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Minn. court: Defendant may withdraw guilty plea
Court Watch |
2011/05/17 03:34
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The Minnesota Court of Appeals says defendants may withdraw a guilty plea if they are not told a conviction could result in deportation.
The court on Monday sided with Rene Reyes Campos. Campos said if he knew he risked being deported for a conviction for simple robbery for the benefit of a gang, he never would have pleaded guilty.
Campos was 17 when he was charged in Hennepin County in 2009, and had been a lawful U.S. resident for about seven years. He agreed to plead guilty as an adult and get a stayed sentence. He was not told the plea could affect his immigration status. Last June, Campos moved to withdraw his plea. |
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Court says FOIA request cannot be used in lawsuit
Law Center |
2011/05/15 02:35
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The Supreme Court says a Freedom of Information Act request cannot be used to trigger a False Claims Act lawsuit.
The court on Monday voted 5-3 to agree with arguments by Schindler Elevator Corp., which sought to get a lawsuit against it dismissed.
Daniel Kirk, a former employee, sued on behalf of the government, claiming Schindler had not complied with reporting requirements involving the employment of Vietnam veterans.
But a judge threw out his lawsuit, saying Kirk's information came from a FOIA request. The False Claims Act says that lawsuits cannot be filed using publicly disclosed information. The judge said FOIA reports were public information.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City overturned that decision but the high court said it was correct.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the court's opinion, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Samuel Alito.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented and was joined by Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. |
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Hedge fund founder convicted in inside-trade case
Court Watch |
2011/05/13 09:30
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A former Wall Street titan was convicted Wednesday of making a fortune by coaxing a crew of corporate tipsters into giving him an illegal edge on blockbuster trades in technology and other stocks — what prosecutors called the largest insider trading case ever involving hedge funds.
Raj Rajaratnam was convicted of five conspiracy counts and nine securities fraud charges at the closely watched trial in federal court in Manhattan. The jury had deliberated since April 25, and at one point was forced to start over again when one juror dropped out due to illness.
Prosecutors alleged the 53-year-old Rajaratnam made profits and avoided losses totaling more than $60 million from illegal tips. His Galleon Group funds, they said, became a multibillion-dollar success at the expense of ordinary stock investors who didn't have advance notice of the earnings of public companies and of mergers and acquisitions.
A New York jury has quietly finished its second week without a verdict in the trial of a one-time billionaire hedge fund founder accused of using inside information to make tens of millions of dollars illegally.
Prosecutors say Rajaratnam used a network of friends and old college buddies to cheat on Wall Street. His lawyers say he only traded based on public information. The replacement of a juror two days ago forced the jury to restart its work. |
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LimeWire settles out of court with major record labels
Law Center |
2011/05/13 09:30
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File-sharing software company LimeWire, which shut down last year after being barred from allowing people to share copyright-protected files online, reached a $105 million out-of-court settlement with the major record labels Thursday, the labels said.
In a statement, Recording Industry Association of America Chairman Mitch Bainwol said his group, which represents the labels, is pleased with the settlement.
“The resolution of this case is another milestone in the continuing evolution of online music to a legitimate marketplace that appropriately rewards creators,” he later added.
LimeWire, which had enabled people to share songs and other files over the Internet, had been fighting the RIAA for several years.
The RIAA argued LimeWire’s software encouraged illegal sharing of copyrighted music. Last May LimeWire was found liable of copyright infringement, with a trial to follow early this year. That trial started last week.
In October, LimeWire received a federal injunction forcing it to disable key functions of its software. At that time, the company said it would continue developing a new service that would include a desktop player, mobile apps and a catalog of music from which people could legally stream and download songs. |
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Denver appeals court weighs military impostor law
Headline News |
2011/05/12 08:41
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| p A federal appeals court in Denver was hearing arguments Thursday on whether Congress can make it illegal to falsely claim to be a military hero./ppAt issue is the Stolen Valor Act, which makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have been awarded a military medal./ppThe case before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals centers on Rick Strandlof, a Colorado man who was arrested after claiming he was wounded in Iraq as a Marine and had received military medals. His lawyers have acknowledged the claims were false./ppA federal judge ruled the law violated the First Amendment. Prosecutors asked the 10th Circuit to uphold the law, which has also been challenged in California./ppThe law makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have received a medal from the U.S. military./ppSome legal scholars have said they expect the law to eventually land before the U.S. Supreme Court./ppIn the Colorado case, Strandlof, who founded a veterans group in Colorado Springs, was charged in 2009 with violating the law by claiming to be an ex-Marine who was wounded in Iraq and received the Purple Heart and Silver Star. The military said it had no record that he ever served./ppA federal judge threw out the case in July, ruling the U.S. government had not shown any compelling reason to restrict that particular type of speech./ppThe judge also ruled that lying about getting a military medal doesn't fall into any of the limited exceptions to free speech that the Supreme Court has recognized, including fraud./ppThe law doesn't require a showing that an alleged impostor got financial benefits or caused financial harm for a conviction./ppIn the California case, Xavier Alvarez, a water board official from Pomona, was indicted in 2007 after saying at a public forum that he was a retired Marine who received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration./ppHe pleaded guilty on condition that he would be allowed to appeal on First Amendment grounds. A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit ruled 2-1 in his favor in August./p |
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Court in Va. to hear US health care law challenges
Topics |
2011/05/10 08:18
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div class=entrydiv class=articlePresident Barack Obama's health care overhaul will get its first oral arguments in federal appeals court Tuesday when a three-judge panel hears two Virginia cases — one that upheld the law and another that struck down its key provision.
Nine lawsuits challenging the law are pending on appeal, but the Virginia cases before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are the first to reach the oral argument stage. Thirteen cases have been dismissed with no appeal filed, and nine are pending in district courts, according to federal officials.
In the most prominent of the two Virginia cases, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson struck down the health care law's key provision: a requirement that individuals buy health insurance or pay a penalty starting in 2014. Thirty-one lawsuits challenging the law have been filed nationally, and Hudson — a 2002 appointee of President George W. Bush — was the first judge to strike down any of its provisions. Hudson left the rest of the law intact.
An individual's personal decision to purchase — or decline to purchase — health insurance from a private provider is beyond the historical reach of the Commerce Clause, Hudson wrote in the Dec. 13 opinion, which the U.S. Justice Department promptly appealed.
U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon in Lynchburg reached the opposite conclusion in a lawsuit filed by Liberty University, the conservative Christian school founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Two weeks before Hudson's ruling, the 1997 appointee of President Bill Clinton ruled that the mandate is a proper exercise of congressional authority under the Commerce Clause.
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