Lawyers in a New Jersey burglary case seem to have stumbled upon a new terrain for photographic evidence: Google Earth. A New Jersey appeals court on Monday found no error in allowing prosecutors to use satellite photos from the global mapping service to help show the perpetrator’s proximity to the crime scenes — specifically, by pinpointing the location of cellular towers near his home and the burgled residence.

In recent years, more than 50 companies have sued Google for patent infringement.

Former Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Tom Phillips, now a partner at Baker Botts, is a defendant in a wrongful-death suit brought by parents of a teenage girl killed in a March 2009 accident. The plaintiffs allege that their daughter attended a party at the Phillips’ home on the night of the accident and that Phillips and his wife were home and “were well aware that minors were getting drunk in their back yard.” The plaintiffs allege that the Phillips’ house was known “as the location of frequent underage drinking parties.”

Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp. has won an injunction blocking a delinquent franchisee from operating in New York’s Pennsylvania Station and another location. A federal judge granted the preliminary injunction on the grounds that Satellite Donuts was behind on its obligations under its agreements with Krispy Kreme and is in violation of the Lanham Act

Plaintiffs lawyers and defense counsel are squaring off over the location for consolidating scores of oil spill lawsuits. The oil spill disaster has spawned cases in states all along the Gulf of Mexico, but so far the choice for multidistrict litigation is focusing on Houston and New Orleans.