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Conn. high court hears death penalty appeal
Law Center |
2011/04/25 09:20
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A lawyer told the state Supreme Court yesterday that his client’s death penalty case was the weakest one ever to go before the high court, alleging that the jury was biased and that key evidence was improperly withheld from the trial.
Justices heard the appeal of former Torrington resident Eduardo Santiago, 31, who prosecutors say agreed in 2000 to kill a West Hartford man in exchange for a pink-striped snowmobile with a broken clutch. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2005 after a jury convicted him, despite no clear evidence that he was the one who pulled the rifle trigger.
Two other men are serving life prison sentences for the killing of Joseph Niwinski, 45, who was shot in the head while sleeping in his home.
Santiago’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher, told the Supreme Court that there was no way a reasonable jury could have condemned Santiago. The defense presented 25 mitigating factors, including Santiago’s troubled childhood, for jurors to consider against the death penalty, while the state based its argument for execution on one aggravating factor, that Niwinski was killed in a murder-for-hire plot.
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Court close to seating Blagojevich jury
Breaking Legal News |
2011/04/25 09:19
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Jury selection in the retrial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is entering the home stretch after dragging on for longer than expected.
Thursday should be the last day of questioning of would-be jurors by U.S. District Judge James Zagel. He told attorneys Wednesday that opening arguments would take place Monday.
After a week of jury selection, 42 people are in the pool of potential jurors. Zagel says he only needs a few more before picking the final 12 jurors and six alternates.
One person the judge agreed to dismiss was a woman who had tickets to "The Oprah Winfrey Show." She had worried jury duty would force her to miss it.
Another person bumped was a school teacher who the judge said displayed "terrible grammar" in his questionnaire. |
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Apple hit by lawsuit over in-app purchases by kids
Corporate Governance |
2011/04/20 09:20
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Apple is facing a lawsuit from a Pennsylvania man whose 9-year-old daughter racked up $200 in charges buying "Zombie Toxin" and other game items on her iPod. The lawsuit seeks class-action status, saying Garen Meguerian of Phoenixville is among many people with bill shock after children went on buying sprees in iPhone, iPad and iPod games. These games are typically free to download, but players can buy items that speed up the game. An Associated Press story in December highlighted the issue. In many cases, it appeared that children bought items such as "Smurfberries" from "Smurfs' Village" without knowing they were spending real money. ITunes didn't ask for a password for in-game purchases if it had been entered within the previous 15 minutes for any reason. This meant that parents could download a free app, hand over their devices to their kids, and later find big charges on their iTunes accounts. Apple reversed the charges of complaining customers. It also tightened its password policy with a software update in March. Entering the password outside an app no longer triggers a password-free period for in-app purchases, which now have a separate 15-minute timer. Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said the company does not comment on pending litigation. |
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SUTTS, STROSBERG LLP FILES CLASS ACTION AGAINST ALANGE ENERGY CORP
Class Action |
2011/04/18 09:54
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A class action has been commenced in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on behalf of all investors who acquired shares of Alange Energy Corp. during the period August 30, 2010 to and including January 12, 2011. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants engaged in violations of Ontario's Securities Act and the common law.
The plaintiff has retained Sutts, Strosberg LLP to prosecute the class action.
The plaintiff alleges that throughout the Class Period, the defendants misrepresented its daily production of oil that was reported and disseminated to the public.
On January 13, 2011, Alange disclosed that it overstated its daily production of oil by as much as 39 per cent. After the disclosure, Alange's share price declined by more than 37 per cent on trading volume of more than 100 million shares.
Jay Strosberg, a partner of Sutts, Strosberg LLP said, "The question that is being asked is how could a company with experienced management so significantly overstate the amount of oil that it was producing?"
Sutts, Strosberg LLP pioneered securities class actions in Ontario. As a result of resolving class actions such as YBM Magnex, Southwestern Resources, Atlas Cold Storage, CV Technologies and NovaGold Resources; Sutts, Strosberg LLP has recovered more than $150 million for its clients in securities class action alone. Please visit the Sutts, Strosberg LLP website www.strosbergco.com and www.aleclassaction.com for more information about the Alange class
.
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Apple Hit with Class Action Lawsuit over In-App Purchases
Class Action |
2011/04/18 09:52
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Apple’s in-app purchasing policies have been challenged by a Pennsylvania man, Garen Meguerian, who claims that the Cupertino-based technology firm’s concerned policies are supporting unauthorized purchases.
Garen Meguerian, a father of two girls, filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple in a Northern California district court, claiming that Apple unlawfully targets children and entices them to purchase expensive virtual goods from the iTunes App Store.
Meguerian says that Apple’s in-app purchasing policies allowed his nine-year-old daughter to purchase virtual goods worth roughly $200 without permission.
Explaining the problem, Meguerian says that after entering a password to download an app a user gets a fifteen-minute window to make in-app purchases without entering the password again.
Meguerian adds that the in-app purchase policies allow "unlawful exploitation" of children and their parents’ wallets.
This is not the first time when Apple is feeling the brunt of parents’ criticism over its in-app purchasing policies. A few months back, the Washington Post reported that an eight-year-old child racked up $1,400 in in-app charges while playing Capcom's "Smurfs' Village" game |
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Judge Considers $30M Dairy Antitrust Settlement
Court Watch |
2011/04/18 09:51
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A federal judge in Vermont is considering moving forward with a partial settlement of an anti-trust lawsuit in which national dairy processor Dean Foods would pay some northeast dairy farmers $30 million.
But U.S. District Court Judge Christina Reiss said Friday she may defer a decision on part of the settlement that would require Dean Foods of Dallas to change its milk-buying practices in the region for 30 months by buying milk from independent farmers, a controversial provision that the plaintiffs say would jump start competition but a national dairy cooperative says would harm some farmers.
"I am likely to sever the settlement," Reiss told lawyers during a hearing on Friday.
Farmers have complained for years that Dean, the cooperative Dairy Farmers of America and its marketing affiliate Dairy Marketing Services have come to dominate the milk-buying market and have held down prices paid to farmers.
By agreeing to the settlement, Dean Foods does not admit any liability and "continues to maintain that it has not broken any laws," Dean Foods' attorney Paul Friedman said Friday.
It settles a class action lawsuit filed in 2009, which means 5,000 to 10,000 farmers could get a share of the settlement.
During the more than two-hour hearing, both sides urged Reiss to approve the deal, which plaintiff lawyer Kit Pierson said was "reached after extraordinarily difficult negotiations with Dean Foods."
But DFA and DMS, which are also named as co-defendants in the class-action lawsuit but are opposed to the settlement, said the provision in which Dean Foods would get 10 to 20 percent of the raw milk it buys for plants in Lynn and Franklin, Mass., and in East Greenbush, N.Y., from sources other than DMS for 30 months takes business away from their farmers and gives it to someone else.
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Del. Judge Approves Class Action Lawsuit Against Bradley
Class Action |
2011/04/18 09:51
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A Delaware judge will allow a class action lawsuit in the case of accused pedophile pediatrician Earl Bradley.
New Castle County Superior Court Judge Joseph R. Slights III approved class action status on April 6, according to the court. The judge's orders are sealed for now, leaving many details unclear.
The move will allow apparent victims to combine dozens of civil lawsuits against Bradley, former employer Beebe Medical Center and three doctors accused of failing to report suspicions of misconduct: James P. Marvel, Carol A. Tavani and Lowell F. Scott Jr.
Bruce Hudson, an attorney representing the victims, said in an interview last May class action status would require attorneys to contact up to 7,000 former patients.
Hudson, could not be reached on Tuesday, initially said class action status may benefit both sides. The attorney said the courts could set up a compensation system for former patients.
Bradley once worked at Beebe as chief of pediatrics though it does not appear any abuse took place at the hospital.
"We believe the class action approach is an orderly way to move forward," Beebe Vice President Wallace Hudson said in a statement. "We also said from the beginning that the children and their families must have our highest priority."
Hudson would not say how much the hospital's insurance may cover or what the latest move means for the facility's future.
Last summer, Beebe said credit agencies lowered the hospital's credit rating in response to lawsuits.
Law offices in Georgetown said at least 80 civil lawsuits have been filed in the case.
Jury selection for Bradley's criminal trial is set to begin in June in New Castle County.
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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. |
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