Legal News

Court dismisses lawsuits in power plant deaths

Posted on May 04, 2013
The Colorado Court of Appeals has dismissed lawsuits against three companies in the deaths of five workers at a power plant in 2007. The appeals court agreed Thursday with a judge that there was no evidence that the companies violated duties or failed to provide adequate warnings of a fire hazard...

Court: Iowa must recognize both lesbian parents

Posted on May 02, 2013
An Iowa agency's refusal to list both spouses in a lesbian marriage as parents on their children's birth certificates is a violation of their constitutional rights and must stop, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled Friday. The court, which made history by legalizing gay marriage in 2009, ordered the Iowa Department of Public Health to start listing the names of both female spouses on the birth certificates of their children...

Ky appeals court upholds murder conviction

Posted on May 02, 2013
The Kentucky Court of Appeals has upheld the conviction of a former death row inmate in a 1998 slaying in Lexington.   The appeals court on Friday found that 40-year-old Gerald Young failed to prove his allegation that prosecutors put on false testimony at his trial...

US appeals court grants Hobby Lobby full hearing

Posted on March 31, 2013
A federal appeals court has granted Hobby Lobby's request for the entire court to hear its challenge of a federal requirement that it provide insurance coverage for the morning-after pill and similar emergency contraceptives. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals announced its decision Friday...

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Court: EPA can stop some power plant modifications

Posted on March 30, 2013
A federal appeals court says government regulators can try to halt construction projects at power plants if they think the companies didn't properly calculate whether the changes would increase air pollution. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sued DTE Energy in 2010 because the company replaced key boiler parts at its Monroe Unit 2 without installing pollution controls that are required whenever a utility performs a major overhaul...

Proposal would charge $10 to search court records

Posted on March 25, 2013
In a move that is raising concern about limiting access to public documents, California courts could charge $10 for each record search under a proposal included in Gov. Jerry Brown's budget. The governor included the search fee as one of the ways the courts can raise $30 million a year to offset budget cuts...

Republicans block Obama nominee to appeals court

Posted on March 12, 2013
Senate Republicans have blocked the confirmation of federal appeals court nominee Caitlin Halligan for the second time, denying President Barack Obama a key judicial appointment. Republicans say Halligan is too liberal to sit on U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia and cited citing her work on lawsuits against gun manufacturers...

California school district sued over yoga program

Posted on March 04, 2013
An attorney representing a family bent out of shape over a public school yoga program in the beach city of Encinitas filed a lawsuit Wednesday to stop the district-wide classes. In the lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court, attorney Dean Broyles argued that the twice weekly, 30-minute classes are inherently religious, in violation of the separation between church and state...

Justices voice skepticism of voting rights law

Posted on March 03, 2013
The Supreme Court's conservative justices voiced deep skepticism Wednesday about a section of a landmark civil rights law that has helped millions of Americans exercise their right to vote.In an ominous note for supporters of the key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Justice Anthony Kennedy both acknowledged the measure's vital role in fighting discrimination and suggested that other important laws in U...

NY dismemberment defendant dons trash bag in court

Posted on March 02, 2013
A New York City man accused of killing and dismembering his mother has appeared at his arraignment on a murder charge wearing a large garbage bag.Bahsid McLean was held without bail following his Bronx court appearance Thursday.His attorney says his client had been urinating on himself and had no other clean clothing...

Court-appointed receiver recovers $312 million

Posted on March 01, 2013
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been recovered so far in a massive North Carolina-based Ponzi scheme that authorities say attracted more than 1 million investors.The case involves Rex Venture Group, which operated several online projects. The Securities and Exchange Commission froze the company's assets in August...

SC court nixes James Brown estate settlement

Posted on March 01, 2013
The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a settlement divvying up the multi-million dollar estate of James Brown, saying a former attorney general didn't follow the late soul singer's wishes in putting together the deal.Attorney General Henry McMaster brokered a settlement in 2009 that split Brown's estate, giving nearly half to a charitable trust, a quarter to his widow Tomi Rae Hynie and leaving the rest to be split among his adult children...

Obama considers weighing in on gay marriage case

Posted on February 27, 2013
The Obama administration is quietly considering urging the Supreme Court to overturn California's ban on gay marriage, a step that would mark a political victory for advocates of same-sex unions and a deepening commitment by President Barack Obama to rights for gay couples...

Oklahoma considers foreign law court ban

Posted on February 15, 2013
Oklahoma lawmakers are considering banning judges in the state from basing any rulings on foreign laws, including Islamic Sharia law. A Senate panel on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the bill, which has broad support in the Republican-controlled Legislature...

Chris Brown returns to court for probation issues

Posted on February 07, 2013
With the woman he assaulted throwing him a kiss, Chris Brown walked into court Wednesday to face allegations he failed to complete his community labor sentence for Rihanna's 2009 beating.A judge asked for more information and scheduled another hearing in two months...

Lawyer: NYC teen didn't throw 9-year-old off roof

Posted on February 05, 2013
The lawyer for a New York City teenager accused of tossing a 9-year-old boy off the roof of a five-story building says it was "a tragic accident." Seventeen-year-old Carmine Aska was arraigned Sunday on attempted murder, assault and other charges. Attorney Kathryn Dyer said Aska did not intentionally push his neighbor, Freddy Martin, from the roof...

Wilchins Cosentino & Friend LLP - Wellesley, Massachusetts

Posted on February 05, 2013
Wilchins Cosentino & Friend LLP is organized into six major practice areas ? Private Client, Litigation, Family Law, Real Estate, Corporate and Financial Services Litigation. Within those practice areas, we offer a wide range of services that help our clients reach their business and personal goals...

Court denies reporter's bid for AIG reports

Posted on February 01, 2013
An appeals court has turned down a reporter's effort to see an independent consultant's reports for American International Group, Inc. A district court had granted the request from Sue Reisinger, a reporter for Corporate Counsel and American Lawyer magazines...

Court rulings dim outlook for Guantanamo trials

Posted on January 30, 2013
A civilian appeals court has now reversed the verdicts of the only two Guantanamo Bay prisoners convicted in trials by military tribunal, casting a shadow over proceedings set to resume this week at the U.S. base in Cuba for the men accused in the Sept...

San Francisco nudity ban upheld in federal court

Posted on January 30, 2013
A federal judge cleared the way Tuesday for the city of San Francisco to ban most displays of public nudity, ruling that an ordinance set to take effect on Feb. 1 does not violate the free speech rights of residents and visitors who like going out in the buff...

Economist convicted of tax fraud in NY court

Posted on January 24, 2013
A California economist has been convicted of federal tax fraud charges in a New York court after he failed to pay more than $1.5 million in taxes, interest and penalties over two decades. David Gilmartin was convicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan...

California Employment Law Attorneys

Posted on January 23, 2013
Banning Employment Law Attorneys Firm owner and attorney Karl Gerber has been working in the field since 1993 and has the experience needed to handle all types of Riverside, California employment cases. Having handled more than 1,400 separate cases with a 100% win rate...

Court upholds removing man from death row

Posted on January 23, 2013
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that a Pittsburgh-area man who stabbed his wife then dismembered her body should not be on death row because his low IQ makes him mentally disabled. Allegheny County Judge Lawrence O'Toole ruled in 2010 that 61-year-old Connie Williams should, instead, serve life in prison...

Court rejects bid to have marijuana reclassified

Posted on January 22, 2013
A federal appeals court Tuesday rejected a petition to reclassify marijuana from its current federal status as a dangerous drug with no accepted medical use.The appeals court panel denied the bid from three medical marijuana groups, including Americans for Safe Access, and several individuals...

Court rejects appeal from Somali pirates

Posted on January 21, 2013
The Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from Somali men who were the first people convicted on federal piracy charges in nearly 200 years.The justices did not comment Tuesday in refusing to disturb the convictions and sentences of life in prison.Defense lawyers had argued the men were innocent fishermen who had been abducted by pirates and forced to fire their weapons at a U...

Lawyer questions memory of Philadelphia accuser

Posted on January 18, 2013
A longtime heroin addict whose complaint helped imprison a Philadelphia archdiocese official came under attack Wednesday, as jurors in a priest-abuse trial learned that he had given three different locations for one alleged rape.Defense lawyers questioning the gaunt, 24-year-old policeman's son poked several holes in his accounts, some of which he attributed to years of heavy drug use...

Appeals court in NYC hears nuclear plant arguments

Posted on January 17, 2013
A dispute between the state of Vermont and a Louisiana-based power company moved to a federal appeals court Monday, when a panel of judges questioned lawyers but did not signal who they'll side with in the tussle over the future of Vermont's only nuclear plant...

Lawyers from LGBT group to join Supreme Court bar

Posted on January 16, 2013
An organization of gay and lesbian lawyers says 30 of its members will be sworn into the Supreme Court bar in a courtroom ceremony next week.The National LGBT Bar Association says it's the first time it will take part in the mass swearing-in that occurs on most days the court is in session...

Fight over Vt. nuclear plant oversight in NY court

Posted on January 14, 2013
The question of whether Vermont's only nuclear plant can continue operating without the approval of state regulators goes before a federal appeals court Monday in a dispute that has gained increasing attention nationally about the boundaries of federal authority over a controversial power source...

Court won't hear Ga. Gun lawsuit

Posted on January 09, 2013
The Supreme Court won't overturn a Georgia law banning firearms in churches and other places of worship. The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from GeorgiaCarry.org, which wanted the justices to overturn a lower court decision upholding Georgia's law banning guns in churches and other places of worship...

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