10 Important Court Rulings, Settlements From 2013

This year has been a tumultuous time in and out of court, and FindLaw's Decided blog has covered its highest peaks and lowest valleys.

While decisions like the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings on DOMA and California's Proposition 8 were historic, we also covered some other notable cases that you may not have heard about.

Without further ado, here are 10 important cases decided this year, which became our most-viewed Decided blog posts in 2013:

1. Naked Juice to Pay $9M Settlement Over 'All Natural' Claims: If you're just about to start a juice cleanse, you may want to check out our No. 1 most-viewed Decided post of 2013. Naked Juice settled a multimillion-dollar case in July over misleading labels that proclaimed its juice products were all natural -- despite containing fructooligosaccarides.
2. Woman Sues Equifax, Wins $18.6M for Credit Report Errors: Another July case ended with Equifax ordered to fork over $18.6 million to a woman whose credit was all but ruined by the credit bureau's recklessness.
3. NSA Email Collection Violated 4th Amendment: FISA Court: The FISA courts found in August that the National Security Agency's email collection program violated the Fourth Amendment, mostly because it focused on email content.
4. Supreme Court Ruling in Student Loan Case May Discourage Lawsuits: After the U.S. Supreme Court gave the win to a student loan debt collector in March, seemingly warning future students: if you sue and lose, you'll owe court costs too.
5. Club's Strippers Are Employees, Kan. Supreme Court Rules: Not sure that this was something that the Kansas High Court was clamoring to clarify, but in February the state Supreme Court ruled that exotic dancers at a Topeka strip club were employees, not independent contractors.
6. N.Y. v. Quarles and Miranda's Public Safety Exception: The events of the Boston Bombing rocked America in April, and it also tested the public safety exception to the protections illustrated in Miranda.
7. SCOTUS: Warrant Needed for DUI Blood Test, Maybe: Since quickie warrants for are available, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to clarify that the possibility of sobering up isn't an exigent circumstance allowing for warrantless DUI blood tests.
8. J&J DePuy Hip Implants: 1st Verdict and Settlement: Starting with a California case in which a jury awarded a plaintiff $8.3 million from a defective hip implant, Johnson and Johnson (J&J) has had a rough year. That's likely why they settled the bulk of their hip implant cases for $4 billion in November.
9. U.S. Supreme Court's 2013 Term: 5 Cruicial Cases to Watch: The new term for the nation's highest court began in October, and the Court has already begun to hear oral arguments in several important cases.
10. Most Red-Light Camera Laws in Mo. Are Invalid, Court Rules: Based on Missouri state law, the state Supreme Court struck down local red light camera laws found to be in conflict with the state's existing legislation.

For more coverage of key court rulings and settlements from 2013, check out our Archives (by using the drop-down menu in the right-hand column of this page). And stay attuned to court developments by bookmarking this blog. Who knows what will be Decided in 2014?

Related Resources:

• Utah's Gay Marriage Ban Is Unconstitutional: Federal Judge (FindLaw's Decided)
• Gay Marriage Is Legal in New Mexico, State Supreme Court Rules (FindLaw's Decided)
• NSA Phone Metadata Program Likely Unconstitutional: Fed. Judge (FindLaw's Decided)
• Texas Abortion Laws Still in Effect After Supreme Court Review (FindLaw's Decided)