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$30M award in lawsuit against Neb. broker
Class Action |
2011/04/28 09:18
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A federal judge awarded $30 million Monday to more than 200 investors who claim they were defrauded by a pair of Nebraska City brokers.
The decision came in a class-action lawsuit filed in 2007 by former clients of Rebecca Engle and Brian Schuster in U.S. District Court in Omaha. It accuses them of improperly selling risky investments.
The $30 million judgment was against Schuster, a former Nebraska football player, and some of his investment firms. It does not include Engle.
J.L. Spray, an attorney for the investors, said Tuesday that he was pleased with the judge's decision but "it leaves the question of how much of this we'll be able to collect."
Schuster, who has since moved to Vermillion, S.D., is representing himself in court. A number listed for him rang unanswered Tuesday.
Spray said the case against Engle has been put on hold pending her bankruptcy case in Arizona.
Schuster, 37, is scheduled to stand trial next month in state court on eight counts of security fraud. Engle, 57, has pleaded guilty to two counts and awaits sentencing. Several lawsuits and arbitration claims have been filed against them. |
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US Supreme Court imposes limits on class actions
Court Watch |
2011/04/28 06:19
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday limited the ability of people to combine forces and fight corporations together when they want to dispute contracts for cell phones, cable television and other services, a move consumer advocates called a crushing blow.
In a 5-4 ideological split, the high court's conservatives said businesses can block their customers from using class actions. The court said the federal arbitration law trumps state laws that invalidate contracts banning class actions.
The decision came in a dispute between AT&T Mobility and a California couple who objected to being charged around $30 in sales tax for what they were told was a free cell phone.
Businesses commonly require arbitration clauses in consumer contracts to protect them from facing their customers in court. The Supreme Court's decision means that corporations now won't need to worry about consumers, shareholders or even employees banding together and fighting them using lawsuits or arbitration, consumer groups said.
"Now, whenever you sign a contract to get a cell phone, open a bank account or take a job, you may be giving up your right to hold companies accountable for fraud, discrimination or other illegal practices," said Deepak Gupta, a Public Citizen lawyer who argued the case.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the decision would hamper the rights of consumers to be protected by state laws.
"Class actions are an effective way to ensure consumer protection, but today's opinion by the Roberts court continued to move in a direction that undermines this access to justice for hard-working Americans," Leahy said.
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Group sues Calif. over race-based prison lockdowns
Court Watch |
2011/04/28 02:19
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California's use of race as a basis for locking prisoners in their cells after fights amounts to illegal discrimination and should be banned, attorneys representing inmates said in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The policy unfairly punishes innocent inmates simply because they have the same color skin as those involved in the violence, the nonprofit Prison Law Office said in its suit, filed in federal court in Sacramento.
Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said lockdowns are sometimes necessary to protect safety and security. It is not the department's policy to base lockdowns and other restrictions solely on race or ethnicity, she said.
However, a proposed revision to the department's lockdown policy says inmates often organize themselves based on race or geographical area. The policy acknowledges that some uninvolved inmates may be affected, but it is the department's goal to get them back to a normal routine as soon as possible.
Rebekah Evenson, an attorney with the Berkeley-based Prison Law Office, said the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a similar argument in 2005 when it told the state to end its policy of housing inmates based on their race. The high court and other states have found that such race-based policies encourage violence by splitting inmates along racial lines, Evenson said.
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Decisions for Daniels as he weighs White House bid
Breaking Legal News |
2011/04/27 09:19
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As Mitch Daniels, the Republican governor of Indiana who last year called for a "truce on the so-called social issues," approaches his deadline for deciding whether to run for president, state lawmakers have put on his desk a pair of showcase conservative ideas.
In the final days of the state's legislative session, lawmakers approved plans to create the nation's broadest private school voucher system and make Indiana the first state to cut off all government funding for Planned Parenthood.
Daniels has pushed the voucher program, but the Planned Parenthood measure could present a political predicament for him as he nears a decision on whether he will run for president.
The governor has said it's a decision he'll make after lawmakers adjourn for the year, but he told The Indianapolis Star Thursday that he would not have an announcement this weekend even though the legislative session ends Friday. Spokeswoman Jane Jankowski confirmed Daniels' comments to The Associated Press but said he was unavailable for comment.
The Indiana House approved both ideas Wednesday, sending them to Daniels to decide what to do next.
The Planned Parenthood measure is a significant victory for the anti-abortion movement and would cut the $3 million in federal money the state distributes to the Planned Parenthood organization for family planning and health programs. It also ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy unless there is a substantial threat to the woman's life or health and requires women seeking an abortion be told that life begins at conception and that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges in a nearby hospital.
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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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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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