Is Gun Ownership Relevant to Healthcare?

From the ABA Journal:

Physicians fighting a Florida law that restricts them from asking all patients about guns or dropping a patient simply because he or she has a firearm could be facing an uphill legal battle.

During a court hearing today on a lawsuit filed by several physician groups, an assistant attorney general said the doctors are misreading the statute and a federal judge expressed skepticism about their case, reports the Associated Press.

The physicians say asking about guns, as a number of standard questionnaires do, is a legitimate inquiry about patient health.

“What’s relevant about asking about my gun when I came in with a cold?” said U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke. “Maybe it’s the other way around. Maybe the questionnaire is overbroad and not the statute.”

 This article can be found on the ABA Journal’s website by clicking here.

Twittersquatter Suit Dropped

ABA Journal:   A company that sued a so-called Twittersquatter for using its name to post sarcastic tweets has dropped its legal effort.

Coventry First dropped the suit late Tuesday, according to Public Citizen’s Consumer Law & Policy Blog. Public Citizen had defended the anonymous person who used the @coventryfirst handle. (The author later changed the handle to @coventryfirstin and added disclaimers.)

Coventry First buys life insurance policies and resells them to investors who cover the premiums until the insured dies. The Twitter author had applauded early deaths (which lead to greater investor profits) in veiled criticism of the industry. Coventry First’s suit against the writer had alleged trademark infringement and violations of cybersquatting laws.

Does Fashion Design Deserve Copyright Protection?

ABA Journal:  It was the fall of 2003 when Giacomo Corrado purchased his very first pair of “stripper shoes.” Strolling in the Soho neighborhood of New York City, Corrado spotted a divine pair of Prada pumps and just had to have them.

But Corrado wasn’t stocking his personal shoe collection; he was scouting the latest style trends for the Italian fashion house Fornarina, where he worked at the time as the company’s American chief executive officer…

County Bar Group in Alabama Files Suit to Ban LegalZoom

ABA Journal: The DeKalb County Bar Association asked a judge Friday to permanently prohibit online forms company LegalZoom from doing business in the state of Alabama for engaging in the unauthorized practice of law.

LegalZoom, founded by O.J. Simpson lawyer Robert Shapiro and partners, offers standardized legal documents such as wills and incorporation documents that can be customized to the buyer’s preference. The company has served more than 1 million customers in its 10 years online…

Law Enforcement Wants To See Your Facebook

Fox News:  U.S. law-enforcement agencies are increasingly obtaining warrants to search Facebook, often gaining detailed access to users’ accounts without their knowledge.

A Reuters review of the Westlaw legal database shows that since 2008, federal judges have authorized at least two dozen warrants to search individuals’ Facebook accounts. Many of the warrants requested a laundry list of personal data such as messages, status updates, links to videos and photographs, calendars of future and past events, “Wall postings” and “rejected Friend requests.”

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