What You Need To Know About Google Maps & AR Technology

Google's ARCore has made it possible for developers across the globe to “blend the virtual and the real more seamlessly,” improving the way people lead their lives and how businesses operate. Google Maps is the search engine’s flagship navigational tool and its latest development is to use augmented reality (AR) to make it simpler for people to get from one place to the next – so long as they have an ARCore friendly smartphone. Below, I’ve explained what you need to know about Google Maps AR facelift and how it benefits people and businesses alike.

What new features is AR bringing to Google Maps?

Satellite navigation systems for vehicles have long used arrows to help guide drivers to their destination. The addition of AR to Google Maps uses the same principle to help you travel, with arrows overlaid on an augmented view of the street in front of you. These arrows direct you along your journey and keep you on track as you walk. Google initially trialled using a blue line like that currently used by Google Maps, with AR putting a path in front of you to follow. This idea was scrapped after testing showed that people tried to stand on the line when they walked, making it more difficult to follow the route planned by Google Maps.

Why Google Maps is being given an AR technology facelift

Since being launched in February 2005, Google Maps has become one of the go-to tools for people on the move, shoppers who want a local business, and companies seeking to attract customers to their stores. 2019 sees Google Maps being given a facelift that will make it even more useful by adding AR functionality that will alter the way people navigate. Google Maps brings together GPS and Google Street View to give you an AR view of your journey, instead of the existing dot on a map. To access the AR function in Google Maps you open the tool, put in your destination, hit the walking icon, and then select Start AR. So far, only people with Google Pixel phones are able to use the AR capability of Google Maps and this is only when they are outside. This is because the technology works via your smartphone camera’s capacity for recognizing street signs and landmarks – meaning that it needs an area that has good lighting and is found in Google Street View. AR & VPS combining to tackle the shortcomings of GPS Google has been clear about its reason for adding AR to Google Maps – the existing GPS method of guidance isn’t accurate enough. Google’s response is to combine AR with Visual Positioning Service (VPS), machine learning and machine learning technology – a technique which Google calls global localization. GPS uses radio signals from satellites to find your location and then map out a route to get to your destination. GPS works so long as there is a clear signal, but in urban areas (such as large cities) the signal can be hindered, disrupted, or obscured by buildings and pollution. In addition to this, GPS is unable to determine the orientation of your mobile which can make Google Map’s readings off by 180 degrees. What this all means is that Google Maps cannot always give you accurate readings while being led by GPS. The result of this is that your location may not be recorded correctly and you might not be taken to the right destination. Global localization uses your smartphone as a sensor to produce an AR rendering of your journey that is based on images with defined locations, rather GPS signals. This removes the problem of radio signals being obscured by busy locations, making Google’s AR upgrade a more accurate way of getting to your destination.

What do businesses need to know about Google Maps’ AR tech?   

As I explained earlier in this article, Google’s AR tech is going to give people more accurate recordings of their locations and will be able to be more precise when mapping out a route to their destination. This is because Google Maps will now use buildings, street signs, and landmarks to show people where they are and where they want to go. However, more accurate readings are not the only result of Google Maps’ AR tech. The upgrade will also impact businesses that use local SEO as part of their tactic for driving traffic to their websites.

Local SEO is one of the best ways a business can use Google Maps

Local SEO is used by businesses to rank in search results for local and regional topics, making it ideal for service-based businesses such as florists, salons, coffee shops, plumbers, and restaurants to appeal to customers. There is a range of tactics used in local SEO which can help businesses to boost their ranking.

Optimizing for near me searches

‘Near Me’ searches are “a curated list of search engine results tailored toward local intent searches.” What this means is that businesses optimize their websites to include terms like “florists near me” or “restaurants near me.”

Securing online reviews

Why are online reviews important to local SEO? It’s simple: “Local search engines love online reviews for one reason: Consumers love online reviews.” Securing online reviews is also a simpler process than businesses might fear and there are a number of tactics they can use to get them:

• Publishing existing customer reviews
• Giving customers an incentive to post a review – such as a discount
• Asking customers to leave a review

Consistent Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP)

NAP is part of the process of setting up a Google My Business account. When businesses create an account they are asked to include as much information as possible, to make it simpler for people to find the business and demonstrate to Google that the company is authentic. Businesses must make sure that the information included on their GMB account is consistent with the data entered elsewhere online (such as social media accounts) – failing to do this will lower the credibility of the business, resulting in a rankings penalty from Google. Addition of AR to Google Maps means businesses need to optimize for landmarks Google’s AR facelift won’t make existing local SEO tactics redundant but it will require businesses to make some tweaks to their strategy. The addition of AR to Google Maps means that businesses will need to optimize for landmarks if they want to keep an up-to-date local SEO strategy, as Search Engine Watch explains: “As Google Maps’ AR looks to make increasing use of non-transient structures and landmarks, it might be good practice for businesses to make it more of a point to rank for key terms related to these landmarks.” This means businesses will have to add local buildings and landmarks to their keyword strategy to optimize effectively for ‘Near Me’ searches. But not only that, but businesses will also need to ensure that their online and real-world branding is consistent, that their Google My Business profile is up-to-date, and that their websites are optimized for local searches. Google Maps is already used by billions of people across the globe to help them navigate, and by countless businesses that wish to rank in local searches. Will the addition of AR to Google Maps make it more popular for users? Perhaps. And will AR create more work for businesses? Absolutely. However, the results can be positive for both companies and users, as Google Maps’ AR technology is set to make it easier for people to find what they want and for businesses to direct them there. Edward Lott, Ph.D., M.B.A. President and Managing Partner BusinessCreator, Inc. Ed can be reached at edl@businesscreatorplus.com 855-943-8736 610-437-8822 www.BusinessCreatorPlus.com

https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-google-maps-ar-technology/

New Hampshire repeals death penalty; its last execution was in 1939

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Death Penalty

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 30, 2019, 3:32 pm CDT

Image from Shutterstock.com.

New Hampshire is the 21st state to abolish the death penalty. The state Senate voted Thursday to override the governor’s veto of a bill to repeal capital punishment, report the Washington Post, the Concord Monitor and New Hampshire Public Radio. The state House voted last week to override the veto. New Hampshire was the last state in New England with capital punishment still on the books. The Washington Post called the repeal of the death penalty “largely symbolic, because New Hampshire has neither an active death penalty system nor any executions on the horizon.” Only one person is on death row in the state, and there are no imminent plans to execute him because the state has no lethal injection drugs. The last execution in the state was 1939. The death-row inmate, Michael Addison, was sentenced more than a decade ago for killing a police officer. New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu vetoed the death-penalty repeal earlier this month at a facility named for the officer. In a statement Thursday, Sununu said he was “incredibly disappointed” by the veto override. The repeal affects cases going forward and does not apply to Addison. Twenty-nine states still have the death penalty, but the number of actual executions is declining. New Hampshire was one of 11 states that still had the death penalty but hadn’t carried it out in more than a decade, according to a March article by the Pew Research Center. The other states were Kansas (last execution in 1965); Wyoming (1992); Colorado and Oregon (1997); Pennsylvania (1999); California, Montana, Nevada and North Carolina (2006); and Kentucky (2008). The last federal execution was in 2003. States that regularly execute people include Texas, Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Cases in Alabama, Texas and Missouri have divided the Supreme Court this term, according to stories in the ABA Journal and ABAJournal.com. According to the article by University of California at Berkeley law dean Erwin Chemerinsky, four justices believe the death penalty is cruel and unusual. Five justices with the opposite view want to reduce obstacles to its implementation. And justices on both sides are writing opinions “with a passion that is relatively unusual for Supreme Court opinions,” he writes.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/new-hampshire-repeals-death-penalty-its-last-execution-was-in-1939/

Judicial immunity protects judge who was recorded disparaging lawyers, 6th Circuit says

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Judiciary

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 30, 2019, 2:56 pm CDT

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A Michigan state judge caught on a recording disparaging two lawyers has immunity in their suit alleging a conspiracy with opposing counsel, a federal appeals court has ruled. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Cincinnati ruled Tuesday that the actions of Judge Paul Hamre did not fit within either of two exceptions to judicial immunity. Hamre, who’s a judge in Van Buren County, announced his retirement from the bench a month after the May 2013 incident. Hamre made the remarks at the end of a telephone status conference, according to the 6th Circuit opinion. The lawyers for the plaintiffs in a collection action, Donovan and Donald Visser, participated by phone, while the defense lawyers were in chambers with Hamre. Donovan Visser is Donald Visser’s son, according to an August 2013 story by MLive.com. They represented a company called HLV that was seeking to collect a $600,000 debt from a storage trailer company. At the end of the conference, one of the lawyers on the phone hung up, making a clicking noise. Hamre and the two defense lawyers in his chambers—Gary Stewart and Kelly Page—apparently thought all the other callers were off the line, Judge John Nalbandian wrote in his opinion for the 6th Circuit. Two unidentified speakers in chambers used obscenities to describe Donovan and Donald Visser, and Hamre expressed agreement, according to the opinion. According to a later lawsuit filed by HLV, one speaker “called Donald Visser a f- - -ing d- -khead,” and a speaker “called Donovan Visser a f- - -ing d- - -.” Hamre agreed that “his son is even worse,” the suit says. Hamre also discussed the collection case, telling the defense attorneys that their client did not have to transfer all 600 trailers to the Vissers’ client as called for in an initial settlement agreement that was later amended. At one point, Hamre’s assistant told the judge that she received a report from HLV detailing the status of the trailers, but Hamre told her to “throw it in the garbage.” Hamre said he intended to tell HLV at an upcoming hearing that he was extending an injunction that favored the defense. The 6th Circuit decision upholds Hamre’s dismissal from an HLV suit claiming a RICO conspiracy. HLV’s amended suit claimed that Page, Stewart and their law firm conspired with Hamre to violate HLV’s constitutional rights. The suit alleged that the defense lawyers and their firm gave Hamre office space and Florida vacations to influence his decisions, according to the 6th Circuit opinion. Defendants named in the initial suit had called it “a study in defamation” that “reads less like a pleading filed in federal court than it does poorly written fiction,” according to prior news coverage by MLive.com. The only defendant who wasn’t dismissed from HLV’s suit was Stewart. Jurors found a conspiracy but awarded only $1 in nominal damages. Jurors did not award punitive damages because they found that Stewart’s conduct was not motivated by evil motive and did not reflect indifference to the plaintiffs’ due process rights. The 6th Circuit decision affirming Hamre’s dismissal from the case also upheld rulings by the trial judge challenged by HLV. The Michigan Attorney Discipline Board affirmed reprimands for Stewart, Page and Hamre in July 2017. Hat tip to Law360.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/judicial-immunity-protects-judge-who-was-recorded-disparaging-lawyers-6th-circuit-says/

Assistance from Assistants — Local Business Get Ready to Accept Calls from Google Assistant

May 31, 2019 | Contributed by: Shashi Bellamkonda

In May of 2018, Google announced a new voice technology that helps consumers call a business called Google Duplex. I have been an enthusiast of Google devices and an ardent fan of Google Fi (Google’s MVNO — cell phone service) and my Google Pixel phone. For the past few months callers to my cell phone have been subject to the calls being answered by my Google Assistant. It does a good job, and most of the time spam callers drop off, but my genuine contacts are surprised at the ease of the conversation. AI i.e Google Assistant making calls is not a far away dream but a reality if you own a Google pixel device. This month, Google rolled out the service to 43 cities where you can use Google Assistant on Google’s Pixel, Pixel 2 or Pixel 3 series phones to make restaurant reservations. To opt into the program, local businesses will see a new option within their Google My Business profile settings asking them if they will accept calls from Google Assistant. My recommendation is to accept this setting, as I am pretty sure the Google Assistant will do a better job than my calling your business with my thick Southern accent. This is just another way Google is trying to help people connect quicker with local businesses without any middleware. It’s also very easy. Simply say, “Ok, Google” and you are off to the races to book a table and possibly call your other favorite local businesses. I anticipate that this assistant feature will roll out to other Google Smart devices like Google Home, Google Smart Display and Google Hub. Let us know if you have opted in to receive calls from AI. To opt-in to this feature, marketers can go to the info section of a Google My Business profile and check the box in the section “Google Assistant Calls.” Once you do this, try calling the business. Until now we have heard that the top voice query has been, “Call mom.” Will that give way to “Call curry in a hurry?”

https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/assistance-from-assistants-local-business-get-ready-to-accept-calls-from-google-assistant/

Attacked by Negative SEO? Lost Rankings? Read This via @martinibuster

Someone asked me about using the disavow tool to combat negative SEO and regain lost rankings. The following is a detailed explanation of what is typically involved with finding a solution for a negative SEO attack.

Disavow Tool of Limited Usefulness

John Mueller posted in Reddit that many inside Google feel that the disavow tool is not necessary. The reason is because they feel that Google’s already discounting spammy or irrelevant links. The tool isn’t contributing to a solution since the links are already being ignored. That’s also the reason why Google purposely makes the tool hard to find, because they feel it’s not necessary. John Mueller said that explicitly, that Google purposely makes the disavow tool difficult to find. Google actively discourages the use of the disavow tool and the ONLY reason it exists is because the SEO community BEGGED Google for a disavow tool. Google resisted offering a disavow tool, but after several months relented and offered it. The tool is not something Google forced on SEOs. The tool is something SEOs begged Google to provide. As it stands, Googlers have repeatedly stated that the proper use of the disavow tool is when you know you have bad links, as in you’re responsible for them. Googlers do not encourage publishers to use the disavow tool to fight negative SEO. Why would they? Googler’s don’t even believe in negative SEO. References: Google’s John Mueller on How to Use Disavow Tool – Two More Times Google Discourages Use of Disavow Tool. Unless You Know the Bad Links

Googler Gary Illyes Has Never Seen a Real Case of Negative SEO

I recently wrote this (citation below):

“Gary Illyes stated at PubCon Florida 2019 that out of hundreds of negative SEO reports he has examined, none of them were real. The reason the sites experienced ranking drops were due to other reasons. Gary affirmed that they’re making real-time Penguin even better but that publishers should not worry about spam links or perceived negative SEO attacks. Gary specifically mentioned adult links as nothing to be worried about.”

References: Why are Googlers So Confident About Link Spam? Google’s John Mueller on Disavow Tool – FULL TRANSCRIPT How Negative SEO Shaped Disavow Tool

Do Link Related Penalties Exist?

Yes, link related penalties still exist. But no, random low quality scraper links don’t cause penalties. Google is ignoring low quality links. Link related manual actions are real and they are still happening. It “seems” like there have been a lot of link related manual actions handed out from March through April 2019. There was quite a bit of chatter about those in Google Webmaster Forums, as well as publishers coming to me for help in removing those penalties. I believe that understanding link distance ranking algorithms could help people better understand why Google is so confident about their ability to neutralize low quality links. Link distance ranking algorithms are among the newest techniques for analyzing links in a search engine. Google and other researchers have published research papers and patents about it. Reading about these algorithms may help publishers gain an understanding of why Google is so confident about being able to neutralize the influence of low quality links. Reference: Link Distance Ranking Algorithms

Is Negative SEO Real?

I believe that what some people regard as negative SEO is not really negative SEO. Many sites accumulate low quality links, including adult type links. It’s a normal pattern on the web. Spammers (and white hat SEOs) believe that linking out to high quality sites will help their sites appear less spammy. But if you have just a little understanding of link analysis, then you’ll know that the search engines are not only two steps ahead of that practice, they’re actually about a thousand miles ahead. Is it possible to negative SEO? I believe it is possible, but not in the way that people currently think it’s done. I don’t dare share any more details than that. I believe that negative SEO is a convenient scapegoat to avoid acknowledging problems with site itself. Many have approached me about negative SEO that could not be resolved through the disavow tool. A review has often revealed that the problem was within the site and not due to negative SEO.

Scapegoats and Red Herrings

I’ve been approached by people who claim to be affected by Negative SEO and upload huge disavow lists every month. Yet they never, never find relief, their rankings never improve. That’s like rubbing olive oil on your broken arm with the belief that if you keep on rubbing it just a little more the arm will heal. But it never heals because rubbing it does nothing. Everybody’s baby is beautiful and well behaved to the parent. The baby is perceived differently by everybody else. The real problem affecting the site tends to become more evident to someone looking at the site from the outside.

Negative SEO: The Takeaway

If your disavows aren’t working, if your rankings aren’t returning, then you should stop and consider that the real problem is something else. If disavowing low quality links does not work, the solution is to acknowledge that the problem lies elsewhere. The real problem is likely in the website itself, not outside of it. Acknowledging this reality is to take the first step toward correcting the real problem that’s affecting your rankings.

https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/attacked-by-negative-seo-lost-rankings-read-this-via-martinibuster/

Which fictional lawyer do you think is most true to life?

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Question of the Week

By Stephen Rynkiewicz

May 30, 2019, 1:45 pm CDT

As television’s Perry Mason, Raymond Burr was a master at compelling testimony. In real life, cross-examination doesn’t tend to lead to confession. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Three novels were named in May as finalists in the 2019 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. Each has a lawyer guiding the action. It’s quite a group of protagonists: a Sri Lankan-Canadian immigration attorney, a retired curmudgeon who lectures the neighbor kids on Goss v. Lopez, and a pioneering female practitioner in colonial India. Many practitioners have their favorite legal characters, from Harper Lee’s own Atticus Finch, to the white-shoe lawyers of Louis Auchincloss, to Erle Stanley Gardner’s stolid solo Perry Mason, to the idealistic champions of John Grisham. But knowing what lawyers know, sometimes it’s hard to suspend disbelief while following a legal narrative. Could real lawyers get away with the same courtroom maneuvers? How do they always outmaneuver witnesses? Would partners really rally behind the hero, or back-stab so flagrantly? Why aren’t associates doing all the work? This week, we’d like to ask: Which fictional lawyer do you think is most true to life? Choose your hero from books, stage, screen or video, and tell us which ones ring true. Answer in the comments on our social media channels via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Journal readers can also choose their favorite in the final round of Harper Lee Prize judging. They can also enter the Journal’s short-story contest, the Ross Writing Contest for Legal Short Fiction, which has a June 1 deadline. Check out last week’s question: What’s your best presentation skills tip? And view some of last week’s answers from Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Featured answer: Posted by Monica Sandler on LinkedIn: “Don’t put every word you plan to say on the slide. No one will read any of it.” Do you have an idea for a future Question of the Week? If so, contact us. 25 Greatest Fictional Lawyers

25. Jonathan Wilk, Compulsion

Creator: Meyer Levin NOVEL/FILM Based on Clarence Darrow’s defense of Leopold and Loeb, Orson Welles argues against the death penalty for two privileged young men who committed a horrific murder of a young boy.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/which-fictional-lawyer-do-you-think-is-most-true-to-life/

Smith and Nephew SMF and Redapt Modular Hip Implant Recall

In what has become an alarming trend in drug and medical device manufacturing, Smith and Nephew felt compelled to copycat other hip implant manufacturers and market a pair of dual modular hip stems. This trend is alarming because it is yet another example of marketing and fierce competition in the orthopedic manufacturing community driving the innovation bus as opposed to trying to meet a true need. Companies continue to dream up reasons why new products are necessary and then when the products fail, hide behind claims the market demanded them. This behavior consistently gets companies in big trouble, frequently at the expense of injured consumers. The drug and medical device industries are addicted to innovation for innovation’s sake.

The Story Starts With Cremascoli

In this instance, Wright Medical Inc. purchased older technology from an Italian company named Cremascoli. In 1987, Patrizio Cremascoli patented one of the first dual modular femoral stems. Dual modularity refers to the femoral stem being manufactured in two pieces as opposed to one. Dual modular stems have a separate femoral neck component that is inserted into the stem. Traditionally, the femoral stem and neck were, and continue today, to be one piece. Dual modularity was supposed to, in theory, provide surgeons with the ability to more closely reproduce the patient’s native anatomy by supplying different, interchangeable neck options of varying lengths and offsets. This was supposed to improve device performance and patient outcomes. Despite the fact the Cremascoli design met mixed reviews in Europe, Wright purchased the technology and in 2002 introduced its Profemur Z in the United States. It was the first dual modular femoral stem in the U.S. domestic market. As is par for the course, Zimmer, Stryker and Smith and Nephew all quickly jumped on the band wagon and began developing a copycat dual modular stem. This despite the fact reports began circulating that Wright’s Profemur was prone to neck fracture. Of course, if another company offered a product they didn’t, they would lose precious market share. By 2008, both Stryker and Smith and Nephew had obtained regulatory clearance to market dual modular stems. In Stryker’s case, the Rejuvenate and ABG II were developed and sold. The SMF and Redapt stems were Smith and Nephew’s version of the dual modular stem.

A Material Difference

Raw titanium.

Unlike Wright Medical, and likely due to reported stem fractures, Stryker and Smith and Nephew manufactured their modular necks out of chromium/cobalt allow where Wright had used titanium. Chrome/cobalt alloys are much stronger than titanium. However, in doing so, both companies ignored years of reported medical literature about the use of mixed metals at critical interfaces between component parts. Since the neck inserts into the stem and obtains fixation through a press-fit Morse taper junction, the mixed metals contact one another at a point of intense stress. Micromotion between the two components is inevitable. With motion comes fretting and with fretting comes corrosion. When corrosion takes place, toxic metal wear byproducts are released into the surrounding tissue. All this was well known and contained in the published literature. Not surprisingly, by 2012 in Stryker’s case and 2016 in Smith and Nephew’s, their dual modular hips had failed at such alarmingly high rates the companies issued voluntary recalls of the Rejuvenate, ABGII, SMF and Redapt stems. In both instances, patients were being forced to undergo premature, unnecessary revision surgery due to metal wear toxicity. The irony of the entire dual modular story is the publication of several medical studies concluding after extensive study that dual modular technology does not improve implant performance or patient outcome over traditional one-piece stems. What a shock. The widespread adoption of technology that was never needed in the first place. Will it ever end?

Justice Served?

In some sense, justice has been served. Both Stryker and Wright have collectively paid several billion dollars in settlements and judgments because they marketed these devices. Along the way, thousands of victims suffered and continue to suffer disability due to these devices. The moral of this story is that existing hip implant designs are robust and mature. There are, and have been, perfectly acceptable, well performing devices available for many years. Beware innovation and steer clear of any hip implant design or device that is marketed as being the next greatest thing. Ask your physician questions. Find out what he or she intends to put in your body. Having now represented well over a thousand hip implant patients, my advice is to find a competent surgeon who intends to implant a one-piece titanium stem, ceramic head, highly crosslinked polyethylene liner and one-piece titanium acetabular shell. That is your best bet for a pain free, mobile, happy outcome.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/smith-and-nephew-smf-and-redapt-modular-hip-implant-recall/

Bud Light ads can’t mention rival beers and corn syrup without these qualifying words

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Advertising Law

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 29, 2019, 3:08 pm CDT

A federal judge in Madison, Wisconsin, is barring Anheuser-Busch, the maker of Bud Light, from running advertisements that fail to give context to its ad claims about rival MillerCoors’ Miller Lite and Coors Light using corn syrup in brewing its beers. U.S. District Judge William Conley partly granted a preliminary injunction sought by MillerCoors in its false advertising suit over commercials proclaiming that Bud Light does not use corn syrup. The Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal have stories; a MillerCoors press release and the May 24 opinion are here and here. Anheuser-Busch had launched its corn syrup campaign with a Super Bowl ad in which the Bud Light King rejects a delivery of corn syrup because it is not used in making its beer. MillerCoors’ suit, filed in March, stressed that corn syrup is used as a fermentation aid, and it is broken down and consumed by yeast. There is no corn syrup in the finished product, nor is there any high-fructose corn syrup used at any stage of the brewing process, the suit said. Bud Light uses rice in place of corn syrup, although some other Anheuser-Busch products use corn syrup for fermentation. Conley said Anheuser-Busch can’t make statements about corn syrup in its advertising without the words brewed with, made with or uses. The ads cannot say corn syrup is an ingredient that’s “in” the finished product. Nor can the company run ads saying that Bud Light contains “100% less corn syrup.” The injunction applies to commercials, print ads and social media. The ad that ran during the Super Bowl uses the required phrases and is not banned by the injunction. Conley cited an opinion by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Chicago that said the federal ban on “misleading” ad claims should not be interpreted to include factual propositions that are susceptible to misunderstanding. Conley also said the 7th Circuit hasn’t accepted MillerCoors’ theory that an advertiser’s intent can be used to help determine whether an ad is misleading. MillerCoors had alleged that there was an intent to deceive, illustrated by comments made by Anheuser-Busch officials in trade publications.

The officials had said consumers don’t differentiate between high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup, and consumers prefer to avoid corn syrup. Conley said 7th Circuit guidance would be appreciated if there is an appeal of his ruling. Absent that guidance, Conley said he was unwilling “to rely on intent as the hook” to ban truthful statements about beers being made with, brewed with or using corn syrup. “Because all advertising seems to be an effort to exploit consumer likes and dislikes, interests and fears, applying the Lanham Act to neutral, truthful statements intended to exploit or take advantage of consumer beliefs is problematic, especially in light of the arguable value of comparative advertisements in promoting intelligent consumer decision-making,” Conley wrote.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/bud-light-ads-cant-mention-rival-beers-and-corn-syrup-without-these-qualifying-words/

Nearing his 100th birthday, former district attorney says it’s too late to retire

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Careers

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 29, 2019, 1:24 pm CDT

Former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau is nearing his 100th birthday, but he still continues to work at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Morgenthau told the New York Law Journal that it’s too late to retire. “My grandfather used to say opportunity comes to everyone. The secret is to recognize it and not let it go by. I didn’t recognize the opportunity and let it go,” he told the New York Law Journal. The opportunity to retire came “at age 65 or 70,” but he doesn’t regret passing it up. “It’s always been a pleasure for me to go to work,” he said. Eight events are happening to celebrate Morgenthau’s birthday, including a June 17 celebration by the Manhattan District Attorneys’ Association. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who once worked as a prosecutor for Morgenthau, is expected to be there. Others who worked for Morgenthau include Gov. Andrew Cuomo, John F. Kennedy Jr., Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cyrus Vance Jr. Morgenthau supervised 3.5 million prosecutions between taking office in 1975 and leaving in 2009, the New York Times reported in 2016. The New York Post reported in October that Morgenthau was advising on immigrant deportation cases through Wachtell Lipton and a law fellowship program that he helped found called the Immigrant Justice Corps. Morgenthau told the New York Law Journal that he hopes to help young lawyers understand the plight of immigrants and the less fortunate. “I remind them what immigrants did for New York and the nation and how important it is to welcome immigrants as part of our tradition and not turn them away,” he said.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/nearing-his-100th-birthday-former-district-attorney-says-its-too-late-to-retire/

SCOTUS to consider implied right to sue in case of Mexican boy shot and killed by US border guard

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U.S. Supreme Court

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 28, 2019, 12:22 pm CDT

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The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider once again whether the family of a Mexican teen has an implied right to sue in U.S. courts for his fatal cross-border shooting by a U.S. Border Patrol agent. The high court granted cert in the case of Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, who was 15 when he was shot and killed in June 2010 by an agent on the Texas side of the border. The Supreme Court had returned the case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans for further review in 2017. On remand, the 5th Circuit ruled that Hernandez’s family could not sue. The 9th Circuit at San Francisco reached the opposite result in a similar case involving a Border Patrol agent in Arizona. In the Texas case, the U.S. Border Patrol had said Hernandez was throwing rocks to distract agents from an immigrant smuggling operation. The family’s lawyer said he was playing a game with friends in which they dared each other to run up a culvert incline, touch the border fence, then run back to the bottom of the culvert. The Supreme Court agreed to consider the first issue in the cert petition, which asks whether federal courts should recognize a Bivens claim for damages for alleged violations of the teen’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. A Bivens remedy is named for a case that found an implied right of action to sue federal officials who violate the constitutional ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. The Supreme Court “has grown increasingly uneasy” with the Bivens decision, “and it has cautioned that the decision should not lightly be extended to new contexts,” the New York Times reported last summer in a story on the conflicting 5th and 9th Circuit rulings. “The Supreme Court itself has extended the Bivens decision only twice, most recently 38 years ago,” the New York Times reported. The case before the Supreme Court is Hernandez v. Mesa. The SCOTUSblog case page is here. The Washington Post and USA Today have coverage of the cert grant. See also: ABAJournal.com: “Court to decide whether Constitution grants protections to Mexican boy killed by US border guard” ABAJournal.com: “Supreme Court to consider suit over border agent’s shooting of teen on Mexican side of the border”

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/scotus-to-consider-implied-right-to-sue-in-case-of-mexican-boy-shot-and-killed-by-us-border-guard/

Google has fixed the indexing issue from Thursday night

Google has confirmed today that it has fixed the indexing issue that began on Thursday night. Search Engine Land was first to report the new issue of new content not being indexed by Google. The indexing issue. Later Google confirmed the issue on Friday morning saying “We’re looking into a new indexing issue that started escalating 6 hours ago. The issue is unrelated to yesterday’s outage and we’re working hard to resolve it. We’ll update this thread when we can provide more information.”

We're looking into a new indexing issue that started escalating 6 hours ago. The issue is unrelated to yesterday's outage and we're working hard to resolve it. We'll update this thread when we can provide more information.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) May 24, 2019

Fixed. Two and a half days later, Google confirmed the issue has now been resolved. It did seem Google mostly fixed the issue on Friday but Google didn’t confirm the issue to be fully fixed until today. Google said “This issue has been resolved — thanks for your patience! Wishing you all a great week.”

This issue has been resolved — thanks for your patience! Wishing you all a great week.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) May 26, 2019

More details. Danny Sullivan from Google told us Friday afternoon that the issue was mostly resolved but not fully resolved. “I believe it’s related to picking up fresh content because as you saw from the reports, this we’re time restricted,” Danny added. He also said this was different from the previous indexing issue, he said “but it’s a different issue that’s causing that versus the one earlier this week.” Previous indexing issues. Google had an indexing issue with new content on May 22nd and resolved that on May 23rd. It is believes that specific issue was an issue with Google’s indexing queue being backlogged and having to clear out. It is not clear why this new issue was different. Just last month, Google was plagued with de-indexing issues across the Google index. The Search Console reports had lost data as a result and the cache is not right. In addition, Google had an issue with selecting the right canonical URL and also had an indexing issue with Google News. It has been a tough couple of months for Google search. Why we should care. If your site depends on getting traffic for breaking news, fresh content or needed old URLs refreshed yesterday – you were kind of out of luck. It is amazing how dependent so many sites are on Google for a traffic source. Of course, this is where you want your other traffic sources to step up, including social media, direct traffic, email, ads and more. So make sure you diversify your traffic sources as best as you can.

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About The Author

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.

https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/google-has-fixed-the-indexing-issue-from-thursday-night/

Why You Need a Bilingual Call Answering Service

One of the strengths of America, as a nation, is its diversity. The country is comprised of millions of individuals representing a myriad of different races, ethnicities and cultures.According to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau (2016), more than 21 percent of the nation’s population ages 5 and older speak a language other than English at home. For companies in all industries, including law, this represents both a challenge and an opportunity. Because of that statistic, a large portion of your client pool may speak a different native language and, without providing the right services to connect with them, you can miss out on the chance to develop meaningful and valuable professional relationships.

Benefits of a Bilingual Call Answering Service

Being able to communicate in a prospective or existing client’s native language can have a positive impact on your firm, both directly and indirectly. One communication solution to help your company move toward that goal is a bilingual call answering service, which provides value in numerous ways, including:

1. Removing the language barrier

Effective communication is a necessary component when it comes to serving your clients. While many people may speak English in addition to their native language, they likely will feel more comfortable, welcomed, and empowered if communication transpires in their first language. A bilingual answering service removes any barrier language present so both parties are able to connect and effectively communicate with one another. From a financial perspective, this service also helps expand the market and gives you access to clients you might not have otherwise, making it a worthwhile investment for any law firm.

2. Building client loyalty and retention

Offering services in multiple languages is also a demonstration of respect and proof that you value all your clients and seek to serve them in the best way possible. By showing respect and concern, you can build trust with clients, giving them an important and personal reason to be loyal to your firm and use your services in the future. They don’t have to worry about whether one of their basic customer needs – the ability to communicate and be understood – will be met.

3. Driving more business

Another benefit of having robust, positive relationships with your existing clients is your firm will then top their list when others ask them for referrals. All it takes is one negative experience to ruin someone’s perception, and not offering the right tools and services for a diverse clientele has that potential. However, clients who are satisfied with the service they received, thanks to bilingual support, will feel confident passing along your name to their personal network and fellow community members. Over time, that relationship-building translates into a positive professional reputation and increased revenue.

4. Saving on staffing costs

By using a bilingual answering service, you can channel all non-English communication through one source, negating the necessity for all your staff members to be fluent in multiple languages. Instead, you can retain one or two team members who possess that valuable skill and can communicate with bilingual clients once they sign on. This saves time for everyone, and as is the case in most businesses, time is money.

A Valuable Communication Solution

Don’t miss out on an opportunity to bolster your professional reputation, serve your client base more efficiently, and expand your clientele. With a tool as simple yet important as a bilingual call answering service, such as that provided by Alert Communications, you can provide adequate support to the diverse individuals who utilize your firm and draw in new ones by giving them a useful channel for communication.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/why-you-need-a-bilingual-call-answering-service/

Federalist Society’s Leonard Leo helped raise $250M to promote judges and causes

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Lobbying & Legislation

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 23, 2019, 7:30 am CDT

Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society, has had a visible role recommending conservative nominees for the federal bench. But his influence extends further, the Washington Post reports. Leo “is the maestro of a network of interlocking nonprofits working on media campaigns and other initiatives to sway lawmakers by generating public support for conservative judges,” according to the report. In that role, Leo and his allies have helped the outside nonprofits raise $250 million between 2014 and 2017 from mostly secret donors to promote conservative judges and causes, according to a Washington Post summary of five takeaways from the article. The nonprofits did not have to disclose donors under IRS rules. The nonprofits often share board members, administrative support, addresses and phone numbers. Nine of the groups hired the same media relations firm to support the nomination of then-Supreme Court justice nominee Neil M. Gorsuch through coordinated pundit appearances, op-eds, online videos and expert comments. Another group, Independent Women’s Voice, supported then-Supreme Court justice nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh after receiving more than $4 million from the Freedom and Opportunity Fund, a group that names Leo as its president. Leo is president of another group called the BH Fund, which received more than $24 million from a single donor who has not been disclosed. Leo says his advocacy for judicial candidates is separate from his role at the Federalist Society. And the Federalist Society says it is nonpartisan. But one nonprofit that supports conservative judicial nominees, the Judicial Crisis Network, has offices on the same hallway as the Federalist Society. JCN’s president, Daniel Casey, is not paid by his group, nor is he paid by three other nonprofits he helps lead. But he has received more than $1.5 million from the Federalist Society over nine years for media training through a firm based at his home. In addition, Leo joined the board of another nonprofit called Reclaim New York in 2013. Another board member was Steve Bannon, who later work as an adviser to President Donald Trump. A third board member, Rebekah Mercer, later donated nearly $6 million to the Federalist Society. “I separate my advocacy from the educational work of the Federalist Society,” Leo told the Washington Post in a statement. “I put in a full day’s work for the Society and spend a substantial amount of my personal time on the other public service work I also love.”

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/federalist-societys-leonard-leo-helped-raise-250m-to-promote-judges-and-causes/

Homeless veterans bill would ensure legal services are available ‘when they are needed most,’ ABA says

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Military & Veterans

By Amanda Robert

May 23, 2019, 11:50 am CDT

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ABA President Bob Carlson urged the Senate’s Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on Tuesday to support bipartisan legislation that would implement new strategies for removing barriers that prevent homeless veterans from receiving vital benefits, services and treatment. In a letter sent to committee Chair Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Ranking Member Jon Tester, D-Mont., Carlson pointed out that S 980, the Homeless Veterans Prevention Act, would allow the Veterans Affairs secretary to enter into appropriate private-public partnerships to deliver legal services to veterans experiencing homelessness. “In this way, the VA would be able to provide the national leadership and support necessary to better ensure that the right kinds of legal services are available where and when they are needed most,” he wrote. It has been a long-standing priority of the ABA to address the legal needs of military personnel, veterans and their families through policies and programs. One example is the ABA Veterans Legal Services Initiative, which was launched by former ABA President Linda Klein during her 2016-2017 term. Another is ABA Home Front, which was established in 2011 to help military families access legal assistance. Carlson said in the letter that Congress’ willingness to support programs that assist veterans has reduced the number of those experiencing homelessness in the past decade. However, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Project CHALENG, which stands for Community Homelessness Assessment, Local Education and Networking Groups, unresolved legal problems comprised half of veterans’ top 10 unmet needs for nine years in a row, according to Carlson’s letter. “Several of these legal problems arise as a consequence of living on the street, but each unresolved legal issue can either lead to homelessness or prevent those already homeless from benefiting from VA programs or support,” Carlson said. “Nonetheless, the VA is neither permitted to provide legal help nor permitted to enter into community partnerships to have others help resolve these problems for homeless veterans.” Carlson commended the VA for its role in removing regulatory barriers, sharing data, training lawyers and supporting innovative legal services delivery models, “such as medical-legal partnerships, homeless court at Stand Down, and law school clinical programs,” he wrote. “These initiatives, and many others, illustrate what might be accomplished in meeting veterans’ needs when closer collaboration between the VA and the legal community is authorized,” Carlson said. See also: ABAJournal.com: “Veterans Day and the role of volunteer lawyers” ABAJournal.com: “How lawyers can increase veterans’ access to legal services”

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/homeless-veterans-bill-would-ensure-legal-services-are-available-when-they-are-needed-most-aba-says/

Another judge rules against Trump in subpoena battle; this time fight is over bank records

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Constitutional Law

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 23, 2019, 10:20 am CDT

President Donald Trump. Frederic Legrand - COMEO/Shutterstock.com.

President Donald Trump has lost a subpoena fight in federal court for the second time this week. In the latest loss for Trump, a federal judge refused Wednesday to block a subpoena for his records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One Financial Corp., report the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and Courthouse News Service. A different federal judge refused Monday to block a subpoena for records from Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, by the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos said Congress had broad powers to investigate, and the subpoenas had “facially legitimate investigative purposes,” according to coverage by Courthouse News Service. Ramos announced his decision from the bench. In an order issued the same day, he denied Trump’s motion for a preliminary injunction and refused to stay the decision pending appeal. The subpoenas were issued by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Financial Services Committee. In a memorandum of law supporting their motion for a preliminary injunction, Trump had argued that the subpoenas were overbroad and had no legitimate legislative purpose. Trump’s children, Donald Jr., Eric and Ivanka, also had sought the injunction. “At best, the committees seek these documents so they can conduct law-enforcement activities that the Supreme Court has held are reserved to the other branches,” lawyers argued for the Trumps. “More likely, though, the committees want to collect and ‘expose’ the financial documents of the president—and his children and grandchildren—‘for the sake of exposure.’ ” Both decisions are being appealed. Ramos ruled the same day that the New York legislature passed a bill allowing Congress to obtain Trump’s state tax returns. Gov. Andrew Cuomo was expected to sign the measure.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/another-judge-rules-against-trump-in-subpoena-battle-this-time-fight-is-over-bank-records/

Google moves hotel pricing chart into the SERP

Google is starting to show hotel price charts in search results. These graphs have been a popular feature of Google travel properties and were tested in search last year. Price graph moves into search. Here’s a SERP for the query New York Marriott Marquis that includes the price chart: Searchers can use arrows to move forward and back in order to see historical pricing trends for particular hotel properties. Asked to comment, a Google spokesperson told us, “Our research has shown that travelers are looking primarily for price and availability information when searching for a hotel. To make our hotel search experience more useful for travelers and better connect them with travel providers, we are surfacing more price and availability information on the search results page.” The original tip came from Damian Rollison of Brandify. Why you should care. Google has been upgrading its various travel properties at an accelerating pace. At Google Marketing Live two weeks ago the company announced a consolidated travel planning tool called Trips. Earlier, in March, Google introduced a new Hotel search and booking site which includes vacation rentals. And late last year, a new look for the Hotel Local Pack rolled out. Travel is a critical vertical, worth hundreds of billions of dollars annually in consumer and business travel spending, according to the U.S. Travel Association. Digital ad spending by travel brands is expected to exceed $9 billion in 2019. Google’s travel property upgrades and enhanced search results are part a bid for more of those ad dollars, as the company captures an increasing share of consumer traffic and conversions.

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About The Author

Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land. He researches and writes about the connections between digital and offline commerce. He is also VP of Strategy and Insights for the Local Search Association. Follow him on Twitter or find him at Google+.

https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/google-moves-hotel-pricing-chart-into-the-serp/

How will deans improve bar passage rates to meet new standard?

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Legal Education

By Stephanie Francis Ward

May 23, 2019, 3:54 pm CDT

Before the council of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar implemented a tighter bar passage standard May 17, it posted a memo, naming law schools that would likely fail the revision. With the new version of the standard, law schools now have two years, rather than five, to reach a 75% bar passage rate. Also, schools with pass rates lower than 75%, but no more than 15 percentage points less than their region’s average ABA accredited law school pass rate, will no longer be considered to be in compliance with the standard. Of the schools listed in the council’s memo, Arizona Summit School of Law and Whittier School of Law are currently operating under a teach-out plan. Deans from three of the other law schools agreed to speak with the ABA Journal, and all said that they’ve had plans to improve bar passage rates prior to the revision of Standard 316. Also, all three deans have been in their current positions for less than five years. “I took over four years ago as dean, and from day one, this has been a problem. Obviously it’s something my colleagues and I take extremely seriously,” says Andrew Strauss, dean at the University of Dayton School of Law. The school’s ultimate bar passage rate, which this year focuses on how many 2016 graduates took and passed a bar exam, is 69.23%, according to ABA data. It’s 2018 first-time bar passage rate was 59.5%. Strauss is confident that 2019 will be a good year for Dayton bar passage. According to him, the ultimate bar passage rate for the class of 2017 is already at 79%. “This is the first year that students who have gone through all of the changes will take the bar,” he says. Those changes include adding more credits to first-year courses, more class assessments and changing the curve. “With the new curve, we increased dismissals of students that we don’t feel can do it at the end of the first year,” says Strauss, who was an associate dean for faculty research and strategic initiatives at Widener University Delaware School of Law before he came to Dayton in 2015.

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Also, students in the bottom 50% of their class are deemed to be at risk for not passing a bar, and now take a class that includes weekly one-on-one tutoring. And the law school provides free housing for recent graduates while they are studying for the bar exam. For the short term, the changes are funded by the university, Strauss says. For the long term, he thinks that additional funding will come from a recently introduced master’s of law program, which requires 30 hours of coursework, and a new offering in Korea, where the law school will train attorneys to be lawyers in the United States. Susan Freiwald, the interim law school dean at the University of San Francisco, is less confident about what the revised standard will mean for her students. The law school’s ultimate bar passage rate for the class of 2016 is 67.4%, according to ABA data. It’s first-time pass rate for the class of 2018 was 33.3% “I’m hopeful that it will be better, but our most significant changes will take a little bit longer to go into effect,” she says, adding that the council approved the changes to Standard 316 on the same day as the law school’s graduation ceremony, and she hasn’t had a chance to get feedback from students yet regarding the revision. Before being appointed as the law school’s interim dean in 2018, Freiwald was its associate dean for academic affairs. “I have been focused on increasing bar passage for the past two years. We’ve restructured our curriculum to require more units in bar courses, and we’ve also increased our use of assessments, which has been shown to improve performance,” Friewald says. They also changed admissions standards. For 2018, the law school’s 25th-quartile LSAT score was 151, compared with 148 in 2016 and 150 in 2017, according to 509 Reports. Renee McDonald Hutchins, the law school dean at the University of the District of Columbia, was one of 14 deans, chancellors and presidents of ABA-accredited law schools who submitted a letter to the council of Legal Ed on May 16, suggesting that the council “failed to adequately analyze the impact” of the bar pass revision, and requesting the formation of a task force to determine fitness qualifications for practicing law. At her law school, which is associated with a historically black university, the ultimate bar passage rate is 71.43%. “We’re not where we should be, but we are within striking distance,” says Hutchins, whose law school has a first-year bar passage rate of 45.07% for 2018. She became the law school’s dean in January, after being a faculty member at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. Efforts to help more law students pass the bar include assigning students “accountability coaches,” Hutchins says, to check in and see if they are doing what they need to do pass a bar exam. Ultimately, it may be easier for law schools to be in compliance with the new standard than they realize, Barry Currier, the ABA’s managing director of legal education and accreditation, said at the May 17 council meeting. With the revision, law schools that appear to not have a ultimate bar passage rate of at least 75% would get letters about compliance in May, and in June be asked for a response, he said, adding that with all standards, schools that initially appear to be out of compliance sometimes demonstrate that they are meeting requirements. If the council ultimately determined that a school was not meeting the 75% bar pass rate, and there was no reason to extend the deadline, Currier said, the law school would be given two years to come into compliance. “So if the next year they’re at 75%, they’d be back in compliance. In some ways it’s easier to comply with this standard because you only have to be in compliance every other year,” he explains. “That’s a tough place to be because you’re living on the edge, and some schools will be coming extremely close.” See also: ABAJournal.com: “ABA legal ed section’s council to reconsider stricter bar passage standard”

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/how-will-deans-improve-bar-passage-rates-to-meet-new-standard/

Google’s indexing bug is back – new content not being indexed

This morning, Google fixed a bug that affected its ability to index new content. Well, right now, that bug is back. New content not being indexed. Try finding content from large news publishers that are always pushing out content, and you won’t be able to find anything if you filter by results within the past hour. Here is an example for the Wall Street Journal: Fix coming? We have notified Google of the issue and expect this to be resolved soon. Last time this took Google several hours to resolve. Bug unrelated. Google posted an update that they are investigating this issue well after we wrote about it here. Google said this issue is unrelated from the previous indexing issue. Hopefully Google will share more details soon.

We're looking into a new indexing issue that started escalating 6 hours ago. The issue is unrelated to yesterday's outage and we're working hard to resolve it. We'll update this thread when we can provide more information.

— Google Webmasters (@googlewmc) May 24, 2019

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About The Author

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on SEM topics.

https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/googles-indexing-bug-is-back-new-content-not-being-indexed/

Food truck restrictions, including GPS requirement, can stand, state supreme court rules

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Constitutional Law

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 23, 2019, 3:51 pm CDT

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A cupcake entrepreneur has lost her constitutional challenge to Chicago’s food truck regulations before the Illinois Supreme Court. The state high court rejected constitutional claims by Laura Pekarik, who operated a food truck called Cupcakes for Courage. Pekarik was represented by the Institute for Justice, according to a press release. The Chicago Tribune and the Cook County Record have coverage of the unanimous May 23 opinion. The Chicago regulations generally ban food trucks from operating within 200 feet of restaurants and require the trucks to carry GPS tracking devices that transmit location information to a service provider. The city created some areas for food truck stands, however, where the 200-foot rule doesn’t apply. And there is no requirement that the food trucks transmit their location data to the public. The tracking information must be kept for at least six months. The city can access the information to check compliance with the ordinance and in other specified situations, including in investigations of unsanitary or unsafe conditions. Only a few U.S. cities have a GPS requirement, according to the Institute for Justice. Pekarik’s lawyers had argued that the 200-foot rule violated the Illinois Constitution’s equal protection and due process clauses because it unreasonably favors brick-and-mortar restaurants. Her lawyers also maintained that the GPS requirement constituted a continuous, unreasonable, warrantless search that violated another provision of the state constitution. The Illinois Supreme Court used a rational basis test to evaluate the restrictions. The court said brick-and-mortar restaurants pay property taxes, bring stability to neighborhoods and can serve as tourist destinations. The 200-foot rule is rationally related to these legitimate interests, the court said. The court also found that the GPS requirement doesn’t constitute a search. If it did, the requirement is reasonable in an industry that’s traditionally closely regulated, the court said. “The GPS system is the best and most accurate means of reliably locating a food truck, which is particularly important and necessary in the event of a serious health issue,” the court said. The lead counsel for Pekarik is senior attorney Robert Frommer of the Institute for Justice. “Today’s ruling doesn’t protect public safety; instead, it protects brick-and-mortar restaurants from honest competition,” he said in a press release. He also said the GPS requirement forces people to choose between a right to privacy and a right to work. The case is LMP Services v. City of Chicago.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/food-truck-restrictions-including-gps-requirement-can-stand-state-supreme-court-rules/

Judge placed on leave pending investigation into shooting of estranged husband

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Criminal Justice

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 23, 2019, 12:28 pm CDT

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A Pennsylvania judge is on leave during an investigation into whether she was justified in shooting and wounding her estranged husband. A court spokesperson said Wednesday that Magisterial District Judge Sonya McKnight of Dauphin County was placed on paid leave, report PennLive.com and Fox 43. The Pennsylvania attorney general’s office is investigating the May 10 shooting at her Harrisburg home. Investigators said McKnight and her estranged husband, Enoch McKnight, gave differing accounts of what happened. Enoch McKnight was at the home to help the judge move some furniture, according to accounts by his relatives. Prior coverage is here. Sonya McKnight had received a protection from abuse order from her husband in October, but a change in effect at the time of the shooting allowed peaceful contact. Sonya McKnight obtained the order based on allegations that her husband had tried to pull her from the car when she was driving, causing her to crash into a fire hydrant. Enoch McKnight pleaded guilty to simple assault in the car incident and was sentenced to time served of 15 days in jail last year. Sonya McKnight defeated a sitting judge who was under investigation when she was elected in 2015, according to previous coverage. The judge she replaced later pleaded no contest to charges that he pressured constables for campaign contributions.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/judge-placed-on-leave-pending-investigation-into-shooting-of-estranged-husband/

Multistate suit challenges federal ‘conscience’ rule over health care refusals on religious grounds

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Health Law

By Debra Cassens Weiss

May 22, 2019, 3:47 pm CDT

The state of New York is leading a coalition of 23 state and local governments in a lawsuit challenging a federal “conscience” rule that expands the ability of businesses and individuals to refuse to provide medical services on religious or moral grounds. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, says the final rule, set to take effect in July, is “an unprecedented and unlawful expansion” of nearly 30 federal statutory provisions. The final rule, issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, would cut off federal funds to institutions unless they allow workers to refuse to provide care based on conscience grounds. The Washington Post, BuzzFeed News and Bloomberg have coverage; a press release is here. The rule authorizes the federal government to withhold money from governments that fail to comply, undermining their ability to run their health care facilities, according to the suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan. The suit gives some examples of how the rule would affect care. Health care institutions would be prevented from asking an applicant for a nursing job whether they had religious objections to administering a measles vaccine. In addition, a “wide swath of employees” would be allowed to refuse to assist patients, without any advance notice, the suit says. Under the rule, people eligible to refuse treatment include ambulance drivers, emergency room doctors, receptionists and customer service representatives at insurance companies, according to the New York attorney general’s press release. The suit claims that the final rule exceeds statutory authority; is arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act; is unconstitutionally vague; and is a violation of the spending clause, the establishment clause and the constitutional separation of powers. California’s attorney general filed a separate suit Tuesday that also seeks to block the rule. The federal rule allows a health care provider to deny service “on the basis of a hunch or prejudice, without any supporting evidence, without notifying a supervisor of the denial of service, and without providing notice or alternative options and/or referrals to patients in need,” according to the suit, filed in federal court for the Northern District of California. The city of San Francisco also sued earlier this month. Plaintiffs in the multistate suit are the city and state of New York; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Hawaii; Illinois; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Nevada; New Jersey; New Mexico; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Rhode Island; Vermont; Virginia; Wisconsin; the District of Columbia; the city of Chicago; and Cook County, Illinois.

https://www.forlawfirmsonly.com/multistate-suit-challenges-federal-conscience-rule-over-health-care-refusals-on-religious-grounds/