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Court says Guam man can sue gov't over surgery
Areas of Focus |
2013/03/04 23:33
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The Supreme Court says a Guam man can sue the government for a Navy surgeon's unsuccessful cataract surgery.
A unanimous court ruled on Monday for Steven Alan Levin, who was operated on in March 2003 at the United States Naval Hospital in Guam, a U.S. territory. Levin said he withdrew his consent before the operation began but doctors proceeded anyway. Levin suffered complications, which require ongoing treatment.
Levin sued for medical malpractice and battery. The courts threw out the medical malpractice complaint and kept the battery charge. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the government is also immune from being sued for battery.
The Supreme Court reversed that decision, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing for the court that Levin's battery lawsuit against the government can move forward. |
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Justices voice skepticism of voting rights law
Headline Legal News |
2013/03/03 22:31
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The Supreme Court's conservative justices voiced deep skepticism Wednesday about a section of a landmark civil rights law that has helped millions of Americans exercise their right to vote. In an ominous note for supporters of the key provision of the Voting Rights Act, Justice Anthony Kennedy both acknowledged the measure's vital role in fighting discrimination and suggested that other important laws in U.S. history had run their course. "Times change," Kennedy said during the fast-paced, 70-minute argument. Kennedy's views are likely to prevail on the closely divided court, and he tends to side with his more conservative colleagues on matters of race. The court's liberals and conservatives engaged in a sometimes tense back-and-forth over whether there is an ongoing need in 2013 for the part of the voting rights law that requires states with a history of discrimination, mainly in the Deep South, to get approval before making changes in the way elections are held. |
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SC court nixes James Brown estate settlement
Legal Topics |
2013/03/01 07:47
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The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a settlement divvying up the multi-million dollar estate of James Brown, saying a former attorney general didn't follow the late soul singer's wishes in putting together the deal.
Attorney General Henry McMaster brokered a settlement in 2009 that split Brown's estate, giving nearly half to a charitable trust, a quarter to his widow Tomi Rae Hynie and leaving the rest to be split among his adult children.
But the justices ruled the deal ignored Brown's wishes for most of his money to go to charity. The court ruled the Godfather of Soul was of sound mind when he made his will before dying of heart failure on Christmas Day 2006 at age 73.
The court sent the estate back to a lower court to be reconsidered.
The justices did agree with the lower court's decision to remove Brown's original trustees. Members of Brown's family said they wanted them gone because the trustees mismanaged the estate until it was almost broke. |
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3 plead guilty to falsifying OH weapons permits
Headline Legal News |
2013/02/12 18:37
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Three central Ohio man have been given three years of probation after admitting they falsified concealed-carry weapons training certificates, leading to the invalidation of hundreds of licenses.
Franklin County sheriff's deputies arrested the men last summer after determining that they had issued falsified training certificates to concealed-carry license applicants.
The Columbus Dispatch reports about 300 recipients turned in their licenses after they were notified of the problems. About 200 were issued new licenses after receiving the proper training, and others didn't seek new licenses or haven't finished the training.
All three pleaded guilty to five counts of falsification to obtain a concealed handgun license. Prosecutors alleged that one of the men, a certified firearms instructor, sold signed training certificates to the other two. |
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Ex-Mass. chemist pleads not guilty to obstruction
Areas of Focus |
2013/02/01 23:11
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A former Massachusetts chemist accused of faking test results at a state drug lab has pleaded not guilty to four counts of obstruction of justice in a scandal that could jeopardize thousands of drug convictions.
Annie Dookhan was indicted on a total of 27 charges accusing her of fabricating test results and tampering with drug evidence while testing substances in criminal cases.
The 35-year-old Dookhan was arraigned Wednesday on four obstruction counts in Brockton Superior Court. She was scheduled to be arraigned later Wednesday on additional charges in Fall River Superior Court.
An estimated 200 convicted defendants have been released from jail and had their cases put on hold while their legal challenges are pending.
Authorities shut down the lab in August. |
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Economist convicted of tax fraud in NY court
Headline Legal News |
2013/01/24 17:59
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A California economist has been convicted of federal tax fraud charges in a New York court after he failed to pay more than $1.5 million in taxes, interest and penalties over two decades.
David Gilmartin was convicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Federal prosecutors said the charges stemmed from his failure to file income tax returns on more than $1.7 million in income from 1989 through 2010.
The government said Gilmartin earned money over a 22-year period by working as an economist, doing computer analysis for a variety of companies, including some in New York. The 69-year-old Phelan, Calif., resident faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced on April 30. |
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Court upholds removing man from death row
Areas of Focus |
2013/01/22 17:59
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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling that a Pittsburgh-area man who stabbed his wife then dismembered her body should not be on death row because his low IQ makes him mentally disabled.
Allegheny County Judge Lawrence O'Toole ruled in 2010 that 61-year-old Connie Williams should, instead, serve life in prison. The justices agreed in a decision Tuesday.
Williams was convicted and sentenced to death in 2002 for the 1999 killing of Frances Williams, whose head, hands and feet he cut off.
Attorneys for the Federal Community Defender Office in Philadelphia filed a motion in 2008 seeking to vacate the death sentence.
Williams had previously served seven years in prison for the 1974 stabbing murder of his girlfriend's landlord.
It was not immediately clear if county prosecutors will appeal to federal court. |
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