(United States First Circuit) - In an action stemming from the plaintiffs' purchase of a piece of land and the opposition the defendants mounted to the plaintiffs' plan to develop that property, alleging defendants' conduct violated various constitutional and state law provisos, including 42 U.S.C. section 1983 and the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (MCRA), Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 12, section 11, the District Court's grant of judgment on the pleadings in favor of defendants is affirmed where plaintiffs did not give sufficient facts to state plausible-on-their-face claims, ones that gave rise to more than a mere possibility of liability.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirming the Court of International Trade's affirmation of the US Department of Commerce's findings following a review of the antidumping duty order on certain frozen warmwater shrimp from India.

(United States Second Circuit) - Vacated and remanded. Plaintiff, who is profoundly deaf, appeals from dismissal on summary judgment her claim that a hospital violated the Rehabilitation Act by failing to provide an ASL interpreter. The panel concluded that material issues of fact preclude summary judgment.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Plaintiff, an abortion care provider, sought a license from the State of Indiana to operate a clinic. Plaintiff made two unsuccessful license applications over a two-year period before resorting to the federal courts. The district court granted Plaintiff preliminary relief based on the likelihood that it would be successful at trial. Indiana appealed seeking a stay on the relief. Appellate ordered that Indiana should treat Plaintiff as though it were provisionally licensed while the litigation proceeds.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Affirmed. The district court dismissal of a workplace harassment suit was affirmed because after harassment was reported the company swiftly investigated and fired the harasser. No evidence was presented to support allegations of harassment in the victim's subsequent dismissal.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Partially vacated, otherwise affirmed, and remanded. The dismissal of breach of contract claims were vacated, but judgments dismissing civil conspiracy claims and refusal to submit punitive damages claims to a jury were affirmed in a case involving disputes over discounts to charges for physical therapy patients covered by workers' compensation insurance.

(United States Eighth Circuit) - In an action against Missouri Department of Natural Resources officials claiming denial of equal protection, tortious interference with contract, and First Amendment retaliation, partial summary judgment for defendant on the First Amendment claim and judgment pursuant to jury verdict for plaintiff on the tortious-interference claim are affirmed where: 1) plaintiff had no standing to assert the First Amendment claim; 2) defendant's motions for judgment as a matter of law could not be the basis of an appeal; 3) the district court properly refused defendant's "official duties" and "official immunity" instructions; and 4) the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the tortious-interference claim.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a contract and tort action arising from the parties' execution of a Stock Purchase Agreement (SPA), summary judgment for defendant on limitations grounds is reversed where a provision within the SPA permitting the representations and warranties of the parties to survive closing did not unambiguously state the parties' intent to contractually reduce the applicable California statute of limitation to one year.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - In a suit arising out of alleged fraud by officers of a corporation acquired by defendant, a preliminary injunction preventing defendant from proceeding with an arbitration hearing on the fraud claims is affirmed where the merger agreement between the two companies did not mandate arbitration of the types of claims defendant asserted against plaintiffs.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a RICO action alleging injury arising from the activities of an international criminal enterprise, or more specifically, "a massive racketeering scheme to take over a substantial portion of the Russian oil industry", dismissal of the action is affirmed where: 1) the question of the justiciability of the RICO claims was properly one of whether the complaint adequately stated a claim for relief; and 2) because the RICO statute lacked a clear statement of extraterritorial reach, plaintiff's claims were barred.

(United States Second Circuit) - In a RICO action alleging various injuries to plaintiff arising from the activities of defendants' alleged international criminal enterprise, the dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where: 1) the question of the justiciability of the RICO claims is properly one of whether the complaint adequately states a claim for relief; and 2) because the RICO statute lacked a clear statement of extraterritorial reach, plaintiff’s claims are barred.

(United States Second Circuit) - In antitrust dispute arising from a action by plaintiff seeking to prevent defendant-healthcare providers from merging, summary judgment in favor of defendants is affirmed where the district court's conclusion, that the market definition the plaintiff alleged as the basis of its claims is legally deficient, is a discretionary prerogative devoid of abuse.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Held that the City of Chicago violated the Bankruptcy Code's automatic stay when it continued to hold debtors' impounded vehicles until they paid their outstanding parking tickets. The city must return the vehicles to the debtors, the Seventh Circuit concluded in these four consolidated Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases.

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed. Plaintiff appealed from order of the probate court denying their request that special needs trust be distributed to them rather than Department of Health Care Services. Appeals court found Department was entitled to reimbursement for Medi-Cal expenses.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirming the denial of attorney fees and costs to a man who sued claiming that he developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome as the result of a flu vaccination because the Court of Federal Claims correctly concluded that there was no reasonable basis for the claim.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirming that a chemical compound that mirrored a patented chemical compound was encompassed by the description that only portrayed one of the arrangements in the claim.

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirming the trial court's conclusion that Monsanto and others failed to state a claim in a suit where they averred that Proposition 65's reliance on the International Agency for Research on Cancer's determinations about which chemicals cause cancer improperly granted a foreign entity authority over domestic affairs.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirming the dismissal of a declaratory judgment action filed against the producer of several antiviral drugs used in the treatment of AIDS by an organization providing medical care to AIDS sufferers seeking to have patents declared invalid because the action failed to meet the requirements of the Declaratory Judgment Act.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirming in part and reversing in part the inter partes review decision of the US Patent and Trademark Office Patent Trial and Appeal Bard holding claims for methods of distributing nitric oxide gas cylinders for pharmaceutical applications used in treating respiratory failure as unpatentable as obvious because, while the Board didn't err as to most of the rulings, it did as to one.

(United States Federal Circuit) - Affirmed that vaccinations given to an infant did not cause him to develop a seizure condition. The parents of an infant who developed an illness called Dravet syndrome after being vaccinated sued the Secretary of Health and Human Services for compensation under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. Agreeing with the findings of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the Federal Circuit held in a 2-1 decision that the parents failed to show that the infant's injuries were caused by his vaccinations.

(United States Second Circuit) - Held that it was proper to remand to New York state court a case in which a labor union health plan sought disclosure of a patent dispute settlement agreement between pharmaceutical companies and the generic manufacturer of the EpiPen. Affirmed the district court's remand order, in this special proceeding under New York law seeking pre‐action disclosure.

(United States Supreme Court) - Held that an inventor's sale of an invention to a third party who is obligated to keep the invention confidential can qualify as prior art for purposes of determining the patentability of the invention. The dispute here involved two pharmaceutical companies that disagreed about whether a certain drug was under patent; one of the companies wanted to market a generic version of it. Justice Thomas delivered the unanimous opinion.

As the globe contends with the coronavirus pandemic, still looming large now more than ever is the threat posed by Communist China, which is something Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL) warns should not be taken lightly.

Nearly three-fourths of U.S. adults say China bears responsibility for American coronavirus deaths, a Morning Consult tracker poll released Friday revealed.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Reversed the denial of class certification in an action where a healthcare company was accused of unlawfully sending unsolicited faxed advertisements in violation of the U.S. Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The district court denied the motion for class certification on the ground that individual issues would predominate over issues common to the putative class. On an interlocutory appeal, the Ninth Circuit disagreed and remanded for further proceedings.

The Critically-Acclaimed Group Netted The #4 Most Added Spot On The Billboard Mainstream Indicator Chart & Was The #1 Most Added On The Foundations Chart Week

(Supreme Court of California) - Modified a sentence imposed in a capital murder case, on an automatic appeal.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Held that an oil company did not breach its contract with several other oil companies. The dispute arose out of a joint agreement to cooperatively develop oil prospects in Texas. Reversed the judgment below.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Affirmed. An insurer was not liable for contractual and statutory violations arising from the denial of a commercial property insurance claim. The suit was untimely because re-investigation by the insurer did not toll the accrual of the cause of action.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Partially vacated, otherwise affirmed, and remanded. The dismissal of breach of contract claims were vacated, but judgments dismissing civil conspiracy claims and refusal to submit punitive damages claims to a jury were affirmed in a case involving disputes over discounts to charges for physical therapy patients covered by workers' compensation insurance.

Essent Group Ltd. reported net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 of $149.5 million or $1.52 per diluted share, compared to $127.7 million...

Bermuda-based PartnerRe Ltd. reported a net loss attributable to common shareholder of $433 million for the first quarter of 2020. The company said,...

The Critically-Acclaimed Group Netted The #4 Most Added Spot On The Billboard Mainstream Indicator Chart & Was The #1 Most Added On The Foundations Chart Week

(California Court of Appeal) - Held that a real estate firm could not compel arbitration of a home seller's proposed class action lawsuit. The arbitration clause in his residential listing agreement was unenforceable because there was no proof the broker had initialed it. Affirmed the ruling below.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Held that a Houston law firm should be allowed to intervene in a lawsuit to protect its right to a contingent fee. The firm's client and the opposing party had allegedly conspired to cheat it out of its deserved attorney fee for work on a matter involving a foreign arbitral award. Remanded with directions to permit intervention and consider the law firm's claims on the merits.

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed order denying petition to compel arbitration. Plaintiffs attempted to enforce arbitration in an action for elder abuse and wrongful death at a skilled nursing facility. The trial court determined that the successor in interest was bound by the agreement to arbitrate, but the children of the decedent were not so bound. The trial court denied the petition to arbitrate to prevent inconsistent findings if both arbitration and litigation proceeded concurrently. The appeals court agreed.

Faith...from the hyphenated point of view

One might ask what I am doing here, a young Korean-American pastor blogging alongside such well-respected figures as Ed Stetzer and Amy Julia Becker. I’m not sure, but I suspect it’s some kind of mistake. It has something to do with an article I wrote last year for Christianity Today, which was one of the twenty most read articles for that year – number 12 to be exact, ahead of an interview with Billy Graham, but behind an article about Tim Tebow, which is in itself a sad commentary on the state of things. CT editor Mark Galli must have read my piece and assumed that I could write like that all the time, and I didn’t have the heart to tell the poor guy the truth.

Oh well, he’ll realize his mistake soon enough.

All joking aside, I am deeply honored and humbled by this opportunity, and want to use this inaugural post to describe what you might find in this blog. You will often find posts on fatherhood and my life as a pastor, as well as discussions on race and diversity, and the incredibly messy intersection between all of these issues.

But what is more central to this blog is not so much what I write about as the perspective from which I do so. This blog is named “Third Culture”, a term used by sociologists to describe individuals who don’t fit neatly into one cultural category or another, be it ethnically, racially, or culturally. For those kinds of people, they forge for themselves a third culture, a kind of fluid identity which is a fusion of diverse influences and perspectives.

“Third culture” describes my own upbringing and point of view quite well. I am a child of Korean immigrants, and yet cannot speak Korean myself, and last visited that country ...

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We explore what antibody testing is and the potential it has against the coronavirus as UC Davis Health begins testing some of its healthcare workers. Local county leaders check in, and the results of the Next Generation Jazz Festival.

California moves toward Phase 2 in changing its stay-at-home rules. We check in with businesses who could soon reopen their doors. A Sutter Health sleep expert talks odd dreams and interrupted sleep, and an anthem to healthcare workers.

Sound Healthcare & Financial Announced The Formation Of A True Group Health Insurance Policy Plan For Musicians And Industry Professionals

The Critically-Acclaimed Group Netted The #4 Most Added Spot On The Billboard Mainstream Indicator Chart & Was The #1 Most Added On The Foundations Chart Week

(United States Ninth Circuit) - Affirmed. The panel held that even if Plaintiff’s obesity were an impairment under the ADA, or he suffered from a disabling knee condition, he could not show a causal relationship between these impairments and his termination. Summary judgement in favor of the defendant affirmed.

Renowned Group Returns As The Headliner For The British Business Association Of Macau Annual Ball, Which Benefits A Local Scholarship Fund

Thanks to a recent spike in temperatures, Colorado's snowpack has melted unusually quickly in recent weeks, potentially leading to an earlier-than-usual depletion of the water from the snowpack.

Texas-Based Zack Walther Band Corrals Americana/Roots Music Extravaganza On New CD, The Westerner, Releasing October 25

TOM KEIFER’s Highly Anticipated Album RISE With #keiferband Has Garnered Impressive Debuts On Various Billboard Charts.

(US 4th Circuit) - No. 19-1369

Colorado Republican Party Chair Ken Buck, a U.S. representative from Windsor, pressured a local party official to submit incorrect election results to set the primary ballot for a state Senate seat, according to an audio recording of a conference call obtained by The Denver Post.

Colorado Republican Chairman Ken Buck is facing criticism from within his own party after revelations that he pressured another party official to submit incorrect election results — and then spent party money to defend the move. At least two party executives say they were surprised to learn Buck — who’s also a U.S. representative — […]

(United States Third Circuit) - Affirmed that a broker-dealer was required to arbitrate a customer's claim. The broker-dealer had placed a contractual clause in its agreement with an institutional customer stating that the customer must bring any claims arising out of their agreement in a particular federal court. Splitting from several other circuits on the enforceability of such forum-selection clauses, the Third Circuit held that the clause was unenforceable because it would circumvent Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Rule 12200. The panel therefore affirmed an order compelling the broker-dealer to submit to FINRA arbitration.