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Throng of Occupy protesters appear in NY courts
Topics in Legal News |
2011/12/14 13:05
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Nearly 200 people arrested during Occupy Wall Street-related protests were in New York courtrooms hundreds of miles apart Wednesday, answering charges that stemmed from a march on the Brooklyn Bridge and a demonstration in a Rochester park.
In Manhattan, arraignments were under way for 166 people, most of them among the more than 700 picked up in an Oct. 1 march that marked the biggest mass arrest of the New York protest so far. Hundreds of other protesters arrested on the bridge and during other Occupy demonstrations in the city have already been to court, but this week's numbers are some of the biggest.
Meanwhile, 28 Occupy Wall Street supporters were set to appear in a Rochester court on charges of trespassing by staying in a park past its curfew.
Some wearing their Occupy Wall Street allegiance on buttons — and in one case, a hand-painted oxford shirt — lined hallways and an overflow courtroom in a Manhattan courthouse that handles low-level offenses. Many had been arrested on the bridge after police said protesters ignored warnings not to leave a pedestrian path and go onto the roadway.
The demonstrators were generally charged with disorderly conduct and blocking traffic, both violations. Many took a judge's offer Wednesday to get their cases dismissed if they avoid getting arrested again for six months. |
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Court tells UK to release Pakistani in US custody
Headline Legal News |
2011/12/14 13:05
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An appeals court issued a landmark ruling Wednesday ordering the British government to free a Pakistani detainee who has been held in U.S. custody for nearly eight years without charge.
It was unclear whether Yunus Rahmatullah would be released as required, however, because the U.S. government is not bound by the ruling. It announced that it was reviewing the ruling.
Britain has seven days to produce Yunus Rahmatullah, who is being held by American forces in Afghanistan, according to the Appeals Court's ruling.
Although Rahmatullah, 29, is not a British national, the UK-legal charity Reprieve filed a habeas corpus petition claiming that his detention lacked sufficient cause or evidence, and that British forces violated international law when they rendered him to U.S. custody.
British forces in Iraq seized Rahmatullah in 2004, but then handed him over to the Americans who sent him to the U.S. Air Base in Bagram, Afghanistan — a sprawling base that includes the Parwan detention facility where some 1,900 detainees are being held.
Wednesday's ruling marks one of the first times that a habeas corpus petition has been successful for a detainee at the U.S. base. It puts the United States and Britain in an awkward position — Britain is bound by the ruling, but the United States is not because the decision was handed down by a foreign court. |
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Next ICC prosecutor warns against sex crimes
Lawyer Media News |
2011/12/13 13:05
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The next chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court pledged Tuesday to strengthen efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators of sexual and gender crimes.
A day after her election by the 119 countries that support the tribunal, Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda said too often gender crimes go unreported and unpunished and the victims are trivialized, denigrated, threatened and silenced, which enables the abuses to continue unimpeded.
In its first cases, she said, the ICC has sent the message that this is no longer acceptable and must stop.
The International Criminal Court, which began operating in 2002, is the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal. It is a court of last resort, stepping in only when countries are unwilling or unable to prosecute alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
At the moment, the ICC is dealing with cases from Congo, the Central African Republic, Uganda involving the Lord's Resistance Army, the Darfur conflict in Sudan, the recent Libyan uprising, and post-election violence in Kenya and Ivory Coast.
At present, crimes such as rape, sexual slavery, and forced prostitution and pregnancy are alleged in some cases before the court in all of these situations except Libya, where an investigation of alleged gender-based crimes is still under way. |
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High court to look at state immigration laws
Lawyer Media News |
2011/12/12 11:12
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The Supreme Court has agreed to rule on Arizona’s controversial law targeting illegal immigrants.
The justices said Monday they will review a federal appeals court ruling that blocked several tough provisions in the Arizona law. One of those requires that police, while enforcing other laws, question a person’s immigration status if officers suspect he is in the country illegally.
The Obama administration challenged the Arizona law by arguing that regulating immigration is the job of the federal government, not states. Similar laws in Alabama, South Carolina and Utah also are facing administration lawsuits.
The court now has three politically charged cases on its election-year calendar. The other two are President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and new electoral maps for Texas’ legislature and congressional delegation. |
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Saxena White P.A. Files a Securities Fraud Class Action
Lawyer Media News |
2011/12/12 11:11
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Saxena White P.A. announces that it has filed a class action lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on behalf of investors who purchased Hospira, Inc. common stock on the New York Stock Exchange between March 24, 2009, and October 17, 2011, inclusive.
The complaint charges Hospira and certain of its officers and executives with violations of the Exchange Act. Hospira is a global specialty pharmaceutical and medication delivery company.
The complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business and financial results. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose that: (i) Hospira suffered from extensive quality control issues throughout the Class Period, which undermined both the viability of and the supposed financial savings that would be generated by Project Fuel, a Company program designed to optimize Hospira's operations and increase shareholder value; (ii) Hospira was unable to remedy problems identified in FDA Warning Letters related to Hospira's infusion pumps, quality control deficiencies, and manufacturing weaknesses; (iii) Hospira's revenue guidance for 2010 and 2011 was misstated and lacked a reasonable basis when made; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, defendants' statements regarding the Company's financial performance and expected earnings were false and misleading and lacked a reasonable basis when made.
On October 18, 2011, the Company announced disappointing preliminary third quarter financial results and slashed full-year guidance, pointing to a production disruption at its Rocky Mount, North Carolina manufacturing plant, which accounted for approximately 25% of the Company's sales. The Company attributed the production slowdown to the impact of an ongoing FDA investigation.
The result of the Company's negative results was a 21% drop in the price of Hospira common stock, which fell $7.85 per share to close at $29.51 per share on October 18, 2011.
You may obtain a copy of the complaint and join the class action at www.saxenawhite.com. If you purchased the shares of Hospira, Inc. between the period of March 24, 2009, and October 17, 2011, inclusive, you may contact Joe White or Greg Stone at Saxena White P.A. to discuss your rights and interests.
If you purchased Hospira, Inc. shares during the Class Period of March 24, 2009, and October 17, 2011, inclusive, and wish to apply to be the lead plaintiff in this action, a motion on your behalf must be filed with the Court no later than January 20, 2012. You may contact Saxena White P.A. to discuss your rights regarding the appointment of lead plaintiff and your interest in the class action. Please note that you may also retain counsel of your choice and need not take any action at this time to be a class member.
Saxena White P.A., which has offices in Boca Raton, Boston and Montana, specializes in prosecuting securities fraud and complex class actions on behalf of institutions and individuals. Currently serving as lead counsel in numerous securities fraud class actions nationwide, the firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars on behalf of injured investors and is active in major litigation pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States.
Contact: www.saxenawhite.com |
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High court halts new Texas electoral maps
Topics in Legal News |
2011/12/11 11:11
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Texas' March primary will likely be delayed after the Supreme Court on Friday blocked the use of state legislative and congressional district maps that were drawn by federal judges.
The court issued a brief order late Friday that applies to electoral maps drawn by federal judges in San Antonio for the Texas Legislature and Congress that would have ensured minorities made up the majority in three additional Texas congressional districts. The justices said they will hear arguments on Jan. 9.
The judges issued the new maps for the 2012 election in Texas after a lawsuit was filed in San Antonio over redistricting maps drawn by the GOP-led Legislature. The maps were to remain in place until the lawsuit was resolved.
The Supreme Court's order brings to a halt filing for legislative and congressional primary elections that began Nov. 28. The primaries had been scheduled to take place in March, but the Supreme Court's decision means those elections almost certainly will be delayed, possibly until May. |
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