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Court dismisses part of NM whistleblower case
Top Legal News |
2011/08/18 16:31
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Attorney General Gary King and a state agency can take charge of legal efforts to recover money for New Mexico for some investment deals allegedly influenced by political considerations, a state court ruled Wednesday.
District Judge Stephen Pfeffer also dismissed portions of a whistleblower's lawsuit involving allegations of a pay-to-play scheme in investment deals by the State Investment Council, which oversees permanent funds worth more than $15 billion. The judge's ruling allows the council and the attorney general to handle those legal claims.
The lawsuit by Frank Foy, a former chief investment officer of the state's educational pension fund, will continue on other allegations, including that the state lost money on bad investments by the Educational Retirement Board and some by the council and that politics influenced some of the pension's fund investments.
The Investment Council filed a lawsuit in May claiming that its former top manager and a financial advisory firm improperly steered New Mexico investments to political supporters of former Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson. More than a dozen other defendants were named, including third-party placement agents who earned millions of dollars in fees on investment deals.
Former State Investment Officer Gary Bland has said the allegations are "absurd" and he was not involved in any wrongdoing. |
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NY man suing Facebook must explain missing items
Legal News |
2011/08/17 16:31
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A judge gave Facebook access to the personal email accounts of a man suing for half ownership of the social networking website and ordered him to explain why he can't produce documents its lawyers believe are evidence.
Proof that Paul Ceglia's case is a fraud has been sitting on a Chicago law firm's email server since 2004, Facebook attorney Orin Snyder told the federal judge on Wednesday.
An email that Ceglia sent to a former business associate at the firm includes a scanned version of the two-page contract he and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg signed, Snyder said. Unlike the one Ceglia filed, it doesn't mention Facebook, only a street-mapping database Ceglia had hired Zuckerberg to work on, he said.
"The noose is tightening around the neck of this plaintiff, and he knows it," Snyder said during a four-hour procedural hearing that had each side accusing the other of dirty tricks.
Snyder said Ceglia had artificially aged his "phony" contract with light and chemicals, backdated computer files and transferred others to portable storage devices, which he'd likely tossed into Lake Erie.
Ceglia's attorney, Jeffrey Lake, countered that Facebook had tried to "poison the jury pool" by releasing what should have been confidential documents and implied Facebook had planted damning evidence on Ceglia's computers, a statement he backed away from after the hearing. |
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Court upholds conviction in parents' knife slaying
Legal Watch |
2011/08/16 16:31
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The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld first-degree murder convictions against an Oakland County man for stabbing his parents to death.
Mark Ott of White Lake Township was convicted in the fatal stabbings last year. The bodies of 57-year-olds Barbara and Michael Ott were discovered in February 2008 at their home in White Lake Township, about 30 miles northwest of Detroit.
On Wednesday, the he appeals court affirmed the jury's decision to find Ott guilty but mentally ill. Ott is serving the mandatory sentence of life without parole.
The appeals court vacated Ott's convictions on two counts of second-degree murder based on double jeopardy principles. The ruling says double jeopardy doesn't allow multiple punishments for the same offense. |
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Monster iPhone location lawsuit filed against Apple
Lawyer Blogs |
2011/08/16 16:31
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More than 20,000 South Korean iPhone users have filed a class action lawsuit against US technology giant Apple for alleged privacy violations over the collection of location data, a law firm said.
The suit came after lawyer Kim Hyung-Suk was awarded one million won (US $950) in compensation in June, the first such payout by Apple's Korean unit, following an interim order by a court in the southeastern city of Changwon.
Kim has since led online preparations for a class action suit against Apple and its South Korean unit.
"The suit accuses Apple of breaching articles 10 and 17 of the constitution that ensure pursuit of happiness and protection of privacy, and the South Korean law on protection of location data," a spokesman for Kim's firm Miraelaw said. The suit involves 26,691 people demanding one million won each. |
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EEOC sues, argues man on treatment should be hired
Legal News |
2011/08/16 16:30
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The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has sued a national insurance company, contending the firm violated federal law by refusing to hire a North Carolina man after he disclosed he was participating in a methadone treatment program for a drug addiction.
The suit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Raleigh against United Insurance Co. of America, said EEOC attorney Lynette Barnes.
The complaint argues the firm violated federal disability discrimination law by refusing to hire Craig Burns, 30, who applied for a job in the firm's Raleigh office in December of 2009. The firm made a conditional offer of employment to Burns the following month, depending upon his passing a drug test, the complaint said.
The test showed the presence of methadone in his system, so Burns submitted a letter to the firm from his treatment provider saying he was participating in a supervised methadone treatment program and taking legally prescribed medication as part of the treatment, the complaint said.
Upon receiving this information, United Insurance notified Barnes he was not eligible to be hired and withdrew the employment offer, the complaint said.
Barnes said the action violates the Americans With Disabilities Act, which protects employees and applicants from discrimination based on their disabilities. A recovering drug addict is covered under the act, the attorney said in an interview. |
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Calif Supreme Court says threats must be serious
Top Legal News |
2011/08/15 16:31
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The California Supreme Court says state laws against threatening a crime victim or witness are valid only if a reasonable listener believes the threats are serious.
The San Francisco Chronicle says last week's unanimous decision means a Riverside County judge must re-examine the conviction of a man who told his jailed wife he would blow away the head of a man who accused them of stealing $250,000.
Eddie Lowery was convicted of threatening a crime victim and he was sentenced to a year in jail.
In its ruling Thursday, the court ruled a threat is not protected by freedom of speech if a reasonable listener concludes the speaker was serious and wasn't merely joking. |
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Ex-Harvard student due in court in 2009 shooting
Top Legal News |
2011/08/15 16:30
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A former Harvard student accused of hiding the gun used in a fatal shooting inside a university dormitory is due in court.
Brittany Smith is one of four people who were charged in connection with the shooting of 21-year-old Justin Cosby of Cambridge.
Smith's former boyfriend, Jabrai (juh-BRY') Jordan Copney, of New York City, was convicted of murder in Cosby's death and is serving a life sentence.
During Copney's trial, prosecutors said Cosby, a local drug dealer, was shot during an attempted robbery by Copney and two other New York City men in May 2009.
Smith is accused of giving the men her Harvard electronic keycard to enter the building, hiding the gun used in the shooting and helping the men flee. |
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