A "Star Trek" fan isn't entitled to millions of dollars in damages for buying memorabilia that he says wasn't as out-of-this-world as it seemed, a court said.

Ted Moustakis wasn't promised he was getting a one-of-a-kind plum when he paid $11,400 for a uniform for "Star Trek: The Next Generation" character Data at a 2006 auction, an appeals court said Tuesday.

The court also said Moustakis is due at most a refund for two other purchases he says were fakes: a $6,000 poker visor supposedly worn by Data and a $6,600 table from the show's set.

Auction house Christie's and CBS Consumer Products, which oversees "Star Trek" merchandise, praised the ruling. Moustakis' lawyer didn't immediately return a telephone call.

The longtime Trekkie from Towaco, N.J., has said he was thrilled to get the items — until he showed the visor to the actor who played the android Data, Brent Spiner, at a 2007 fan convention.

Spiner told him the visor wasn't genuine, according to Moustakis' lawsuit. Moustakis said he later found the table also was inauthentic, and the uniform was one of several made for the program. Christie's had led him to believe it was unique, he said.

The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division said the auction catalog didn't represent the costume as one-of-a-kind, and even if the other items weren't as advertised, Moustakis isn't entitled to "the massive recovery he now demands" in his $7 million lawsuit.

Christie's has said it stood behind the authenticity of the auction, tied to the hit show's 40th anniversary.

Lawyers filed their petition Friday, a day after the state appeals court rejected a request to keep Alford Jones and Faye Brown behind bars. If the appeals court order stands, the inmates will go free at 5 p.m.

State courts previously sided with the inmates in determining their life sentences were actually defined in the 1970s as 80 years. The inmates say that with sentence-reduction credits, that means their terms are now complete.

The state disagrees and says the prisoners should not receive any sentence-reduction credits for good behavior.

oup of white New Haven firefighters who won a discrimination case before the U.S. Supreme Court are seeking back pay, damages and legal fees.

The high court ruled in June that New Haven officials violated white firefighters' civil rights when they threw out 2003 test results in which too few minorities did well. Fourteen firefighters who sued were promoted this month to lieutenant and captain.

Karen Torre, the firefighters' attorney, filed papers last week in U.S. District Court in New Haven arguing the firefighters are entitled to back pay with interest for long-overdue promotions, several categories of damages and attorney fees.

The firefighters were subject to "the humiliation and economic hardship of prolonged career stagnancy in a rancorous atmosphere fostered by raw racial divides," she said.

Damages will be established at trial, she said.

City officials said the Supreme Court ruling is limited to relief for 14 plaintiffs who would have been promoted if the 2003 tests had been certified.

Other firefighters who sued and were not promoted reserve their right to challenge the city's position that they were not entitled to promotions but are to damages, Torre said.

Bernard Jacques, an employment attorney in Hartford, said the claims could wind up costing New Haven $1 million or more. Cities typically have insurance to cover such losses, he said.

"It's going to be tough on the city," Jacques said. "Even a settlement is going to be a large number."

A judge on Thursday ruled against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's furlough order for thousands of California prison guards in a decision that could cost the state millions.

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch sided with the 30,000-member California Correctional Peace Officers Association and ordered the state to pay prison guards back for the days they worked without pay.

The union argued that Schwarzenegger's furlough order amounted to an illegal wage cut because prison guards could not take time off fast enough due to the nature of their work.

"We are thankful for the judge's ruling regarding our peace officer members receiving compensation for the time they worked," said CCPOA spokesman Lance Corcoran.

Corcoran said it's not clear how much the decision could cost the state but estimated it to be in the millions.

Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman Rachel Arrezola said the governor plans to appeal. The administration argued the furlough plan at the Corrections Department is working because it gives workers flexibility to schedule their time off without disrupting prison operations.

A woman accused of laundering some of the $10 million her husband allegedly embezzled from a Tennessee company is scheduled to stand trial in federal court Feb. 1.

Federal court records say Danielle J. Williams withdrew more than $300,000 from accounts where her husband allegedly put the stolen money.

She pleaded not guilty Dec. 10. He trial will be held in U.S. District Court in Oxford.

Walter Thomas Williams III, also known as Thom W. Williams, was indicted in November on wire fraud charges for allegedly embezzling from his employer, Verso Paper Corp. in Memphis, Tenn.

Thom Williams, of Hernando, Miss., was a financial analyst for Verso.

A judge is hearing a request by Alabama Gov. Bob Riley to dismiss a lawsuit filed by legislators challenging a computer contract issued by Riley's administration.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tom King is conducting the hearing Thursday morning in Montgomery. King got the case after all of Montgomery's circuit judges stepped aside.

Members of the Legislature's Contract Review Committee filed the suit over the Riley administration's contract with Paragon Source. They want the unbid contract canceled. Officials in the Riley administration say Paragon is the only company that can do the work.

A woman accused of hiding her elderly mother's corpse for seven months in the family's North Carolina home asked Thursday for a court-appointed defense attorney.

Amy Stewart made her first court appearance before a district court judge in Wilmington.

The 47-year-old did not enter a plea. She was charged Wednesday with concealing a dead body, a felony. Stewart posted bond and was released from jail.

Police responded to the family's home Tuesday after receiving a 911 call and found the body of Stewart's 87-year-old mother, Blanche Matilda Roth, in a bedroom. Police estimate Roth died in May.

In the 911 recording an unidentified male caller told an operator, "We have an ... elderly lady in the house who has died and we need her taken to the morgue."

When asked how long ago the woman had passed away, the caller replied, "I don't know, I'm going to say a month." The caller confirmed that the woman died a month ago and was still in the house.