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Court turns down campaign disclosure challenge
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2011/02/23 09:19
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| pThe Supreme Court has rejected an appeal challenging campaign disclosure laws in Washington state./ppThe court on Tuesday let stand without comment a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the state's disclosure requirements. Human Life of Washington challenged the requirements as a violation of the First Amendment. The group didn't want to reveal its donors in a 2008 campaign opposing an assisted suicide ballot measure./ppThe San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the disclosure requirements have become an important part of our First Amendment tradition./p |
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Reno court accepts deal for model in arch crash
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2011/01/31 22:54
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| A fashion model pleaded no contest Monday in Reno to careless driving and agreed to pay damages after crashing a rented motorhome into the city's landmark downtown arch. pRosemary Vandenbroucke, 28, of Hong Kong agreed to pay $385 in fines and $985 for damage to the Biggest Little City in the World arch and a fire hydrant, said Dan Wong, criminal division chief for the city attorney's office. pTammy Riggs, a lawyer for Vandenbroucke, didn't immediately return a phone call from The Associated Press seeking comment on the plea deal. pReno Municipal Court Judge Jay Dilworth accepted the plea with no other penalties, Wong said. pNobody was injured in the crash, but authorities said the 40-foot motorhome was substantially damaged. pVandenbroucke was originally charged with three misdemeanors—vehicular hit-and-run, failure to maintain insurance and making an improper right turn. pThe Labor Day crash occurred a day after the model was arrested at the Burning Man counterculture festival north of Reno and charged with possession of a controlled substance. /p |
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High court denies man's gun arrest appeal
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2011/01/18 09:09
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| pMissing a plane connection cost Utah gun owner Greg Revell 10 days in jail after he was stranded in New Jersey with an unloaded firearm he had legally checked with his luggage in Salt Lake City./ppNevertheless, the Supreme Court without comment refused on Tuesday to let Revell sue Port Authority of New York and New Jersey police for arresting him on illegal possession of a firearm in New Jersey and for not returning his gun and ammunition to him for more than three years./ppRevell was flying from Salt Lake City to Allentown, Pa., on March 31, 2005, with connections in Minneapolis and Newark, N.J. He had checked his Utah-licensed gun and ammunition with his luggage in Salt Lake City and asked airport officials to deliver them both with his luggage in Allentown./ppBut the flight from Minneapolis to Newark was late, so Revell missed his connection to Allentown. The airline wanted to bus its passengers to Allentown, but Revell realized that his luggage had not made it onto the bus and got off. After finding his luggage had been given a final destination of Newark by mistake, Revell missed the bus. He collected his luggage, including his gun and ammunition, and decided to wait in a nearby hotel with his stuff until the next flight in the morning./ppWhen Revell tried to check in for the morning flight, he again informed the airline officials about his gun and ammunition to have them checked through to Allentown. He was reported to the TSA, and then arrested by Port Authority police for having a gun in New Jersey without a New Jersey license./p |
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Mich. court ruling would nix water discharge plan
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2010/12/30 08:50
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| pA divided Michigan Supreme Court has issued an opinion that would continue to prevent an energy company from discharging treated wastewater into the headwaters of the Au Sable River in Otsego County./ppThe 4-3 decision would deny the water discharge plan for Merit Energy Co. because the court's majority ruled it is manifestly unreasonable./ppThe company already had abandoned the discharge plan and considered the case moot. A previous Supreme Court ruling would have prevented the discharge./ppThe new ruling, however, could set precedents for future environmental cases in which the state has issued permits./ppConservative justices who currently form the court's minority blast the more liberal majority for using a moot case to reach desired policy results./p |
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Judge denies class action in cigarette lawsuits
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2010/11/28 21:07
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pA federal judge in Maine yesterday denied class-action status to four lawsuits accusing Philip Morris USA of misleading smokers about the health risks of light cigarettes./ppThe ruling by U.S. District Judge John A. Woodcock Jr. concerns lawsuits that were filed in Illinois, Maine, California and Washington, D.C., alleging that Henrico County-based Philip Morris USA marketed light cigarettes as healthier than regular cigarettes in violation of various consumer-protection and false-advertising laws./ppThe lawsuits are among 15 cases that were consolidated for pre-trial proceedings in federal court. In his ruling, Woodcock said the plaintiffs had not met the requirements for class-action status./ppWhile the judge has yet to rule on the remaining cases in the multidistrict litigation, we believe this decision should serve as a persuasive authority in denying class certification in those and other similar cases as well, said Murray Garnick, senior vice president and associate general counsel for Philip Morris USA parent company Altria Group Inc./ppThe federal court ruling in Maine yesterday was in contrast to a decision in a separate lawsuit in New Hampshire state court Monday./ppIn that case, a superior court judge granted class-action status to a lawsuit against Philip Morris USA over its marketing of light cigarettes. A spokesman for Philip Morris USA said the company will appeal that decision to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
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Ruling on Wal-Mart class-action case may have broader impact
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2010/11/28 21:07
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pThe fate of the largest job bias lawsuit in the nation's history — a claim that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. shortchanged women in pay and promotions for many years — hinges on whether the Supreme Court will let the class-action case go to trial./ppThe court is likely to announce as soon as Monday whether it will hear the retail giant's appeal asserting that a single lawsuit cannot speak for more than 1.5 million employees./ppBusiness lawyers and civil rights advocates are closely following the Wal-Mart case for its implications for class-action litigation.
This may sound like just a technical, procedural issue, but because of the economics of it, class-action certification is often the most important issue to be decided, said Washington lawyer Roy T. Englert Jr./ppIf the high court permits the Wal-Mart case to proceed as a class action, it will put enormous pressure on the retailer to settle, he said. The plaintiffs have not specified the damages they would seek, but given the size of the class, it could mount into billions of dollars./ppThe U.S. Chamber of Commerce and several large corporations have joined with Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer, in urging the high court to hear the appeal and to restrict the use of class-action claims.
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