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Regulators shut 4 small banks in 3 states
Headline News |
2011/07/15 09:22
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Regulators on Friday shut down four small banks in three states, boosting to 55 the number of U.S. bank failures this year.
The overall pace of closures, however, has slowed this year as banks work their way through piles of bad debt. A slow, but improving U.S. economy also has helped stem the number of bank casualties this year. By this time last year, regulators had closed 96 banks.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized High Trust Bank in Stockbridge, Ga., One Georgia Bank in Atlanta, First Peoples Bank in Port St. Lucie, Fla., and Summit Bank in Prescott, Ariz.
The action brings to 16 the number of lenders to collapse this year in Georgia. In Florida, the tally is now seven, while in Arizona it's now two.
High Trust had about $192.5 million in assets and $189.5 million in deposits, while One Georgia had about $186.3 million in assets and $162.1 million in deposits. First Peoples had about $228.3 million in assets and $209.7 million in deposits. |
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Orange County judge to restrict Costa Mesa layoffs
Headline News |
2011/07/06 09:43
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An Orange County judge said Tuesday that she will issue a court order to restrict Costa Mesa from laying off nearly half of the city's workforce and outsourcing jobs.
Superior Court Judge Tam Nomoto Schumann said she would grant the Orange County Employees Association's request for a preliminary injunction. But the city has until Friday to file objections before she issues her ruling.
The union filed suit in May, arguing that the city's plan to outsource municipal jobs violates state law and the union contract.
In March, the Costa Mesa City Council majority voted to outsource jobs to mostly private companies in a drastic move to plug a $15 million budget hole.
Soon afterward, 213 of 450 employees got layoff notices that would take effect in September.
Union spokeswoman Jennifer Muir said the court order would protect employees' jobs until the case against the city goes to trial.
Schumann said the city must follow proper procedures when laying off workers, but she didn't explain what those procedures are.
Assistant City Attorney Harold Potter contends the city has been following procedures while pursuing austerity measures.
The judge's ruling won't stop the city from exploring outsourcing options, he said. |
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Kansas court system works to improve efficiency
Headline News |
2011/06/23 05:39
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Judges and court workers have completed the data-collection part of a study aimed at making Kansas' court system more efficient.
The Wichita Eagle reported that the data will be analyzed by the National Center for State Courts. That national nonprofit group works to improve the justice system and lobbies on behalf of courts at the federal level.
The results of the $200,000 consultant study of how judges and other court workers spend their time will go to a panel that will recommend changes if they are needed.
Kansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said the panel also is gathering public input on ways to improve the courts. The two initiatives are called "Project Pegasus," after the winged horse in Greek mythology.
The goal is to prevent situations like last year when courts were closed four days.
"When our budget is cut or when we don't have enough money, it is our people who suffer, they're the ones who have to get sent home," Nuss told members of the Wichita Pachyderm Club, a Republican group, this past week. "Unfortunately that also comes at the expense of Kansas citizens, because when we have no money and we have to close the courts, the citizens no longer have access to justice."
Nuss said most of the consultant study is being paid for mostly from salary and benefit savings accrued after appellate Judge Jerry Elliott died in April of last year and former Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Davis died last August. |
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Toyota class action suit to start with Utah case
Headline News |
2011/06/11 06:54
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The first lawsuit to go to trial in a massive class action against Toyota Motor Corp. over acceleration problems that led the company to recall 14 million cars will involve a crash that killed two people in western Utah, a federal judge said Friday.
U.S. District Judge James Selna told attorneys the case of 38-year-old Charlene Jones Lloyd and 66-year-old Paul Van Alfen, whose Toyota Camry slammed into a wall in Utah in 2010, is scheduled to go to trial in February 2013.
The case — Van Alfen v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. — will be the first of several bellwether lawsuits, intended to determine how the rest of the litigation will proceed.
Selna wrote in a tentative order that he hoped the selection would "markedly advance these proceedings."
"The Court believes that selection of a personal injury/wrongful death case is most likely the type of case to meet that goal," Selna said.
Toyota said it welcomes the Utah case as the first suit to reach court.
"We are pleased that the initial bellwether will address plaintiffs' central allegation of an unnamed, unproven defect in Toyota vehicles, as every claim in the multi-district litigation rests upon this pivotal technical issue," the company said in a statement.
Toyota has previously argued the plaintiffs have been unable to prove that a design defect in its electronic throttle control system is responsible for vehicles surging unexpectedly. It has instead blamed driver error, faulty floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals. |
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Court puts Carl Lewis back on NJ primary ballot
Headline News |
2011/05/05 15:40
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Track and field legend Carl Lewis finally found a court willing to help him get into the race for the New Jersey state Senate — but there's a chance his run will be fleeting.
A three-judge panel of the Philadelphia-based U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Lewis' name should be included when the ballots are printed for the 8th Legislative District Democratic state Senate primary. While the three-judge panel granted that emergency request, it didn't make a final ruling on whether he's eligible for office.
Lewis' lawyer, William Tambussi, said that under the ruling, "the voters, not a partisan elected official, will decide who should be the state senator in the 8th Legislative District."
Republicans contend that Lewis does not meet the state requirement that a candidate live in New Jersey for four years before seeking a seat in the state Senate.
Lewis, 49, grew up in Willingboro before becoming one of track's biggest stars and a nine-time Olympic gold medalist. He bought a home in New Jersey in 2005 and has been assisting with the track team at Willingboro High School since 2007. He went to college in Texas, and he has a home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., and a business in Los Angeles. He registered to vote in New Jersey only last month, just before he announced his candidacy. |
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Pierre contract dispute goes before high court
Headline News |
2011/04/29 14:22
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The South Dakota Supreme Court has heard arguments in a dispute between Pierre and the union representing a majority of city workers.
The city a year ago imposed its final salary offer of a 1 percent raise for all employees and another 1 percent for eligible workers. A circuit court judge last fall ruled that the city was within its rights to do so. The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 appealed.
KCCR radio reports that union attorney Todd Love told Supreme Court justices Thursday that the city didn't follow proper procedure. The attorney for Pierre argued that the city dealt with the union in good faith and had no other alternative.
Justices will rule later. Meanwhile, the city and union will continue under terms of the 2009 contract. |
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Ex-Bush lawyer facing trial for attempted murder
Headline News |
2011/04/28 16:20
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A former Bush administration official charged with trying to kill his wife at their Connecticut home is headed toward a trial after plea negotiations with prosecutors failed. The Connecticut Post reports the attempted murder case of John Michael Farren was put on the trial list at Stamford Superior Court on Thursday during a brief hearing. A date for jury selection wasn't set. The 58-year-old Farren was deputy White House counsel during President George W. Bush's second term. He also served as undersecretary for international trade under Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush. Farren has pleaded not guilty. He is accused of beating his wife with a flashlight and choking her at their New Canaan home after she served him with divorce papers. He's free on bail but under house arrest. |
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