LawPedia® - Legal Briefs

Legal Briefs: Monday, December 18, 2006 - WASHINGTON - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will vote Wednesday on a plan for new subscription television providers like AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications to get into the television business faster. The plan is to limit local authorities to 90 days for reviewing most applications and restrict demands that providers offer unrelated services to cities such as installing playgrounds and streetlamps. Currently telephone carriers must apply with thousands of cities and towns for permission to offer the service and they have complained to the FCC that the process could take years. Telephone carriers see offering television service as a way to better compete against cable companies, which are vying for more customers with new voice and high-speed Internet services. The FCC sees the move as a way to spur more competition. Thursday, December 14, 2006 - JERUSALEM - The Israeli Supreme Court decided Thursday not to issue a blanket ban against the targeted killing of Palestinian militants, ruling that some of the killings were legal under international law. The three-judge panel unanimously ruled that "it cannot be determined in advance that every targeted killing is prohibited according to customary international law," while also noting that the tactic was not necessarily legal in every case. The court ruling gives legal legitimacy to a routine practice by Israeli forces against militants. The Israeli human rights organization B'tselem estimates that 339 Palestinians have been killed in the targeted operations during the past six years of violence. Of those, only 210 were the actual targets, while the remainder were just bystanders. Tuesday, December 12, 2006 - GENEVA, Switzerland - The UN Human Rights Council will hold a special session on violations in Sudan's troubled Darfur region on Tuesday. It is the first time the Council has held a special session on Darfur, while it has already held three such meetings on the Israeli/Palestinian dispute. By UN estimate over 200,000 lives have been lost to conflict in the Darfur region since 2003. Friday, December 8, 2006 - CHICAGO - FBI authorities said a Muslim convert, Derrick Shareef, 22, who talked about his desire to wage jihad against civilians was charged Friday in a plot to set off hand grenades at a shopping mall during the Christmas rush. Shareef was arrested Wednesday when he met with an undercover agent in a parking lot to trade a set of stereo speakers for four hand grenades and a gun. Tuesday, December 5, 2006 - SHANGHAI, China - China's communist leaders have named former Supreme Court vice president, Shen Deyong, to be Shanghai's anti-graft chief, following a corruption scandal that toppled the city's top leader. Communist Party secretary Chen Liangyu, was dismissed in September amid allegations that he and other city officials allowed $400 million in government-held pension funds to be illicitly invested in potentially risky real estate and toll road projects. Wednesday, November 29, 2006 - LONDON - British officials found traces of radiation on two British Airways jets, in the latest twist in the inquiry into the poisoning death of former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko. Litvinenko was an ex-FSB lieutenant-colonel with KGB experience in fighting organized crime. After working in the KGB and its successor, the FSB, Litvinenko became a dissident of the organization and made accusations on Russian TV that his superiors had ordered for the assassination of Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky. Litvinenko was subsequently discharged from the agency and later arrested in 1999 under counts that he abused his power while in command during the anti-terrorism operation in Kostroma. He was released from prison a month later after signing a pact to not leave the country. Litvinenko escaped to the UK in 2000. On November 1, 2006, Litvinenko suddenly fell ill, was hospitalized, and died a little more than three weeks later from radiation poisoning via a rare and highly toxic element, Polonium-210. Litvinenko's illness, his revelations about FSB deeds, and public accusations that Russian government officials were behind his poisoning, led to worldwide media coverage. Thursday, July 6, 2006 - TALLAHASSEE, Florida - The Florida Supreme Court threw out a record $145 billion punitive damage award against U.S. tobacco companies Thursday. The Court found the verdict excessive even though it agreed the companies had misled smokers about the dangers of lighting up. Wednesday, July 5, 2006 - MIAMI, Florida - A federal judge has denied any bond for six men accused of plotting to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower and other federal buildings. The six men, Narseal Batiste, Stanley Grant Phanor, Patrick Abraham, Naudimar Herrera, Burson Augustin and Rothschild Augustin, who have pleaded not guilty, were arrested June 22 in Miami as part of an undercover FBI sting. A seventh man charged in Atlanta, Lyglenson Lemorin, is scheduled to be moved to Miami. They are accused of seeking to support what they thought was an al-Qaida operative's effort to bomb FBI buildings in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Washington. Thursday, April 27, 2006 - FRESNO, California - A Fresno County jury is deliberating a request for at least $1.2 million by a woman who was spanked in front of her co-workers as part of what her employer said was a camaraderie-building exercise. Janet Orlando, 53, claims to have suffered humiliation when she quit her job at the home security company Alarm One Inc. in Fresno. She then sued in Fresno Superior Court, alleging claims for discrimination, assault, battery and infliction of emotional distress. Her lawyer, Nicholas "Butch" Wagner said employees were paddled with rival companies' yard signs as part of a contest that pitted sales teams against each other. The winners then poked fun at the losers, throwing pies at them, feeding them baby food, making them wear diapers and swatting their buttocks. K. Poncho Baker, company lawyer for Alarm One, an Anaheim-based, 300-employee company, said the spankings were part of a voluntary program to build camaraderie and were not discriminatory because they were given to both male and female workers. Tuesday, April 25, 2006 - ST. LOUIS, Missouri - Pharmaceutical company Dey Inc. will pay more than $2.9 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the firm defrauded Missouri's Medicaid program. The company sells its products directly to physicians, institutional purchasers, wholesalers, pharmacies, and HMOs. Under an agreement filed Tuesday in St. Louis Circuit Court, the Napa, California-based Dey will pay $2.73 million to Missouri's Medicaid Fraud Reimbursement Fund and $200,000 to the Merchandising Practices Revolving Fund, which is used to fund consumer protection litigation and education. Dey develops, manufactures, and markets innovative airway and allergy medications that the company says save and improve lives. The company pomises to put "patients first" through integrated healthcare delivery solutions, and facilitates efficient, cost-effective partnerships with its customers. Dey, a subsidiary of German drugmaker Merck, says it is committed to investing in its employees and the communities in which they live. Sunday, April 23, 2006 - LOS ANGELES, California - On Sunday Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that building a 700-mile wall along the Mexican border to deter illegal immigration would amount to "going back to the Stone Ages". Arnold instead urges the use of high-tech gear and more patrols to secure the nation's southern boundary. He also said it's unrealistic to consider uprooting or driving out the nation's estimated 11 million illegal immigrants. "It would cost $500 billion. Who's going to pay for that?" Thursday, April 13, 2006 - BAHRAIN - Pop star Michael Jackson has been living on the Gulf island of Bahrain since being acquitted of child molestation last year in California. Jackson attorneys said Thursday that Jackson restructured his finances with the help of Sony Corp., which shares ownership of his valuable music catalog of Beatles hits. The music catalog that Jackson co-owns, known as Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, includes 200 Beatles hits and is thought to be worth $1 billion. It was reported the deal ultimately will require Jackson to sell one half of his 50 percent share in the catalog to Sony. Jackson acquired the catalog in 1985 for $47.5 million but sold half of it to Sony when he confronted other financial problems. Wednesday, April 12, 2006 - BEIJING, China - Web search leader Google Inc. expects substantial revenue growth in China and will eventually have thousands of software engineers working there, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Eric E. Schmidt said on Wednesday. Thursday, April 6, 2006 - BEIJING, China - Beijing's Silk Street market which rents space to more than 1,500 vendors has accused five global fashion companies of "entrapment" after being ordered to pay compensation for selling fake brand-name goods. During an appeal hearing in Beijing Thursday, the market accused Chanel, Prada, Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Gucci of sending people to the market to buy fake goods. Silk Street is a building located at 8 East Xiushui Street Jianguo Men Wai Dajie, east of Tiananmen Square. It was reopened in March 2005 as a 5 story air conditioned building selling entirely to foreign visitors with 'export' quality goods, such as luggage, leather bags, clothing and Chinese artwork. The international firms sued the market and five business stalls last November for allegedly selling pirated copies of their products, asking for 2.5 million yuan (or 310,000 dollars) in compensation. In December, the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court ordered the market and the stall owners to pay each of the five international companies 20,000 yuan (or 2,500 dollars). The market then appealed to the Higher People's Court of Beijing. Thursday at the first appeal hearing, market general manager Wang Zili accused the five companies of maliciously inducing market vendors to sell the fake products. Market officials claim they made efforts to rid the market of fake goods and regularly check the products in the outlets and warehouses but could not prevent the secret or private trade of fake products. Even without a successful appeal for the market, a legal victory for the five major brands may be slight financially but could create a precedent in future actions. Wednesday, April 5, 2006 - NEW YORK - Consumer bankruptcy filings plunged in the first quarter of 2006 to their lowest level in 20 years, as a tough new bankruptcy laws enacted in October made it harder to file and erase debts, fresh data show. according to data released Tuesday by Lundquist Consulting Inc., a financial research outfit based in Burlingame, California, the quarter's filings fell 73 percent to 102,949 compared with 381,743 in the year-ago period. Monday, April 3, 2006 - DENVER, Colorado - Union workers for Denver's mass transit operator (RTD) rejected a contract offer Sunday, triggering a strike that will shut down the city's light rail system and cripple its bus service. The walkout begins at 2 a.m. on Monday and is the first since a monthlong strike in 1982. Upcoming: ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - A verdict in the in absentia genocide trial against Ethiopia's exiled former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam is due on May 23, 2006, after 14 years of proceedings. Thursday, March 30, 2006 - KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Ong Ken Yong, secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said on Thursday that member Southeast Asian countries may ask regional powers China and India for help in pushing military-ruled Myanmar toward democracy. China has strategic and economic clout over Myanmar, as its main ally. Neighboring India also has been looking at Myanmar as an economic partner. Both China and India have refused to critique the ruling junta for its failure to restore democracy. Saturday, March 18, 2006 - SINGAPORE - On Thursday Queen Elizabeth II arrived for her third state visit in Singapore, the former British colony that gained independence and became a republic in 1965. During her two-day stay, the Queen met President Sellapan Ramanathan at the Istana palace, a Government House in colonial days, and had lunch with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Singapore's President then hosted a state banquet in honor of Britain's Queen at the Istana. The banquet was attended by cabinet ministers and dignitaries. Friday, March 10, 2006 - HONG KONG - Investment bank Morgan Stanley won a role in a $12 billion IPO for China's biggest commercial bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Morgan Stanley owns 34 percent of China International Capital Corp., which will now join the list of ICBC's initial public offering investment banks with Merrill Lynch, CICC, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, and ICBC's own investment banking arm, ICEA Finance Holdings. The IPO is expected to generate at least $300 million in fees for its underwriters. Thursday, March 9, 2006 - BEIJING, China - In its annual response to the US State Department's report on human rights worldwide, the State Council of China, China's cabinet, criticized the United States for its own violence and widespread discrimination against minorities, especially blacks. China said Blacks in the US are regularly given heavier criminal penalties, arrested more frequently and are more likely to be targeted for hate crimes. China also criticized American military for its brutality at prisons in Iraq and the detention camp for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The U.S. report had said repression worsened in China in 2005, with a trend toward "increased harassment, detention, and imprisonment" of people seen as threats to the Chinese government. The US also mentioned tightened controls in China over print, broadcast and electronic media and censorship of online content. The Chinese Foreign Ministry reply said Washington's report ignored China's progress in human rights. Wednesday, March 8, 2006 - NEW DELHI, India - After the Indian Supreme Court investigated her actions, Zahira Sheikh, was sentenced to a year in jail on Wednesday for repeatedly changing her evidence. She was a key witness to an attack on a Muslim-owned bakery during religious riots in India in 2002. The testimony of Zahira Sheikh, whose family owned the bakery in the western state of Gujarat. The Best Bakery, owned by Sheikh's family, was attacked by a large Hindu mob who hacked or burned to death 14 people inside the shop. The criminal court proceeding was seen as a test case in attempts to obtain justice for hundreds of Muslim victims of the rioting. But Sheikh recanted on her statements in various courts, prompting the Supreme Court investigation. Monday, March 6, 2006 - LOS ANGELES, California - Lawyers for actress Jessica Alba, 24, have threatened to filw suit against Playboy magazine unless the March issue was pulled off the stands. Playboy said Friday it won't pull its issue over Alba's claim that she was made an unwitting cover girl to fool readers into thinking she is nude inside. The lawyers have demanded that the "Fantastic Four" star be compensated for damage to her image. Wednesday, March 1, 2006 - SAN JOSE, California - On Wednesday Gateway Inc. agreed to pay $47 million to Hewlett-Packard Co. to settle a series of patent lawsuits. The rival computer makers have now entered into a seven-year cross-licensing deal. The agreement settles a series of lawsuits and countersuits that began in March 2004. Hewlett-Packard filed a claim in the U.S. District Court in San Diego alleging that five of its patents were being infringed by Gateway. Monday, February 27, 2006 - KUALA LUMPUR - Admiral William Fallon, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, said Monday that the United States is ready to help Malaysia boost security in the vital Malacca Strait (which carries roughly a quarter of global trade) once it concludes a pact on joint air patrols with other littoral states. Admiral Fallon said the United States was also looking to provide defense equipment to Indonesia following the resumption of military ties with Jakarta. Similar help is also on the cards for Malaysia, which along with Indonesia and Singapore, is one of the three states bordering the Malacca Strait. Separately, Malaysia's defense chief said Japan, a major user of the busy sea lane, would provide a ship next month to Malaysia's coast guard to help patrol the strait. Thursday, February 23, 2006 - WASHINGTON - Lawyers for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide, asked a federal judge Thursday to dismiss his indictment on grounds that the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case lacked authority. Libby said his indictment violated the Constitution because Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald was not appointed by the president with the consent of the Senate. His defense attorneys also said Fitzgerald's appointment violated federal law because the investigation was not supervised by the attorney general, and only Congress can approve such an arrangement. Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - BEIJING, China - A Chinese journalist, Yu Dongyue, 38, jailed for throwing paint at a portrait of Mao Zedong during the 1989 Tiananmen protests was released Wednesday, after more than 16 years in prison. Yu is the last "high-profile" prisoner, as about 70 Chinese political prisoners still are serving time for roles in the student-led demonstrations for democracy in June 1989. Thursday, February 16, 2006 - SEOUL, South Korea - Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has accused KTG Corp the South Korean tobacco company of limiting voting rights at a shareholders meeting to keep his representatives off its board. The upcoming meeting on March 17, 2006, could be a showdown between Icahn and the KTG management over his attempts to restructure the company and sell off assets to boost share value. Tuesday, February 14, 2006 - PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - On Tuesday, Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen said the country's criminal defamation law should be abolished. The comment followed international condemnation over the jailing of several key government critics for their opposition to the premier. Civil rights groups and foreign diplomats have demanded defamation be made a civil offense after nearly a dozen people were either jailed or faced punishment for criticising the government. Monday, February 13, 2006 - WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced wide-ranging changes to the nation's embattled disaster-response agency. His announcement comes on the heels of a House report blaming government-wide ineptitude for mishandling of Hurricane Katrina relief. The Federal Emergency Management Agency reforms that Chertoff unveiled Monday range from a full-time response force of 1,500 new employees to establishing a more reliable system to report on disasters as they unfold. They represent the first steps to overhauling FEMA, which was overwhelmed by the August 29, 2005 Gulf Coast storm. Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee issued their own recommendations Sunday for changing FEMA, including having the agency's director report directly to the president during major disasters. Saturday, February 11, 2006 - NEW ORLEANS - An attorney said on Monday in opening arguments that Merck & Co. Inc. rushed the painkiller Vioxx to market despite knowing its potential health dangers. This is a continuation of the lawsuit charging that the popular drug killed Richard Irvin, a 53-year-old Floridian. Merck's lawyer countered that heart disease, not its popular painkiller Vioxx, killed Richard Irvin, who died in 2001 after taking the drug for less than a month. The arguments came in the retrial of a case that ended in a mistrial in December when one member of a nine-person jury felt Merck was liable for the death and a unanimous verdict could not be reached. In the retrial, a former Food and Drug Administration official testified Friday that Merck & Co. could have warned that Vioxx might increase the risk of heart attacks as soon as the first evidence showed up, rather than waiting two years for federal approval. Thursday, February 9, 2006 - SANTA ANA, California - After deliberating for a little more than four hours, an Orange County jury found Thursday that the Angels did not breach a contract with the City of Anaheim when the baseball team changed its name last year. The jurors rejected the City of Anaheim's argument that the baseball team violated a stadium lease and cost the city where it plays at least $100 million in revenue. The jury also found the team did not violate a state law requiring good faith and fair dealing by changing the name from Anaheim Angels to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Tuesday, February 7, 2006 - ALAMOGORDO, New Mexico - Jurors convicted 16-year-old Cody Posey of murder in the deaths of his stepmother and stepsister and voluntary manslaughter in the death of his father. The boy hid their bodies in a manure pile on newsman Sam Donaldson's ranch in southern New Mexico, where his father worked as Donaldson's ranch foreman. Thursday, February 2, 2006 - SACRAMENTO, California - After spending more than $44 million in last year's special election, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election committee began 2006 in the red. Schwarzenegger spent more than $10 million of his own money in 2003 on the recall campaign and his candidacy for governor. Reports show he gave $8.2 million of his own money to support his failed slate of special election ballot measures last year. Reports filed this week also showed that committees battling over the eight propositions in last November's special election spent a record $303.9 million, beating the prior year's $253.6 million.