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TOWN MAY BAN BILLBOARD FOR AESTHETICS, BUT LOCATION LIMITS UNCONSTITUTIONAL
"A state appeals court on Tuesday declared some of a Bergen County municipality's restrictions on billboards unconstitutional but left enough of the ordinance intact to block a proposed advertising sign on Route I-95. The three-judge panel struck down limitations that confine billboards in Englewood to a single business-industrial zone while excluding them from a similar zone where Elray Outdoor Corp. wants to erect a V-shaped sign 12 feet high and 44 feet wide. The court, in Elray Outdoor Corp. v Board of Adjustment of Englewood, A-4627-07, also voided a part of the ordinance requiring 1,000 feet of separation from residences. At the same time, the court ruled there was insufficient evidence to refute the city's determination that the billboard's bulk would detract from the aesthetic value of the area."

JUDGE VOIDS MERCER COUNTY COURTHOUSE CONTRACTOR'S BID
"A Superior Court judge has blocked work on the construction of a $52 million replacement for the century-old Mercer County Courthouse, finding the contractor that was awarded the project did not comply with state public contracts law. Superior Court Judge Ronald Bookbinder ruled on Sept. 2 that Hunter Roberts Construction Group's bid was 'materially defective for failing to comply with the ownership disclosure requirements' of the Local Public Contracts Law, namely that a bid list anyone who owns 10 percent or more in shares. The Mercer County Improvement Authority insists the bid complies with the statute. The judge's ruling is the latest setback for the judiciary's long campaign to replace the 1904 courthouse".

DENIED ACCESS TO ALCOTEST RAW DATA, LAWYER APPEALS
"Frustrated by New Jersey's slow progress in creating a centralized database of Alcotest readings as required by the state Supreme Court, a drunken-driving defense lawyer is trying to get his hands on the information himself. Evan Levow is asking an appeals court to overturn a trial court's denial of access to raw data stored on Alcotest machines, both for his clients and for other defendants tested. In an application for interlocutory review in State v. Reardon, A-5683-08, Levow, of Cherry Hill, argues the data sought are potentially exculpatory in nature and denial of access has due process and equal protection implications. He also says the appellate courts must intervene to provide a consistent standard for trial courts to follow."

CITING TORTURE CONCERNS, 3RD CIRCUIT BLOCKS DEPORTATION TO IRAN
"A federal appeals court has blocked the deportation of an Iranian man, ordering immigration officials to reconsider whether the man's political speech and conversion to Christianity -- especially amid Iran's current tensions -- would make it more likely that he faces torture if returned there. In its unpublished nine-page opinion in Ghaziaskar v. Attorney General, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals had failed to adequately consider conditions in Iran before rejecting Mohammad Ghaziaskar's claim under the Convention Against Torture. U.S. Circuit Judge Theodore McKee instructed the BIA to 'take judicial notice of the fact that current tensions in Iran would only exacerbate what this record establishes as an already shameful record of respecting human rights.' " 

ATTORNEYS FIGHT PLAINTIFFS COUNSEL'S $195 MILLION FEE REQUEST
"Objections have been filed to the $195 million fee request by plaintiffs attorneys who achieved a $586 million settlement in a massive federal initial public offering litigation. In papers filed Tuesday by counsel for objectors in In Re Initial Public Offering Securities Litigation, MC-21-92, four attorneys argue the request for $195 million was 'outrageous' and 'a fee of 33.33 percent is not permissible in a mega-fund case like this.' Southern District of New York Judge Shira Scheindlin is scheduled to hold a hearing Thursday to give final approval to the settlement and pass judgment on the fee request by Bernstein Liebhard, Milberg LLP and other plaintiffs firms. The objectors, led by attorney Edward Siegel of Cleveland, also argue in their papers against $50 million in expenses sought by the plaintiffs firms."

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