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Prosecutors to court: Get on with Jefferson trial
Headline Legal News |
2008/12/26 09:13
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| Federal prosecutors are urging an appeals court to get on with Rep. William Jefferson's corruption trial, saying his appeal to the Supreme Court does not have enough chance of success to justify further delays.pJefferson. D-La., was indicted on bribery charges after agents found $90,000 in his freezer. He has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue that his trial should be delayed pending his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court./ppJefferson argues that the charges are invalid because a grand jury got access to information about his actions as a member of Congress. That, Jefferson claims, runs afoul of a constitutional clause that shields members of Congress from civil or criminal action stemming from the performance of their legislative duties./ppBut in a brief filed this week in Richmond, Va., with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, prosecutor Mark Lytle said delaying the trial would cause further prejudice, or harm, to the government's case against the nine-term congressman. The government brought the charges 18 months ago./ppJefferson, Lytle wrote, has not shown the required reasonable probability of success with the high court on the merits of his case./p |
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Conservatives win court case in Va. church dispute
Headline Legal News |
2008/12/20 09:18
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| Nearly a dozen conservative church congregations in Virginia have won a lawsuit in which they sought to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute over theology and homosexuality.pThe final rulings came Friday from a Fairfax County judge who said the departing congregations are allowed under Virginia law to keep their church buildings and other property as they leave the Episcopal Church and realign under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops from Africa./ppSeveral previous rulings had also gone in favor of the departing congregations. The diocese said it will appeal./ppEleven Virginia congregations were involved in the lawsuit, including two prominent congregations that trace their histories to George Washington — Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church in Falls Church./ppThe congregations voted to realign in late 2006. Since then, the rift in the Episcopal Church has grown, and entire dioceses have voted to leave the denomination. Similar property disputes are expected there as well./ppThe Episcopal Diocese of Virginia argued it was the true owner of the church property and that the congregations' votes to leave the Episcopal Church were invalid./p |
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Mass. court reprimands judge libeled by newspaper
Headline Legal News |
2008/12/19 09:16
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| Massachusetts' top court has publicly reprimanded a judge who wrote threatening letters to the publisher of the Boston Herald after he won a $2 million libel judgment against the paper.pThe Supreme Judicial Court's punishment for Judge Ernest Murphy is slightly less severe than the public censure and $25,000 fine recommended by the state's Commission on Judicial Conduct. The SJC did order Murphy to reimburse the commission for its costs./ppThe case began in 2002, after the Herald published a series of stories depicting Murphy as soft on crime. Several quoted Murphy as saying a young rape victim should get over it./ppMurphy won his lawsuit, then wrote threatening letters to the Herald publisher demanding payment./ppMurphy agreed in August to step down from the bench, citing health problems brought on by the stress of the case. /p |
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Court raises hopes of Hanford radiation plaintiffs
Headline Legal News |
2008/12/16 09:04
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| A U.S. Supreme Court decision Monday raised hopes that as many as 2,000 plaintiffs could be compensated for health problems they blame on radiation from a Washington state nuclear site instrumental in the Manhattan Project and the Cold War.pThe court issued a one-line denial of an appeal by contractors who worked at the Hanford nuclear reservation. The contractors — E.I. Du Pont De Nemours amp; Co., General Electric Co. and UNC Nuclear Industries Inc. — were challenging a lower-court ruling last spring that sided largely with the plaintiffs./ppThe people exposed to radiation lived in eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and Idaho, downwind of Hanford, as the U.S. government was developing atomic bombs in the 1940s./ppThe government did not disclose until 1986 that radiation had been released at the site, and since then the downwinders have sought compensation for thyroid cancer and other conditions they believe were caused by the exposure./ppThis is very exciting for us, Richard Eymann, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers in the long-running case, told The Spokesman-Review of Spokane. With a new administration coming in, we want a serious look at compensation for these people after years of litigation./ppSo far, the plaintiffs have not agreed to a settlement offer by the contractors that would compensate them based on the amount of radiation they likely received and the illnesses they have, said Kevin Van Wart, lead attorney in Chicago for the Hanford contractors./p |
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Court allows lawsuits over 'light' cigarettes
Headline Legal News |
2008/12/15 09:16
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| The Supreme Court on Monday handed a surprising defeat to tobacco companies counting on it to put an end to lawsuits alleging deceptive marketing of light cigarettes.pIn a 5-4 split won by the court's liberals, it ruled that smokers may use state consumer protection laws to sue cigarette makers for the way they promote light and low tar brands./ppThe decision was at odds with recent anti-consumer rulings that limited state regulation of business in favor of federal power./ppAltria Group Inc. argued on behalf of its Philip Morris USA subsidiary that the lawsuits are barred by the federal cigarette labeling law, which forbids states from regulating any aspect of cigarette advertising that involves smoking and health./ppJustice John Paul Stevens, however, said in his majority opinion that the labeling law does not shield the companies from state laws against deceptive practices. The decision forces tobacco companies to defend dozens of suits filed by smokers in Maine, where the case originated, and across the country./p |
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List of potential victims grows in NY fraud case
Headline Legal News |
2008/12/14 09:01
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| Investors who put their fortunes in the hands of arrested New York money manager Bernard Madoff are waiting to hear how much of their stake is left.pThe roster of potential victims in what prosecutors said was a $50 billion Ponzi scheme has grown exponentially longer in the past few days./ppMadoff, 70, said in regulatory filings that he only had around 25 clients, but it has become apparent that the list of people who lost money may number in the hundreds or even thousands./ppAmong those who have acknowledged potential losses so far: Former Philadelphia Eagles owner Norman Braman, New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and J. Ezra Merkin, the chairman of GMAC Financial Services./ppA charity in Massachusetts that supports Jewish programs, the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, said it had invested its entire $8 million endowment with Madoff. The organization's executive director said she doesn't expect it to survive./ppOther institutions that believed they had lost millions included The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System and the Texas-based Julian J. Levitt Foundation./ppHedge funds and other investment groups looked like big losers too. The Fairfield Greenwich Group said it had some $7.5 billion in investments linked to Madoff. A private Swiss bank, Banque Benedict Hentsch Fairfield Partners SA, said it had $47.5 million worth of client assets at risk./p |
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