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Federal judge blocks Calif. low-carbon fuels rule
Lawyer Media News |
2011/12/30 13:20
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California officials say they will ask a federal judge to stay his ruling that blocks the state from enforcing the first-in-the-nation mandate for cleaner, low-carbon fuels.
In a decision issued Thursday, Fresno-based U.S. District Court Judge Lawrence O'Neill said the low-carbon fuel rules favor biofuels produced in the state. He said that violates the U.S. Constitution's commerce clause by discriminating against crude oil and biofuels producers located outside California.
California Air Resources Board spokesman Dave Clegern disagreed, saying the fuel rule is an evenhanded standard that encourages the use of cleaner low carbon fuels by regulating fuel-providers in California.
He said the board plans to ask the judge to stay the ruling, and appeal if necessary to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Out-of-state fuels producers hailed the decision as a win for California drivers. |
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Lawyer: Moms stole from Hawaii toy store for kids
Lawyer Media News |
2011/12/29 09:49
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Single mothers filled with regret were making arrangements to turn themselves after they were seen on surveillance footage taking toys from a Hawaii store before Christmas, according to a lawyer who referred to the theft as a desperate act.
Surveillance video from Dec. 1 and released by police last week showed five women and a man helping themselves to items in a Toys R Us display at Windward Mall in Kaneohe. Police said the group had hauled away about $1,000 worth of merchandise.
Attorney Myles Breiner said some of the women contacted him Friday, and he said the women knew what they did was wrong. He said he contacted police over the weekend and stored the items in his office.
Police on Tuesday took the items, which were brought gift-wrapped to Breiner's office, and returned them to the store manager, the lawyer said. Meanwhile, at least three women made arrangements to surrender to police Tuesday, and the others, including the man who has since contacted Breiner, were expected to surrender by the end of the week. |
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Family plans lawsuit in Wash. state ice fatality
Legal News |
2011/12/29 01:49
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A law firm has announced a lawsuit in the death of a Washington state girl killed by huge chunk of falling ice in July 2010 at the Big Four Ice Caves, a popular hiking destination in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
The 11-year-old Marysville girl was on a family outing when a block of ice the size of a pickup truck broke loose and slid into where she was sitting with her mother, some distance from the caves.
The Daily Herald reports the family said it heeded warning signs and stayed off the ice at the caves, east of Granite Falls.
Mount Baker-Snoqualmie spokesman Kelly Sprute says the forest doesn't comment on ongoing litigation.
The lawsuit is being handled by the Tacoma law firm of Messina Bulzomi Christensen. The firm announced the suit at a news conference Tuesday. |
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Robbins Geller Rudman Dowd LLP Files Class Action Suit
Lawyer Media News |
2011/12/28 10:36
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Robbins Geller Rudman amp; Dowd LLP today announced that a class action has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of purchasers of Veolia Environnement S.A. American Depositary Shares during the period between April 27, 2007 and August 4, 2011.
If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests, please contact plaintiff’s counsel, Samuel H. Rudman or David A. Rosenfeld of Robbins Geller at 800/449-4900 or 619/231-1058, or via e-mail at djr@rgrdlaw.com. If you are a member of this class, you can view a copy of the complaint as filed or join this class action online at http://www.rgrdlaw.com/cases/veolia/. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member.
The complaint charges Veolia and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Veolia operates utility and public transportation businesses. The Company supplies drinking water, provides waste management services, manages and maintains heating and air conditioning systems, and operates rail and road passenger transportation systems.
The complaint alleges that, during the Class Period, defendants issued materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s business and prospects. Specifically, defendants misrepresented and/or failed to disclose the following adverse facts: (a) that Veolia was materially overstating its financial results by engaging in improper accounting practices; (b) that the Company lacked adequate internal controls and was therefore unable to ascertain its true financial condition; (c) that Veolia failed to timely record an impairment charge for its Transport business in Morocco, Environmental Services businesses in Egypt, Marine Services business in the United States, and for Southern Europe; (d) that the Company’s revenues were being hampered by the renewal of some of its major concession contracts; and (e) that, as a result of the foregoing, defendants lacked a reasonable basis for their positive statements about the Company and its prospects.
Robbins Geller, a 180-lawyer firm with offices in San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Boca Raton, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Atlanta, is active in major litigations pending in federal and state courts throughout the United States and has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded investors, consumers, and companies, as well as victims of human rights violations.
http://www.rgrdlaw.com |
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Riders stuck on snow-trapped train sue NY agency
Topics in Legal News |
2011/12/27 10:36
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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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Supreme Court rejects Hessler appeal
Lawyer Media News |
2011/12/26 16:36
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The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday rejected a death-row inmate’s claim that his lawyer failed to properly represent the convicted kidnapper, rapist and murderer at his sentencing.
Jeffrey Hessler had argued that his trial-court lawyer should have demanded a competency hearing when Hessler moved to represent himself at his sentencing. The state Supreme Court rejected that argument, saying allowing someone to serve as their own attorney did not constitute ineffective counsel and Hessler failed to show he couldn’t adequately represent himself at sentencing.
Hessler was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, first-degree sexual assault of a child and use of a firearm to commit a felony in December 2004. He was sentenced to die for the 2003 kidnapping, rape and shooting death of 15-year-old Heather Guerrero. She was delivering newspapers on her morning route just blocks from her home when Hessler grabbed her and forced her into his car.
A jury found that Hessler took her to an abandoned house at nearby Lake Minatare, raped her and then shot her in the head on Feb. 11, 2003. Guerrero’s body was found the next day at the house, about 12 miles from where she disappeared.
Hessler claimed in his appeal that his trial lawyer was ineffective and failed to tell the court that he suffered from mental health problems, including hallucinations.
Scotts Bluff County District Judge Randall Lippstreu dismissed that claim earlier this year, saying Hessler and his attorneys seemed to have had philosophical differences between the time of Hessler’s conviction and sentencing hearing. But, the judge said, that did not constitute ineffective counsel. |
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