Imagine being sued in a court where there is no appeals process and the legal precedent relevant to your case may not be written down. That is the situation Dollar General has found itself, and state or local governments may find themselves in, if the Supreme Court does not reverse the Fifth Circuit’s decision in Dollar General Corporation v. Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: September 2015
Sue Me: If You Can?
Some Supreme Court case are epic because they are important. Other cases are epic because they have been litigated for decades. Depending on how the Court rules, Hyatt II may be important for both reasons.
Gilbert Hyatt’s dispute with the California Franchise Tax Board began in the early 1990s. The Supreme Court decided one issue in his case in the early 2000s. The stakes in Hyatt II are high not just for Hyatt but for all states.
In 1993 the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) of California audited Gilbert Hyatt following a newspaper article reporting he made a lot of money patenting a computer chip. Hyatt’s 1991 tax return indicated he lived in California for only nine months and relocated to Nevada. FTB concluded that Hyatt moved to Nevada in 1992 and assessed him $10.5 million in taxes and interest. Continue reading
Ninth Circuit Addresses Constitutionality of California Death Penalty
In Jones v. Davis, the Ninth Circuit is considering whether California’s death penalty scheme violates the Eighth Amendment because it is arbitrarily imposed and plagued by systemic delays. In a hearing before a three-judge panel earlier this week, the Court had tough questions for the California Attorney General’s office, which is defending California’s death penalty and challenging the district court’s grant of habeas relief. The AG’s argument focuses less on the systemic issues address by the Appellee and numerous amici, including the Innocence Project, and more on the specifics of habeas procedure. The case is being closely watched as it may have implications well beyond California.