Costa Rica's top court has blocked the electoral tribunal from holding a referendum that would have let voters decide if same-sex civil unions should be allowed in the Central American country.

The Constitutional Court's 5-2 decision released Tuesday says such a referendum would put a minority at a disadvantage in a largely Roman Catholic country. It also says gay civil unions is a legislative issue and not an electoral one.

The court says it considers homosexuals a group that is at a disadvantage and the target for discrimination, requiring government authorities to protect their rights.

The electoral tribunal had planned to hold the referendum Dec. 5, when Costa Rica also is holding municipal elections.

A former B-2 bomber engineer who marketed and sold his stealth expertise to China is facing life in a federal prison following his conviction for bartering U.S. military secrets.

Noshir Gowadia, 66, was found guilty Monday on charges that he designed a cruise missile component for China and pocketed at least $110,000, which he allegedly used to help pay a $15,000-a-month mortgage on a multimillion-dollar oceanview home he built on Maui's north shore.

Prosecutors said Gowadia revealed classified information to foreign powers at least twice: during a PowerPoint presentation on his cruise missile technology, and when he showed the technology's effectiveness by comparing it to American air-to-air missiles.

"This case was unique in that we litigated know-how, the very concept of exporting your knowledge base that you derive, in whole or in part, from your activities working in United States classified programs," Assistant U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson said. "If you can take that and go sell it or market yourself on an international stage in secrecy to other governments and not suffer criminal sanctions for it, then we're in trouble."

Gowadia's defense attorneys argued during the nearly four-month trial that while it's true he gave China the design for the cruise missile part, he based his work on unclassified, publicly available information. Gowadia plans to appeal.

Victoryland casino closed voluntarily Monday as a court ruling loomed that could allow a raid of Alabama's largest electronic bingo operation, the last non-Indian casino doing business in the state.

Victoryland owner Milton McGregor said the casino was be closing temporarily due to the "legal shenanigans and threats" from Gov. Bob Riley and his gambling task force commander, John Tyson Jr.

Riley and Tyson contend the casino is an illegal slots operation and court rulings in Alabama have made that clear. But McGregor said no court has ruled specifically that Victoryland's machines are in violation of a constitutional amendment allowing bingo that Macon County voters approved.

"The system of government in our state has broken down," McGregor said in a statement.

Macon County's district attorney and sheriff have contended the casino is legal. Their attorneys had a Monday afternoon deadline from the Alabama Supreme Court to respond to Tyson's request to raid Victoryland and confiscate its 6,000 bingo machines.

The families of two Hungarian tourists killed in a duck boat accident on the Delaware River last month have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Philadelphia.

Sixteen-year-old Dora Schwendtner and 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem were killed July 7 when a barge being pushed by a tug slammed into the stalled duck boat. The boat capsized and sank.

Lawyers for the victims' families say the suit was filed Tuesday, naming tour boat operator Ride the Ducks of Norcross, Ga., and others.

The suit seeks punitive damages and claims the deaths were senseless and preventable.

Ride The Ducks spokesman Bob Salmon says the company is always focused on safety.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by descendants of the Apache warrior Geronimo, who claimed some of his remains were stolen in 1918 by a student society at Yale University.

The lawsuit was filed last year in Washington by 20 descendants who want to rebury Geronimo near his New Mexico birthplace.

It claimed Skull and Bones members took some remains from a burial plot at Fort Sill, Okla., where Geronimo died in 1909.

Judge Richard Roberts last month granted a Justice Department motion to dismiss, saying the plaintiffs didn't establish the government had waived its right not to be sued without its consent.

He also dismissed the lawsuit against Yale and the society, saying the plaintiffs cited a law that applies only to Native American cultural items excavated or discovered after 1990.

Skull and Bones is not officially affiliated with Yale.

On Monday afternoon of the meeting of the House of Delegates during the American Bar Association, the House of Delegates saw the passing of the gavel from President Carolyn B. Lamm to incoming President Stephen N. Zack.

During her introduction of Zack, Lamm noted, “I know you’ll be in fabulous hands.” She outlined Zack’s rise in the leadership of both The Florida Bar and the ABA.  He is an “incomparable advocate and strategist,” Lamm continued.

Zack noted that, in 1961 as a 14-year old, he and his family were detained while fleeing Cuba. Separated from his family in his own cell, Zack explained that, “The last thing I could have imagined then was a day like today.”

The responsibility of our association is to always speak truth to power.  “Today, I would like to talk to you about four responsibilities:  preservation of the justice system, civic education, protecting human rights, and preparing for disaster,” introduced Zack. 

“We are fighting for rule of law around the world, but we are in danger of losing it here” advised Zack.  The financial crisis in America has been devastating to our judicial system, with 80 percent of this nation’s poor people not being able to afford a lawyer, he said.  

But beyond that, Zack continued, “We are talking about closing the doors to our courtrooms for all Americans.”  Access to justice begins with access to our courts.   Rather than the noted Shakespearean tongue-in-cheek quote about killing lawyers, Zack said that the quote should have encouraged the killing of the justice system. For without a justice system, a society doesn’t need lawyers and anarchy would certainly ensue, he said.

The Task Force on the Preservation of the Justice System will be chaired by luminaries David Boies and Ted Olson.

“Every day, our nation becomes more divided with respect to civil rights,” noted Zack in introducing his Committee on Hispanic Legal Rights and Responsibilities.  Zack reminded delegates, “We are a nation of immigrants.  Our basic freedoms are based on the principle that the minority is protected from the tyranny of the majority.” 

Zack also encouraged the members of the House of Delegates, and indeed all lawyers, to be prepared for future disasters, including the possibility of a man-made disaster.  Zack posed:  What will be our response if that happens and the president suspends habeas?   “Now is the time to reflect” and to consider what our response will be. 

“In conclusion, let us remember. History has taught us that we can have liberty and justice, or neither, for there is nothing in between.   In America no man is above the law.  No one is beneath its protection,” summed Zack.

To access video of Zack’s speech:

http://www.abanow.org/2010/08/incoming-aba-president-moves-to-increase-judicial-funding-improve-civics-education-preserve-immigrant-rights-and-advance-disaster-planning-among-goals/

A $10 billion toxic tort class action lawsuit has been filed against BP over alleged emissions from its troubled Texas City oil refinery, alleging that workers and residents in the area were exposed to benzene and other chemicals.  
More than 2,200 workers at the refinery and residents from the surrounding area filed the BP class action lawsuit on August 3 in the Galveston Division of the Southern District of Texas. The complaint alleges that for 40 days earlier this year, the company illegally released the chemical benzene into the atmosphere.

The benzene lawsuit comes just as BP, formerly known as British Petroleum, was finally able to stop the flow of oil from a well a mile under the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, which has caused a massive oil spill that is expected to cost the company tens of billions of dollars in oil spill lawsuits and clean up costs.

Plaintiffs in the BP Texas City refinery class action lawsuit say the company has been releasing benzene into the atmosphere at the plant due to a hydrogen compressor that broke down on April 6. The 2,212 plaintiffs allege that they suffered serious injuries and illnesses from benzene exposure.

Benzene is an industrial chemical that has been linked to the development of cancer, leukemia and other life-threatening health problems. It is a known carcinogen used as an industrial solvent in the production of plastic and synthetic rubber, as well as drugs and dyes.

BP’s Texas City Refinery is the third-largest oil refinery in the United States, and has been the subject of several major safety incidents. As recently as September, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration hit BP with an $87.4 million fine for not complying with a safety agreement made after a March 23, 2005 explosion and fire that killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 others.

In February 2009, BP Products North America agreed to pay $180 million to resolve a separate environmental lawsuit over benzene emissions at the oil refinery. That case involved violations of a 2001 consent decree and Clean Air regulations which were identified during inspections by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) following the March 2005 blast.

Under the terms of that settlement, BP agreed to spend $161 million to address their Clean Air Act violations by setting up better pollution controls, enhanced maintenance and monitoring devices and improving their internal management practices. Another $6 million was designated to fund a project to reduce air pollution in Texas City and $12 million was paid as a penalty.