases - example . There are also posts where the students can ask questions - example.
• Internet Law, Grimmelman Posts are categorized by assignments. The students were required to do blog posts.

If anyone has a course blog they'd like to share, or experiences regarding course blogs, please comment!

The Ohio Supreme Court decided this week that R.C. 2744.02(B)(3), which allows civil lawsuits against a political subdivision for injuries sustained as a result of the subdivision’s negligent failure to remove an obstruction from a roadway, does not apply to an accumulation of ice. In this case, the ice hazard was arguably created or exacerbated by actions of township fire fighters who were conducting a training exercise. See Howard v. Miami Twp. Fire Div., Slip Opinion No. 2008-Ohio-2792.

For those who think hunting for legislative intent is just an exercise dreamed up by professors to introduce law students to obstructions, note how the Court examined the prior statute and concluded that “the General Assembly purposely replaced the phrase ‘free from nuisance’ with ‘other negligent failure to remove obstructions.’ To find otherwise is to conclude that the legislature’s action in amending the statute was a superfluous act. We are persuaded that the legislature’s action in amending R.C. 2744.02(B)(3) was not whimsy, but a deliberate effort to limit political subdivisions’ liability for injuries and deaths on their roadways.”

If you have a Law Library item out for thirty days past its due date, you will be billed for replacing the item ($75.00), plus a non-waivable billing fee ($15.00). The mandatory $15.00 will be assessed on any item 30 days or more overdue, even if the item is returned. If you return an item that is 30 days or more overdue, the $75.00 replacement fee will be waived.

For more information on other fine policies (OhioLINK, special borrowing items, and University items) see our Circulation Services and Policies page.

Check out these four new additions to the popular Understanding series from LexisNexis. All copies will be available in Law Reserve – ask for them at the Information Services desk.

• Understanding Administrative Law (5^th edition)
• Understanding Capital Punishment Law (2^nd edition)
• Understanding Environmental Law (2^nd edition)
• Understanding Securities Law (4^th edition)

Three law professors from the University of Missouri at Kansas City have put together a checklist for students to utilize when editing their papers. The paper, Training Independent Learners published on SSRN, follows the independent learning theory. The theory contends that students learn best when they learn self-assessment. The checklist is broken into categories such as: organization, writing and plagiarism. Within each of these categories is a list of questions that students check off (sign and date) as they are completed. This step by step process makes the proofreading process more manageable. Professors' reviews of drafts may be cursory and spell check doesn't catch it all, so students must engage in thorough self-editing.

There is an interesting article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about a faculty member discovering and using Facebook . She speaks of the delights in discovering more about her students and how that in turn helps her be a better mentor. On the flip side, when grades come out and some do not do as well as others, the students' Facebook walls may not be very complimentary. And all of this in real time...no waiting until the next semester.

Would you invite your student/professor as a friend?

I'm sure some of you have read a story about a college dropping letter grades all together. The most recent school to start this trend is Stanford Law. While this may be good for the Jon Elias or Maurice Clarett's of the world, it does bring up some issues of interest. Issues of interest, hey that sounds pretty good. The best, and maybe the worst, part of the article is that students at Stanford Law will now receive a four course meal of grades.

Honors = Super intelligence
Pass = I'm still smarter than most people
Restricted Credit = Hey at least I didn't fail
No Credit = Thanks a lot Sam Adams, you ruined my semester...again

Read the entire article and then talk amongst yourselves. I now have to go argue that the Indians shouldn't trade C.C. just yet. Hey, they are only 5 and a half games out of first!

FCC Chairman, Kevin Martin, recommended approval of the merger between satellite radio companies, Sirius & XM, but not without stipulations. Both companies have agreed to a price freeze for 3 years and a tiered pricing system that allows flexibility for customers while choosing their channels. They have also agreed to set aside 8% of their channels for non-commercial and minority broadcasters, and also agreed to allow other radio manufacturers to sell compatible radios. While the FCC Chair has approved the merger, he still needs the support of two of the remaining four members of the commission. Many believe he will get that support.

Please see our previous post...Are You Sirius?

Introducing Faculty Mini Sessions, a one-on-one educational service available to faculty members at C-M Law. When you schedule a faculty mini session, a librarian will be happy to meet with you one-on-one in your office to discuss anything from using Lexis and Westlaw to podcasting and social networking. In each session, you’ll have a chance for individual attention and training in a host of research and technology areas. What’s more, you can set up a mini-session to discuss a particular issue or just as a personal information session to find out more about a new technology or service. It’s up to you. Sessions can be scheduled anytime to fit your schedule. For a full list of ideas for mini session topics, check out the faculty services page.

At 9:30 a.m. at CSU’s Cole Center, 3100 Chester Ave., the U.S. House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the House Committee on Financial Services, holds a hearing “Foreclosure Problems and Solutions: Federal, State, and Local Efforts to Address the Foreclosure Crisis in Ohio.” Here is information including the list of panelists.

The Cleveland Marshall College of Law Community is saddened by the passing of our alumnus, Tim Russert (Class of 1976). Mr. Russert served on the National Advisory Council for the school. We were honored to have Mr. Russert as a commencement speaker last year, where he urged the graduates to be conscientious lawyers and “foot soldiers of the law.” See Seelye, Katharine Q., NBC's Tim Russert Dies, The Caucus (NY Times Political Blog); NBC's Tim Russert Dead at 58, MSNBC.

Thanks to Jessica Matthewson for the articles.

The University of Georgia has recently launched the Civil Rights Digital Library, an online research collection documenting the struggle for racial equality in the 1950s and 1960s in the United States. The interface allows you to browse by events, people, topics and other criteria. The Civil Rights Digital Library is a partnership among libraries, technologists, archivists, educators and others working together to create this comprehensive resource. This multimedia collection includes sound recordings, letters, diaries, photographs, moving images, web sites and more. It’s well worth a look.

First years usually learn about the "castle doctrine" in their first year criminal law class. Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., defines the doctrine as follows:

An exception to the retreat rule allowing the use of deadly force by a person who is protecting his or her home and its inhabitants from attack, esp. from a trespasser who intends to commit a felony or inflict serious bodily harm.

The law in Ohio currently places the burden on the home occupant to prove they were defending themselves from death or serious injury. Under Ohio Senate Bill 184, which will go into effect in 90 days, it will be presumed a person lawfully occupying the home (or vehicle) acted in self defense against someone who unlawfully enters the home (or vehicle). The prosecution may rebut this presumption. The new statute also grants immunity from tort actions to the home or vehicle occupier. Ohio Becomes Latest State with NRA-Backed "Castle Doctrine" Self-Defense Law,Gongwer News Service Ohio, Vol. 77, Report #112, Article #3, June 11, 2008. Also see Ohio Governor Signs 'Castle Doctrine' Bill Despite Concerns by Law Enforcement, Toledo Blade, June 11, 2008.

Lorain County Common Pleas Court Judge Burge held that Ohio's lethal injection method involving a three drug cocktail is unconstitutional. Ohio's death penalty statute mandates that executions be quick and painless. The three drug method creates an unnecessary and arbitrary risk of a painful death. The judge held that the "combination of drugs" method:

"resulted in arbitrary abrogation of a statutory and substantive right of a condemned person, in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Section 16, Article I of the Ohio Constitution (due process clause)"

See State v. Rivera & State v.McCloud (June 10, 2008), Lorain County Case Nos. 04CR065940, 05CR068067; Judge Rules Ohio's Method of Execution Violates Due Process ACLU's Death Penalty page, June 10, 2008; Farkas, Karen Ohio Lethal Injection Executions Unconstitutional, Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge Rules,The Plain Dealer, June 11, 2008.

See our prior posts: Supreme Court Lethal Injection Ruling: What Does it Mean for Ohio? and Ohio Death Penalty News

Are noisy neighbors driving you nuts? Does your neighbor’s cherry tree hanging just a little too far onto your property? Did you neighbor just put up a ten-foot-high fence? How about your neighbor’s less-than-judicious use of the pooper-scooper?

The 6^th edition of Neighbor Law: Fences, Trees, Boundaries & Noise by attorneys Cora Jordan and Emily Doskow may have the answers. It’s from the publishers at Nolo, who specialize in plain-English legal information for the general public. The book is available on the Atrium level at KF639 .Z9 J67 2008.

Ohio amended its sexual offender registration laws to conform to the 2006 federal Adam Walsh Act. See 127th Gen Assembly, Senate Bill 10. and Senate Bill 97. The new law reclassified over 26,000 offenders, including juveniles, as sex offenders. See MacLean, Pamela A., Challenges Grow Over Sex Offender Laws, National Law Journal, June 9, 2008. The Ohio Adam Walsh Act is being challenged in a class action, Doe v. Dann, No. 1:2008cv00220 (N.D. Ohio). As reported on our Ohio Constitutional Law webpage, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Suster held that Ohio's Adam Walsh Act violates the retroactivity provisions of the Ohio and U.S. Constitutions. Evans v. State, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Case No. CV-08 646797. One day before Judge Suster's opinion, the Eighth District Court of Appeals decided that Ohio's Adam Walsh Act does NOT violate the ex post facto clause of the U.S. Constitution. State v. Holloman-Cross (May 8, 2008), 2008-Ohio-2189.

As posted earlier, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act following a three-year legal battle lead by conservationist groups. But the bears aren’t out of the courtroom yet – Alaska governor Sarah Palin has announced that the state of Alaska will file suit to challenge the threatened listing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, citing recent rebounds by polar populations in the state. Read about the move in the BNA Environment Reporter (subscription database) and in this earlier press release from Gov. Palin’s office.

An article in Monday’s New York Times looks at the phenomena of ranking download statistics on the Social Science Research Network: Now Professors Get Their Star Rankings, Too quotes Glenn Reynolds, Constitutional Law Professor at the University of Tennessee, upon finding that he came in fifth in total downloads over the last year, “If I could pick a certain 20 people to read my article, that would mean more to me than 20,000 others who read it.” And yet, he states, open access to academic literature should work to challenge authors to write in ways that are more “accessible” rather than “impenetrable.”

Cleveland-Marshall scholars post their papers in the SSRN Legal Scholarship Network Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Legal Studies Research Paper Series

The City of Cleveland is in the process of reviewing its Charter** , and is asking for input from city residents. See the Charter Review Commission homepage. The City reviews its charter every 20 years. See the Charter, Chap. 39, Section 200-1.

The City Charter is like a constitution. It establishes the basic structure of the government, a system of checks and balances, mechanisms for accountability of city officials, and the basic civil service system for city employees. Some of the changes to the charter discussed by Charter Review Commission include:

• Changes to allow the creation of a new Airport Police Force and a new Airport Rescue and Fire Force, under the control of the Director of Port Control, not the Safety Director.
• Raising the dollar amount which city contracts must be competitively bid from $10,000 to $50,000.
• Changes to the civil service system for city employees.
• Shortening the period during which citizens can petition for a referendum on an ordinance once City Council has passed it.

See Callahan's Cleveland Diary. Also see City of Cleveland Charter Review Commission Close to Halfway Point, City Council News, April 18, 2008; Prendergast, Kevin Commission Continues to Review City Charter, Brooklyn Sun Journal, Apr. 24, 2008.

Those of you studying for the bar should get a smile out of this one ...

Thanks to Nova City Law Blog.

This would never happen to a CM student or graduate, but take this snippet from The People's Court as a cautionary tale:

Thanks to The Law Librarian Blog for this find.

There is now an RSS feed linked from Scholar showing newly acquired materials in both the CSU Main Library and the C-M Law Library. If you are interested in new books and materials on a particular subject, you can create your own customized feed via Yahoo Pipes or Feedrinse. For example, see this custom feed I created with Yahoo Pipes that will look for materials with "(international and law or legal) or European Union" in the title. You can easily subscribe to the feed by clicking on "more options". I made a similar feed with Feedrinse. In my opinion,Yahoo Pipes is more flexible, but Feedrinse is easier to use.

If you want help setting up an RSS Reader or a custom feed, just contact the library staff.

Thanks to Jessica Matthewson for pointing out the catalog RSS feed.

From the halls of justice in Portland, Oregon...

Latasha Curry was in court recently for allegedly tossing her Starbucks coffee beverage at one of its managers. The manager testified that Curry pitched the coffee at him, and lobbed whipped cream at another employee. Curry testified that she and the manager grabbed the cup of coffee at the same time, and when she let go, the manager spilled the coffee on himself. The prosecutor cross-examined Ms. Curry, asking,"Is it or is it not true that you flung the iced venti mocha with extra hazelnut and caramel at the defendant (sic) out of anger?"

The dispute arose when Ms. Curry purchased a coffee beverage and later called the store to complain that the drink was bitter. The employee told her they would be happy to replace the beverage. Two days later she went to back to get her replacement beverage and was accused by the manager of running a scam. According to the manager, Curry directed racial and homophobic epithets at him, besides throwing the coffee.

The judge found Curry not guilty of misdemeanor harassment. See Oregon Revised Code 166.065. According to this Knight-Ridder Tribune article on the BusinessWeek website, the prosecutor's office was criticized for bringing the case to trial. The prosecutor said he brought the case in part because Curry had a prior conviction for theft, and she is currently charged with harassment in another case.

Do you think the prosecutor was right to pursue this case?

Thanks to Above the Law.

Ross Guberman penned an article in Legal Times, highlighting some helpful hints for drafting memos for summer associates.

courtesy of Moritz Legal Information Blog

Ohio Capitol Connection is now available remotely for Cleveland Marshall students, faculty and staff, for educational use only. Just use the link in this post, or a link from the library webpage, and you can get in from home using your CSU Id and PIN. Ohio Capitol Connection provides one-stop shopping for legislative history documents corresponding to bills and acts from 1989 forward.

What does Ohio Capitol Connection have that is not on the Ohio General Assembly's webpage or elsewhere on the Internet? Among other things ...

• Coverage back to 1989. The Ohio General Assembly's page goes back to 1997.
• Summaries of hearing testimony (When you pull up a bill, click on "Bill History").
• Hannah Report news articles corresponding to each bill.
• Executive Orders back to 1999.
• A fifty state search to find legislation pertaining to a particular topics in all or some of the fifty states.
• A search for bills and acts that actually changed a particular Ohio Revised Code section, not that merely mentioned the section in passing.

The American Society of International Law (ASIL) has recently added another excellent information product to their already long list of print and electronic publications. The Interest Group on International Organizations now publishes ASIL’s Reports on International Organizations, which are known as ASIL RIO.

The goal of ASIL RIO is to highlight the work of international organizations that are generally not well-known to international lawyers. While plenty of information sources cover the UN, EU or WTO, few discuss the work of INTERPOL, the AU, ASEAN, UNEP or the OSCE, to name a couple of the international organizations featured in the first issue of ASIL RIO.

ASIL RIO is browsable by international organization or by topical keywords such as economic growth, judicial reform, sanctions, corruption or democracy.

The UK is considering tightening the reins of social networks, such as Facebook and MySpace. A study recently conducted asked if there should be tighter regulation of social networks. According to the Guardian, 89% of those polled said they want rules to prevent personal information from being abused. The PCC (Press Complaints Commission), which monitors internet and video content in the UK, warns people of the dangers of posting information online and of possible consequences when doing so.

The EU is also considering increased restrictions on social networks. Their internet security agency, ENISA, is expanding its legislation to cover photos taken then posted online. Both the UK and EU agencies believe people need to be educated on how these networks actually work and know that it is difficult to get information off the Internet once it is online.

So where, oh where is the US on this issue? Well, our legislation is geared more toward the safety of children, such as the Deleting Online Predators Act. This was later expanded to include social networks.

What are the ramifications of policing social networks? Any regulation enacted would affect the entire industry. While Facebook and MySpace are the giants in this field, there are smaller networks such as, Ning, which will be effected as well. These restrictions may also affect business type networks, such as Linkedin. In addition to affecting other networks, usage will be affected. People will use or not use these types of media if they know they are being watched or listened to, especially regarding personal matters.

What implications do you foresee for regulating social networks?

Today the Supreme Court of Ohio ruled that the next of kin of a deceased person upon whom an autopsy has been performed does not a have a property right in the decedent’s organs that have been removed during the autopsy. [Albrecht v. Treon, Slip Onion No. 2008-Ohio-2617 – full text opinion and opinion summary]

The case, a class action suit brought against coroners and/or medical examiners in 87 Ohio’s 88 counties, originated from a single suit involving the brain of a deceased person which had been removed during autopsy. The brain was not returned with the rest of the body to the next of kin and was subsequently disposed of after the autopsy by the coroner.

The ruling also applies to tissues, blood, or other body parts removed during the course of an autopsy.

While I stood there reviewing the stack of newly-arrived law reviews waiting to be shelved in the library, I didn’t expect to find an article that led me to question the veracity of my breakfast. But the law is a wide and wonderful thing, and there it was—and article on untrustworthy yogurt in the latest issue of Food and Drug Law Journal [online resource]. Ms. Leah A. Satine has written a fascinating article entitled “Is My Yogurt Lying? Developing and Applying a Framework for Determining Whether Wellness Claims on Probiotic Yogurts Mislead” [63 Food & Drug L.J. 537] that takes a critical look at the health claims of everyone’s favorite fermented dairy product.

Food and drug law (and the overlap between the two) is a major practice and scholarship area. For further research ideas, try the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s searchable database of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations (dealing with all aspects of food and drugs) or browse through the Food Law Prof Blog.

So my yogurt couldn’t pass a polygraph. Does this implicate the fruit?

A recent survey of federal judges shows that judges want shorter, more hard-hitting briefs. While attorneys cited adequate case authority, judges found their legal analysis lacking. Only 56% of judges said that attorneys always or usually made their side's best argument. Judges "prefer traditional methods of organization, such as the use of a summary or roadmap of the arguments to follow and the placement of an advocate's strongest arguments first." Finally, concise writing is essential. As one judge stated, "If briefs are too long, the judge's attention will often stray and the good arguments will be lost in the sea of irrelevance." Robbins, Kristen, K., The Inside Scoop: What Federal Judges Really Think About the Way Lawyers Write, Georgetown Law Faculty Working Papers 2008.

Thanks to TVC Alert.

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