|
|
|
Europe worries Wall Street again, and stocks fall
Business |
2012/01/05 09:36
|
Stocks are mostly lower in midday trading as worries about Europe's finances outweigh encouraging news about the U.S. job market.
The euro dropped to its lowest level against the dollar in more than a year Thursday, and stocks fell sharply in Italy and Spain.
The Dow Jones industrial average lost 47 points to 12,371. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 2 points to 1,275. The Nasdaq edged up 4 points. The losses were steeper earlier in the day.
Retailers fell after reporting so-so December revenue. Target, J.C. Penney Co., Sears and Gap were all among the worst performers in the S&P 500, down more than 3 percent.
The discouraging news on Europe and retail sales outweighed a report that the number of people filing for unemployment benefits fell last week.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Company pleads guilty to dumping wastewater in Harvey Canal
Business |
2011/11/14 01:16
|
A Louisiana company has pleaded guilty to a charge it illegally discharged more than 1 million gallons of oily wastewater into the Harvey Canal.
Oakmont Environmental Inc. of Harvey faces a $500,000 fine following its guilty plea Wednesday to violating the Clean Water Act.
Clifton Carr, a 62-year-old Amite resident who was the operator of the company's waste treatment facility, also pleaded guilty Wednesday to a related charge.
Federal prosecutors say Oakmont had a permit to discharge wastewater into a Jefferson Parish sewerage treatment plant after it had been pretreated.
But the company allegedly discharged the wastewater directly into the canal without separating the oil from the water.
Prosecutors said 1.2 million gallons of oily wastewater was discharged into the canal between September 2007 and March 2008. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
FDIC backs ban on banks trading for own profit
Business |
2011/10/11 09:41
|
Banks would be barred from trading for their own profit instead of their clients under a rule being proposed by federal regulators.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. backed the draft rule on a 3-0 vote Tuesday. The ban on proprietary trading was required under last year's financial overhaul law.
For years, banks had bet on risky investments with their own money. But when those bets go bad and banks fail, taxpayers could be forced to bail them out. That's what happened during the 2008 financial crisis.
The Federal Reserve has also approved the draft of the so-called Volcker Rule, which was named after former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and Treasury Department must still vote on it, and then the public has until January 13 to comment. The rule is expected to take effect next year after a final vote by all four regulators.
Congress and President Barack Obama had high hopes for the rule. But they left most of the details for regulators to sort out.
It's unclear how strictly the ban will be enforced. For example, it can be hard to tell whether an investment is intended to benefit a bank or its clients and whether federally insured deposits could be put at risk by these trades.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Stay away from energy drinks, doctors say
Business |
2011/05/28 13:10
|
In a new report, a large group of American doctors urge kids and teens to avoid energy drinks and only consume sports drinks in limited amount.
The recommendations come in the wake of a national debate over energy drinks, which experts fear may have side effects.
"Children never need energy drinks," said Dr. Holly Benjamin, of the American Academy of Pediatrics, who worked on the new report. "They contain caffeine and other stimulant substances that aren't nutritional, so you don't need them."
And kids might be more vulnerable to the contents of energy drinks than grownups.
"If you drink them on a regular basis, it stresses the body," Benjamin told Reuters Health. "You don't really want to stress the body of a person that's growing."
For the new recommendations, published in the journal Pediatrics, researchers went through earlier studies and reports on both energy drinks and sports drinks, which don't contain any stimulants.
They note that energy drinks contain a jumble of ingredients -- including vitamins and herbal extracts -- with possible side effects that aren't always well understood.
While there aren't many documented cases of harm directly linked to the beverages, stimulants can disturb the heart's rhythm and may lead to seizures in very rare cases, Benjamin said.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LA lawsuit claims Deutsche Bank is 'slumlord'
Business |
2011/05/04 09:32
|
The city attorney sued Deutsche Bank on Wednesday, claiming the giant international lender illegally evicted tenants from foreclosed properties and left dozens of homes and apartments to rot, many in low-income neighborhoods.
The suit, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, accuses the bank of violating federal, state and city laws and seeks potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in reimbursements to the city and to evicted tenants.
The bank's subsidiaries, Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, are the city's largest slumlords, according to the lawsuit.
The city attorney's office contends the bank failed to act properly as trustee to more than 160 homes and other residences with owners who couldn't meet their loan obligations during and after the 2008 international financial meltdown.
"It's time to recognize that the fraud committed on Wall Street turns into blight on Main Street," City Attorney Carmen A. Trutanich said at a news conference.
He said the bank's subsidiaries acted as trustees for trusts composed of mortgage-backed securities involving at least 2,000 properties across the country.
The complaint focuses mainly on properties in low-income areas of the city, specifically South Los Angeles and the northeastern San Fernando Valley, but Trutanich said it could be amended to include more homes if further problems are found. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Insurer settles suit with former USU frat members
Business |
2011/05/02 02:05
|
A Georgia insurance company that paid a wrongful death claim on behalf of a former Utah State University fraternity has settled the lawsuit it brought against four of the fraternity's members.
The Herald Journal of Logan reports that attorneys for RSUI Inc. told a 1st District Court judge the company had resolved a dispute with the four men. Court records show attorneys met with the judge April 20 — one day before a planned hearing.
RSUI sought $50,000 each from Sigma Nu pledge Chad Burton and chapter officers Cody Littlewood, Colton Hansen and Mitchell Alm as compensation for a settlement payment to the parents of Michael Starks.
Starks died Nov. 21, 2008, from alcohol poisoning after a fraternity event.
At the time, RSUI was the insurer for the fraternity and its members, including pledges. RSUI attorneys have acknowledged that both the company and the four defendants would have been jointly liable to Starks' parents, George and Jane Starks of Salt Lake City. The company claims it paid the full amount of a settlement with the Starks, although those terms have not been made public.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Housing stocks mixed on upbeat note
Business |
2010/12/14 13:22
|
Housing stocks were trading mostly higher on Tuesday after an analyst forecast modest improvement in the housing market next year and better home orders for homebuilders. In his report, J.P. Morgan analyst Michael Rehaut said he sees the housing market stabilizing and improving modestly next year, coming off a 2010 that has seen home sales weaken in the months following the end of federal homebuyer tax credits in April. Rehaut notes that, while demand for homes remains highly depressed, new home construction and home sales have largely stabilized over the past four months. "We see this recent stability as critical in terms of our outlook for only modest downside for home prices, in contrast to 2006-2008, when consistently falling demand trends played a key role in declining home prices," Rehaut wrote. The analyst anticipates home prices will trend from flat to down about 3 percent next year -- a view that he notes is more positive than other forecasts, some of which see home prices falling another 5 percent to 10 percent in 2011. As a result of more stable price trends, builders should see minimal land-related charges and a modest increase in profit margins, the analyst said. He also expects more builders to generate operating earnings per share next year.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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. |
Law Firm Directory
|
|
Legal News RSS Feed
