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Suspect in actor's beating pleads not guilty
Criminal Law |
2009/10/20 01:51
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A man accused of badly beating a teenage actor on a San Francisco bus has pleaded not guilty to felony assault and robbery charges. Prosecutors say 18-year-old Uluao Mase was carrying a loaded gun when he and three others beat 18-year-old Christopher Borgzinner and stole his wallet and iPod. Two others suspects, ages 15 and 16, are also in custody. Police are seeking a fourth. Police say Borgzinner was going to an acting class when the suspects asked if his red sneakers meant he was in a gang. Despite replying no, police say the suspects pummeled Borgzinner, who sustained fractures under both eyes. Borgzinner plays a gang member in "La Mission," a new film starring Benjamin Bratt. Mase is being held on $200,000 bail. |
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Bankruptcy filing delays church sex abuse case
Breaking Legal News |
2009/10/19 09:17
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A sex abuse case against Delaware's Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and a former priest will be delayed after the diocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection on the eve of trial. The bankruptcy filing late Sunday delays a lawsuit that had been set to start Monday in Kent County Superior Court, the first of eight consecutive abuse trials scheduled in Delaware. "This is a painful decision, one that I had hoped and prayed I would never have to make," the Rev. W. Francis Malooly, the bishop of the diocese, said in a statement on the diocese's Web site. Wilmington is the seventh U.S. Catholic diocese to seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since the church abuse scandal erupted seven years ago in the Archdiocese of Boston. The Wilmington diocese covers Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland and serves about 230,000 Catholics. Thomas Neuberger, an attorney representing 88 alleged victims, described the bankruptcy filing as a "desperate effort to hide the truth from the public and conceal the thousands of pages of scandalous documents" from being made public in court. |
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Sotomayor says nomination tightly scripted
Legal Business |
2009/10/19 06:18
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Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says her nomination process was so tightly scripted that even her clothes were chosen for her. Sotomayor made the comments when she appeared at her 30th Yale Law School reunion on Saturday. The New Haven Register reports that Sotomayor spoke to 1,800 alumni, students and faculty, describing her recent grueling nomination process. State Sen. Ed Meyer was among those in attendance. He says Sotomayor became teary at times but kept the crowd laughing. He says Sotomayor talked about shopping for clothes to wear to her acceptance ceremony. Government officials, however, told her to bring five suits and they recommended which one she should wear. Sotomayor, the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court, attended a luncheon, coffee reception and a 30th reunion dinner with about 50 guests. |
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Ex-British spy takes book battle to Supreme Court
International |
2009/10/19 04:17
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A former British spy is asking Britain's Supreme Court to overturn a decision by domestic intelligence agency MI5 to block him from publishing a book about his career. Lawyers for the former MI5 officer, who is not named in court documents, told a hearing Monday that he is seeking a judicial review of the decision. Britain's government says publishing the book could threaten national security. In a famous case in 1998, Britain's government lost a three-year campaign to ban publication of "Spycatcher," a memoir by ex-MI5 officer Peter Wright. Former MI5 chief Stella Rimmington published an autobiography in 2001, after the government censored some sections and said it regretted and disapproved of her decision to write the book.
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Dutch DSB bank declared bankrupt
Bankruptcy |
2009/10/19 04:17
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A Dutch court declared DSB Bank NV bankrupt on Monday, ending hopes the regional lender, which suffered a run on deposits, might be sold or bailed out. The privately-owned bank is the first to go bust in the Netherlands since last year, though the government and regulators insist its failure was not directly related to the credit crisis. "The court concludes that the utmost was done for DSB to continue as a whole entity, and there is no prospect of that anymore," the Amsterdam District Court said in a summary of its ruling. After a run on deposits, DSB was put into receivership of the Netherlands' central bank a week ago. Customers had withdrawn about a sixth of the euro4.3 billion ($6.4 billion) the bank had in deposits at the start of the month. The government insures the first euro100,000 of retail bank accounts. Central Bank President Nout Wellink has predicted a liquidation that will result in big losses for creditors and cost many of the 2,000 employees their jobs. The failure has raised questions about the functioning of Dutch financial institutions, oversight bodies and the government — as well as DSB's own lending practices. The catalyst for the run on DSB was a call by Pieter Lakeman, an industry gadfly, for customers to withdraw their deposits in protest because the bank had improperly overcharged mortgage customers. The central bank and Finance Minister Wouter Bos have recommended that DSB consider trying to hold Lakeman liable for damages. |
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Ala. court rejects $274M verdicts in drug cases
Breaking Legal News |
2009/10/18 11:19
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ma Supreme Court on Friday threw out jury decisions awarding the state more than $274 million from three pharmaceutical companies, ruling they did not defraud the state in pricing Medicaid prescription drugs. The court overturned jury verdicts against the drug companies AstraZeneca, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, accused by the state of fraudulently manipulating prices of drugs for Medicaid recipients. The court ruled 8-1 that the state did not have to rely on the drug companies' information in deciding what prices to pay pharmacists for prescription drugs for Medicaid recipients. The justices said state officials could have done their own research and determined the correct price. The court ruled the state is continuing to rely on the same formulas established by the drug companies to set prices. "The state has never altered its course of conduct since taking issue with the reporting methods," said the majority ruling written by Justice Tom Woodall. Justice Tom Parker cast the lone dissent, saying there was no evidence the drug manufacturers made available to the state the confidential details they used in determining price information. More than 70 lawsuits were filed in 2005 by the state against drug companies. The state has settled its lawsuits against 16 of the drug manufacturers for more than $124 million. |
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Trial law firm launches tire defects Web site
Law Firm News |
2009/10/18 10:20
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The plaintiffs’ product liability law firm of Greene Broillet & Wheeler has launched a Web site designed specifically to give consumers an overview of alleged tire defects and tire safety issues. The Web site, tire-defect-law, includes sections on tire anatomy, tire tread separation, aged tires, valve stem defects, Load Range E tires, tire informational markings and tire recalls. It also includes a list of tire-related cases Greene Broillet & Wheeler either won in court or for which it negotiated settlements. Greene Broillet & Wheeler claims to have conducted successful product liability litigations against most major tire makers. Christine D. Spagnoli, a partner in the firm, is plaintiffs’ liaison counsel for all product liability suits against Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. in California, according to a press release. “Unfortunately, tire manufacturers and sellers don’t provide adequate warning or instruction to protect consumers and warn them of tire-related dangers,” Ms. Spagnoli said, explaining why the firm decided to establish a tire defects Web site.
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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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