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Trump real estate courses didn't deliver, suit says
Law Firm News |
2011/05/04 19:18
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Before Donald Trump sold the idea of a possible 2012 presidential bid, the bombastic real estate mogul peddled the American dream at a place called Trump University. He promised consumers the golden opportunity to be my next apprentice and learn insider secrets of real estate.
But a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Diego claims that the possible GOP presidential candidate's courses instead delivered expensive infomercials disguised as educational classes that preyed on vulnerable Americans in troubled economic times.
George Sorial, assistant general counsel for the Trump Organization, told The Chronicle this week that the allegations contained in the suit are completely ridiculous, adding that Trump University stands 100 percent behind any course we offered.
Sorial dismissed the lawsuit as an effort by two former students and their attorneys looking to make a quick buck from the celebrity businessman.
There wouldn't even be a lawsuit if the Trump name weren't attached to it, he said.
But Tarla Makaeff, 37, a former fashion designer and marketer from Corona del Mar (Orange County), told The Chronicle in an interview this week that Trump's university was hardly worthy of the name. |
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NH Senate rejects changes to anti-bullying law
Topics |
2011/05/03 08:32
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New Hampshire's Senate has voted unanimously to reject changes to the state's anti-bullying law, such as limiting school responsibility in dealing with off-campus incidents.
Senators said Wednesday that the current law is only months old and needs further study before any changes are made.
The current law was amended last year for the electronic age. It defines bullying and cyberbullying and allows schools to step in if the conduct happens outside of school and interferes with a student's education or substantially disrupts school operations.
Many states have been moving in this direction, but some New Hampshire lawmakers wanted to restrict the boundaries to school grounds.
The House passed a bill in March that would remove that provision and make other changes. The Senate's rejection leaves the measure's future in doubt. |
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Firm hired by GOP ends work on gay marriage ban
Topics |
2011/05/02 09:00
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A prominent law firm hired by Republican lawmakers to defend the federal ban on gay marriage said Monday it was withdrawing from the case amid criticism by advocacy groups, prompting the partner leading the work to quit.
The move by Atlanta-based King amp; Spalding is the latest flashpoint in the public debate over gay rights. Chairman Robert Hays Jr. said the firm chose to divorce itself from the controversy after determining that the decision to take the case wasn't vetted properly, but gay rights groups had also been pressuring the 800-lawyer company with plans for a protest Tuesday in Atlanta and with calls to its other clients. The groups cheered the move.
The decision, however, was sharply criticized by conservative groups, legal observers and the partner who had been handling the case, a former high-ranking Justice Department official under President George W. Bush. Washington-based attorney Paul Clement said he's moving to another law office so he can continue the work.
Clement had been retained by House Republican leaders after President Barack Obama ordered the Justice Department in February to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act. His administration said it believes the 1996 law, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman, was unconstitutional. |
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Bachmann uses Holocaust to illustrate tax point
Topics |
2011/05/02 09:00
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Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann on Saturday described the loss of economic liberty that young Americans face today as a flash point of history in which the younger generation will ask what their elders did to stop it.
In a speech to New Hampshire Republicans, Bachmann recounted learning about a horrific time in history as a child — the Holocaust — and wondering if her mother did anything to stop it. She said she was shocked to hear that many Americans weren't aware that millions of Jews had died until after World War II ended.
Bachmann said the next generation will ask similar questions about what their elders did to prevent them from facing a huge tax burden.
I tell you this story because I think in our day and time, there is no analogy to that horrific action, she said, referring to the Holocaust. But only to say, we are seeing eclipsed in front of our eyes a similar death and a similar taking away. It is this disenfranchisement that I think we have to answer to. |
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Court sides with Wyoming in dispute with Montana
Topics |
2011/05/02 09:00
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The Supreme Court says Wyoming is not taking too much water from a river system it shares with Montana.
The high court on Monday turned away Montana's complaint that Wyoming is taking too much water from the Tongue and Powder rivers in violation of a 1950 agreement between the states.
Montana claimed that more efficient irrigation in Wyoming is preventing runoff from rejoining the river and flowing downstream.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the 7-1 decision, which says more efficient irrigation is permissible to the detriment of downstream users. Justice Antonin Scalia was the only dissenting vote.
Justice Elena Kagan did not participate in the case because she worked on it while in the solicitor general's office. |
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Supreme Court to hear another arbitration argument
Headline News |
2011/05/01 09:01
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The Supreme Court will consider a plea from companies that cater to people with bad credit to keep disputes with their customers out of court and in the more business-friendly forum of arbitration.
Days after handing businesses a huge victory by limiting class action claims against them, the court said Monday it will take up a new arbitration dispute in the fall.
The new case involves consumer complaints about companies that issue low-rate credit cards to people with bad credit ratings. The consumers said they were promised an initial $300 in available credit, but were charged $257 in fees in the first year they had the credit card.
The consumers sued in federal court, but the companies say the dispute must be handled by an arbitrator, under an agreement the customers signed to receive the card.
The federal Credit Repair Organizations Act, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, says consumers have a right to sue, which the federal appeals court in San Francisco interpreted as a right to go into court, rather than be forced to submit to arbitration. Appeals courts in Atlanta and Philadelphia have ruled otherwise in evaluating the same language in the law. |
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