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NJ Supreme Court Justice limits protest
Headline News |
2011/01/13 08:56
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pA New Jersey Supreme Court justice who refused to participate in all decisions while a temporary judge is assigned to the bench has tempered his protest./ppJustice Roberto Rivera-Soto said in an opinion published Wednesday that he will issue decisions in cases in which Judge Edwin Stern participates, so long as the judge's vote doesn't affect the outcome./ppRivera-Soto said he'll continue to defer a decision to vote in cases where Stern's position changes the outcome./ppRivera-Soto maintains it's unconstitutional to have a temporary justice on the court when a quorum of five is present. Chief Justice Stuart Rabner appointed Stern to fill a vacancy that occurred when Gov. Chris Christie did not reappoint Justice John Wallace in May, leaving the seven-member court one member short./ppDemocrats who control the state Senate have refused to consider Christie's choice to replace Wallace, corporate lawyer Anne Patterson./ppRivera-Soto recently announced his plans to step down rather than seek renomination when his term expires in September. It was doubtful that the justice, who was reprimanded by the court in 2007 for intervening in a conflict between his son and another student at Haddonfield Memorial High School, would have been renominated./ppSenate President Stephen Sweeney, who has been among Rivera-Soto's harshest critics, said Wednesday that the justice is unfit to serve./p |
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Arizona, Nevada sue BofA over loan modifications
Headline News |
2010/12/19 19:29
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pAttorneys general in Arizona and Nevada filed civil lawsuits Friday against Bank of America Corp., alleging that the lender is misleading and deceiving homeowners who have tried to modify mortgages in two of the nation's most foreclosure-damaged states./ppBank of America violated Arizona's consumer fraud law by misleading consumers who tried to reduce their monthly payments to keep their homes, state Attorney General Terry Goddard said. The bank also violated the terms of a 2009 consent agreement requiring its Countrywide mortgage subsidiary to implement a loan modification program, the Arizona lawsuit alleges./ppHundreds of homeowners kept making their mortgage payments because Bank of America repeatedly assured them that their loans were being modified, Goddard said. Instead, many lost their homes anyway./ppThose people could have used that money for something else, Goddard told The Associated Press. They were deceived into continuing to make mortgage payments when they had no hope of saving their homes./ppNevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto told the AP that the Silver State's lawsuit was a last resort to try to get the bank to change its ways. It was filed after several discussions with bank managers led to assurances but little more./p |
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Federal court in Ohio says upholds e-mails privacy
Headline News |
2010/12/15 23:19
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pAn attorney sees a court's opinion upholding e-mail privacy as potentially groundbreaking and possibly helpful to his client, the founder of a company that sold male enhancement pills./ppLawyer Martin Weinberg said Wednesday that e-mail evidence should have been excluded from the government's case against Steven Warshak, who was convicted of fraud and other crimes related to his Ohio company. It sold products including Enzyte pills, known for their Smiling Bob commercials./ppThe 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati threw out Warshak's 25-year sentence Tuesday. The court also said Warshak's rights were violated when investigators obtained his e-mails without warrants, but it upheld his convictions./p |
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The Securities Law Firm of Menzer Hill, P.A., Files an Arbitration Claim
Headline News |
2010/12/03 09:52
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pThe Securities Law Firm of Menzer amp; Hill, P.A., a href=http://www.suemyadvisor.comwww.suemyadvisor.com/a, announced today it filed an arbitration claim against NEXT Financial Group (“NEXT”), for its failure to supervise one of its financial advisors who engaged in unauthorized and excessive trading within an investor’s account./ppConsistent with the arbitration claim this Firm just filed, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s (“FINRA”) BrokerCheck website, on November 10, 2010, states that NEXT “did not have a reasonable system for reviewing the transactions of its registered representatives for excessive trading.” /ppGary Menzer, co-founder and managing partner of Menzer amp; Hill, P.A., says “the $400K fine and regulatory action FINRA assessed against NEXT is not surprising considering the activity we uncovered in the account of one of our clients and customer of NEXT.”nbsp; Investors are encouraged to contact Menzer amp; Hill, P.A. if they believe their accounts are being excessively traded by their brokers or are subject to other abuses./ppThe attorneys at the Securities Law Firm of Menzer amp; Hill, P.A. are dedicated to pursuing claims on behalf of investors who have suffered investment losses.nbsp; /ppFor a free case evaluation or to discuss this matter, please contact the Securities Law Firm of Menzer amp; Hill, P.A., at 888-923-9223, or visit us on the web at a href=http://www.suemyadvisor.comwww.suemyadvisor.com/a
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Class action lawsuit against United Water could cost millions
Headline News |
2010/11/28 21:06
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pSeveral Union City residents have filed a class action lawsuit against United Water on allegations that the company cheated customers by selling them useless warranties that do not cover repairs./ppThe warranties, which cost about $150 a year, are supposed to cover the repair of broken water pipes, sewer pipes and other items, the attorneys for three 18th Street plaintiffs, said. Although the application says Guaranteed Acceptance in large print, there are actually many exclusions, the attorneys said./ppMulti-unit dwellings are actually excluded from the warranty, but that has not stopped United Water from marketing and selling the policies to the owners of multi-unit buildings, the lawsuit says./ppThe suit was recently filed in Bergen County Superior Court in Hackensack, where United Water is based./pp
Attorneys Carl Mayer and Bruce Afran held a press conference Tuesday at the courthouse. Afran estimated that if all New Jersey residents in a situation similar to the plaintiffs were to join the suit, and the suit was successful, it could cost United Water as much as $50 million./p |
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Lawyers compete for big payoff, control in BP case
Headline News |
2010/10/07 15:37
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pMore than 100 lawyers are battling for the biggest chunks of what is likely to be a multibillion-dollar settlement for Gulf of Mexico oil spill victims, jockeying for spots on the elite team that will control the plaintiffs' cases./ppA judge will pick 12 to 15 lawyers to take the lead in lawsuits against BP PLC and other companies filed by thousands of fishermen, restaurateurs, hotel operators, property owners and many others over the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history./ppCompetition is fierce: The candidates include a former Cabinet secretary and the lawyer who represented Al Gore in the 2000 presidential recount case. The team could get up to 15 percent of a multibillion-dollar settlement from more than 300 lawsuits that have been consolidated in New Orleans federal court. And that's on top of the typical 30 percent fee that lawyers charge their individual clients./ppThis is a very lucrative position, said Brian Fitzpatrick, a Vanderbilt University law professor who has studied how attorney fees work. You not only control the case but you get a big percentage off the top. This will attract all the big fish./ppApplications from 112 attorneys have been filed with U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier, who will announce his choices in the coming weeks. Top trial lawyers from around the nation are represented, many of them veterans of similar high-profile cases such as Toyota's sudden acceleration problems and the troubled painkiller Vioxx.
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