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Ala. chief justice warns more court layoffs coming
Political and Legal |
2011/05/16 08:47
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Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb warned the state's judges and circuit clerks Monday to expect substantial layoffs because of the budget crisis in the state judicial system.
Cobb met with judges and clerks mostly by conference call Monday. The meeting was not open to news reporters or the public. She said 270 court employees have already lost jobs in the past two years because of budget cuts, and she expects another 265 court workers to be laid off during the coming fiscal year that begins Oct. 1.
Cobb told The Associated Press that she had hoped to receive a $10 million supplemental appropriation from the Legislature to help the courts get through the remainder of the current year. She said that is unlikely now because the money is needed to help with recovery from last month's violent tornadoes that killed more than 200 in Alabama.
She said she doesn't expect to receive the supplemental appropriation and she also believes a bill to raise the state's cigarette tax by $1 a carton is dead for this session. Some proceeds from the cigarette tax were to go to the courts.
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Costs Of Oklahoma DHS Lawsuit Mounting
Breaking Legal News |
2011/05/16 08:46
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Oklahoma taxpayers have spent about $4.2 million on attorneys since April 2008 for the state Department of Human Services to defend a class-action lawsuit alleging abusive conditions in the state's foster-care system, records show.
The suit was filed in February 2008 in federal court in Tulsa by Children's Rights. The New York-based nonprofit accuses the state of placing foster children in danger because of systemic deficiencies including too many cases per worker, not enough home visits, multiple placements and not enough foster parent training.
DHS is facing a shortfall in the next budget of about $39 million and is considering cutting staffing levels and changing the eligibility standard to receive child-care subsidies.
"It's unfortunate that funds have to be spent to defend the state against unmerited claims," said DHS spokeswoman Sheree Powell in an emailed statement. |
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2nd class-action suit filed against Combs
Class Action |
2011/05/14 08:44
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A second class-action suit has been filed in federal court in Houston against Comptroller Susan Combs on behalf of 3.5 million Texans whose personal information was accidentally exposed online. Attorney Muhammad Aziz told the Houston Chronicle that the plaintiffs are seeking a $1,000 penalty "for each of these individuals whose privacy was violated by the comptroller." Combs' office said April 11 that it discovered it mistakenly posted the data, including names and Social Security numbers, on a publicly accessible server for months. Combs has publicly apologized, blaming human error for the data release, and has announced free credit monitoring for anyone who's been affected. She said she cannot comment on litigation. |
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AT&T wage lawsuit cannot proceed as class-action
Court Watch |
2011/05/13 08:44
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AT&T Inc won a ruling from a Manhattan federal judge to decertify a class-action lawsuit by more than 4,100 workers who complained its mobile unit failed to properly pay wages and overtime.
The ruling, by U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in favor of AT&T Mobility LLC, came two weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court, by a 5-4 vote, upheld the company's ability to require customers to waive their right to class-based arbitrations to resolve disputes, even over small sums.
In the wage case, Gamze Zivali, a Brooklyn, New York resident and assistant store manager, accused AT&T Mobility of requiring her to spend 10 to 15 unpaid hours per week answering e-mails, texts and phone calls, and performing other work.
Rakoff in July 2009 granted "conditional" permission for other AT&T Mobility workers to join the case, and allege they were victims of a "common policy or plan" that violated federal labor laws. More than 4,100 workers joined the case.
But in a decision made public late Thursday, Rakoff said there was "an extremely wide variety of factual and employment settings" among the workers, their managers and retail stores.
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China gymnast's US lawsuit risks tainting image
Breaking Legal News |
2011/05/12 08:47
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Thirteen years after a training accident left her paralyzed and ended her career as a world-class gymnast, China's Sang Lan has filed a lawsuit in the United States, one that threatens to tarnish her carefully maintained reputation for resilience at home. The $1.8-billion suit targets everyone — from Ted Turner, who founded the Goodwill Games where the accident happened in 1998 in New York, to the former AOL Time Warner Inc. media company, which owned the games, to USA Gymnastics, which supported the event, to the couple who were her guardians in New York. It says they broke promises to care for Sang, then 17 and paralyzed from the chest down ever since. The suit is an unexpected turn for Sang, whose sweet smile and upbeat nature earned her many supporters in China and who became a symbol of determination and courage in the face of a devastating injury. Returning home in 1999, she received a hero's welcome, with officials calling her "the pride of all Chinese." Since then, she has used her fame to advocate for the disabled. Sang says her public image and the lawsuit are separate affairs, and she thinks it's more important to set the record straight about the circumstances surrounding her fall. "At that time, people said that Sang Lan herself lost control and made the mistake that caused her to fall," Sang, now 29, said during an interview Wednesday in her two-bedroom apartment in northeast Beijing, where Beijing Olympics memorabilia decorate the shelves. She says she fell because she was distracted by someone who moved a mat while she was in mid-air. |
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TVA wins another round against coal ash lawsuits
Class Action |
2011/05/11 08:47
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The Tennessee Valley Authority has won another victory in its court fight against lawsuits seeking damages in the Kingston, Tenn., plant coal ash spill. U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan in a ruling Tuesday said no to plaintiff attorneys seeking to join the suits in a class action. The judge in Knoxville agreed with a magistrate's January recommendation. A Dec. 22, 2008 dam breach spilled 5.4 million cubic yards of toxin-laden sludge in the Emory River and on land beside the plant west of Knoxville in Roane County. TVA spokeswoman Barbara Martocci said Wednesday that TVA was "pleased" with the ruling. Plaintiff attorneys did not return telephone messages seeking comment. |
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Further Class Action Lawsuits Filed for Depakote Side Effects
Class Action |
2011/05/09 09:10
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The Consumer Justice Foundation, a free online resource for those who are struggling with legal or personal injury issues in relation to insurance companies and/or large corporations, hereby announces that Depakote class action lawsuits have been filed by plaintiffs in St. Clair County, Illinois against the manufacturer of Depakote, Abbott Laboratories. These Depakote lawsuits, which carry the case numbers of St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 10-L-651 and St. Clair County Circuit Court Case No. 11-L-143, respectively, seek damages for the classes of plaintiffs that would be used to compensate them for medical expenses incurred and future costs that will be incurred in caring for those who have been harmed as a result of using Depakote.
The Depakote class action lawsuits mentioned above involve claims regarding pregnant mothers who used Depakote while pregnant. Depakote is generally used by people in order to help them treat the symptoms of seizure disorders that include migraine headaches, epilepsy and the manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.
Unfortunately, parents around the United States have claimed that using Depakote while pregnant can lead to the possibility of children of mothers who used this medication while pregnant being born with severe birth defects. Examples of these alleged Depakote birth defects have included spina bifida, neural tube malformations, heart defects and brain defects.
The lawsuits that have been filed against Abbott Laboratories claim that the company knew of the risks of the use of one specific active ingredient, known as valproic acid and its tendency to raise the risk of birth defects developing in children of mothers who ingested this substance during the early stages of a pregnancy.
These Depakote class action lawsuits further claim that Abbott Laboratories misled doctors and the public in general by downplaying these known risks, and that this downplaying of these potential risks led to the harm suffered by the children who were born with these birth defects. Plaintiffs in these Depakote class action lawsuits are seeking compensation for medical expenses and future costs of care.
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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 and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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