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With the recent cancellation of ABC’s sitcom Roseanne, many are talking about the First Amendment and its reach within the workplace. Did Roseanne have the right to speak her opinion? Does ABC have the right to fire her? JGL Principal Veronica Nannis explores this current situation from all sides in her most recent blog.
On September 22, 2016, the D.C. Court of Appeals issued a decision in favor of our clients in their battle over membership and control of Jericho Baptist Church Ministries, Inc., a large, nationally-known church located in Landover, Maryland. The court affirmed a lower court decision that a purported board of trustees that seized control of Jericho in 2010 and terminated our clients’ membership rights was not the valid board of Jericho. The effect of the court’s decision affirmed the return of control over Jericho to the original Board of Trustees, which includes Rev. Joel Peebles, the senior pastor whose parents founded the church more than 50 years ago. This decision marks a key victory for Rev. Peebles and is also a significant ruling in First Amendment law concerning the establishment of religion.
As previously discussed in this blog, in the spring of 2014, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals in State v. Hailes,[1] made important rulings regarding several evidentiary issues. The Hailes court held that a “hard blink” can be a statement, that a “Dying Declaration” does not require actual imminent death, only a belief of imminent death, and that the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment does not suppress a dying declaration.[2] After further appeal, the Court of Appeals of Maryland recently affirmed that decision.
Are you thinking about taking the plunge and renovating your home? Have you been looking around the house thinking, “Wow this floor sure is showing its age,” or “This kitchen used to be fabulous… in 1987,” or “Now that we have the money, why don’t we add that sunroom we always dreamed of”? Maybe you are a young contractor, ready to spread your wings and open your own company. If so, to successfully navigate your exciting new undertaking it is important to understand the nuances of the Maryland home improvement laws.
“Man has long been diversely fascinated with animals.” [1] Mike Tyson counted pet tigers among his pets, Kristen Stewart and her mother raise wolf-dog hybrids, and Tippi Hedren kept a 400-pound mature lion in her home – allowing it to play by the pool, lounge in the living room, raid the fridge, and even permitted her daughter (Melanie Griffith) to take it to bed. They are hardly alone.[2] Just two weeks ago reports surfaced that former Baltimore Ravens defensive lineman Terrence Cody kept an alligator in his Baltimore County home. In fact, owning exotic pets is nothing new. Almost two centuries ago John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States, lodged an alligator in a bathtub in the White House’s East Room.
Have you received a subpoena from an administrative agency that is seeking documents or an interview with you? What next?
In this tight job market, many students over the last decade have turned to unpaid internships to get their feet in the business door and gain some real-world job experience for their light resumes. Some even solicit employers to try to convince them to take on unpaid interns at their companies. At first blush, it seems like a fine concept: the student gets job experience and makes networking connections while the employer enjoys some free labor. In a down economy with lean company budgets and fierce job competition, this is a win-win situation. Right?
We’ve all seen the shock-value headlines: “Oh My God, Naked Photos of Kate Upton!”[i] “Jennifer Lawrence Speaks For the First Time About Her Stolen Nude Photos”[ii] There is a movie called “Sex Tape,” in which a couple “discover that their most private video is no longer private.”[iii] On a smaller scale, a scorned lover, spouse, girlfriend, or boyfriend may get revenge by sharing intimate images with others by populating them to social media or uploading them to websites where people share such private images. When two people take consensual, intimate photographs, the subject does not expect that the photos will be posted on the Internet for all to see. However, if the relationship sours, the privacy of an unsuspecting victim may be compromised as the photos are posted on Twitter, Facebook, and websites like myex.com, in an attempt to get revenge.