Kimmel and Silverman, a lemon law firm in the Northeast, says that the fuel pump issue with BMW vehicles is on the rise. The law firm reports it has successfully resolved numerous lemon law and breach of warranty claims dealing with this BMW fuel pump issue for both refunds and significant cash recoveries. The firm has seen this problem with 1-series, 3-series and 5-series vehicles.

The Lemon Law firm indicates that BMW is working to correct the problem and has extended the warranty on the fuel pump to 10 years/120,000 miles. In the meantime, some BMW drivers are dealing with multiple repairs for the same problem. Fuel pump failure can lead to stalling so it is essential that shops continue to monitor the problem on vehicles they service.

To assist your customers and prevent problems on your end, make sure that all clients receive invoices for service done to their vehicles. These invoices should specifically identify the problem the consumer is complaining of, the amount of the days that the car was in service, a detailed explanation on how the problem was fixed and a list of all the components replaced in the vehicle.

A federal appeals court in New York City has thrown out a decision that barred Congress from withholding funds from the activist group ACORN.

The ruling Friday reverses a decision by a district court. That judge found Congress had violated ACORN's rights by punishing it without a trial.

ACORN describes itself as an advocate for low-income and minority home buyers and residents.

Critics say the group has engaged in voter registration fraud and embezzlement. They say it has violated the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities.

ACORN's full name is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a company is entitled to the value of about 5,900 artifacts it salvaged during six expeditions to the Titanic.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in Norfolk granted a salvage award to RMS Titanic Inc. late Thursday.

However, the judge postponed until next year a decision on whether to simply give the company title to the artifacts or sell them and turn the proceeds over to RMS, a subsidiary of Premier Exhibitions Inc. of Atlanta. The items are worth an estimated $110 million.

Until then, RMS can retain possession of the artifacts, which are being displayed in exhibitions around the world.

The Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland in April 1912, killing more than 1,500 of the 2,228 people onboard.

A man suspected in a three-state stabbing spree is due in court in Atlanta for an extradition hearing after he was arrested at the airport before flying out of the country.

Thirty-three-year-old Elias Abuelazam (eh-lee-AHS' ah-boo-ehl-ah-ZAHM') was scheduled to appear in a Fulton County court on Friday. He was arrested Wednesday before boarding a flight to his native Israel and charged with attempted murder in a July 27 knife strike in Flint, Mich., where all but four of the 18 attacks occurred.

Other attacks were in Leesburg, Va., and Toledo, Ohio.

Fulton County Superior Court spokesman Don Plummer said it would an extradition hearing. Abuelazam, an Israeli citizen who is in the U.S. with a green card, was living in Flint.

An appeals court has ordered a new trial for a New York man convicted of using a samurai sword to kill his stepfather while he slept on a living room couch.

Zachary Gibian was convicted in 2006 of nearly beheading retired police officer Scott Nager in his home in Hauppauge (HAWP'-awg), on Long Island. Gibian was 20 at the time. He's serving 25 years to life in prison.

The Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court ruled errors were made in his trial. It faulted the trial judge for not allowing testimony about statements supposedly made by Gibian's mother.

Gibian testified it was his mother who killed Nager after she discovered her husband sexually abusing her son. She denied the allegations.

A federal appeals court judge from Illinois testified Wednesday that he felt threatened by a New Jersey blogger's inflammatory Internet tirades over a ruling supporting gun control.

The rant against a three-judge panel in Chicago "was a threat of violence," Judge William Bauer told jurors at a retrial in Brooklyn. "It suggested that the country would be better off if we were killed."

The death threat case against Hal Turner stems from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in 2009 by Bauer and two other judges, Frank Easterbrook and Richard Posner, that upheld a district court decision dismissing lawsuits that challenged handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park, Ill.

The same day, Turner blasted the decision with a lengthy post online. In one passage, he quoted Thomas Jefferson as saying, "The tree of liberty must be replenished from time to time with the blood of tyrants and patriots," court papers said.