Can a medical marijuana card-holding insured homeowner collect on an insurance policy when his house blows-up and burns down due to a mistake he made while cooking-up a batch of marijuana honey oil?  According to U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington, sitting in Bay City, the answer is, "No!"

In a recent case decided by Judge Ludington, a Bay City homeowner was making a batch of what has come to be known as marijuana honey oil.  Honey oil is a marijuana derivative that concentrates THC -the active ingredient in a marijuana leaf- into a wax or oil; smoking or ingesting the substance produces an enhanced "high".

To get to the wax, however, requires an intensive production process.  Marijuana leaves [er, much more than are allowed under the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act] are crammed into a pvc tube capped on one end.  Then butane, and lots of it, is infused into the tube; essentially, the leaves are marinated in butane.

This marination process causes the plant matter to waste away, leaving a liquid mixture of butane and THC which is then strained through a filter.  The residue collected in the filter is then scrapped off and spread over a plate or other drying surface where the butane is allowed to evaporate.  What remains is a highly potent wax or oil that can be smoked or used in cooking.

Why go through this process?  Because medical marijuana in its most common leaf form fetches only between $10 and $20 per gram.  The oil, on the other hand, goes for up to $80 per gram.

The possibility of higher profit apparently lured the insured homeowner in the Bay City case to cook-up a double batch; this required copious amounts of butane.  Anxious to sample his product, he was cleaning a razor with a hand-held torch when butane fumes that had collected throughout the basement during the production process ignited, burning down the house.

Although the homeowner's insurance company paid-out to the tune of six figures, it did so under a "reservation of rights".  In the ensuring litigation, the federal judge ruled that what happened in the home was no accident; the homeowner was engaged in intentional acts that created predictable risks.

The case is illustrative of the lingering disconnect that the recent marijuana laws have created due to marijuana still being classified as a Schedule 1 drug via the federal Controlled Substance Act.  Insurance companies are going to begin to deploy express exclusions; landlords are going to prohibit marijuana production; and banks will not get involved in financing the marijuana production process.

Thus, for the foreseeable future, marijuana will continue to be produced the old-fashioned way; via the hippie farmer, one plant at a time.  Industrial production will require a re-alignment of the federal laws.

We here at the Law Blogger are reminded of the lyrics and title of a song by the Rastafarian legend Peter Tosh:  "Legalize it, Mon."

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By:  Timothy P. Flynn

You need to be an appellate lawyer to follow the recent high-speed developments in the same-sex marriage jurisprudence coming to a rapid boil across the country.  The principal case here in Michigan has had some complicated procedural developments over the past few weeks; we will break it down for you if we can.

As those that follow the news, and this blog well know, U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman issued an opinion and order declaring Michigan's state constitutional ban to be a violation of the Equal Protection clause of the United States Constitution.

In conjunction with Governor Snyder, Michigan's Attorney General has aggressively pursued the state's appellate options in the DeBoer same-sex marriage and adoption case.  Since losing the case at trial, Attorney General Bill Schuette has done what any state actor appellate attorney would do: a) seek a stay of the trial court's ruling pending a resolution of the inevitable appeal, and b) expedite this inevitable appeals process by requesting what is inconveniently referred to as an "en banc" appeal.

These filings by the Michigan Attorney General make a lot of sense.  And the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit seems willing to play along.

First, consider that the Sixth Circuit immediately granted the AG's motion for an emergency stay, so Judge Friedman's ruling is held in abeyance for the time being; no more legal gay marriage licenses can be issued in Michigan.

Second, we here at the Law Blogger happen to think that AG Schuette's latest motion for en banc review makes a lot of procedural sense.  Generally, when a litigant loses a trial, our system of justice provides for a second look; the trial judge is not the final word in any given case.

When a losing litigant becomes an appellant, the case is assigned, in both state and federal courts, to a 3-judge panel to decide the matter via majority vote.  The party that loses an appeal has the option to inveigh the entire appellate court; an en banc appeal.  In the case of the Sixth Circuit, that includes 23 judges.

Most appellate litigants that apply for en banc consideration are rejected.  Rather than suffer this procedural rejection, many appellate litigants elect to push on the the High Court; the United States Supreme Court.

Not so with the DeBoer case; a case that has profound constitutional significance and that has become a symbol of the civil rights struggle of our time.  Attorney General Schuette is correct to seek en banc review rather than intermediate appellate review from a 3-judge panel; why waste the time and resources.

There is no doubt that this case, along with select others from across the nation, will be ultimately decided by the SCOTUS, as in the United States v Windsor decision.  Like the abortion issue that preceded it, the same-sex marriage issue will be a deep and rich jurisprudence that will flesh-out over time.

Cutting to the chase, as the Michigan Attorney General wants to do, makes a whole lot of sense.

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This post takes a look at two bloggers that are on the radar of their respective court systems by blogging as participants in litigation; one is a family practice doctor and criminal defendant, the other a parent embroiled in a family court custody dispute.

Dr. Linda Sue Cheek is charged with over 150 counts of distributing pain medications such as oxycodone, methadone, and morphine without having a valid drug license from the DEA.  She is scheduled to go on trial in Roanoke, Virginia this morning.

Since her indictment back in May of last year, Dr. Cheek has maintained a steady commentary about her case on her blog.  Her comments have included things like: she has been unable to practice medicine due to government collusion; that she and other pain management physicians are being treated by the federal authorities like Colombian drug lords; and that her trial will be "the beginning of the end of government persecution for doctors treating pain."

These comments were deemed sufficiently vitriolic by the local U.S. Attorney, a gag order was sought last week on the basis that Dr. Cheek's posts could pollute the jury pool.  U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad declined to enjoin Dr. Cheek's speech, stating that her First Amendment right to free speech is not suspended because she is on trial.  We here at the Law Blogger could not agree more.

In the family court matter, Daniel Brewington of Indiana has been blogging about his custody case for some time.  Like Dr. Cheek's blog, Brewington does not mince words but rather, takes the direct approach.

Brewington's 2007 divorce proceeding turned ugly early on, resulting in a court-ordered parenting evaluation performed under seal by a clinical psychologist.  The psychologist concluded that, due to the communication breakdown between the parties, sole physical custody should be awarded to Mother.

Dan Brewington took great offense and began to send the psychologist correspondence demanding that he withdraw from the Brewington's divorce case, retract his custody evaluation and report, and that he turn over  his entire file to the Father.

When none of his demands were met, Brewington next filed a complaint with the psychologist's state licensing body and started a blog which contained posts about his case, and his deep disappointment with the psychologist.  Father also posted on other websites, frequently referring to the  psychologist as a "very dangerous man who abuses his power."

Although some of Brewington's conduct was allegedly criminal, his case is noteworthy to the extent of examining his right to free speech in the context of family court litigation.  After Father lost custody of his child in the Indiana family court, he was prosecuted and convicted in a separate proceeding on two counts of "intimidation", attempted obstruction of justice, and perjury.

In the criminal case against Brewington, he was alleged to have characterized the family court judge on his blog as corrupt, unethical, and engaged in illegal behavior.  He also repeatedly referred to the judge as a child abuser.

Brewington was sentenced to 5-years in prison for his deeds.  The 44-page opinion of the Indiana Court of Appeals affirming his conviction and sentence has drew the attention, and criticism, of First Amendment scholars.

The problem that Brewington's case illustrates is that one can be imprisoned in Indiana for what one says, or blogs, so long as the speech is perceived as a "threat".  The First Amendment scholars have issued a call to action, led by UCLA Law Professor Eugene Volokh.

Both cases also point to the multi-faceted threats to free speech that surface again and again in our post-modern, Big Data culture.  You would think that by now, here in America, speech is protected.  As these cases demonstrate, guess again.

We here at the Law Blogger promise to be ever vigilant relative to such threats, reporting them as we see them arise.  Now get out there and express your bad-ass self!

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A class action law suit was filed against the Cooley Law School this week in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.  In addition to legal counsel from Gotham, attorney Steve Hyder from Monroe, MI, himself a Cooley graduate, is local counsel on the suit.

The 45-page complaint reads like an indictment on the issue of student loans versus available law jobs in this protracted economic downturn.  The complaint alleges that Cooley intentionally uses false statistics (i.e. graduate employment rates and graduates' salaries) to lure and retain prospective law students .

The New York law firm handling the heavy lifting in the suit, Kurzon Strauss, is also suing the New York Law School on nearly identical grounds, but in state court.  Each suit seeks hundreds of millions in tuition refunds from the respective law schools.

Last month, Kurzon Strauss was on the receiving end of a law suit filed by Cooley, alleging defamation.  The firm had been trolling around Craigslist and Facebook soliciting candidates for its class action suit.  Understandably, Cooley wanted to get the drop on the firm and steal the negative publicity thunder such a suit would generate.  Always the publicity gurus over there at Cooley.

Cooley will probably use the same law firm on defense as they do on offense; Miller Canfield.  One way or another, this litigation will siphon-off some of Cooley's rich profits as they continue to tap deeply into the American Dream, lawyer-style.

August 2013 Post Script: Now, several years later, the US District Court dismissed the Cooley alumni law suit and in granting the FRCP 12(b)(6) motion, District Judge Gordon Quist was not kind to Cooley's self-serving rankings, characterizing the behemoth as a bottom dweller.  Judge Quist's opinion is here.

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The NFL team owners, a tony group, just announced an official lock-out of their players.  For their part, the players have dissolved their union and several super-stars have filed a high profile class action law suit against the owners.

Football is America's most popular sport and has grown into a billion dollar industry over the past decade.  With the lock-out and the law suit, however, looks like the 2011 season is in jeopardy.

The super-star quarterbacks' lawsuit, formally known as Brady vs NFL, was filed in the U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, MN and asserts an antitrust claim against the storied league while seeking an injunction to terminate the lockout.

The quarterbacks are represented in Minneapolis by the Berens Miller law firm.  The league is in the good hands of Attorney Aaron Van Ort, a former law clerk to both SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia and well-known 7th Circuit Judge Richard Posner.

Another Justice Scalia connection:  The players' case, initially assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle who promptly recused himself, was re-assigned to Judge Patrick Schiltz, also a former Scalia law clerk.

For their part, the owners, on average only slightly wealthier than the league's star players, are claiming poverty in the complexity of operating a modern football franchise. 

While millions of NFL fans wait to see whether there will be a season, and drafted rookies wait to see whether they will become newly minted millionaires, the attorneys in the case will be walking away with millions in legal fees.

Now go count your money.

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Nunsense!  Earlier this week, Marie Thornton, a nun known around Westchester County, New York's Iona College as "Sister Susie" was indicted for embezzlement in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.  She was charged with stealing nearly a million dollars over a decade from the private Catholic college which she served as a vice president for financial affairs.  

Thornton pled not guilty to the charges.  Apparently, the college found out about their CFO's sticky fingers some time ago, but declined to report the crime or press charges.

The missing funds were only recently disclosed on the college's 2008 tax forms which indicated that an unnamed employee misappropriated $80,000 each year in small amounts over a ten-year period.  The tax filing stated that the monies were garnered via fraudulent checks and a college credit card.

When it discovered the shortfalls, Iona did fire Thornton (and another employee), stating only that she was on a permanent leave of absence.  The Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Education connected the dots, arresting Thornton last Thursday.

Sister Susie left the Manhattan federal courthouse on her own recognizance.  She is believed to be staying with her cloister, the Sisters of Saint Joseph, in Philadelphia, where she is known by another alias: "Sister Marie".

Sister Marie's lawyer, Sanford Talkin, was not talking about the case, or his client's whereabouts while the matter remained pending; promising only a hard-fought trial down the road.

Iona College's former basketball coach has commented publicly that Sister Susie spent most of the embezzled funds gambling in nearby Atlantic City.  A good bet is that she's now heading for the confessional.

Michigan Connection:  Iona College is run by the Christian Brothers of Ireland, the same denomination that founded Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Hills, MI.

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