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Jury finds ranch negligent in 10-death landslide
Breaking Legal News | 2008/08/20 08:33
A jury has ruled that a ranch company's negligence helped lead to the huge 2005 landslide that crushed part of a seaside community and killed 10 people.

After a trial of nearly two months, the jurors in Ventura County Superior Court found on Tuesday that the La Conchita Ranch Co. did not build a sufficient drainage system for its land on a hilltop overlooking the community of La Conchita.

The landslide followed soaking winter storms, and attorneys for the plaintiffs had argued the ranch, which grows lemons and avocados, saturated its orchards and created a "perfect recipe" for a landslide.

The ranch's lawyers countered that the area is geologically unstable and has had at least six landslides, including a 1909 slide that killed four railroad workers.

The Jan. 10, 2005, slide destroyed 13 homes and damaged 23 others in the unincorporated town on California's central coast, 70 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

"I'm glad the ranch is being held accountable," said community leader Mike Bell, sometimes called the "mayor" of the unincorporated town. "They had every opportunity to prevent what happened to our town and hopefully now they're going to pay for it."

Attorneys for both sides declined to comment after Tuesday's findings, citing a gag order that continues until the damages phase of the trial is over. That part of the trial, which the judge has said could take more than a month, begins Monday.

The ranch will not be subject to punitive damages, because the jury ruled that its conduct was not "outrageous" or in "reckless disregard" to property or people.

It took Judge Vincent O'Neill more than an hour to read 50 pages of findings in the case, in which dozens of plaintiffs including property owners and relatives of victims sued the company for wrongful death, personal damage and property damage.

The complex jury verdict also found that some of the plaintiffs who owned property in the area were liable for injuries to other plaintiffs.

The jury exonerated ranch manager David Orr and Ventura County, saying they were not negligent.



Court protests halt hearing in immigrant killing
Breaking Legal News | 2008/08/19 07:37
Courthouse protests have caused a brief interruption in the preliminary hearing of three teenagers charged in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant in a small Pennsylvania town.

About 40 protesters outside the courthouse in Pottsville have been told to keep quiet or they'll be forced to move. The protesters are from workers and immigrants' rights groups.

A defense attorney complained about the distraction and the hearing was recessed for several minutes until the protesters quieted down. There have been no arrests.

Luis Ramirez was attacked July 12 when he crossed paths with a group of teens in the town of Shenandoah, about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

A judge is deciding if there is enough evidence against the three to send the case to trial.



Calif top court: Docs can't withhold care to gays
Breaking Legal News | 2008/08/19 03:36
 California's highest court on Monday barred doctors from invoking their religious beliefs as a reason to deny treatment to gays and lesbians, ruling that state law prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination extends to the medical profession.

Justice Joyce Kennard wrote that two Christian fertility doctors who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian have neither a free speech right nor a religious exemption from the state's law, which "imposes on business establishments certain antidiscrimination obligations."

In the lawsuit that led to the ruling, Guadalupe Benitez, 36, of Oceanside said that the doctors treated her with fertility drugs and instructed her how to inseminate herself at home but told her their beliefs prevented them from inseminating her. One of the doctors referred her to another fertility specialist without moral objections, and Benitez has since given birth to three children.

Nevertheless, Benitez in 2001 sued the Vista-based North Coast Women's Care Medical Group. She and her lawyers successfully argued that a state law prohibiting businesses from discriminating based on sexual orientation applies to doctors.

The law was originally designed to prevent hotels, restaurants and other public services from refusing to serve patrons because of their race. The Legislature has since expanded it to cover characteristics such as age and sexual orientation.



Ohio jury visits apartment in microwave death case
Breaking Legal News | 2008/08/18 08:34
A jury in Dayton, Ohio, has visited the apartment where prosecutors say a woman killed her month-old baby by burning her in a microwave oven.

The visit came ahead of opening statements Monday in the retrial of 28-year-old China Arnold. She's charged with aggravated murder in the 2005 death of her daughter, Paris Talley.

Arnold has pleaded not guilty. She could face the death penalty if convicted.

A judge declared a mistrial in February after privately hearing testimony from a juvenile who said he was at the apartment complex the night the baby died. The judge did not reveal what the juvenile said.



Appeals court: Phil Spector's retrial can proceed
Breaking Legal News | 2008/08/16 08:34
A California court panel has decided that the retrial of Phil Spector on a murder charge can proceed.

A state appeals court on Friday rejected a defense request to halt the trial.

The music producer's attorneys had requested a stay of the trial so they could appeal on double jeopardy grounds. They also wanted assurance that prosecutors would not ask jurors to convict Spector of lesser offenses. The court denied both requests.

Spector's first trial resulted in a jury deadlock on second-degree murder. Prosecutors have not indicated whether they will seek a conviction on lesser offenses.

The 68-year-old is charged with killing actress Lana Clarkson at his home in 2003. His retrial is set for October.



Appeals court orders Cuban militant to stand trial
Breaking Legal News | 2008/08/15 03:28
 A federal appeals court on Thursday ordered Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles to stand trial in El Paso on immigration fraud charges.

A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled that Posada, an 80-year-old anti-Castro militant, should stand trial on charges that he lied to federal authorities in his 2005 bid to become a U.S. citizen.

The criminal case against Posada had been dismissed last year when El Paso-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone ruled that the government engaged in trickery and deceit by using a naturalization interview to build a case against Posada.

Felipe Millan, one of Posada's lawyers in El Paso, said Posada's legal team was reviewing the decision and would decide on a course of action afterward.

In an e-mailed statement to The Associated Press, Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said, "We're pleased with the ruling and will proceed forward as appropriate."

The Cuban-born citizen of Venezuela is wanted in the South American country on charges that he orchestrated the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner. He has denied any wrongdoing.

Posada was first arrested on a civil immigration violation in May 2005 after sneaking into the country from Mexico about two months earlier. Posada, a former CIA operative and U.S. Army officer, has claimed that he was brought across the border into Texas by a smuggler, but federal authorities have alleged that he actually sailed from Mexico to Florida.



Judge asked to seize $8B from Calif. treasury
Breaking Legal News | 2008/08/14 09:05
A federal court overseer asked a judge Wednesday to seize $8 billion from California's cash-strapped treasury to improve medical care at the state's overcrowded prisons.

Court-appointed receiver Clark Kelso said he needs the money over the next five years to build new medical units for 10,000 sick or mentally ill inmates.

Kelso also asked U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson to hold Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's controller in contempt of court if they don't allocate the money soon.

Federal courts have declared the health care system in California's 33 state prisons so poor that it violates inmates' constitutional rights. Kelso was named by the court to oversee the reform effort.

The request to U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson in San Francisco comes as lawmakers remain at odds over how to cope with California's $15.2 billion deficit seven weeks after the start of the fiscal year.



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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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