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Michigan insurance rate court fight continues
Legal Topics |
2009/04/11 17:25
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A Barry County judge has ruled that Michigan regulators must stop their practice of denying auto and home insurance rate filings that are based in part on credit scoring.
Friday's ruling by Circuit Judge James Fisher is a victory for the insurance industry in an ongoing dispute with the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation. But it may just be temporary because the overall case likely is headed to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration implemented rules to ban the use of credit scores in rate setting in 2005. Insurance companies sued to keep those rules from taking effect.
Insurers and regulators have been fighting in court since. |
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Christian Filmmaker Fights for Fair Use
Legal Topics |
2009/03/23 16:34
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An independent Christian filmmaker says Rock Solid Productions tried to prevent him from releasing a documentary on the record company's evangelical Christian founder, singer-songwriter Larry Norman, by threatening to sue him for copyright infringement. The company wants to silence "aspects of Norman's life and career that Norman's family apparently finds unpalatable," filmmaker David Di Sabatino claims in Federal Court.
The plaintiff says he is also an evangelical Christian and "possibly the leading expert on Norman's life and creative work," outside Norman's immediate family. Di Sabatino's 2007 documentary "Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher" was nominated for an Emmy.
Di Sabatino claims he first interviewed Norman in his quest to document the "Jesus freak" movement of the 1960s and 1970s. At the time, Norman was the movement's Bob Dylan, according to the lawsuit.
The plaintiff says Norman was "a bona fide rock star presenting an evangelistic message to his listeners to live their spiritual lives in a radical manner and spurn 'worldly' success."
Di Sabatino made and funded a 1.5-hour documentary film about Norman, using music, video clips and photographs owned by Rock Solid Productions.
The plaintiff says his use of the material constitutes fair use, and that Rock Solid threatened litigation in order to protect Norman's image as a Christian musical prophet, rather than "an 'outlaw' who conned the faithful," as some Christians purportedly believe.
Di Sabatino says the company is now mainly controlled by Norman's brother, Charles Norman, who "expressed an implacable hostility toward the documentary."
The plaintiff seeks a court declaration that he neither violated the defendant's copyrights nor Norman's privacy rights.
He is represented by Lincoln Bandlow of Lathrop & Gage LLP. |
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More Corruption Charges in NY
Legal Topics |
2009/03/19 18:06
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The State of New York's former Deputy Comptroller and Chief Investment Officer David Loglisci and Henry Morris, top political adviser and chief fund raiser for Comptroller Alan Hevesi, demanded millions of dollars in kickbacks from investment managers that sought to manager assets held by the New York State Common Retirement Fund, the SEC claims in Federal Court.
The SEC also sued Nosemote LLC, Pantigo Emerging LLC, and Purpose LLC.
Loglisci was deputy comptroller from 2003 through 2006, during which time Morris was adviser to Comptroller Hevesi, the SEC says.
"Loglisci caused the Retirement Fund to invest billions of dollars with private equity firms and hedge fund managers that together paid millions of dollars to Morris and others in the form of sham 'finder' or 'placement agent' fees in order to obtain those investments from the Retirement Fund," the complaint states. These payments to Morris and others were, in fact, little more than kickbacks that were made pursuant to undisclosed quid pro quo arrangement or were otherwise fraudulently induced by the defendants." |
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Killing of Sea Lions Allowed to Continue
Legal Topics |
2009/02/27 17:45
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The 9th Circuit has refused to stop the states of Oregon, Washington and Idaho from trapping and killing California sea lions that prey on endangered salmon at the Columbia River's Bonneville Dam.
In a three-page order, a panel of the San Francisco-based federal appeals court declined to issue a stay sought by the Humane Society of the United States. The society opposed the National Marine Fisheries Service's decision to authorize three states to "lethally remove" up to 85 sea lions per year.
The court found that the Humane Society's arguments are unlikely to prevail.
The states argued that the plan was necessary, because sea lions eat up to about 4.2 percent of the salmon run.
The Humane Society countered that fishermen and dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers kill more fish than sea lions do, and that cutting back on fishing would offset the amount of salmon and steelhead fish killed by sea lions.
The 9th Circuit's decision was limited to whether the lower court's decision to grant summary judgment to the states was arbitrary and capricious.
"Given the narrow and deferential standard of review, and the district court's well-reasoned decision ... we conclude that appellants have not met their burden of demonstrating a likelihood of success on the merits," the appeals court wrote. |
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Former Employees Sue the State of Arizona for Lay Offs
Legal Topics |
2009/02/23 18:02
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Arizona violated its own rules by firing employees without five days notice and without offering a voluntary separation program, a class action claims in Maricopa County Court. The Service Employees International Union Local 5 Arizona and its members want the state enjoined "from terminating their employment in violation of their rights."
The Arizona Administrative Code sets forth termination procedures including "the use of a 'retention point' system to determine the order of terminations ... with points based on an employee's performance evaluation and length of service," five-day notice of termination, the ability to request a termination review before it becomes official, and "the offer of a voluntary separation agreement," according to the union.
Plaintiffs were or will be fired in a force reduction, effective on the day they receive notice, the union says. They were not offered a voluntary separation program and one plaintiff never received a response from the Department of Administration after requesting a review of her termination, according to the lawsuit.
SEIU Local 5 Arizona represents 5,000 state employees. It claims that more than 700 state employees will be fired as part of the force reduction.
The union and eight named plaintiffs are represented by SEIU attorney Gene B. Mechanic and Nicholas J. Enoch with Lubin & Enoch. |
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UBS Bank Agrees to Pay $780M to SEC
Legal Topics |
2009/02/19 17:07
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The second largest bank in Europe, UBS AG, has agreed to pay $780 million to settle SEC charges of unethical investment practices that allowed clients to avoid taxes through offshore accounts.
The Securities and Exchange Commission brought charges against UBS on Wednesday citing the firm for operating unregistered as a broker-dealer and investment adviser. The final amount of the settlement includes $500 million in disgorgement and tax related payments UBS is ordered to pay in connection with a related criminal investigation conducted by the Department of Justice.
As alleged by the SEC in its complaint, UBS from at least 1999 through 2008 has unlawfully acted as a broker-dealer and investment advisor to approximately 14,000 U.S clients. UBS's clientele also included offshore entities with U.S citizens as the beneficial owners. According to the SEC, UBS, through is illegal and unethical practices, has enabled its clients to avoid paying taxes on assets associated with undisclosed offshore accounts. UBS held billions of dollars worth of assets for these clients, generating revenues of $120 million to $140 million per year.
The Swiss company conducted cross boarder business primarily through unregistered client advisors who allegedly travelled to the U.S. carrying encrypted laptop computers that they used to provide clients with account related information and to communicate orders and transactions to UBS's Swiss headquarters.
The SEC alleges that UBS was aware that it was required to be registered but went the extra mile to conceal its use of U.S. jurisdictional means to provide securities services.
The advisors were allegedly trained on how to avoid being detected by U.S. authorities. During the trips, which took place two to three times per year, advisors would go to art shows, yachting events, and sporting events with clients or prospective clients, all funded by UBS, says the SEC. The SEC's is continuing its investigation into UBS's violations of securities laws |
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McDermott Will & Emery Lay of 60 Attorneys, 89 Staff
Legal Topics |
2009/02/06 19:18
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McDermott Will & Emery LLP has laid off 60 attorneys and 89 staff members, becoming the latest Chicago law firm to retrench amid a sharp decline in business.
In an internal memo sent to employees Tuesday, Chairman Harvey Freishtat said the firm performed well last year and remains strong as it moves into 2009.
"However, we are not immune to the continued deterioration in market conditions," Freishtat said. "The business of our clients has slowed, and this has affected our own levels of activity, particularly in the transactional area."
The cut represents about 5 percent of the firm's 1,100 lawyers in 15 offices. It was not known how many lawyers received pink slips in the Chicago office. The firm declined to comment beyond the memo.
The blog "Above the Law" first reported McDermott's layoffs. |
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