Paul Elias

May 07, 1999 | Law.com

Dealing a big blow to the federal government's efforts to maintain tight controls over encryption technology, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held Thursday that computer source code is speech protected by the First Amendment. Despite national security concerns, the divided court said that cryptographers can post their encryption programs on the Internet without first getting government approval. Both sides of the debate predict that the U.S. Supreme Court will tackle the case.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

September 27, 2010 | Law.com

A federal judge cleared the way Friday for California's first execution in nearly five years, citing the state's efforts to revise its lethal injection procedure and a Supreme Court ruling making it harder for condemned inmates to delay their deaths. Albert Greenwood Brown failed to show "a demonstrated risk of severe pain" as required by a 2008 Court decision, ruled Judge Jeremy Fogel, who gave Brown the option of choosing a one-drug injection of sodium thiopental instead of a three-drug cocktail used by the state.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

February 11, 2000 | Law.com

In-house lawyers for an insurance company argued before the California Supreme Court on Thursday that they are entitled to collect attorneys fees from vanquished foes -- just like their brethren in law firms. At issue is a case in which a judge awarded insurance company PLCM Group $61,050 in attorneys fees after it won a $10,319 judgment against attorney David Drexler. Drexler argues that in-house counsel -- just like pro per litigants -- are not entitled to recover attorneys fees.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

April 15, 1999 | Law.com

Plaintiffs' attorneys Melvyn Weiss and William Lerach have each earned at least $102 million since 1988. Their firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach profited at least $679 million during the same time. All of which is a good thing for the firm and its lawyers, considering that insurance probably paid little -- if any -- of the $50 million it cost Milberg Weiss to settle an abuse of process claim filed in Chicago.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

February 25, 2000 | Law.com

By Paul Elias

3 minute read

August 22, 2008 | Law.com

The end is near for a bitter legal dispute between the three surviving members of The Doors now that the California Supreme Court has refused to take up their case. Keyboardist Ray Manzarek and guitarist Robby Krieger were found by lower courts to have improperly invoked The Doors' name and images during a 2003 concert tour and will have to pay more than $5 million to drummer John Densmore, the parents of the deceased lead singer Jim Morrison and the parents of Morrison's deceased wife, Pamela Courson.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

January 17, 2006 | Law.com

Genetic engineering saved Ken Kamiya's papaya farm on Oahu's north shore, and it may yet rescue the orchid from the grips of a nasty flower-killing virus. But pineapple industry officials have made it clear they want nothing to do with genetic engineering. So it goes in the Aloha State, where genetic engineering has riven a state just now awakening to the fact that balmy and remote Hawaii has long served as the world's largest outdoor biotechnology lab.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

September 28, 2006 | Law.com

While it's likely that the E. coli outbreak leading to a nationwide recall of bagged spinach will affect the California produce company at the center of the investigation the most, companies up and down the food chain are taking a financial hit. "It should have pretty far-reaching implications on the whole bagged salad industry," said Tom Weir, executive editor of a monthly grocery-industry publication. Salinas Valley growers and processors have announced plans to adopt new food safety guidelines.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

September 23, 1999 | Law.com

A jury Tuesday convicted a Mendocino County, Calif. man of being a major marijuana grower and carrying on a continuing criminal enterprise, a heavy-duty charge that will require a judge to sentence John Dalton to at least 20 years in prison. The conviction came after a three-week trial and despite the fact a Drug Enforcement Administration agent on the case kissed Dalton's wife during the investigation.

By Paul Elias

3 minute read

October 04, 2005 | Law.com

It has been four years since a spate of anthrax poisonings killed five people, and the murderer is still on the loose. Many investigative missteps occurred in the first days when those packages of anthrax began showing up in the mail. Combining lessons from such missteps with advances in microbiology like gene sequencing, scientists and law enforcement authorities are now working together to make "microbial forensics" as potent an investigative tool as DNA evidence.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read