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U.S. court turns down cemetery appeal
Court Watch |
2007/12/14 03:31
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Bensenville’s last chance for a favorable ruling regarding the removal or graves at a local cemetery to make way for O’Hare International Airport expansion may lie with the U.S. Supreme Court.
The United States 7th Circuit Court of Appeals last week denied the village and St. John’s United Church of Christ, which owns the cemetery adjacent to O’Hare, the opportunity to review a case challenging the constitutionality of removing graves under the First Amendment.
Last September, the court ruled in favor of the city of Chicago that the graves can be moved.
Joe Karaganis, an attorney for the village of Bensenville and the church, said the petition to rehear the case was “a longshot,” because the court rarely re-hears cases. However, he said he felt there was some merit to the request.
In the request, the village and church pointed out that one of the three judges offered a dissenting opinion in their favor in the original decision, which Karaganis said gave the appeals more weight.
Bensenville and St. John’s maintain that relocating the graves from land owned by the church is a violation of the Illinois Religious Freedom of Restoration Act and First Amendment religious protection rights.
The next step, Karaganis said, is to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
“While this a petition also has long odds of getting accepted, we believe that the First Amendment issue raised by the decision, especially as set forth in the dissent, has a worthwhile chance of being granted,” he said.
While the church and village have promised to take the fight to the Supreme Court, Chicago is using the latest court rulings to move forward with the purchase of both the cemetery and other properties needed under the plan.
“We are pleased with the court’s order in this regard,” said Rosemarie S. Andolino, executive director of Chicago’s O’Hare Modernization Program. “We will continue to move forward with the acquisition process for St. Johannes Cemetery, and welcome the opportunity to work with church officials during this process.”
Chicago offered $630,000 to buy St. Johannes Cemetery in March 2006. That offer was rejected, and in October, the city filed a complaint for condemnation to acquire the cemetery in the circuit court of DuPage County. That case is still pending.
While the court fight over the cemetery continues, the city of Chicago continues to purchase properties in the village needed as part of the airport expansion.
The city has already acquired 533 of the 611 parcels needed in the village of Bensenville. Of those, 473 parcels are vacant and the owners have relocated. |
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Court upholds California bid to slash auto emissions
Court Watch |
2007/12/13 05:39
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In a major environmental victory for California and 16 other states, a federal court in Fresno on Wednesday upheld a bid to slash auto emissions to combat global warming, a move fiercely opposed by automakers and the Bush administration. The fight now shifts to Washington. A Senate vote might come as soon as today on an energy bill that says cars and trucks must meet a fleet fuel-economy average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. That's compared with 27.5 mpg for cars and 22.2 mpg for trucks today. The House approved the fuel-mileage increase last week. Wednesday's ruling that California has the authority to impose greenhouse-gas-emission-related mileage standards on cars and trucks - a plan that would cut emissions from vehicles 30 percent by 2016 - increases pressure on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to give the state a waiver to do that. The state requested a waiver in late 2005, and California Attorney General Jerry Brown sued the EPA in November over its two-year refusal to say yes or no. The agency has said it will issue a decision on California's waiver by year's end. Wednesday's 57-page opinion by U.S. District Judge Anthony Ishii follows three other court losses this year by the auto industry and the administration. Ishii's ruling and a similar decision by a federal judge in Vermont three months ago stem from a major Supreme Court ruling in April that the EPA has authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions under the Clean Air Act - and can grant waivers to California to enforce its own regulations. |
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Nazi Era Picasso's Prompt Legal Battle
Court Watch |
2007/12/12 11:32
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The Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation asked a court yesterday to declare them the rightful owners of two Picasso paintings that a Jewish scholar claims were the rightful property of a relative persecuted in Nazi Germany.
The two institutions said they took the step to fend off an expected lawsuit from Julius H. Schoeps, a German who has been waging a legal fight to recover artwork and property once owned by his great uncle.
Schoeps demanded on Nov. 1 that the museums hand over both works, "Boy Leading a Horse," which is in MoMA's collection, and "Le Moulin de la Galette," in the Guggenheim's collection.
MoMA director Glenn D. Lowry and Guggenheim Foundation director Thomas Krens said in a joint statement they are confident the paintings were not obtained under Nazi duress.
"The Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum take the issue of restitution very seriously," they said. "Evidence from our extensive research makes clear the museums' ownership of these works and also makes clear that Mr. Schoeps has no basis for his claim."
Schoeps' lawyer, John J. Byrne, declined to comment on the museums' suit, filed in US District Court in Manhattan.
Both paintings were originally owned by Paul von Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, an aristocratic German banker and descendent of composer Felix Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy died in 1935, two years after Adolf Hitler came to power.
At the time of his death, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy had been engaged in a series of maneuvers that Schoeps said were intended to protect his estate and an incredible art collection that also included nine paintings by Vincent van Gogh.
The family sold the two paintings, now owned by the museums, in 1934 or 1935 to Jewish art dealer Justin Thannhauser, who himself fled Germany and spent much of the war in Switzerland. Thannhauser kept "Le Moulin de la Galette" until 1963, when he gave it to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. He sold "Boy Leading a Horse" to former MoMA chairman William Paley in 1936.
In a recent lawsuit involving a third Picasso, Schoeps argued that his great uncle only parted with the paintings because he expected his estate to be plundered by the Nazis.
Schoeps is the director of the Moses Mendelssohn Center for European-Jewish Studies at the University of Potsdam in Germany.
Over the years, he has also battled to recover the family's estate in Germany. |
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Software Vendors Accuse Prestigious Law Firm Of Piracy
Court Watch |
2007/12/11 04:25
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A Philadelphia law practice recently ranked among the nation's top 200 firms has been accused by a software industry group of stealing business applications made by Adobe, Symantec, and other vendors, InformationWeek has learned.
In a lawsuit filed last week on behalf of the vendors by the Software Information Industry Association, the firm of Fox Rothschild is alleged to have "engaged in the unauthorized reproduction and use" of software made by Adobe, Corel, Sonic Solutions, and Symantec. The vendors claim that Fox Rothschild's alleged "copyright infringement" is causing them "repeated and irreparable injury." The suit, filed in federal court in Northern California, does not specify which specific software products the firm is alleged to be using without authorization, or their estimated value. Fox Rothschild chief information officer Brook Lee did not immediately return a message left on his voice mail seeking comment. Adobe, Symantec, Corel, and Sonic are asking the court to prohibit the firm from continuing to use their software, and are seeking unspecified damages. They're also asking the court for an order that would prohibit Fox Rothschild from erasing the software from its networks or destroying any electronic documentation related to its use or installation. SIIA litigation counsel Scott Bain said Fox Rothschild's alleged software misappropriation came to the group's attention through a whistleblower program it operates. Talks aimed at settling the matter out of court went nowhere, Bain said. "They took a particularly aggressive stance toward us so we decided to sue," said Bain. "We were disappointed. You'd think that a law firm would know better." Fox Rothschild appeared last year on American Lawyer magazine's list of the nation's top 200 firms. |
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Bank Robber Blames Gambling and Loan Sharks
Court Watch |
2007/12/07 10:13
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Self-described gambling addict Scott A. Hasenjaeger was hedging his bets when he robbed a Marseilles bank in January -- he said in court this week he was partly hoping to get caught and partly hoping to get away.
Either way, a federal judge called in his marker Tuesday.
The 34-year-old Hasenjaeger was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. However, the former insurance agent and part-time post office letter carrier from Minooka will be able to spend the holidays with his wife and three small children -- he doesn't have to report to prison until January.
Wearing a ski mask, Hasenjaeger entered Twin Oaks Savings Bank in Marseilles Jan. 24 and pointed at tellers a BB handgun that resembled a semi-automatic pistol. He made off with about $35,277, some of which he dropped as he left the bank. State police arrested Hasenjaeger about 45 minutes later in Minooka with a portion of the loot. As part of his deal to plead guilty, he agreed to pay back the rest of the money.
In seeking mercy, Hasenjaeger told the judge he grew up the son of an "emotionally-detached alcoholic father," catching the betting bug around age 8, when he blew $100 on a cruise ship slot machine.
Picking up his story in college, Hasenjaeger said he was the leading scorer for the 1993-1994 Central Connecticut State University basketball squad. The night before the "biggest game of the season," Hasenjaeger said he used $3,000 in credit card money to gamble at a casino, which he built into $12,000, before losing it all. With empty pockets, he duped a cab driver into taking him back to campus, promising to pay the fare once there. However, after he was dropped off, he fled without paying and was arrested by campus police. He played miserably the next night and was booted from the team the next year.
After his failed college career, he was hired and rose to become a district manager with American General Finance in Minooka, but continued to lose thousands of dollars through gambling.
At the time of the bank robbery, Hasenjaeger said loan sharks were circling him, he was on the verge of losing his job, and his house -- mortgaged twice to get money to pay gambling debts -- was in foreclosure. He said he partly wanted to get caught, because then he figured he would be forced to quit gambling.
After his arrest, he declared bankruptcy and his family now is about to be evicted.
Hasenjaeger joined Gamblers Anonymous, and in 1995 and 2000 was hospitalized at Proctor Hospital in Peoria for what doctors termed a "severe gambling disorder." For brief periods after each hospitalization, Hasenjaeger said he refrained from wagering.
Hasenjaeger's court-appointed attorney, Robert G. Clarke, wrote of his client:
"Virtually all of his family, many of whom he has hurt quite severely, and some of his friends, some of whom have been betrayed by earlier promises of reformation, attest to his good will and his persuasive efforts to reform since his arrest."
In 1995, Hasenjaeger was convicted of criminal damage to property.
Until he reports to prison, Hasenjaeger is under electronic monitoring and has to remain home from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. daily. He also is prohibited from gambling. |
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Bengal's Founder's Kids Lose 4 Year Battle
Court Watch |
2007/12/06 10:18
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Two children of one of the founders of the Cincinnati Bengals have lost their four-year court battle over his estate, which includes about 30 percent of the shares in a team that Forbes estimated is worth $912 million this year.
A Hamilton County Probate Court jury on Tuesday rejected their claims that Austin E. "Dutch" Knowlton's will was a forgery. They sued after Knowlton died in 2003, at age 93, and they discovered they were left out of his will, which was dated February 1996 and left the bulk of his estate to the Austin E. Knowlton Foundation.
Knowlton, who owned a construction company, founded the Bengals in 1967 with Paul Brown and other investors. Two of his three children, Peter Knowlton and P. Valerie Knowlton, challenged the will.
Peter Knowlton has since died, but his claim remains. |
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Supreme Court Rules for Railroads in GA Case
Court Watch |
2007/12/04 09:10
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| The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that railroads may challenge state methods for determining the value of their property, a decision that could lower some railroad tax bills. The court sided with CSX Transportation Inc. in a case from Georgia in which the railroad argued that the state improperly instituted a new way of calculating its property tax that resulted in a nearly 50 percent increase in its tax bill from one year to the next. The court reversed a ruling from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prohibited the railroad, a subsidiary of CSX Corp., from challenging the method the state used to determine the value of the railroad's property. A federal law bars states from discriminating against railroads by taxing their property more heavily than other commercial property. Chief Justice John Roberts said the law allows a railroad to go to court to try to show that the state's way of calculating market value is unfair. |
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