Tag Archives: U.S. Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Nov. 26 heard arguments in a case that could redefine who is considered a supervisor in the workplace for legal purposes. The ruling could have far-reaching effects, because the broader the definition of supervisor, the easier it is for employees to bring discrimination cases against their employer. In Vance v. Ball State University, justices will decide whether the university is responsible for alleged racial harassment experienced by a catering employee. Maetta Vance was the only black …

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week in a case that could change workers’ ability to hire lawyers to help them bring personal injury suits when their employers have paid for their medical expenses.   Subrogation Blues James McCutchen, a US Airways employee, was seriously injured in a car accident. He settled a negligence suit with the driver responsible for the accident and collected uninsured motorist coverage from his own insurance – after his employer, US Airways, had paid $66,866 …

A federal court this month threw out Michigan’s ban on affirmative action in college admissions, the latest volley in the nationwide debate over if and to what extent race can be considered when deciding who gets admitted to institutions of higher education. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Ohio decided in an 8-7 vote that the affirmative action ban was in violation of the U.S. Constitution. A district court had previously upheld the ban, which could be appealed …

If you thought your Gmail or Yahoo! mail accounts were safe from prying eyes, think again. The illusion of privacy in cyberspace took yet another hit on Oct. 10 when the South Carolina Supreme Court declared, in effect, that reading someone else’s Yahoo! emails doesn’t violate federal law. The Stored Communications Act is an archaic 1986 federal law that courts are still trying to apply to technologies that were never even imagined when the law was drafted. Judges are forced …

The U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 1 declined to review the felony criminal conviction of the son of a Democratic Tennessee state legislator who hacked into the email account of 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and posted her emails and login information on the Internet. David Kernell served a year and a day in federal prison in Kentucky and is currently on probation. Kernell’s case was “honored” on Oct. 3 as the biggest controversy in the history of …