The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit  ruled  Tuesday that Uber Technologies Inc.  can require arbitration in a lawsuit brought by former and current Uber drivers over Uber’s classification of the drivers as independent contractors. The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued that the arbitration agreements were unenforceable because the lead plaintiffs opted out of arbitration [...]

The number of violent crimes in the US dropped by 0.7 percent and property crimes dropped by 3 percent, according to the FBI’s 2017 crime statistics  released Monday. Violent crimes include murder and non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, and property crimes includes offenses of burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft and arson. The report reflects  data [...]

Qualcomm , a producer of processing chipsets, on Tuesday accused Apple of engaging in a years-long scheme to steal Qualcomm’s corporate secrets surrounding its chip-making process in order to pass them along to Intel, a main competitor of Qualcomm and the current supplier of processing chips found in many Apple products. In the original complaint, [...]

Lambda Legal filed a complaint in US District Court on Tuesday against the Social Security Administration in response to the agency’s denial of benefits to the surviving partner of a lesbian couple. The plaintiff in the case, Helen Thornton, applied for survivor benefits in 2015. Despite extensive documentation of the 27-year relationship between Thornton and [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Court on Monday blocked a lower court ruling  that expanded the types of documents voters could use to prove their identity for elections in North Dakota, siding with state officials over Native American tribal members. North Dakota’s legislature passed a law in 2017 that required voters to [...]

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Monday reversed a district court order that required the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)  to dig up and remove a large amount of coal ash at one of its power plants, holding that the Clean Water Act (CWA) does not regulate pollutants that reach navigable waters through [...]

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow older victims of childhood sexual abuse more time to seek legal redress. The legislation would lift a limitation for accusers over the age of 30 from seeking legal action for abuses suffered when they were children. The bill also lifts entirely the [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the District of Montana, ruled  Monday that a US Fish & Wildlife Service decision to remove protections on the grizzly bear in the greater Yellowstone area was arbitrary and capricious and could impact the lower states’ grizzly populations. Conservation groups and local tribes brought the suit after [...]

Egypt’s highest court, the Court of Cassation , on Monday upheld death sentences for 20 individuals previously convicted  of a fatal attack on a local police station in August 2013. The incident stemmed from a pro-Muslim Brotherhood  demonstration outside the capital, in which armed forces killed hundreds. Earlier this month another Egyptian court sentenced 75 people to [...]

Amnesty International wrote a letter  to US senators on Monday asking them to postpone the vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh . Amnesty wants to halt the vote  on Kavanaugh’s nomination until information regarding his alleged involvement with human rights violations post 9/11 are disclosed to the public. Amnesty’s Executive Director Margaret Huang wrote: Amnesty [...]