Paul Elias

October 01, 1999 | Law.com

By Paul Elias

3 minute read

January 04, 2000 | Law.com

The television show Cheers has been causing real-life rancor for the last six years among federal judges. At issue: ownership of the "Norm" and Cliff" characters. When Host International opened Cheers-themed airport bars, they included two robots. One resembled "Norm" -- a wisecracking accountant played by actor George Wendt -- while the other resembled "Cliff," a know-it-all mailman portrayed by John Ratzenberger. Wendt and Ratzenberger sued, but at least one appellate judge didn't find the case amusing.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

September 18, 2006 | Law.com

The one winner in the Hewlett-Packard boardroom spying scandal appears to be president and CEO Mark Hurd. He will soon add chairman to his duties, so long as he manages to avoid the mess that has splattered on current chairwoman Patricia Dunn. But some corporate governance experts wonder about consolidating so much power in one person's hands. "This is a big step back for the good corporate government movement," says Kirk O. Hanson, director of Santa Clara University's Markkula Center for Applied Ethics.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

November 16, 2007 | Law.com

A U.S. appeals court on Thursday threw out planned federal fuel economy standards for many SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks, ruling that President George W. Bush's administration failed to address why those so-called "light trucks" are allowed to pollute more than cars. The 9th Circuit also ruled that the standards, which were to go into effect next year, did not properly assess the risk to the environment and failed to include heavier trucks.

By Paul Elias

2 minute read

March 04, 2000 | Law.com

By any measure, the turnaround in the Northern District of California's U.S. attorney's office has been astonishing since Robert Mueller III took over in late 1998. The numbers are up -- the office filed 915 criminal cases last year, an increase of more than one-third from just two years ago. Office morale is up, too: Mueller is convincing big-firm lawyers to come work for him, despite big pay cuts.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

February 01, 2000 | Law.com

"I am a prisoner and have no access to a typewriter or word processor," Theodore Kaczynski wrote at the conclusion of his pro se appellate brief. "Therefore I have to file a hand-printed brief." Kaczynski, of course, is the infamous Unabomber. His 1998 guilty plea to murder charges spared him the death penalty. But now, Kaczynski wants to tempt fate. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will listen to his arguments on why he should be allowed to back out of his guilty plea and go to trial.

By Paul Elias

5 minute read

February 10, 2000 | Law.com

The California Supreme Court appeared ready Wednesday to side with about 500 migrant farm workers in a labor battle over wages with a Salinas, Calif.-area grower. The farm workers contend in a class action that they should get paid their hourly wage for time spent riding to and from work on the grower's busses. The grower requires workers to gather in the morning and board company busses bound for the fields and docks workers' pay if they drive their own cars to the fields.

By Paul Elias

3 minute read

September 01, 1999 | Law.com

By Paul Elias

13 minute read

October 13, 1999 | Law.com

Los Angeles may soon surpass even New York as the municipality with the costliest force in the nation. That's because a dirty little Los Angeles Police Department secret at the Rampart Station has exploded into the biggest police corruption scandal to hit L.A. in decades. As things stand today, several civil rights cases will be filed. There's "credible" information that Rampart cops took part in at least two "dirty shootings" that resulted in three injuries, a death and an innocent man sent to prison.

By Paul Elias

12 minute read

November 14, 2007 | Law.com

Yahoo Inc., reeling from a growing backlash over human rights and its China operations, settled a lawsuit Nov. 13 that accused it of illegally helping the Chinese government jail and torture two journalists. The settlement has reopened debate over Internet companies cooperating with governments that deny freedom of speech and crack down on journalists.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read