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Railroad Denies Liability for Smuggled Drugs
Headline Legal News |
2008/08/04 07:31
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In a sharply worded federal complaint, the Union Pacific Railroad Co. asserts that it is not responsible for the cocaine and marijuana seized on railroad cars as part of a smuggling operation of trains bound for the United States from Mexico.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection found 47 cases of illegal narcotics seized at checkpoints in California, Arizona and Texas. In each case, the Border Patrol found illegal drugs on a train bound for the United States from a Mexican railroad.
Though the trains were ultimately headed to Union Pacific customers, the railroad company claims that it should not have to pay the $37.7 million in proposed penalties against it, because the drugs were found before the railroad cars ever came into Union Pacific's possession.
At all times prior to the discovery of the illegal narcotics, either the Mexican railroad operating the train of (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) had exclusive control of the trains in which they were found, the plaintiff claims.
It rejects the defendant's assertion that Union Pacific failed to exercise the highest degree of care and diligence to ensure drugs were not smuggled on its trains. Union Pacific points out that it owns no railroad facilities in Mexico, and cannot hire, supervise or direct the railroad employees across the border.
The government improperly applied the Tariff Act of 1930 in assessing fines against Union Pacific, the lawsuit claims.
The Tariff Act does not obligate (Union Pacific) to enter Mexico and conduct extraterrestrial inspections, the railroad claims, and to do so would require (Union Pacific) to take extraordinarily dangerous and costly measures that the United States itself has found too dangerous and/or futile to undertake.
The risk of setting up security operations in Mexico would expose the plaintiff and its employees to the risks of murder and mayhem at the hands of Mexican drug cartels, while at the same time potentially running afoul of Mexican law, the lawsuit states.
And it would accomplish nothing, the railroad claims.
If (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) and the full power of the United States government cannot effectively seize drugs in Mexico, there is no reason to believe that (Union Pacific) could. |
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Mercedes-Benz Sues Hybrid Battery Supplier
Headline Legal News |
2008/07/31 07:48
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Mercedes-Benz U.S. International paid Cobasys $6 million to develop a battery pack for a hybrid vehicle under production, but claims the supplier ran into a funding crisis and is unable to deliver the product, putting the pressure on Mercedes to meet its June 2009 production deadline, the car company claims in Federal Court.
Cobasys is one of the few suppliers to produce nickel metal hydride (NiMH) battery packs for use in hybrids. It submitted the winning bid for the Mercedes hybrid project and, in doing so, agreed to develop, produce and deliver the product on time, the lawsuit claims.
Cobasys allegedly assured the Daimler AG affiliate that had all the requisite staff, funds and equipment to complete the job. nbsp;nbsp; nbsp;
After Cobasys and Daimler hammered out the production costs and pricing of the battery pack, Mercedes issued a purchase order. It claims Cobasys confirmed that it could meet the expected launch date, but did not sign a confirmation of the purchase order. The plaintiff says it found out later that Cobasys refused to sign the order because its owners, Chevron and Energy Conversion Devices, had cut off funding, leaving the supplier with no plans or ability to fund its day-to-day operations past that point, much less make the capital investments required to meet its production volume commitments to (Mercedes) and other manufacturers.
To make matters worse, Mercedes claims Cobasys' owners are actively searching for a buyer. They allegedly hid this information from Daimler and Mercedes, leading them to believe that Cobasys was ready, willing and able to produce the necessary parts, while knowing this is not the case, and while avoiding signing (the plaintiffs') purchase order.
Mercedes claims that Cobasys has since found a buyer, and the sale is imminent. But even if the buyer assumes the contract, Mercedes claims it has become entirely dependent on Cobasys' delivering the NiMH battery pack in time. No other supplier can produce a battery meeting the specifications jointly developed by Cobasys and Daimler, the lawsuit claims.
However, when Mercedes solicited written reassurance from Cobasys, the company allegedly denied having any contract to produce the battery pack. Cobasys told Mercedes that it would continue the development work, but would not be involved with production. The plaintiff also remains suspicious of what will happen to the property rights, as Cobasys has yet to provide any written concrete assurances that it will not sell or transfer any assets or intellectual property rights required to carry out its obligations.
Mercedes' attorneys are Howard Walthall Jr., Joseph Letzer, Ellen Mathews and S. Greg Burge of Burr amp; Forman. |
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Alaska Senator Charged with Corruption
Headline Legal News |
2008/07/30 07:53
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A federal grand jury indicted Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, thelongest-serving Republican senator, on corruption charges. Stevens, 84,was charged with seven counts of falsely reporting income from giftsand home renovations.
nbsp; nbsp; A year-long investigation revealed arelationship between Stevens and oil executive Bill Allen, whosecompany, VECO Corp., won millions of dollars' worth of federalcontracts with Stevens' help. VECO supervised hundreds of thousands ofdollars worth of renovations on Stevens' Girdwood, Alaska home, almostdoubling it in size.
nbsp; nbsp; Federal agents also investigated thesenator's son, Ben Stevens, then serving as president of the AlaskaSenate, as part of last year's inquiry into illicit payments made tocontractors and lobbyists.
nbsp; nbsp; Stevens has served in the Senatefor 40 years and helped Alaska obtain statehood in 1959. He is up forreelection this November against popular Anchorage mayor, Mark Begich.Begich would be the first Democratic senator for Alaska since 1974. nbsp; nbsp;nbsp;
nbsp; nbsp; Stevens, a World War II veteran, was first appointed tofill a vacant Senate seat in 1968 by former Alaska governor WalterHickel, and has been re-elected six times since.
nbsp; nbsp; Theindictment will force Stevens to abandon posts as senior Republican onthe Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the defenseappropriations subcommittee. |
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Kuwaiti Diplomat Accused Of Enslaving Maid In D.C.
Headline Legal News |
2008/07/24 07:41
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A military attaché in Kuwait's Embassy is accused of enslaving, raping and torturing an orphan woman he brought to the United States from India to work as his maid. She claims Brig. Gen. Ahmed S.J. al Naser and his wife promised her $1,150 a month for a 40-hour week, but forced her to work 17 hours a day seven days a week without pay, confiscated her passport, beat and kicked her till she bled, forced her to eat off the floor, and the general raped her.
She claims Naser sexually abused and raped her, and threatened to deport her to Kuwait if she complained, and threatened that he had friends there and They'd know what to do. She says that until she managed to escape, Defendant Al Naser raped plaintiff on many occasions when his wife was not in the home.
She sued Gen. Al Naser, his wife Muna S.M.N. Al Najdai and the State of Kuwait in Federal Court.
The plaintiff says she escaped in May 2006. She does not know where Gen. Al Naser is now. She is represented by Michael Coe with Crowell amp; Moring. |
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Sotheby's Won't Return Renaissance Painting
Headline Legal News |
2008/07/23 07:33
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Sotheby's refuses to return, or has lost, a painting by the Renaissance painter known as Parmigianino, the family that owns it claims in Federal Court. The family's representative claims Sotheby's took the painting Rest on the Flight Into Egypt, from a New York studio in 2005 for evaluation and/or authentication, and has refused to account for it or return it, despite repeated demands.
Plaintiff Giancorrado Ulrich, of Milan, says he is sole representative of the family that owns the painting.
Parmigianino - Francesco Mazzola, 1503-1540 - was an Italian Mannerist painter.
Ulrich says Sotheby's Senior Vice President and Director of Old Master Paintings Christopher Apostle arranged to have the painting taken from Marco Grassi's New York studio in 2005.
Ulrich says Grassi inquired about the painting in 2007 and this year, and Apostle assured Mr. Grassi that the painting had already been returned to him.
Ulrich says it's not so - that neither Grassi nor he has the painting, that Sotheby's has it or lost it. He says that the release slips that Sotheby's claims prove they returned to painting are not signed by Grassi or Ulrich, and appear to refer to another painting, called The Holy Family.
Ulrich is represented by Gena Zaiderman with Sanders Ortoli. |
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Calif. Court Orders New Headwaters Logging Plan
Headline Legal News |
2008/07/21 08:02
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Pacific Lumber Co. must revise its long-term logging plan for Humboldt County to provide adequate protection for endangered species, the California Supreme Court ruled.
In the controversial $480 million Headwaters Forest deal, state and federal governments bought 10,000 acres of old-growth redwoods and other trees from Pacific Lumber, which owns property in Humboldt County, and regulated how the company would log the remaining 220,000 acres.
The Environmental Protection and Information Center objected to the deal, as did the United Steelworkers of America and other labor and environmental groups.
Justice Moreno ruled that Pacific Lumber did not submit an identifiable Sustained Yield Plan, or a master plan for logging a large area. If the company submits a new plan, it would have to analyze the impact of logging on individual watersheds, Moreno ruled.
Also, Moreno found that the previous logging agreement improperly limited the company's obligation to mitigate the impact of old-growth logging on endangered and threatened species. |
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