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NY court: Gay marriage caucus didn't break rules
Court Watch |
2012/07/06 15:30
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A state appeals court rejected a challenge to New York's year-old same-sex marriage law Friday, ruling closed-door negotiations among senators and gay marriage supporters including Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not violate any laws.
The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court in Rochester ruled against gay marriage opponents who argued that Republican state senators violated New York's open meeting rules ahead of the law's passage last year.
The marriage law was given final legislative approval by the state Senate after weeks of intensive lobbying and swiftly signed by Cuomo, making New York the largest state to legalize same-sex weddings. Same-sex couples began marrying by the hundreds on July 24, 2011, the day the law became official.
"The court's decision affirms that in our state, there is marriage equality for all, and with this decision New York continues to stand as a progressive leader for the nation," Cuomo said after the court's ruling.
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms said Cuomo and another gay marriage supporter, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, met behind closed doors with the Senate's Republican majority in violation of the open meeting law. |
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Cal Supreme Court rules in child death case
Court Watch |
2012/07/06 15:26
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Welfare officials can take children from parents who negligently cause the death of a son or daughter, such as failing to place them in a car seat, even if there was no criminal harm, the California Supreme Court ruled.
The court ruled Thursday that a "breach of ordinary care" with fatal results is enough reason for child welfare agencies to act because it poses an inherent concern for the safety of siblings, the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/Rp6CCN) reported.
"When a parent's or guardian's negligence has led to the tragedy of a child's death, the dependency court should have the power to intervene," Justice Marvin R. Baxter wrote for the court.
"It's a big case for us, and it is a big case for the child welfare community," said Assistant County Counsel James M. Owens, who represented the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.
The case involved the 2009 death of an 18-month-old girl in South Los Angeles. Her father was driving her to a hospital after she fell off a bed and hurt her arm, according to court documents.
The baby was sitting on her aunt's lap when another car ran a stop sign and hit their vehicle.
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La. high court upholds murder conviction
Court Watch |
2012/07/03 02:17
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The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a woman in the shooting death of her live-in boyfriend in 2009.
The Advocate reports that Mary Henderson Trahan was convicted of second-degree murder in Lafayette Parish in 2010 in the death of George Barbu.
An appeals court ruled the evidence did not support her conviction. Prosecutors appealed.
The Supreme Court this week said a rational juror could find from the evidence that Trahan had "specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm" to Barbu.
Trahan had claimed she accidentally shot Barbu after she slipped and fell while holding a gun.
The Supreme Court said jurors heard no evidence to support Trahan's claim.
Trahan faces up to life in prison when she is sentenced. |
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Massive LA County court layoffs to begin Friday
Court Watch |
2012/06/15 10:20
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Squeezed by state budgets cutbacks, the Los Angeles County court system is launching massive job layoffs, pay cuts and transfers, court officials said Thursday.
Cutbacks that will be implemented Friday will affect 431 court employees and 56 courtrooms throughout the nation's largest superior court system.
Presiding Judge Lee Smalley Edmon bemoaned the loss of longtime employees as well as the impact on public services.
"We are laying off people who are committed to serving the public," she said. "It is a terrible loss both to these dedicated employees and to the public."
The union representing state and municipal employees called Friday's action a "freeze on justice in Los Angeles" and warned that the county would experience "an end to timely justice" with cases being delayed for years, particularly in civil courts.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — AFSCME — planned to have representatives on hand to assist employees who will not know they are losing their jobs until they are informed individually Friday.
A spokeswoman for the California Judicial Council said other courts in the state will also be impacted by the budget cuts but will handle them individually. Los Angeles' court system, as the largest, will be the most heavily affected.
Edmon said the drastic actions are the result of a state mandate to reduce annual spending by $30 million. She noted that earlier reductions already saved $70 million, but more cuts in state support for trial courts are scheduled for the next fiscal year. |
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Powerbroker tied to Nevada Sen. Reid goes to court
Court Watch |
2012/06/09 00:15
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A former developer and lobbyist with long ties to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Nevada's political elite turned himself in to federal authorities Thursday after being indicted on criminal charges involving federal campaign contributions.
Harvey Whittemore planned to plead not guilty later in the day before a federal magistrate in Reno, his lawyer, John Arrascada, told The Associated Press.
Whittemore, 55, was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on four counts related to campaign contributions made in 2007 to an unnamed elected federal official.
Once a kingpin in state political circles, Whittemore made campaign contributions to numerous politicians including Republican Sen. Dean Heller and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley. But records show only Reid received donations of more than $100,000 on a single day in 2007.
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Court: Families cannot sue over loan discount fee
Court Watch |
2012/05/24 16:01
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The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that three families cannot sue a mortgage company for allegedly charging them a loan discount fee without giving them a lower interest rate.
The high court's decision tosses out lawsuits filed in 2008 against Quicken Loans, Inc., in Louisiana by three families who claimed they paid the fees without receiving anything in return. The Freeman family paid $980 and the Bennett family $1,100 in loan discount fees but allegedly did not get lower interest rates in return. The Smith family allegations focus partly on a loan origination fee of $5,100, which they claim was a mislabeled loan discount fee.
A federal judge threw the lawsuit out, saying the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act made the lawsuit improper. That decision, which was upheld by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, was appealed to the Supreme Court.
The law says no "person shall give and no person shall accept any portion, split, or percentage of any charge made or received for the rendering of a real estate settlement service in connection with a transaction involving a federally related mortgage loan other than for services actually performed."
The argument is over whether that law "prohibits the collection of an unearned charge by a single settlement provider, or whether it covers only transactions in which a provider shares part of a settlement-service charge with one or more other persons who did nothing to earn it," said Justice Antonia Scalia, who wrote the opinion.
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