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Court won't hear appeal in witness tampering case
Headline News |
2012/11/15 12:25
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The Supreme Court won't review a decision to throw out sanctions and a $600,000 award against Miami prosecutors in a witness-tampering investigation where members of the defense team had allegedly been secretly recorded.
The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from Dr. Ali Shaygan, who has been acquitted of 141 counts of illegally prescribing painkillers. A federal judge said publicly that three prosecutors and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent acted "vexatiously and in bad faith" for failing to obtain permission before authorizing two witnesses to record conversations with Shaygan's attorney and his investigator.
But a federal appeals court threw out the sanction and award, saying the judge violated the prosecutors' due process rights in 2009 when he issued a public reprimand for their alleged misconduct.
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Chevron sued in Argentina over Ecuadorean spills
Headline News |
2012/11/06 10:27
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Lawyers for Amazonian Indians are seeking the seizure of $2 billion of Chevron Corp.'s assets in Argentina as they try to collect an $18.7 billion environmental judgment won in Ecuador last year.
Argentine lawyer Enrique Bruchou said Thursday that his seizure request should send a strong signal to foreign investors that they must apply the same environmental standards wherever they do business. Similar lawsuits were filed this year in Canada and Brazil.
"We will win this case. And it's going to set an example for the world that we in Latin America have grown up now and that we need to be treated as equals," Bruchou said.
Chevron is refusing to pay, saying fraud marked the trial and that the Texaco Petroleum Co. mitigated the environmental damage long before it became a Chevron subsidiary in 2001.
"The Ecuador judgment is a product of bribery, fraud, and it is illegitimate. The company does not believe that the Ecuador judgment is enforceable in any court that observes the rule of law," the San Ramon, Calif.-based oil giant said in a statement. |
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Retail group against revised card settlement
Law Center |
2012/10/26 16:49
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A proposed settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by retailers and trade groups against Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. fails to protect merchants from abuse by credit card companies, a national retail group says.
The lawsuit, which dates to 2005, centers on the subject of swipe fees — charges banks collect every time a Visa or MasterCard is used to pay for a purchase.
The proposed settlement terms, initially disclosed in July, were revised and filed Friday with U.S. District Court in Brooklyn.
But changes to the deal failed to win over many of the retailers represented by the National Retail Federation.
In a statement Mallory Duncan, the trade group's general counsel, said that the proposed deal does virtually nothing to protect retailers or their customers, and it attempts to silence any objections for years to come.
"Retailers would rather take their chances in court than accept this one-sided swindle written by the card industry for the card industry," he added.
The National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, is not a party to the lawsuit.
In a statement Friday, Visa called the settlement a fair and reasonable compromise.
Under the proposed settlement, stores will be allowed to charge customers more if they pay with a credit card. The pact covers only U.S. transactions. |
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Chile OK's extradition bid for ex-US Navy officer
Court Watch |
2012/10/24 16:49
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Chile's Supreme Court has approved an extradition request for a former U.S. military officer wanted in the 1973 killings of two Americans, including one whose disappearance was the focus of the movie "Missing," a lawyer said Wednesday.
Former U.S. Navy Capt. Ray E. Davis was charged last year in the deaths of journalist Charles Horman and student Frank Teruggi, who were killed during the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.
Attorney Sergio Corvalan, who represents Horman's widow, told The Associated Press that the Supreme Court approved by a 4-1 vote a request by judge Jorge Zepeda to seek Davis' extradition to face trial in Chile.
A court official, who agreed to discuss the case only if not quoted by name, said the vote would be formally announced Thursday.
After Davis was charged a year ago, the AP contacted his wife, Patricia Davis, at her home in Niceville, Florida. She said her husband previously denied any involvement in killings. She said he no longer talked because of Alzheimer's disease and was in a nursing home that she declined to identify. |
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Minn. Supreme Court to hear suicides case appeal
Law Center |
2012/10/22 13:42
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The Minnesota Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of a former
nurse convicted of searching out suicidal people in online chat rooms
and encouraging them to commit suicide.
William Melchert-Dinkel of Faribault was convicted in 2011 on two
counts of aiding suicide. The Minnesota Court of Appeals in July
rejected his argument that he was merely practicing free speech.
In an order Tuesday, the state Supreme Court agreed to review the
case. A date for oral arguments has not been set.
Melchert-Dinkel was convicted in the deaths of 32-year-old Mark
Drybrough, of Coventry, England, and 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji, of
Brampton, Ontario, in 2008.
Melchert-Dinkel faces about a year in jail unless his conviction is
overturned. He remains free pending appeal.
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Supreme Court views not 'liberal or conservative'
Headline News |
2012/10/19 13:42
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U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts said Wednesday that
people shouldn't think the high court's justices make decisions in
terms of a liberal or conservative agenda.
Roberts told a crowd of nearly 4,800 people at Rice University in
Houston that many of the court's close votes have had nothing to do
with politics.
"We look at these cases and resolve them ... not in terms of a
particular liberal or conservative agenda," he said. "It's just easier
for reporters to say that justice is liberal and that justice is
conservative."
From reading some of the court's opinions, Roberts added, people may
think that justices are "at each other's throats." But he said all the
justices are "extremely close."
Roberts, taking a break from the high court's current term in
Washington, talked in general about his work leading the nation's
highest court. But he didn't discuss some of the court's more recent
high-profile cases — including voting to uphold much of President
Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Roberts, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, made headlines
when he voted with the liberal justices in that 5-4 landmark decision.
After that ruling, Roberts became the focus of criticism from some of
the nation's leading conservatives while liberals applauded his
statesmanship. |
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