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EPA settles with owners of Mass. chemical plant
Headline Legal News |
2011/08/17 17:34
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The owners of a suburban Massachusetts chemical plant that exploded in 2006, destroying dozens of homes, have agreed to pay the federal government an estimated $1.3 million to help cover the cost of cleaning up the hazardous waste that was left behind.
The Environmental Protection Agency said a consent decree unveiled Monday requires the companies to pay for some of the $2.7 million spent by the agency to clean up the site after the explosion in Danvers, a town about 25 miles north-northeast of Boston.
The EPA said the action resolves claims against former operator CAI Inc. and property owners Sartorelli Realty LLC and Roy Nelson, of the Nelson Danvers Realty Trust.
The EPA also announced that CAI will pay $100,000 to settle allegations that conditions at the facility violated the federal Clean Air Act. The $1.3 million includes cash and the net proceeds from the sale of the property, assuming the property sells for its appraised value, the agency said.
A series of explosions at the ink and paint factory shared by CAI and Arnel Co. Inc. on Nov. 22, 2006, damaged 270 local homes and businesses. No one was killed or seriously injured. |
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2 enter guilty pleas in GOP corruption case
Headline Legal News |
2011/08/16 17:33
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Two people who worked for former House Speaker John Perzel have pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a public corruption investigation of the House Republican Caucus.
Samuel Stokes, a former House employee and brother-in-law to Perzel, pleaded guilty to one count of conflict of interest and one count of criminal conspiracy.
Don McClintock, a former campaign aide to Perzel, entered a guilty plea for one count of criminal conspiracy.
Each count carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.
Stokes and McClintock were facing at least a dozen counts charging them with conflict of interest, theft and conspiracy, but agreed to cooperate in the prosecution of other defendants as part of an agreement with the state attorney general's office.
Paul Towhey, Perzel's former chief of staff, was expected to enter a guilty plea on Friday.
Perzel, Rep. Brett Feese, and five other current and former aides were charged in November 2009 after a grand jury found they used taxpayers' funds, employees and resources for political campaign purposes. |
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Lawyer: 'Jeopardy!' burglary suspect a prostitute
Headline Legal News |
2011/08/12 17:25
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The lawyer for a San Francisco woman charged with breaking into the hotel room of "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek says his client is a prostitute, not a thief.
The San Francisco Examiner reports that attorney Mark Jacobs says his client, 56-year-old Lucinda Moyers, is a prostitute and was in a downtown San Francisco hotel to meet a john on July 26.
Prosecutors say Moyers stole $650, a bracelet and other items from a hotel room where Trebek was staying with his wife. The cash and bracelet were not recovered.
Moyers has pleaded not guilty to felony charges of burglary and possession of stolen property.
Trebek says he chased Moyers out of his room and tore his Achilles tendon. Jacobs says Moyers was not in Trebek's room. |
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Miss. judge suspended for misconduct
Headline Legal News |
2011/08/12 16:24
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The Mississippi Supreme Court has suspended Alcorn County Justice Court Judge Jimmy McGee for misconduct.
The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance had accused McGee of interfering with a criminal case and making "statements in open court encouraging others to engage in vigilante justice."
The complaint involved a case in another court in which McGee's relative was a crime victim. He allegedly said in open court in 2008 that his relative's case should have been handled "down on the farm" instead of in the justice system.
The Supreme Court ordered a suspension without pay for 270 days, a public reprimand and assessed $100 in court costs. |
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Ariz. governor on deadline for immigration appeal
Headline Legal News |
2011/08/10 15:55
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Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer faces a Wednesday deadline for asking the U.S. Supreme Court to accept her appeal of a ruling that put on hold key parts of the state's immigration enforcement law.
The Republican governor lost her first attempt to throw out a district court's decision that blocks, among other portions of the law, a provision requiring police, while enforcing other laws, to question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally, when a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected her motion in April.
Brewer vowed three months ago to take her argument before the nation's highest court, which has discretion on whether to hear her case.
The 9th Circuit said the federal government is likely to be able to prove the law is unconstitutional and likely to succeed in its argument that Congress has given the federal government sole authority to enforce immigration laws.
Brewer's lawyers have argued that the federal government hasn't effectively enforced immigration law and that the state's intent in passing its own regulations was to assist federal authorities, as Congress has encouraged.
They also have argued the district court judge erred by accepting speculation by the federal government that the law might burden legal immigrants and by concluding the federal government would likely prevail. |
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Pozen says Texas court upholds Treximet patents
Headline Legal News |
2011/08/09 16:16
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Drug developer Pozen Inc. said Monday that a Texas court upheld three patents supporting its migraine drug Treximet.
Pozen said the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas ruled that the patents were valid. The court also found that generic versions of Treximet developed by Par Pharmaceutical Co. and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. infringed on all three patents, while a version developed by Alphapharm Pty Ltd. infringed on two patents. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. had also challenged the patents, but was dismissed from Pozen's lawsuit in April 2010 after it agreed to abide by the court's decision.
The court said the Food and Drug Administration cannot approve the generics made by Dr. Reddy's and Par until Feb. 2, 2025, and that the agency can't approve the Alphapharm generic until Aug. 14, 2017.
Treximet is a combination of GlaxoSmithKline PLC's drug Imitrex and an anti-inflammatory drug developed by Pozen. GlaxoSmithKline markets the drug and pays royalties to Pozen. In the second quarter, those royalty payments accounted for $4 million of Pozen's $4.6 million in total revenue.
The FDA approved Treximet in April 2008 after years of delays, and Par filed for approval of its generic in October of that year. |
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Lawyer pleads guilty to $47 million Ponzi scheme
Headline Legal News |
2011/08/05 16:07
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An Arkansas lawyer and businessman admitted today to staging a Ponzi scheme that netted more than $47 million, a scam that a prosecutor called the largest case of fraud in state history.
Kevin Lewis, 43, pleaded guilty today to one count of bank fraud in federal district court in Little Rock. He could face up to 30 years in prison, though U.S. Attorney Christopher Thyer said Lewis would likely receive between 10 to 13 years.
He will also have to pay restitution of almost $40 million, though that number could go down further as banks work to recover their losses.
Lewis acknowledged that he issued paperwork for fake rural improvement bonds often used by developers to defraud several Arkansas banks starting with a small bond in 1997.
That money went to maintain his business interests across the state, which range from a law firm to a clothing company. He used the money to make the payments on past fake bonds and support a personal lifestyle that included a house valued at more than $1 million, fancy cars and vacations, Thyer said.
Meanwhile, the bank that bought almost $23 million of the fake bonds, First Southern Bank in Batesville, was placed into receivership by authorities, Thyer said. Lewis had purchased majority ownership of First Southern, using a loan from another Arkansas bank that was backed by the fake bonds. |
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