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Supreme Court Takes on Special Ed Case
Legal Topics |
2009/04/23 18:21
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The Supreme Court is again trying to decide when taxpayers must footthe bill for private schooling for special education students.
The court will hear arguments Tuesday in an Oregon case in which alocal school district contends that students should at least givepublic special education programs a try before seeking reimbursementfor private school tuition. Afederal appeals court sided with a high-school student identified incourt papers only as T.A. The student enrolled in a $5,200-a-monthprivate program and sought reimbursement from the Forest Grove SchoolDistrict. The Supreme Court heard a similar case from New York in 2007, but split 4-4 on the outcome. The case is Forest Grove School District v. T.A., 08-305. |
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Supermarket Mogul Guilty of Charges
Legal Topics |
2009/04/21 18:20
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George Torres, a feisty entrepreneur who built a multimillion-dollargrocery store chain by catering to some of Los Angeles' poorestcommunities, was convicted of racketeering, solicitation of murder,bribery and other crimes Monday by a federal court jury.
Torres, who faces potential life imprisonment as a result of theverdict, showed no emotion when it was read. Friends and family,however, burst into tears and embraced one another outside thecourtroom of U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson.
The verdict represents a major victory forfederal authorities who charged Torres last year with running acriminal enterprise, or so-called shadow organization, to ensure thesuccess of his Numero Uno market chain.
Prosecutors' portrayal of Torres differed starkly from the52-year-old's public persona as a successful businessman andinfluential political donor.
According to prosecutors, Torres hired undocumented workers at hisstores, bribed a Los Angeles city planning commissioner and sought tohave people killed.
In one such instance, jurors concludedthat Torres arranged for the murder of a local gang member who tried toshake him down for protection money. Jose "Shorty" Maldonado wasfatally shot and his pregnant girlfriend was wounded as they walkedacross the street from Torres' main market on Jefferson Boulevard in1994.
A former associate of Torres' testified that he was present when Torressolicited the killing, and another witness admitted driving the carfrom which the shots were fired.
The jury acquitted Torres of arranging the killing of his onetimeconfidant Ignacio "Nacho" Meza, who mysteriously disappeared in 1998after supposedly stealing half a million dollars from Torres. Anotherslaying charge Torres faced was dropped by the judge during the trial. |
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Man Jailed for Dodging Child Support
Legal Topics |
2009/04/13 17:53
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Authorities in Michigan say a man fathered 14 children with 13 different women and owes more than $530,000 in unpaid child support.
The Flint Journal reports 42-year-old Thomas Frazier was jailed Thursday. Court records say he hasn't made a support payment in six years.
The newspaper says the unemployed man could be held for 90 days if he doesn't pay $27,900.
Frazier says he thinks he fathered only three of the children and that it's unrealistic for authorities to expect him to pay child support that was $3,000 a month at one point.
Frazier remains held at the Genesee County Jail. It wasn't immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak for him. |
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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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