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Miss high court hears challenge to Barbour pardons
Headline Legal News |
2012/02/10 17:25
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Feuding attorneys asked the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday to determine the validity of pardons that Haley Barbour gave to convicted killers and other convicts during his final days as governor.
Chief Justice Bill Waller Jr. said the court would not rule Thursday, but he didn't say when a decision would come.
"We want them to take enough time to do it right," said Randy Walker, who objects to the pardons. Walker was shot in the head in 1993 by one of the men Barbour set free last month. That former inmate, David Gatlin, also fatally shot his own estranged wife as she held the couple's baby.
At the heart of the dispute is Section 124 of the Mississippi Constitution, which says "no pardon shall be granted" by the governor until the convicted felon applying for the pardon publishes notice of that application for 30 days in a newspaper in or near the county where the crime was committed.
Justices could uphold the pardons, as requested by a private attorney representing Republican Barbour. Or they could declare the pardons invalid, as requested by Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood. If they agree with Hood that the 30-day publication is a must, they could send the pardons back to a lower court, where a circuit judge could hold a trial to determine whether the pardons met those requirements. |
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Group wants Supreme Court to save war memorial
Areas of Focus |
2012/02/09 17:55
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Supporters of a war memorial cross deemed unconstitutional last year by a federal court plan to ask the Supreme Court to reverse the decision, amid a growing fight nationwide over the use of religious symbols to honor fallen troops.
A nonprofit legal firm, Liberty Institute in Dallas, planned to file its petition Thursday to preserve the 43-foot monument on federal land atop San Diego's Mt. Soledad — the same day the group called on combat veterans and supporters to rally at the picturesque site overlooking the Pacific Ocean in the suburb of La Jolla.
The Supreme Court has signaled a greater willingness to allow religious symbols on public land, and the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill last month that writes into law the propriety of displaying such markers at war memorials.
Last year's ruling by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals capped two decades of legal challenges over the 1954 cross that became a memorial to Korean War veterans.
A number of other military memorials on public lands across the country have been challenged in recent years by civil liberty activists and atheists who say they violate the separation between church and state. The Supreme Court in 2010 refused to order the removal of a congressionally endorsed war memorial cross from its longtime home atop a remote rocky outcropping in California's Mojave Desert. |
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BofA investor lawsuit wins class-action status
Legal Topics |
2012/02/08 17:38
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Investors suing Bank of America Corp won class-action status for their lawsuit accusing the bank of fraudulently misleading them about the 2008 takeover of Merrill Lynch & Co and the size of Merrill's losses and bonus payouts.
U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel in Manhattan on Monday rejected the second-largest U.S. bank's argument that the investors could not prove they suffered losses by relying on materially misleading statements or omissions.
Among the other defendants who were also sued and opposed class certification were former Bank of America Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis, former Merrill Chief Executive John Thain, former Bank of America Chief Financial Officer Joe Price, and Bank of America's board of directors.
Lewis had won initial praise for saving Merrill from possible collapse when he agreed to buy it on September 15, 2008, the day Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc went bankrupt.
But investors later faulted the bank for not disclosing the scope of Merrill's soaring losses, which reached $15.84 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008, before December 2008 shareholder votes on the merger. They also objected to Merrill's having paid $3.6 billion of bonuses despite the losses. |
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Utah high court to hear posthumous benefits case
Headline Legal News |
2012/02/07 18:02
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Utah's Supreme Court is deciding whether a sperm donor contract is proof that a man wanted to be a father, even after his death.
The question stems from a dispute between Gayle Burns and the Social Security Administration, which denied survivor benefits to the son Burns conceived after her husband died from cancer.
Oral arguments are set Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
Michael Burns had contracted with medical providers to preserve his sperm before he died of cancer in 2001. Gayle Burns became pregnant in 2003.
Social Security denied a 2005 benefits petition, saying federal law doesn't allow for payments to posthumously-conceived children.
Gayle Burns challenged the ruling in Utah's federal court.
A federal judge asked Utah's Supreme Court to address the issue first. |
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Eugene, Oregon Stalking Order Attorneys
Attorney News |
2012/02/07 18:02
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Our lawyers here in Oregon have seen real world example of clients' lives being extremely affected by erroneous stalking order petitions. And in our experience working in the field, most stalking order cases usually do not have a trial and are dismissed beforehand. Most people who file false stalking orders do it on poor advice from their friends, family, and lawyers with little to no experience in these cases. Although dismissing a case is a satisfying result, it is still unacceptable that courts are receiving and granting these orders to begin with. The whole process must use taxpayer's money and takes time to sort out these issues. Petitioners filing a stalking order simply because they want to avoid contacting sn ex-suitor should not take such aggressive approach to discourage having their ex-suitor contacting them. These stalking orders should be saved for real situations in which you may be harmed by domestic violence abusers.
Our lawyers here believe your life shouldn't be risked and ruined by a stalking protective order. We understand what a hassle a stalking order defense can have on people. We have experience in this field and have successful outcomes to show for it. Make the best of your Oregon attorney choice and call us today at 541-338-9111 or visit our website at http://www.stalkingorder.com to contact one of our stalking defense attorneys at our firm. |
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Las Vegas Product Liability Attorney - Luis A. Ayon
Court Watch |
2012/02/06 17:51
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Las Vegas Product Liability Attorney - Luis A. Ayon
Luis has significant litigation experience in Nevada's state and federal courts. He focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation and contested and adversarial matters in bankruptcy court, real estate litigation and financial institutions litigation.
Prior to joining the firm, Luis was an associate at an international law firm where he focused on commercial litigation as well as contested bankruptcy matters. He also served as the first law clerk for Presiding Civil Judge, the Honorable Elizabeth Gonzalez and worked for one of the nation's largest plaintiffs' firms where he managed a significant case load involving catastrophic brain and spinal injuries, wrongful death, product liability and insurance bad faith claims.
Luis A. Ayon is commited to providing clients with the highest level of personal service. His dedication in his work focusing on all phases of litigation from obtaining fast pre-litigation results to handling cases through trial and appeal has given him extensive experience. His experience can rest assure that all cases will be handled by skilled professionals.Contact Maier Gutierrez Ayon PLLC. |
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Ga. court overturns assisted suicide restrictions
Legal Topics |
2012/02/06 17:50
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Georgia's top court struck down a state law that restricted assisted suicides, siding on Monday with four members of a suicide group who said the law violated their free speech rights.
The Georgia Supreme Court's unanimous ruling found that the law violates the free speech clauses of the U.S. and Georgia constitution. It means that four members of the Final Exit Network who were charged in February 2009 with helping a 58-year-old cancer-stricken man die won't have to stand trial, defense attorneys said.
Georgia law doesn't expressly forbid assisted suicide. But lawmakers in 1994 adopted a law that bans people from publicly advertising suicide, hoping to prevent assisted suicide from the likes of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the late physician who sparked the national right-to-die debate.
The law makes it a felony for anyone who "publicly advertises, offers or holds himself out as offering that he or she will intentionally and actively assist another person in the commission of suicide and commits any overt act to further that purpose."
The court's opinion, written by Justice Hugh Thompson, found that lawmakers could have imposed a ban on all assisted suicides with no restriction of free speech, or sought to prohibit all offers to assist in suicide that were followed by the act. But lawmakers decided to do neither, he said. |
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