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Court OKs immunity for telecoms in wiretap case
Court Watch |
2011/12/31 13:13
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A federal appeals court has ruled as constitutional a law giving telecommunications companies legal immunity for helping the government with its email and telephone eavesdropping program.
Thursday's unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court decision regarding the 2008 law.
The appeal concerned a case that consolidated 33 different lawsuits filed against various telecom companies, including AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Verizon Communications Inc. and BellSouth Corp. on behalf of these companies' customers.
The court noted comments made by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence regarding the legal immunity's role in helping the government gather intelligence.
The case stemmed from new surveillance rules passed by Congress in 2008 that included protection from legal liability for telecommunications companies that allegedly helped the U.S. spy on Americans without warrants. |
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Calif officials seek redevelopment compromise
Court Watch |
2011/12/30 13:13
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The California Supreme Court on Thursday gave Gov. Jerry Brown and state lawmakers the right to eliminate community redevelopment agencies in a crucial victory on the state budget.
But the fate of the more than 400 redevelopment agencies remains unclear as cities — and even many lawmakers — vowed to seek a legislative compromise next year that would ensure the agencies' survival. Brown has little incentive to go along.
The court affirmed the state's authority to dissolve the agencies, calling it "a proper exercise of the legislative power vested in the Legislature by the state constitution." Doing so means more of the property taxes generated within redevelopment zones will go toward schools, law enforcement and other local services, freeing up as much as $1.7 billion in the state general fund during the current fiscal year. The money now is returned to the agencies to spend on future redevelopment projects.
Lawmakers and the mayors of several large cities said Thursday they were inclined to work out a compromise after the justices issued their split decision. While they affirmed the Legislature's authority to dissolve redevelopment agencies, the justices in a unanimous decision invalidated companion legislation passed last summer that was intended to keep the agencies operating by forcing them to direct a certain amount of property tax revenue to schools and other services. |
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Riders stuck on snow-trapped train sue NY agency
Court Watch |
2011/12/28 10:32
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Subway riders stuck all night in a train trapped by snow after a blizzard sued a transportation agency on Tuesday, saying officials told them it was simply "an act of God."
In court papers describing last year's ordeal, they said they had no heat, food, water or bathroom facilities while the Metropolitan Transportation Authority kept promising help.
The city was all but paralyzed when the storm hit on Dec. 26, 2010, with 2 feet of snow piled around an A train on elevated tracks in Queens. Inside were about 500 passengers who spent eight hours there in freezing temperatures.
The conductor refused to allow passengers off the train, "resulting in a deplorable imprisonment," said 22 of them named in the suit, which was filed in Queens state Supreme Court.
They are seeking unspecified damages from the New York City Transit Authority, part of the MTA, which runs the nation's largest mass transit system. The subway alone has a daily ridership of more than 5 million.
Manhattan attorney Aymen Aboushi said the stranded passengers decided to sue after a year of meetings with transit officials convinced them that suing was the only way to get the MTA to pay attention. He said he's handling the case pro bono in hopes of forcing changes in the emergency response system to avert a similar nightmare. |
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UN court won't prosecute prosecutors for contempt
Court Watch |
2011/12/22 10:44
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Yugoslav war crimes tribunal judges say there is insufficient evidence to indict former chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte and other prosecutors for allegedly intimidating witnesses.
The court appointed an independent prosecutor last year to investigate claims by witnesses in the trial of Serb war crimes suspect Vojislav Seselj that prosecutors had threatened them, subjected them to sleep deprivation and offered them money for testimony.
The independent prosecutor concluded there was insufficient evidence to launch a case of contempt of court.
In a decision Thursday, judges agreed with that conclusion and ruled there is no case against Del Ponte or her staff. |
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Polygamous family launches challenge of Utah law
Court Watch |
2011/12/20 10:23
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Reality TV stars Kody Brown and his four wives say they just want one thing: to be left alone.
As authorities investigate them for bigamy, the TLC "Sister Wives" family is asking a federal judge to overturn part of Utah's bigamy law because it bans them from living together and criminalizes sexual relationships between unmarried consenting adults.
"What they are asking for is the right to structure their own lives, their own family, according to their faith and their beliefs," said Jonathan Turley, their attorney, adding that the lawsuit is about privacy — not polygamy.
The case in federal court in Utah, however, could open up the possibility that a way of life for tens of thousands of self-described Mormon fundamentalists could be decriminalized.
While all states outlaw bigamy, some like Utah have laws that both prohibit having more than one marriage license at a time and also ban adults from living together and having a sexual relationship.
The latter provision could include same-sex couples, unmarried heterosexual couples and those, like the Browns, who do not have licenses but have created within their homes a marriage-like relationship. |
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Calif. company due in court for Colo. fire deaths
Court Watch |
2011/12/19 09:23
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A California specialty painting company is expected to plead guilty in the 2007 deaths of five workers at a Colorado power plant, in the rare prosecution of a company.
RPI Coatings Inc. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., is expected to plead guilty Monday to five misdemeanor counts of workplace safety violations resulting in death.
During a court hearing earlier this month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaime Pena said the company likely would pay a substantial compensation to the victims' survivors as part of a plea deal.
The workers died after a fire broke out inside a pipeline at Xcel Energy's Cabin Creek hydroelectric plant near Georgetown, Colo., about 40 miles west of Denver.
A jury in June acquitted Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy Inc., which owns the power plant, of all criminal charges. The company has paid millions in compensation to the families. |
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Wall St. seeks dismissal of Ala. record bankruptcy
Court Watch |
2011/12/16 09:34
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Wall Street creditors asked a federal judge Thursday to throw out the record bankruptcy filed by Alabama's largest county over more than $4 billion in debt, arguing state law doesn't allow it.
Lenders claimed during a hearing and in court documents that Alabama law permits bankruptcy only for bond debt, and Jefferson County has a different type of debt called warrants. The county and creditors could be thrown back into out-of-court settlement talks if the judge agrees.
The county contends bankers are cherry-picking state law in hopes of getting the case dismissed, and that any government in the state can go bankrupt whether its debt is for bonds or warrants.
The Jefferson County Commission president, David Carrington, testified that municipal bankruptcy was the county's sole option after intense negotiations fell apart.
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