|
|
|
New DC drunken driving law to take effect
Legal Careers News |
2012/08/01 15:53
|
A new law that toughens penalties for drunken driving in the nation's capital takes effect Wednesday, but the city's police department still is not using breath tests on suspected drunken drivers more than a year after the tests were suspended.
The new law, which was approved by the D.C. Council and signed by Mayor Vincent Gray earlier this summer. It doubles mandatory minimum jail terms for people with blood-alcohol concentrations of .20 percent or higher and establishes a blood-alcohol limit of .04 percent for commercial drivers, including taxi drivers.
The law also establishes new oversight for the district's breath-testing program. But there's still no timetable to the resumption of breath tests, which D.C. police stopped using in February 2011 in the wake of revelations that their breath-testing devices had produced inaccurate results. Police have been using urine and blood tests instead.
A year earlier, District of Columbia officials had notified defense lawyers about nearly 400 drunken-driving convictions that relied, at least party, on inaccurately calibrated blood-alcohol tests.
More than two dozen people sued the district over convictions based on those flawed tests, and the district Attorney General's office said Tuesday that all the outstanding lawsuits had been settled. The district paid a total of $136,000 to 17 plaintiffs, with individuals receiving between $2,000 and $42,000, said Jeffrey Rhodes, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pa.'s tough, new voter ID law heads to court
Breaking Legal News |
2012/07/27 11:44
|
The first legal test for Pennsylvania's tough new voter identification law is arriving.
A state Commonwealth Court judge will begin a hearing Wednesday on whether to block the law from taking effect in this year's election while the court considers a challenge to its constitutionality.
The hearing could last a week.
The law is the subject of a furious debate over voting rights as Pennsylvania is poised to play a key role in deciding the presidential contest in the Nov. 6 election.
Republicans say it's necessary to prevent fraud. But Democrats say it's an election-year scheme to steal the White House and contend that there's no track record of fraud that it would prevent.
Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signed the law in March without a single Democratic lawmaker supporting it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court rejects Florida prison privatization appeal
Law Center |
2012/07/25 13:43
|
An appellate court on Tuesday tossed out Attorney General Pam Bondi's request for a decision to uphold the proposed privatization of 29 South Florida prison facilities.
A three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal rejected her plea to reverse a lower court's ruling against privatization, saying Bondi couldn't appeal on her own after her client, the Department of Corrections, declined to do so. The panel unanimously dismissed the case because Bondi was not a party.
"A party who suffers an adverse judgment in Circuit Court has the right to appeal, but nonparties whose rights have not been adjudicated have no right of appeal," Chief District Judge Robert Benton wrote for the court.
Leaders of the Republican-controlled Legislature had urged Bondi to appeal after Gov. Rick Scott decided the department, which is part of his administration, would not.
One of Bondi's assistants acknowledged during oral argument last month that it was too late to carry out the privatization due to the expiration of a budget provision authorizing the plan. Nevertheless, Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Glogau asked the appellate court to issue a ruling upholding the privatization provision that would set a precedent for future budgets. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pettler & Miller LLP - Experienced Estate Planning Attorneys
Legal Business |
2012/07/22 10:53
|
The emphasis of our practice is in the area of probate and trust law. This includes advice, document drafting as well as any required or appropriate litigation. We handle Estate Planning, Probate, Trust Administration, Conservatorships, Guardianships and Probate/Trust and related Litigation. We also are pleased to have the assistance of Family Law Mediator Dianne C. Freeman in regard to family law issues which are pertinent to Estate Planning, Probate and Trust matters.
Experienced Palos Verdes Estate Planning Attorneys
Regardless of age or the size of an estate, everyone needs to do an estate plan. We provide tools to enable you to deal with the management and transfer of assets upon your death or incapacity. This can include naming a guardian of your children and managing your estate for their benefit until you think they are old enough to manage assets on their own.
With nearly 40 years of experience in the field, we can and do create estate planning documents that will implement your wishes, minimize taxes and provide effective management tools in the event you become incapacitated or upon your death.
We create documents which are tailored to your desires and your estate. We help you administer them as the need arises. This often can avoid the involvement of expensive court proceedings and expedite the administration process. Our goal is to make management of assets upon incapacity and death of a loved one as efficient, economical and pain-free as possible.
Please contact our Torrance office for consultation with an attorney regarding your legal matter.
www.pettlermillerlaw.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Goldman agrees to settle mortgage debt class action
Class Action |
2012/07/20 11:23
|
Goldman Sachs Group Inc has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit with investors who claimed losses on $698 million of securities backed by risky mortgage loans issued by defunct subprime lender New Century Financial Corp.
Lawyers for the investors said in a letter filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday that a proposed settlement had been reached. Terms were not immediately disclosed, though they are expected to be included in court papers filed by July 31.
Goldman is one of many banks accused by U.S. legislators and regulators of fueling the nation's housing and financial crisis by misleading investors about the quality of mortgage debt they sold.
A federal judge in February ordered Goldman to face the class-action lawsuit that accuses it of defrauding investors in GSAMP Trust 2006-S2, a $698 million offering of certificates backed by second-lien home loans.
The loans were made by New Century, a subprime mortgage specialist that went bankrupt in 2007.
The investors, led by the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi, contend the offering documents contained materially untrue statements about the underwriting and appraisal standards used by California-based New Century, the mortgage originator. Goldman securitized and issued the certificates. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class-action lawsuit filed against Mountain State
Class Action |
2012/07/18 15:23
|
Three students are suing Mountain State University, former President Charles Polk and the Board of Trustees over the school's revoked accreditation, saying it renders their degrees worthless.
Dale Burger and his two children, Amanda and Jeff Burger, are seeking class-action status for their case, filed late Wednesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court.
Some 3,000 students were enrolled as of April, the lawsuit says. But the plaintiffs contend that the class should cover anyone who enrolled since July 10, 2008. That's when the school first learned it might be in trouble.
The lawsuit says Mountain State told students it was in sound shape when it knew otherwise.
A spokesman declined comment on the lawsuit Thursday.
The private Beckley-based school has campuses in West Virginia, Florida, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
Mountain State is appealing the Higher Learning Commission's decision to withdraw general accreditation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court hears ex-officers' appeals in Katrina case
Breaking Legal News |
2012/07/11 15:17
|
Two former New Orleans police officers have asked a federal appealscourt to throw out their convictions on charges stemming from thefatal shooting of a man whose burned body turned up in HurricaneKatrina's aftermath.A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also onWednesday heard the Justice Department's appeal of a judge's decisionto order a new trial for a third officer, Travis McCabe.McCabe was convicted of writing a false report on Henry Glover's 2005 shooting.The panel didn't indicate when it would rule.David Warren, who was convicted of shooting Glover withoutjustification, argues he shouldn't have been tried alongside otherofficers charged in the case, including Gregory McRae, who wasconvicted of burning Glover's body in a car. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
Law Firm Directory
|
|
Legal News RSS Feed
