Court Rulings Research Articles

Court rules in favor of suspended student

Case name: Doe v. Emory University, No. 22‐13293 (11th Cir. 08/01/24).

Court rules in favor of former student

Case name: Doe v. University of Kentucky, No. 22‐6012 (6th Cir. 08/07/24).

Court rules against former student

Case name: Reiss v. Texas A&M University, et al., No. 23‐20462 (5th Cir. 08/14/24).

A selective diesel vehicle ban’s impact on NO2 concentrations in Munich: a quasi-experimental study

Abstract Background The European Union’s current NO2 concentration limit of 40 μg/m³ is regularly exceeded in Munich, Germany. This limit is likely to be reduced towards the WHO recommended target of 10 μg/m³. In response, the city enacted a selective ban on older diesel vehicles, specifically those categorized as Euro 4 or older, within the current low-emission zone in February 2023. Our study examined how Munich’s selective ban on diesel vehicles impacted NO2 levels, concentrating on the six-month period after its introduction. Methods We employed a synthetic control approach in the primary analysis and a controlled interrupted time series approach in the secondary analysis. These quasi-experimental methods establish a ‘counterfactual’ no-intervention scenario, allowing for comparison with the actual observed scenario and estimation of the impact of the intervention. Historical data from monitoring stations within and outside the low-emission zone from 2014 to 2022 were utilized as controls, while potential confounders were considered. Results NO2 concentrations within Munich’s low-emission zone decreased across the study period. Effects of the selective diesel vehicle ban at monitoring stations within the low-emission zone were minimal, with wide confidence intervals indicating uncertainty. At Landshuter Allee, the average intervention effect was -2.67 μg/m3 (95%-CI = [-12.72; 7.38]), at Stachus it was -2.74 μg/m3 (95%-CI = [-9.91; 4.42]) and at Lothstrasse, it was -1.03 μg/m3 (95%-CI = [-7.75; 5.69]). The secondary analysis confirms these findings. Conclusions Munich’s selective diesel vehicle ban had limited effects in reducing NO2 concentrations. Factors such as its narrow focus on Euro 4 diesel vehicles, numerous exemptions, and unclear enforcement may explain this outcome. Comprehensive strategies and continuous monitoring and evaluation are crucial for effectively addressing urban air pollution and protecting public health. Key messages • Munich’s selective diesel vehicle ban had minimal effects on reducing NO2 levels, possibly due to its narrow scope, many exemptions, and unclear enforcement. • Current guidelines and court rulings signal the need for more effective solutions beyond selective bans, emphasizing the importance of well-designed interventions and rigorous evaluation.

Autonomy of the will: evolution of juridical doctrine and legal norms

In the article on the basis of statistical methods, the use of the term “autonomy of will” in judicial acts by the law enforcement officer is characterized. It is noted that the meaning of the relevant legal category is not sufficiently defined, which is the reason for its relatively rare (in comparison with “freedom of contract”) use in the texts of court rulings. Amendments made to civil legislation concerning decisions of assemblies, pre-contractual relations and the procedure for changing and terminating multilateral agreements are interpreted as the result of a change in the legal paradigm supported by a legislator. Deeply realized over the years of the functioning of the market economy, reinforced by data from related fields of scientific knowledge, the ability to regulate public relations in a decentralized manner by the will of many people has changed the ideas about the nature of the autonomy of participants in civil turnover, the nature of centralized regulation of public relations and the meaning of legal norms.

Advanced neural network-based model for predicting court decisions on child custody

Predicting court rulings has gained attention over the past years. The court rulings are among the most important documents in all legal systems, profoundly impacting the lives of the children in case of divorce or separation. It is evident from literature that Natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) are widely used in the prediction of court rulings. In general, the court decisions comprise several pages and require a lot of space. In addition, extracting valuable information and predicting legal decisions task is difficult. Moreover, the legal system’s complexity and massive litigation make this problem more serious. Thus to solve this issue, we propose a new neural network-based model for predicting court decisions on child custody. Our proposed model efficiently performs an efficient search from a massive court decisions database and accurately identifies specific ones that especially deal with copyright claims. More specially, our proposed model performs a careful analysis of court decisions, especially on child custody, and pinpoints the plaintiff’s custody request, the court’s ruling, and the pivotal arguments. The working mechanism of our proposed model is performed in two phases. In the first phase, the isolation of pertinent sentences within the court ruling encapsulates the essence of the proceedings performed. In the second phase, these documents were annotated independently by using two legal professionals. In this phase, NLP and transformer-based models were employed and thus processed 3,000 annotated court rulings. We have used a massive dataset for the training and refining of our proposed model. The novelty of the proposed model is the integration of bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) and bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi_LSTM). The traditional methods are primarily based on support vector machines (SVM), and logistic regression. We have performed a comparison with the state-of-the-art model. The efficient results indicate that our proposed model efficiently navigates the complex terrain of legal language and court decision structures. The efficiency of the proposed model is measured in terms of the F1 score. The achieved results show that scores range from 0.66 to 0.93 and Kappa indices from 0.57 to 0.80 across the board. The performance is achieved at times surpassing the inter-annotator agreement, underscoring the model’s adeptness at extracting and understanding nuanced legal concepts. The efficient results proved the potential of the proposed neural network model, particularly those based on transformers, to effectively discern and categorize key elements within legal texts, even amidst the intricacies of judicial language and the layered complexity of appellate rulings.

Court rules in favor of former student

Case name: Doe v. University of Kentucky, No. 22‐6012 (6th Cir. 08/07/24).

Court rules in favor of former student

Case name: Doe v. University of Kentucky, No. 22‐6012 (6th Cir. 08/07/24).

Court rules in favor of suspended student

Case name: Doe v. Emory University, No. 22‐13293 (11th Cir. 08/01/24).

Court rules in favor of former student

Case name: Doe v. University of Kentucky, No. 22‐6012 (6th Cir. 08/07/24).

Court rules against disciplined employee

Case name: Doe v. The Leland Stanford Junior University, No. H050567 (Cal. Ct. App. 06/26/24).

Court rules against former student

Case name: Reiss v. Texas A&M University, et al., No. 23‐20462 (5th Cir. 08/14/24).

Capitalizing on sport labor migration: The role of ethnic capitalism in the discriminatory, regulatory, and exploitative environment for international college athletes in the United States

International college athletes (ICAs) are integral to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and lie at a particular social location as they are international students and college sport laborers. However, little research examines the discriminatory regulations toward ICAs by the NCAA, its member institutions, and the US federal government. Recent court rulings that permit college athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL) do not benefit ICAs because of outdated and exclusionary restrictions imposed by federal immigration policies, visa laws, and US tax laws, which prohibit ICAs from having equitable rights, building their personal brand and professional careers. To examine the discrimination, regulation, and exploitation of ICAs by the US federal government and the NCAA, we apply the theory of ethnic capitalism, which highlights the marginalization of groups based on their ethnicity and national origin. In this setting, ICAs are treated as bodies of athletic labor, recruited for institutional gain and athletic program reputation to benefit US higher education institutions (HEIs). To conclude, we propose the need for the NCAA and its member institutions to treat ICAs equitably and include, support, and advocate for them, specifically regarding their inclusion in NIL on US lands.

The legality and appropriateness of keeping Korean Medical Licensing Examination items confidential: a comparative analysis and review of court rulings.

This study examines the legality and appropriateness of keeping the multiple-choice question items of the Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE) confidential. Through an analysis of cases from the United States, Canada, and Australia, where medical licensing exams are conducted using item banks and computer-based testing, we found that exam items are kept confidential to ensure fairness and prevent cheating. In Korea, the Korea Health Personnel Licensing Examination Institute (KHPLEI) has been disclosing KMLE questions despite concerns over exam integrity. Korean courts have consistently ruled that multiple-choice question items prepared by public institutions are non-public information under Article 9(1)(v) of the Korea Official Information Disclosure Act (KOIDA), which exempts disclosure if it significantly hinders the fairness of exams or research and development. The Constitutional Court of Korea has upheld this provision. Given the time and cost involved in developing high-quality items and the need to accurately assess examinees' abilities, there are compelling reasons to keep KMLE items confidential. As a public institution responsible for selecting qualified medical practitioners, KHPLEI should establish its disclosure policy based on a balanced assessment of public interest, without influence from specific groups. We conclude that KMLE questions qualify as non-public information under KOIDA, and KHPLEI may choose to maintain their confidentiality to ensure exam fairness and efficiency.

Reflections on the implications of proposed legal reform in Israel on ethical dilemmas in social work

Social work ethics are outlined in the Union of Social Workers in Israel Code of Ethics. Israel's current Justice Minister has submitted a bill as part of legal reform, which states that even if the Supreme Court rules that a law enacted by the Knesset violates human dignity and liberty, a Knesset majority can still overturn the Supreme Court ruling. Should this legal reform endeavor succeed, social workers may be faced with complex ethical and legal dilemmas. This article provides a number of recommendations that will assist social workers to better prepare themselves to deal with situations in which they are required to act contrary to both applicable legislation and professional ethics.

Court rules in favor of former student

Case name: Doe v. University of Kentucky, No. 22‐6012 (6th Cir. 08/07/24).

The conundrum within “caveat lector”: Unraveling the dissoi logoi in the book banning controversy

ABSTRACT Having just passed the 90th anniversary of the book burnings in Nazi Germany, which began May 10, 1933, and the 70th anniversary of the publication of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel Fahrenheit 451, it doesn’t take much imagination or hyperbole to conclude that controversies surrounding book banning in public schools and libraries across the country are very evident today. This essay argues that the book banning issue in the United States can most effectively be understood through dissoi logoi. We examine both sides of the book banning controversy: those entities that advocate for very restricted access to books and other materials, and those that offer a more unfettered approach. First, we look at the historical provenance of book banning. Then we examine Supreme Court, Appellate Court, and District Court opinions related to book banning from 1969 to 2009. In the current analysis, we look specifically at Florida, which has exerted a significant amount of influence in restricting access to books. And, finally, we look at policies that will afford decision-makers the opportunities to make thoughtful and reasonable choices about the books used in school curricula and holdings in public libraries.

Deciphering Assumptions in Lawmaking: Towards a More Human-Centric Approach

This study investigates the assumptions legislators make about the recipients of laws, drawing parallels with the homo oeconomicus model. We question whether laws are crafted under the belief that recipients are instrumental rational individuals who strive to maximize profit and minimize or evade penalties. Key objectives include evaluating the influence of these assumptions on lawmaking and determining how a shift in these beliefs may impact the law itself. The research methodology combines an analysis of Polish and American court rulings and judicial models. The study argues for the necessity of a paradigm shift, recognizing that legal subjects do not always act logically or rationally. Our research concludes that recognizing the behavioral nuances in law recipients could lead to more effective lawmaking, introducing behavioral laws and regulatory tools better suited to average, not always rational, recipients.

Attitudes of medical students towards abortion and their willingness to perform abortion: meta-analysis

Background and Objectives: This study evaluates the opinion of medical students about abortion and their willingness to perform the abortion. Methods: After a systematic review, meta-analyses of proportions were performed to achieve percent estimates of medical students’ opinions about abortion and willingness to perform the abortion. Results: 15 studies appraising 6341 medical students were included. Most medical students opined that abortion should be provided if the mother's life is threatened (89%), in case of rape (84%), if the mother's mental health is affected (79%), if the fetus is seriously defective (73%); and on mother’s request (37%). Medical students informed that they would perform abortion if the mother's life is threatened (87%); in case of rape (77%); if the fetus is seriously defective (78%); if the mother's mental health is threatened (65%); in case of teenage pregnancy (51%); on mother’s request (25%); and if court rules (19%). Religiosity was associated with significantly lower proabortion (favoring legalization of abortion) attitudes of medical students (OR: 0.10 [95% CI: 0.04, 0.24]; p<0.00001) but longer duration of medical education was associated with higher proabortion attitudes (OR: 1.75 [95% CI: 1.42, 2.14]; p<0.00001). Conclusion: Attitudes of medical students towards abortion are generally ambivalent where the majority opine that abortion should be performed under certain circumstances. Keywords: Abortion; medical students; attitudes; opinion.

Court rules in favor of former student

Court rules in favor of former student