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Immigration court: Troubled system, long waits
Headline News |
2011/04/08 12:04
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pEvery morning, they don their black robes, take their seats and listen to the pleas of a long line of immigrants desperate to stay in America. The pace is fast, the pressure intense, the stories sometimes haunting. The work, these judges say, is exhausting:/ppThe volume is constant and unrelenting.' ... 'There is not enough time to think.' ... 'Nobody gives a damn about us!' ... 'I know I couldn't do this job if I were not on medication for depression or did not have access to competent psychological care myself.' ... 'I cannot take this place anymore. What a dismal job this is!'/ppThese are the voices of immigration judges who determine the fate of tens of thousands of people every year - illegal border crossers, visa violators, refugees who flee China, El Salvador, Iran and other countries, each making a case to remain here./ppThese judges are at the heart of a bloated immigration court system saddled by explosive growth, a troubled reputation and a record backlog, according to one estimate, of nearly 268,000 cases. The problems are drawing increased scrutiny of a little-seen world where justice can seem arbitrary, lives can remain in limbo for years - and blame seems to be in abundance.
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Split over union law reaches Wis. court race
Court Watch |
2011/04/06 09:14
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| pThe slim margin between Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and his challenger, JoAnne Kloppenburg, has grown slightly in favor of the incumbent as late election numbers are tallied./ppBut the race that reflected Wisconsin's fight over union rights is still too close to call Wednesday morning. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, conservative-leaning Prosser is leading Kloppenburg by 835 votes. Final, official results could vary and a recount appears likely./ppThe race highlights the divide in the state over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining law, which would strip public workers of nearly all their union rights. The issue, which could ultimately be decided by the state Supreme Court, has propelled the relatively unknown Kloppenburg into prominence and heightened voter interest in the election. /p |
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2 charged with insider trading involving law firms
Topics |
2011/04/06 09:13
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pFederal authorities have charged two men with running an insider trading scheme that netted more than $30 million with information stolen from law firms.
Garrett Bauer is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday afternoon. Matthew Kluger will make his first appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Va. /ppThey're accused of trading on inside information stolen from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich amp; Rosati, a law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong. /ppAuthorities also allege the decades-long scheme used information stolen from prominent New York law firms Cravath Swaine amp; Moore and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher amp; Flom./p |
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Louisiana to get $12M in Health Net case
Court Watch |
2011/04/06 09:13
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| pThe Louisiana Supreme Court has ordered Health Net Inc., a major health maintenance organization, to cover more than $180 million in claims by consumers, health care providers and creditors in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas./ppLouisiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon told The Advocate that Louisiana will get the smallest portion of the payout./ppWe have about $12 million coming to us to policyholders, providers and general creditors, meaning companies who sold them supplies or that rented them space, Donelon said./ppDonelon said the unanimous ruling, issued Friday, will reimburse all of AmCare Louisiana HMO's members, providers, and creditors for any losses caused by Health Net's conduct./ppHealth Net sold health plans in the three states to AmCareco Inc. in 1999. In 2002, the troubled health plans were placed under state supervision. Each of the state's insurance departments sued AmCareco and Health Net, alleging fraud, negligence, conspiracy and breach of fiduciary duty./ppIn 2005, a state district court jury awarded the Texas plaintiffs around $100 million in damages. In 2005, a state judge in Baton Rouge issued similar verdicts against Health Net and awarded $30 million to the Louisiana and Oklahoma plaintiffs./p |
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Patrick to nominate justice to Mass. high court
Law Firm News |
2011/04/04 23:37
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| pGov. Deval Patrick is set to make his latest pick to the state’s highest court./ppThe governor has scheduled a Monday afternoon news conference at the Statehouse to nominate an associate justice to the Supreme Judicial Court. If confirmed, the person chosen would succeed Judith Cowin, who in January announced plans to retire after 11 years on the high court./ppThis will be the fourth associate justice that Patrick has selected to the SJC, meaning that he will now have personally selected a majority of the justices on the seven-member court, the oldest continuously serving court in the Western Hemisphere./ppPatrick also elevated Roderick Ireland to chief justice of the SJC following the retirement last year of Margaret Marshall./p |
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Pa. bus firm in deadly NJ crash is taken off road
Law Center |
2011/04/04 23:37
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pA Pennsylvania bus company involved in a crash that killed the driver and a passenger in New Jersey has been taken off the road by federal transportation officials./ppThe U.S. Department of Transportation announced Wednesday that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has taken away permission for Super Luxury Tours Inc. to operate./ppSpeaking at a U.S. Senate hearing in Washington earlier Wednesday, New Jersey Democrat Frank Lautenberg said Super Luxury's safety record is in the bottom 1 percent of motor coach companies./ppA bus operated by the Wilkes-Barre, Pa., company crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike as it traveled from New York City's Chinatown to Philadelphia on March 14, killing the 50-year-old driver and a passenger and injuring several other passengers./ppEvidence suggests the bus was southbound on the turnpike near Interchange 9 in East Brunswick when the vehicle went off the road onto the grassy median before striking a concrete overpass support. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, and authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the driver may have been affected by a medical issue./ppThe crash occurred just days after a tour bus traveling from an Uncasville, Conn., casino to New York City crashed and killed 15 people.
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