Case: Individual Employment Rights/First Amendment (ND Cal.) - Bloomberg Law

Daily Labor Report ®

Oct. 1, 2021, 4:54 PM

The University of California San Francisco, School of Dentistry is entitled to summary judgment on the First Amendment retaliation claims of a volunteer clinical professor at its Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery whose appointment for the 2017-2018 academic year wasn’t renewed, a federal court in California ruled. The clinical professor failed to show that his protected speech raising concerns regarding DOMS—about gaps in students’ predoctoral clinical knowledge and problems with medical records and departmental equipment—was a substantial or motivating factor in UCSF’s decisions not to renew his appointment. The record shows that the professor advised a department chair in ...

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Museum exhibit to feature cold case homicide victims and the USF forensic anthropologists working to identify them - University of South Florida

Twenty individuals who’ve posthumously been nameless for decades will be in the public eye as part of an exhibition designed to identify them and solve their homicides.

The cold cases will be featured in the “The Art of Forensics” exhibit at Sulphur Springs Museum & Heritage Center throughout October. It includes clay sculptures, digital composites, photographs and drawings of the victims, as well as a photographic series that portrays Tampa Bay professionals who contribute to cold case investigations. The exhibit was created by USF forensic anthropologist Erin Kimmerle, executive director of the Florida Institute for Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science (USF-IFAAS), along with USF graduate student and Tampa Bay Times journalist John Pendygraft.

“These individuals have remained unknown for decades. Their faces tell a story about who they were,” Kimmerle said. “When you look at the common patterns among victims, the marginalization of certain people and their vulnerabilities become clear. We hope it triggers the memories of those who knew them so that people come forward with new leads. The exhibit is about using art to engage the public, trigger memory and create empathy.”

Kimmerle and her students exhumed three of the John Does from Rest Haven Memorial Park in Tampa last year with funding provided by the Florida Sheriff’s Association. 

"The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office is proud of the ongoing partnerships with USF-IFAAS and the Florida Sheriff's Association," said Sheriff Chad Chronister. "It is through the work we do together that hopefully we will bring closure to families that have been waiting far too long for answers."

Since its inception in 2015, “The Art of Forensics” has been an annual event that has helped solve nearly two dozen homicide cases and brought more than 140 cases up to current investigative standards. Each exhibit features new cases and innovative ways to use public art for social justice. Jane and John Doe graves were exhumed and boxes storing human remains were removed from storage for new scientific testing and analysis using forensic anthropology, chemical isotope, DNA and forensic art. Half of the cases featured in the current exhibit are from Hillsborough County, with the remainder representing central Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

“This is a great opportunity for the public to see the work going on behind the scenes,” said USF doctoral student Gennifer Goad. “It takes a lot of collaboration and patience.”

Goad is researching chemical isotope analysis and hopes to become a forensic anthropologist. Her image is included in the new photo series created by Pendygraft, which portrays the various professions involved in working to solve unidentified missing persons cases and cold case homicides: forensic artists, anthropologists, medical examiners, DNA experts, crime scene and death investigators, homicide detectives, as well as prosecutors and judges. The photography series was created in the spirit of Irving Penn’s “Small Trades” exhibit in 1951, to provide an intimate view into the world of cold case investigations.  

“The Art of Forensics” runs Oct. 3-Nov. 1.

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Case

California judge sends Live Nation ticket antitrust case to arbitration - Reuters

The logo for Live Nation Entertainment is displayed on a screen on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

• Summary
• Law firms
• Related documents

• Judge said terms of use on Live Nation and Ticketmaster sites compel arbitration
• Quinn Emanuel team for plaintiffs said they did not assent to terms of use

The company and law firm names shown above are generated automatically based on the text of the article. We are improving this feature as we continue to test and develop in beta. We welcome feedback, which you can provide using the feedback tab on the right of the page.

(Reuters) - A California federal judge on Thursday dismissed a putative national consumer class action alleging the merger of Live Nation Entertainment Inc and Ticketmaster LLC reduced market competition and inflated ticket prices sold on web platforms.

U.S. District Judge George Wu of Los Angeles federal court said the plaintiffs were bound by arbitration clauses that were contained in the terms of use of the websites of Ticketmaster and its parent Beverly Hills, California-based Live Nation. Wu granted the defendants' bid to compel arbitration.

Wu had said in a ruling on Sept. 20 that the plaintiffs failed "to provide any persuasive authority where a court has invalidated an arbitration agreement in similar circumstances." He added: "The court joins many others in again finding that the defendants' websites provided sufficient constructive notice as required for mutual assent."

Frederick Lorig, a partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan in Los Angeles who represented the plaintiffs, did not immediately return a message on Friday seeking comment.

Lawyers for Live Nation and Ticketmaster at Latham & Watkins, including Daniel Wall, former chair of the firm's antitrust practice, also did not return a message seeking comment.

The putative class sued Live Nation and Hollywood, California-based Ticketmaster in April 2020 alleging violations of federal antitrust law in two areas: the "primary" market for an initial distribution of tickets and a "secondary" market for the resale of previously purchased tickets.

The complaint alleged Live Nation and Ticketmaster "engaged in predatory and exclusionary conduct" including efforts to enter into long-term deals with venues in a bid to suppress competition for ticket sales.

The plaintiffs said among other things that they had not seen or read the relevant terms of use, and they did not agree to them, at the time of purchasing tickets online.

Wu said "a user manifests assent by completing the account creation process, signing in to an account, or completing a purchase."

The plaintiffs also said a "countdown timer" – in which a ticket purchase needed to be completed – added additional pressure that didn't let consumers read the terms of use.

Wu said the practice of a timer was not "oppressive."

"If desirable seats at popular shows sold out in minutes, as plaintiffs claim, the 'ticket hold' could actually increase the amount of time that a user has to complete their purchase before the desirable tickets are sold out," Wu wrote.

The case is Oberstein v. Live Nation Entertainment Inc, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 20-cv-03888.

For the plaintiff: Frederick Lorig, Kevin Teruya and Adam Wolfson of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

For Live Nation and Ticketmaster: Daniel Wall and Timothy O'Mara of Latham & Watkins

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Lawyer who sued Chevron sentenced to six months in contempt case - Reuters

NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) - A disbarred American lawyer who spent decades battling Chevron Corp (CVX.N) over pollution in the Ecuadorian rainforest was sentenced Friday to six months' imprisonment for criminal contempt charges arising from a lawsuit brought by the oil company.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska sentenced Steven Donziger after finding him guilty in May of "willfully" defying court orders, including by failing to turn over his computer and other electronic devices.

"It seems that only the proverbial two-by-four between the eyes will instill in him any respect for the law," Preska said.

Donziger's lawyer, Martin Garbus, called the sentence "outrageous."

Chevron and private lawyers serving as prosecutors for the United States did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Donziger plans to appeal. He will remain under home confinement, where he has been for two years, if he appeals quickly. Preska denied bail pending the appeal.

His sentencing is the latest twist in a legal saga stemming from his representation of villagers in Ecuador's Lago Agrio region who sought to hold Chevron liable for water and soil contamination by Texaco between 1964 and 1992. Chevron acquired Texaco in 2000.

Donziger, a Harvard Law School graduate, won a $9.5 billion judgment against Chevron in an Ecuadorian court in 2011.

San Ramon, California-based Chevron sued him in Manhattan federal court later that year, claiming that he and his associates pressured the presiding judge in Ecuador.

In 2014, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan refused to enforce the $9.5 billion judgment, saying it had been secured through bribery, fraud and extortion.

Chevron later sought to recoup money Donziger personally reaped in the Ecuadorian case, and Kaplan ordered Donziger to turn over electronic devices to the company's forensic experts.

When he refused, Kaplan charged him with criminal contempt. He was disbarred by a New York appeals court last year.

Reporting by Sebastien Malo in New York. Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel. Editing by Noeleen Walder, David Bario and Matthew Lewis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Trial scheduled in fatal hit-and-run case - Leavenworth Times

New COVID case rate dropping in Southwest Virginia but hospitalizations, deaths still far above state rates - WJHL-TV News Channel 11

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Case

RPD: New cold case website to raise awareness for dozens of cold cases - RochesterFirst

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