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Adoption case returns to SC from US Supreme Court
Topics in Legal News |
2013/07/02 10:23
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The U.S. Supreme Court is pushing South Carolina courts to quickly take up a custody case that will decide whether a Native American girl's life will be with her biological father in Oklahoma or the South Carolina couple who adopted her.
A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that federal law doesn't require that the girl named Veronica stay with her biological father, but also doesn't give her adoptive parents immediate custody of the now 3-year-old child.
The high court issued an order Friday speeding up the case being sent back to South Carolina's Supreme Court.
Melanie and Matt Capobianco of James Island had lost in South Carolina courts before the nation's highest court ruled the Indian Child Welfare Act didn't apply because the biological father never had custody of the child and abandoned her before birth.
Dusten Brown, a member of the Cherokee Nation, invoked the federal law to stop the adoption arranged by the girl's non-Indian mother when she was pregnant. The Capobiancos were was present at Veronica's birth in Oklahoma. Brown had never met his daughter and, after the mother rebuffed his marriage proposal, played no role during the pregnancy and paid no child support after Veronica was born.
But when Brown found out Veronica was going to be adopted, he objected and said the law favored the girl living with him and growing up with tribal traditions.
South Carolina courts sent Veronica back to Oklahoma at the end of 2011, even though she had lived with the Capobiancos for the first 27 months of her life. |
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San Antonio, Texas - Guardianships Lawyer
Attorney News |
2013/06/25 11:15
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| The Aldrich Law Firm's in Texas is a skilled attorney in all aspects of guardianship. Many families may not fully understand the complexities of these cases when an adult is incapacitated and a person need supervision and protection. In Texas, the Probate Code states that guardianship as “a legal process to provide protection for adults who are incapacitated.” A “ward” is an incapacitated person who cannot make decisions for themselves, and a “guardian” is a court-appointed person or entity that makes decisions on their behalf. When matters get complicated and decisions related to the well-being and care of a person need to be made, you can reach out to a guardianship lawyer in San Antonio to help you with your legal matters. |
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Houston, Texas - Personal Injury Lawyers
Lawyer Media News |
2013/06/22 15:19
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Houston, Texas Personal Injury Law Firm, Padilla & Rodriguez, L.L.P has have over 35 years of combined attorney experience and are skilled legal representatives for families and individuals who have suffered from a personal injury due to someone else's carelessness and negligence.
Our personal injury cases are based on a contingent fee and we will only charge for what we are able to recover for you. Our firm and its attorneys has had success in recoveries for some of the biggest corporations and businesses in the world ranging from railroads, pharmaceutical companies, to hospitals. |
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The Law Offices of David Stein - Maryland DUI Lawyer
Law Firm News/Maryland |
2013/06/22 13:09
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Charges made against an individual for drinking and driving in Maryland have two common names: Maryland DUI and Maryland DWI. To be considered for a DUI charge, your blood alcohol level minimum is .08 or higher. All other alcohol levels, such as .07, could get you arrested for a DWI. These arrests are made depending on how impaired your driving abilities are due to alcohol consumption.
There are many consequences in getting charged with a DUI. These include but are not limited to 45 days of a suspended license, and a fine of up to $1,000.00 in addition to one year in jail for a first DUI conviction, and $2,000.00 and two years in jail for a second offense DUI. It is also extremely severe for your driving record because a DUI conviction will result in 12 points for the state of Maryland.
Maryland DWI (driving while impaired) is the lesser offense in comparison with a DUI; however, it still has very harsh punishments, including a driver's license suspension of up to 60 days, 8 points on the Maryland Driver's License record, up to $500 and two months in jail for a first offense, and up to $500.00 and one year in jail for a second offense.
It is crucial to act upon your DUI or DWI arrest in Maryland and to be sure a MVA administrative hearing is requested in writing within 10 days. The driving privileges are automatically suspended unless the hearing is requested. A refusal to take the breathalyzer test is admissible in court as evidence of guilt and also may result in 120 days of driving privileges being suspended.
With the help of a Maryland DUI/DWI attorney, you can outset to scrutinize the legality of the arrest, validity of the charges, and to assert all viable defenses in court. Our Maryland Criminal Lawyers have an extensive experience and expertise in litigating successfully a Maryland DUI or a Maryland DWI charge obtaining dismissals, diversions or probation before Judgment when appropriate. |
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State's largest court poised for staff cutbac
Legal News |
2013/06/19 10:55
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Los Angeles court officials will layoff or cut 539 jobs, likely resulting in long lines and reduced services.
Presiding Superior Court Judge David Wesley made the announcement Thursday, further restricting a court system that began facing cuts with the budget crisis in 2008.
"We have reached the new normal, and there is nothing to like about it," said Wesley.
He said the cuts will save $56 million a year but undermine the goal of a court system serving all areas of the county.
"This is not the neighborhood court we worked so hard to build," Wesley said in a written statement. "It is not our vision for access to justice. But this is the court the state is willing and able to support."
By the time July 1 rolls around, Wesley said the court will have eliminated 30 percent of its budgeted staff positions since 2002. It marks a 24 percent reduction since the state budget crisis began in 2008. |
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Court says human genes cannot be patented
Legal Marketing News |
2013/06/13 09:23
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The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that companies cannot patent parts of naturally-occurring human genes, a decision with the potential to profoundly affect the emerging and lucrative medical and biotechnology industries.
The high court's unanimous judgment reverses three decades of patent awards by government officials. It throws out patents held by Salt Lake City-based Myriad Genetics Inc. on an increasingly popular breast cancer test brought into the public eye recently by actress Angelina Jolie's revelation that she had a double mastectomy because of one of the genes involved in this case.
Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the court's decision, said that Myriad's assertion — that the DNA it isolated from the body for its proprietary breast and ovarian cancer tests were patentable — had to be dismissed because it violates patent rules. The court has said that laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable.
"We hold that a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated," Thomas said.
Patents are the legal protection that gives inventors the right to prevent others from making, using or selling a novel device, process or application. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been awarding patents on human genes for almost 30 years, but opponents of Myriad Genetics Inc.'s patents on the two genes linked to increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer say such protection should not be given to something that can be found inside the human body.
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