Nota Bene

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.

The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.

“At first, there was a sense of, ‘No way,’ ” said homeschool parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who is active with a homeschool association. “Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation.”

The ruling arose from a child welfare dispute between the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have been homeschooling their eight children. Mary Long is their teacher, but holds no teaching credential.

The parents said they also enrolled their children in Sunland Christian School, a private religious academy in Sylmar (Los Angeles County), which considers the Long children part of its independent study program and visits the home about four times a year.

The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home.

Some homeschoolers are affiliated with private or charter schools, like the Longs, but others fly under the radar completely. Many homeschooling families avoid truancy laws by registering with the state as a private school and then enroll only their own children.

Yet the appeals court said state law has been clear since at least 1953, when another appellate court rejected a challenge by homeschooling parents to California’s compulsory education statutes. Those statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day school, either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who holds a state credential for the child’s grade level.

You can read the decision published by the Second District Court of Appeal here.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports:

When a Forsyth County couple sent 99-cent text messages trying to win a prize on the NBC game show “Deal or No Deal,” they engaged in illegal gambling and should get their money back, a lawyer told the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday.

So should all other Georgians who sent text messages in the show’s “Lucky Case Game” and lost, lawyer Jerry Buchanan said. A judge hearing the case has estimated the bounty could reach tens of millions of dollars.

The unusual federal lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, was filed last year by Michael and Michele Hardin against NBC Universal Inc. and two other companies affiliated with the show.

The Sacramento Bee reports:

The city council has unanimously approved restricting where sex offenders can live, responding to a communitys outrage over more than a dozen registered sex offenders living in the same 12-unit apartment complex.Councilwoman Suja Lowenthal had proposed the ordinance, which would keep sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of licensed child-care facilities or within 2,500 feet of “high risk” sex offenders. She also wants to limit the number of sex offenders that can live within a multi-family residence.

The council on Tuesday night unanimously approved Lowenthals measure, directing the city attorneys office to research and craft the new law, which will come back to council members for approval.

The Associated Press reports:

A state appellate court on Wednesday upheld a renewal of a civil judgment against O.J. Simpson in a decade-old wrongful death lawsuit.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected an argument by Simpson that the Los Angeles Superior Court no longer had jurisdiction over him because he now lives in Florida.

Fred Goldman filed a renewal in October 2006 because Simpson has refused to pay the $33.5 million judgment that would have automatically expired on March 10. The judgment has grown to about $40 million, with interest.

Goldman’s attorney David Cook said the renewal will not expire for another 10 years and can be renewed again at that time if the full judgment isn’t received.

“A plane ticket to Miami is not a free pass for a wrongful death judgment,” Cook said in an e-mail message.

The AP reports:

The Supreme Court dealt a setback Tuesday to civil rights and privacy advocates who oppose the Bush administrations warrantless wiretapping program. The justices, without comment, turned down an appeal from the American Civil Liberties Union to let it pursue a lawsuit against the program that began shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.The action underscored the difficulty of mounting a challenge to the eavesdropping, which remains classified and was confirmed by President Bush only after a newspaper article revealed its existence.

“Its very disturbing that the presidents actions will go unremarked upon by the court,” said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLUs national security project. “In our view, it shouldnt be left to executive branch officials alone to determine the limits.”

The Terrorist Surveillance Program no longer exists, although the administration has maintained it was legal.

LifeHacker reports:

Need to know the landlord laws for your state? Want to find incorporation forms for your home business? The Public Library of Law, a new search engine launched in collaboration with legal research firm FastCase, gives you access to laws, statutes, and legal decisions from all 50 states, as well as a wealth of free legal forms.

You can access The Public Library of Law here.

The OC Register reports:

A judge Monday allowed a lawsuit to proceed against a California Highway Patrol dispatcher in a high-profile case about graphic accident photos leaked onto the Internet.

A second dispatcher, however, was removed as a defendant in the complaint.

In separate rulings that keep alive the possibility of a jury trial against the CHP, Judge Steven L. Perk ruled that the alleged conduct of dispatch supervisor Thomas ODonnell was not protected by his constitutional right of free speech – as his attorneys argued.

Relatives of Nicole “Nikki” Catsouras sued the CHP, ODonnell and another dispatcher, Aaron Reich, after the agency took responsibility for improperly releasing the grisly images to the public. Accident-scene photos are supposed to be used only for investigative purposes.

FindLaw reports:

The trust that manages the estate of J.R.R. Tolkein’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and intellectual property sued New Line Cinema, the Hollywood studio that obtained the rights to produce films based upon his works. The trust slams New Line, alleging that it’s been “engag[ing] in the infamous practice of ‘Hollywood accounting’ by using various ‘bookkeeping’ devices to delay paying Tolkien’s trust.

The suit claims that:

“The three hugely successful films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved “Lord of the Rings” trilogy have grossed nearly $6 billion. Despite these record-setting revenues amounts derived ultimately from Professor Tolkien’s classic fantasy novels….[New Line] has paid nothing to Tolkien’s successors with respect to their contractually-mandated participation in the gross revenues of the films.

…[I]n spite of the Film’s unprecedented financial success, platiniffs have not received a single penny of their contracted share of the gross receipts earned from the Films.” emphases in original

The NY Times reports:

New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush has faced continual accusations since April 2006 that he and his family took as much as $300,000 in cash and goods while he attended the University of Southern California.

Reggie Bush left college early and was drafted by the Saints. He and his family have refused to cooperate in the investigation.

If he is found to have broken rules, the former Southern California star Reggie Bush could lose the Heisman Trophy he won in 2005.

Since then, Bush and his family have refused to cooperate with investigators for the N.C.A.A. and the Pacific-10 Conference, who are looking into whether he or university officials violated rules governing student-athletes. Bush has said little beyond denying any wrongdoing.

This month, however, Bush may be forced to break his silence. A lawyer for his chief accuser, Lloyd Lake, said he issued a subpoena to compel Bush to give a deposition Feb. 25 in a lawsuit filed in San Diego last October. Lake contends that the Bush family accepted cash, a car, rent-free housing and other goods from him, and he is seeking repayment.

From ExpertClick.com

A new antitrust class action lawsuit against West Publishing Corporation, dba BAR/BRI, and Kaplan, Inc. was filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles, Case No. CV 08-810 RSW(Ex). The lawsuit accuses the two companies of illegally dividing their highly lucrative LSAT and bar exam test preparation businesses. According to the complaint, executives of BAR/BRI and Kaplan secretly agreed to a per se illegal market division, which, in part, involved BAR/BRI annually paying to Kaplan substantial sums to keep it out of its bar review course market. The Complaint further alleges that BAR/BRI has engaged for decades in an overall scheme to monopolize the relevant market, by committing a litany of antitrust violations. According to the Complaint, BAR/BRI interfered with and prevented competitors’ entry or expansion in the relevant market by buying them out, threatening them, spreading false rumors about them, and even breaking into their offics to steal competitively significant records. The Complaint also states that BAR/BRI has engaged in the continuing practice of tearing down, otherwise removing, or preventing the posting of, the signs, placards and related promotional materials of local bar review course competitors at various law schools.