Oregon’s ski resorts have been shut down since March but some may be able to open up again as soon as next week.

(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.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - In a dispute over life insurance coverage, held that a policy exclusion was applicable because a man's death from engaging in an act known as autoerotic asphyxiation qualified as intentionally self-inflicted injury.

(California Court of Appeal) - In a labor and employment action, arising after plaintiff was allegedly terminated by his employer, PG&E, for retaliating against a safety inspector who raised issues about his project, the trial court's grant of summary judgment to defendant is affirmed where regardless of whether plaintiff was an at-will employee, PG&E established good cause for terminating him.

(Supreme Court of California) - In an opinion that clarifies the scope of the anti-SLAPP statute, the California Supreme Court held that only certain causes of action here arose from protected speech. In the underlying dispute, a developer had sued the City of Carson and another developer in connection with negotiations about the possibility of building a National Football League stadium in the city.

(California Court of Appeal) - Rejected an environmental group's challenge to the issuance of a revised permit for a landfill. Affirmed the denial of writ relief.

(Supreme Court of California) - Reversed. Plaintiffs are state correctional employees who sought additional compensation for pre and postwork activities that include walking from outermost gate of prison to their work posts. The court divided Plaintiffs into two groups: union and non-union. The appeals court held that the non-union employees were entitled to overtime. The California Supreme Court held the union employees were not entitled to additional compensation because their collective bargaining agreement took that into account. And the non-union were not entitled because the walking time did not fit the definition of compensable work time under the Pay Scale Manual.

(Supreme Court of California) - Reversed. Plaintiffs are state correctional employees who sought additional compensation for pre and postwork activities that include walking from outermost gate of prison to their work posts. The court divided Plaintiffs into two groups: union and non-union. The appeals court held that the non-union employees were entitled to overtime. The California Supreme Court held the union employees were not entitled to additional compensation because their collective bargaining agreement took that into account. And the non-union were not entitled because the walking time did not fit the definition of compensable work time under the Pay Scale Manual.

(United States Seventh Circuit) - Affirmed the dismissal of a consumer's proposed class action, which alleged that a debt-collection letter violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The letter allegedly stated that important information was on the back of its first page, but the information was on the front of its second page.

(California Court of Appeal) - Held that the trial court improperly reduced the amount of attorney fees to which vehicle purchasers were entitled after prevailing in a lemon law suit. Reversed and remanded with instructions to award the plaintiffs reasonable attorney fees.

(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.

Ecuador closed its borders because of the coronavirus outbreak the same weekend Colorado closed its ski resorts

Vail Resorts marketing chief Kirsten Lynch said there were good and thoughtful reasons the company took six weeks to come up with a plan to mollify Epic Pass holders following the shutdown of its North American resorts due to COVID-19.

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Held that a fired chief executive officer could sue the company's secured creditor in state court. Affirmed that his tortious interference claim belonged in state court rather than in the company's bankruptcy proceeding.

This is the second part of a three-part series on use of litigation interest and risk assessment (LIRA), growing out of a program at CPR’s annual meeting in February 2020. The first part of this series describes how to do LIRAs and includes results from a survey of participants in our program.  This part describes … Continue reading Early Dispute Resolution Processes →

This is the final part of a three-part series on litigation interest and risk assessment (LIRA) and early dispute resolution procedures.  The first part explains how lawyers can use LIRA procedures to help clients make better decisions about litigation and negotiation.  The second part describes some early dispute resolution procedures, which can benefit from good … Continue reading Dispute Prevention and Early Dispute Resolution Framework →

A recent post anticipates that as we go through the current crisis, we will develop a “crisis new normal” and, after we recover from the crisis, a “normal new normal” (NNN).  At this point, governments, institutions, and individuals are still developing new routines as we wait out the crisis by doing things like sheltering in … Continue reading The Next New Normal in Law, Dispute Resolution, and Legal Education →

Vail Resorts informed the state this week that it has furloughed nearly 2,000 workers effective Monday at its various ski resorts, lodges and hotels, equipment rental stores and shuttle service.

The plans need to be approved by the U.S. Forest Service.

Vail Resorts marketing chief Kirsten Lynch said there were good and thoughtful reasons the company took six weeks to come up with a plan to mollify Epic Pass holders following the shutdown of its North American resorts due to COVID-19.

TRB's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) WebResource 5: Tools and Case Studies for NextGen for Airports is a companion to the five-volume ACRP Report 150: NextGen for Airports. It provides downloadable engagement materials from the NextGen Outreach Toolkit, discussed in Volume 2: Engaging Airport Stakeholders, and the Public Information Toolkit, discussed in Volume 3: Resources for Airports. A table that identifies the volume and page number of all case studies discussed in the five volumes is a...

In March 2020, EPA announced a new website for finding key EPA resources about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) virus. Additional information can be found on CDC's Coronavirus (COVID-19) website, a list of Disinfectants EPA's Pesticide Program recommend (today) to ward off spreading the virus, and CDC's list of symptoms to watch for.

Thinking of using TurboTax to file your tax returns? Think again. The Minnesota Department of Revenue advises against using Intuit software to file tax returns! It found unacceptable errors in Intuit tax software, including TurboTax, ProSeries, Lacerte, and Intuit online. Continue reading →

"And you know, we have to stop looking beyond this election cycle and see that this corporate driven ideology, you know, this commodification of the culture, this constant extracting of blood from us as citizens to pay what in essence were private debts of the banks which engaged in casino capitalism, has political consequences. History has taught us that. And Hillary Clinton is only going to further that process." Continue reading →

IBM today announced that Mammoth Resorts, the leading four-season mountain resort operator in California, is using Watson Customer Engagement solutions on the IBM Cloud to create customized offers that are helping to drive record numbers of visitors to the resort every year.

I was skeptical of an email asking for a lung cancer link

IBM y PAPALOTE MUSEO DEL NIÑO, anunciaron hoy su alianza para desarrollar y ofrecer dos cursos de formación para profesores de la Ciudad de México. El taller estará basado en el portal web teacherstryscience.org de IBM y representa el compromiso de ambas instituciones por contribuir a la enseñanza de la ciencia y en particular de la astronomía, a través de dispositivos en línea.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) anunció hoy que está trabajando con más de 300 universidades y más de 400 instituciones educativas en toda Latinoamérica para respaldar la inminente necesidad de desarrollar habilidades asociadas a los requerimientos de la transformación digital, ya que el 60% de los ejecutivos se esfuerza hoy por mantener las habilidades de la fuerza laboral actualizadas y relevantes frente al rápido avance tecnológico.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it will establish a Natural Resources Solution Centre (NRSC) in Perth to help mining, LNG and petroleum companies accelerate the development and adoption of innovative technologies and business strategies.

Say what you want about Fallout New Vegas with its glitch problems it’s a hard game to not get addicted to. When it comes to post apocalyptic RPG/ shooter games, Fallout is the best out there. Like its predecessor Fallout 3, New Vegas has additional downloadable content to enhance the overall story and make the game more enjoyable…..well I can’t say that Honest Hearts made the game more enjoyable with its thick religious overtones that felt more preachy then back story..................

Paisley Disability Resource CentreThe Paisley Disability Resource Centre actively promotes independent living through various leisure, social, educational and employment activities and services. It aims to be a welcoming, supportive and inclusive place, where people come to socialise and network, as well as taking part in activities.

Michael McEwan speaks to Kevin Cantwell, the arts group facilitator at the Centre, as well as a number of people who take part in the activities which include painting, photography and dancing.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Something Elated by Broke For Free

The Paisley Disability Resource Centre actively promotes independent living through various leisure, social, educational and employment activities and services. It aims to be a welcoming, supportive and inclusive place, where people come to socialise and network, as well as taking part in activities.

In this second of two episodes, Michael McEwan speaks to Jim Thompson, the web design and movie maker co-ordinator, as well as Duncan Tomlinson, a participant in the activities.

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Something Elated by Broke For Free

This report shows commissioners and providers of care how to embed the principles of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) into care and support planning across the board.

Increasing demand “may impact negatively” on Angus social work services unless it is matched by greater resources. That’s the warning sounded by Angus Council’s chief social work officer Tim Armstrong.

Clusterfuck Nation For your reading pleasure Mondays and Fridays Support this blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page The people of this land have enough trouble in mind — what with livelihoods, careers, businesses, marriages, hopes and dreams circling the drain in the new insta-depression — but let’s hope they have just a little attention left over more »

The post Slouching Toward Resolution appeared first on Kunstler.

Here is the COVID-19 situation in Minnesota.

Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) and other institutes have found the black hole that is currently the closest to Earth. The aforementioned black hole lies just 1000-light years from our planet, and is closer to our Solar System compared to others found to date. What’s more, it is part of a triple system that can be seen with the naked eye.

They say this system could just be the tip of the iceberg, as many more similar black holes could be found in the future.

"We were totally surprised when we realised that this is the first stellar system with a black hole that can be seen with the unaided eye," says Petr Hadrava, Emeritus Scientist at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in Prague and co-author of the research.

More details about this finding over at ScienceDaily.

(Image Credit: JohnsonMartin/ Pixabay)

Here is the COVID-19 situation in Minnesota.

Juicy chicken baked in a tasty queso cheese sauce that is super easy to make! Who doesn’t enjoy a nice chili con queso cheese dip? Why not enjoy it for dinner, smothered over chicken? This chili con queso baked chicken is a super simple dish where chicken is covered in a chili con queso sauce,...

Read On →

The post Chile Con Queso Baked Chicken appeared first on Closet Cooking.

On this first Arsecast of 2020, it's a look back at the 2-0 win over Man Utd which gave Mikel Arteta his first win as Arsenal boss. I'm joined first by Andrew Allen, to discuss the long overdue victory, the impact Arteta has had on the team as well as the mood, Lucas Torreira and more. Then I chat to Charles Watts of Goal about the pre-Leeds press conference, why the training ground is a happier place, Arteta's big Granit Xhaka decision, and a look ahead to Monday's FA Cup clash.

Follow Andrew @aallensport and Charles @charles_watts

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Photo courtesy of Spencer H. Bag found in Hong Kong.