A citizen activist says he was wronged by the failure of a small Ohio city to give him 20 years of 911 tapes he sought, which were long ago recorded over. The city says he can prove no harm and that he didn't even want the tapes — he wanted the thousands in penalty dollars for requesting records that no longer exist.

Attorneys for both sides argued Wednesday before the Ohio Supreme Court, disagreeing on whether Timothy Rhodes was "aggrieved" by the failure of the city of New Philadelphia to retain the thousands of daily tapes he requested in 2007.

If the court decides in his favor, Rhodes and plaintiffs in about half a dozen similar suits around Ohio could collect big — and, their lawyers say, they will also have scored a big victory for government transparency.

Rhodes' attorney Craig Conley argued it is wrong to paint his client as a money grubber, after Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor asked whether only one party could "cash in" under the law as he read it.

"First of all, I don't agree with ... 'cash in.' The case law is clear: This is not compensation to the requesting party, this is a penalty designed to punish and deter," he said. "And without it, the right of access without a remedy is a meaningless right."

New Philadelphia attorney John McLandrich argued a decision in Rhodes' favor would "set off a gold rush" of citizens seeking records they know are no longer available. He said a person doesn't need a pure motive for wanting to look at the records, but they have to have some kind of motive.

While solemn commemorations marked the first anniversary of the calamitous BP oil spill, legal claims filed by the oil giant and other companies involved in the disaster show that lengthy court battles lay ahead.

Around the Gulf Coast Wednesday, residents said prayers on the beach and lit candles in the heart of New Orleans, while relatives flew over the sea where 11 rig workers died a year ago. In New Orleans courts, BP filed lawsuits alleging negligence by the rig owner and the maker of the device that failed to stop the spill. The blowout preventer maker and rig owner filed their own claims.

BP said in its lawsuit filed in federal court in New Orleans that Cameron International provided a blowout preventer with a faulty design, alleging that negligence by the manufacturer helped cause the disaster. The lawsuit seeks damages to help BP pay for the tens of billions of dollars in liabilities it has incurred from the disaster.

It also was seeking $40 billion from rig owner Transocean, accusing it of causing last year's deadly blowout in the Gulf of Mexico that led to the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history. BP says every single safety system and device and well control procedure on the Deepwater Horizon rig failed.

The lawsuit against Cameron said the blowout preventer "was unreasonably dangerous, and has caused and continues to cause harm, loss, injuries, and damages."

Houston-based Cameron noted in a statement emailed to AP that Wednesday was the deadline under the relevant statute for all parties to file claims against each other. It said it has filed claims of its own to protect itself.

An Egyptian court on Thursday ordered the name of ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his wife Suzanne removed from all public facilities and institutions — the latest step in dismantling the legacy of the former leader's 29 years in power.

The ruling will affect hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of subway stations, schools, streets, squares and libraries across the nation that over the years bore the name of the former leader or his wife.

In announcing the ruling, Judge Mohammed Hassan Omar said "people have uncovered Mubarak's journey of corruption that began at a parade stand and ended at Tahrir square."

He was referring to the assassination of Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat in October 1981.

With Mubarak, then vice president, seated next to him, Sadat was shot dead by Muslim radicals while reviewing a military parade. Days later, Mubarak became president after a nationwide referendum in which he was the only candidate.

Tahrir square in central Cairo was the epicenter of the revolt against Mubarak, where masses converged daily for 18 days of protests that eventually toppled the president. Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11.

"It has become clear that the size of the corruption (under Mubarak) that's being uncovered every day exceeds by far anyone's imagination," said the judge.

The Supreme Court has ruled that a federal law intended to protect the religious rights of prison inmates bars most lawsuits that seek money from states that violate the law.

The court said in a 6-2 decision Wednesday that inmates may file suit to force states to change their policies, but without the threat of monetary damages that might cause states to speed those changes.

The Obama administration and Christian groups warned that a ruling against the inmates would undermine the effectiveness of the 11-year-old law, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

The court ruled in a suit filed by Texas prison inmate Harvey Sossamon, who complained that he was denied the chance to participate in Christian worship services.

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit that claims that an inmate at a privately run jail was denied mental health treatment and did not shower or leave his segregated cell for nine months.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said last week that the lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of American should not have been dismissed by a lower court in 2009. The divided court opinion said there was a genuine question about how much physical injury inmate Frank Horton suffered while incarcerated.

CCA spokesman Steve Owen said company lawyers are assessing the opinion and still deciding what the next step will be.

Mary Braswell filed a federal lawsuit in 2008 against CCA accusing the private prison operator of treating her grandson inhumanely at the Nashville jail and violating his constitutional rights.

She claimed that Horton was mentally ill and deteriorated severely while he locked up for a non-violent probation violation from December 2005 to April 2008.

Court records say that Horton has a history of mental illness, and he was segregated from the general population in the jail because of behavioral problems. CCA guards had to use force at times to get Horton to take a shower and to keep him from fighting with other inmates, the records say.

The attorney assigned to unravel a Connecticut-based investment pyramid scheme says it will take longer than expected to account for the money, including hundreds of millions of dollars invested on behalf of a pension fund for Venezuelan state oil workers.

The court-appointed receiver, John Carney, is investigating the financial dealings of Francisco Illarramendi, a Venezuelan-American accused of taking money from hedge funds he operated in Stamford, Conn., for personal use. U.S. prosecutors in Connecticut have called it the state's biggest white-collar federal prosecution.

Carney on Monday asked for a three-month deadline extension to Sept. 30, saying the task has been complicated by gaps in the paper trail and other challenges.

"The magnitude and fraudulent nature of the transactions, the lack of meaningful documentation, the involvement of foreign entities, and the sheer quantity of data all necessitate additional time," Carney, of the New York law firm Baker & Hostetler, wrote in the court filing.

The office of the U.S. district judge handling the case, Janet Bond Arterton, said the request was pending Tuesday.

Illarramendi, 42, of New Canaan, pleaded guilty on March 7 to criminal charges including several counts of fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice. He faces up to 70 years in prison at a sentencing hearing that remains to be scheduled.