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Court tosses White House appeal on visitor logs
Political and Legal |
2008/07/11 06:34
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A federal appeals court on Friday set back the White House's efforts to keep the names of its visitors secret. The three-member panel of judges threw out the government's appeal in the case in which a watchdog group is trying to find out how often prominent religious conservatives visited the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's residence. Despite the ruling against the White House, the decision does not necessarily mean that visitor logs will be subject to public disclosure. The White House can still raise a variety of legal arguments in an attempt to keep the identities of White House visitors secret. But appeals court Judge David Tatel said the document request from the private group is narrowly drawn and can be processed. The document request from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington would not require the president, Cheney or their staffs to sort through mountains of files, said Tatel. |
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Metro Atlanta Law Firm Expands Website
Legal Marketing |
2008/07/11 05:38
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Smith, Welch &a Brittain, LLP, Attorneys at Law recently redesigned and expanded its website www.swblawfirm.com to include concise legal information on subjects such as automobile accidents (car wrecks), personal injury claims, divorce, mediation, child custody, zoning, and other matters of general legal interest. The information can be found in a growing library of informative articles written by Smith, Welch & Brittain attorneys who attest to the documents' accuracy and relevance. No subscription is required to access the information and articles can be searched by subject, downloaded, printed and e-mailed to others directly from the site.
Senior Partner Mark Brittain said that posting free, easy-to-access information on the firm's website allows the public to research potential problems and determine whether their issues require further legal assistance.
SWB attorney and partner John P. Webb, who authored several of the articles posted said, "Our firm's commitment to providing quality legal services to this area is not exclusive to clients who sign a legal agreement with us; this expanded website extends our assistance to all areas of our firm, including the website and media departments."
The site also contains detailed information about the firm's services, its attorneys and its practice areas. There is also an online form to facilitate secure submission of title requests.
Webb said that the enhanced design is viewer-friendly and easy to use, with no heavy graphics that take extra time to download, and no commercial content. Said Webb, "Web viewers will be pleased with this new legal resource as close and convenient as their computer keyboards."
About Smith, Welch & Brittain, LLP
Smith, Welch & Brittain, LLP is a full service law firm established in 1898. The firm operates offices at four locations in metro Atlanta -- McDonough, Stockbridge, Jackson and Barnesville - and employs approximately 100 attorneys and support staff. |
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Investment firms don't draw emergency loans
Business |
2008/07/11 03:42
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In a sign of some improvement in the credit crisis, Wall Street firms for the first time didn't borrow from the Federal Reserve's emergency lending program and commercial banks also scaled back. Investment firms didn't draw such loans for the week ending July 9. They borrowed just $1.7 billion in the previous week ending July 2, down from $6.1 billion in the week before that. Such borrowing rose as high as $38.1 billion in early April. The Fed opened its emergency program to investment firms on March 17. At that time, the investment houses were given similar loan privileges as commercial banks after a run on Bear Stearns pushed the nation's fifth-largest investment bank to the brink of bankruptcy. The situation raised fears that other Wall Street firms might be in jeopardy. Bear Stearns was eventually taken over by JPMorgan Chase in a deal that involved the Fed's financial backing. Banks, meanwhile, averaged $12.9 billion in daily borrowing over the past week. That compared with $14.9 billion in the previous week. The identities of commercial banks and investment houses are not released. In the broadest use of the central bank's lending power since the 1930s, the Fed in March scrambled to avert a market meltdown by giving investment houses a place to go for emergency overnight loans. The program will continue for at least six months. Commercial banks and investment companies now pay 2.25 percent in interest for the loans. Separately, as part of efforts to relieve credit strains, the Fed auctioned $21.3 billion in Treasury securities to investment companies Thursday. The auction drew bids for less than the $25 billion the Fed was making available, which was viewed as possible sign of some improvements in credit conditions. In exchange for the 28-day loans of Treasury securities, bidding companies can put up as collateral more risky investments. These include certain mortgage-backed securities and bonds secured by federally guaranteed student loans. The auction program, which began March 27, is intended to make investment companies more inclined to lend to each other. A second goal is providing relief to the distressed market for mortgage-linked securities and for student loans. |
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Ohio plans first execution since moratorium
Breaking Legal News |
2008/07/11 03:35
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Ohio is planning its first execution since a U.S. Supreme Court decision ended a national pause on killing inmates. The Ohio Supreme Court on Friday set an execution date of Oct. 14 for Richard Cooey, who was convicted of raping and murdering two University of Akron students in 1986. Executions had been put on hold nationally for several months until the U.S. Supreme Court decided in April to allow Kentucky's lethal injection process, which is similar to the one used in Ohio. Opponents argued the procedure is unconstitutionally cruel. |
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McLaren to pay court costs to Ferrari after spying
International |
2008/07/11 02:36
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The McLaren team settled its legal dispute with Ferrari on Friday, agreeing to pay the Italian team's court costs from the Formula One spying scandal. McLaren apologized last December after Ferrari data and documents were found at its chief designer's home, resulting in a $100 million fine for McLaren and disqualification from the 2007 constructors championship. McLaren said Friday that both sides had agred to bring the dispute to a final conclusion. The exact terms of the deal were not released, but Ferrari said it would donate the payment from McLaren to charity. The Italian team said it would continue to pursue its case against former Ferrari mechanic Nigel Stepney. Stepney was head of performance development at Ferrari in July 2007 when the scandal broke after a 780-page technical dossier on Ferrari cars was found at the home of McLaren chief designer Mike Coughlan. Stepney and Coughlan were later fired by their teams. |
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Wisconsin law bans sex with dead bodies
Criminal Law |
2008/07/10 09:18
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Wisconsin law bans sex with dead bodies, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in reinstating charges against three men accused of digging up a corpse so one of them could have sex with it. The court waded into the grisly case after lower court judges ruled nothing in state law banned necrophilia. Those decisions prompted public outrage and a push by a state lawmaker to make sex with a corpse a crime. In Wednesday's 5-2 decision, the high court said Wisconsin law makes sex acts with dead people illegal because they are unable to give consent. The ruling reinstates the attempted sexual assault charges against twin brothers Nicholas and Alexander Grunke and Dustin Radke, all 22. The charges carry a punishment of up to 10 years in prison. Justice Patience Roggensack, writing a majority opinion with three other justices, said state law bans sexual intercourse with anyone who does not give consent "whether a victim is dead or alive at the time." "A reasonably well-informed person would understand the statute to prohibit sexual intercourse with a dead person," she wrote. Jefren Olsen, an attorney who represented Radke, said the decision was flawed because the law was never intended to punish necrophilia. "Obviously, the facts are rather notorious and not the easiest to deal with," he said. "I assume that had some impact." Police say the three men, carrying shovels, a crowbar and a box of condoms, went to a cemetery in southwestern Wisconsin in 2006 to dig up the body of Laura Tennessen, 20, who had been killed the week before in a motorcycle crash. Nicholas Grunke had seen an obituary photo of her and asked the others for help digging up her corpse so he could have sexual intercourse with it, prosecutors say. Authorities say the men used shovels to reach her grave but were unable to pry open the vault. They fled when a car drove into the cemetery and were eventually arrested. The men were charged with attempted third-degree sexual assault and misdemeanor attempted theft charges. The case has been on hold as prosecutors appealed the dismissal of the assault charges.
Suzanne Edwards, a lawyer representing Nicholas Grunke, said she was disappointed in the decision. She said the men will be arraigned on the charges and have a chance to plead not guilty. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, whose office represented prosecutors in the appeal, praised the decision. "Words matter and the Legislature chose its words carefully to extend the sexual assault law to those heinous circumstances where a dead person is sexually assaulted, whether or not the defendant killed the victim," he said. "Necrophilia is criminal in Wisconsin." The decision brings Wisconsin into line with more than 20 other states that prohibit necrophilia or the abuse of a corpse, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. |
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Imprisoned Vick files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Bankruptcy |
2008/07/10 07:19
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Seven months after Michael Vick was sentenced to federal prison, the fallen Falcons quarterback found himself in a “precarious financial position” and filed for bankruptcy. One of his creditors is the Falcons. In Chapter 11 documents filed in federal court in Virginia on Monday, Vick cites debts of between $10million and $50million. He also cites assets in the same range. In the court documents, Vick lists seven creditors, including the Falcons, that are owed a total of $12.8million. The debt to the Falcons is for $3.75million, listed as a prorated signing bonus. The documents indicate the claim is disputed. A Falcons spokesman said the team would not comment on Vick's bankruptcy. Vick is serving a 23-month sentence in Leavenworth, Kan., for his guilty plea in federal court to felony charges related to dogfighting. His release date is July20, 2009. The largest of Vick's creditors is Joel Enterprises with a claim of $4.5million. Andrew Joel, a Richmond, Va., sports agent, filed a lawsuit against Vick in 2006 claiming he reneged on an endorsement deal agreed upon after he left Virginia Tech early for the NFL. Another creditor listed is Radtke Sports, of Woodstock, Ga., for $550,000. According to the attorney for Radtke Sports, which sells sports memorabilia, Vick had an exclusive autograph deal with the company and he can no longer fulfill his obligation because of his imprisonment. |
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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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