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Burris lawyer prods Senate Democratic leaders
U.S. Legal News |
2009/01/03 17:15
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A lawyer representing the man appointed to the Senate by embattled Gov. Rod Blagojevich has written to Senate Democratic leaders asking them to seat his client.
Attorney Timothy Wright also tells the Chicago Tribune he plans to go to court if the Senate refuses to seat Roland Burris.
Blagojevich's action has draw criticism because he faces corruption charges that accuse him of trying to profit from the appointment. He denies that. Wright's letter was dated Friday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has said that anyone picked by Blagojevich will be turned away. Burris also has asked the Illinois Supreme Court to force Secretary of State Jesse White to certify the appointment. |
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12-year-old Arizona boy guilty in mom's shooting
Court Feed News |
2009/01/03 17:14
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| A 12-year-old boy who fatally shot his mother after an argument over his chores was found guilty of premeditated murder. Judge James Conlogue found the boy guilty after a hearing Friday in Cochise County Superior Court in the southern Arizona town of Bisbee. The boy is not being identified because he was charged as a juvenile. Conlogue ruled that prosecutors had proved the boy acted intentionally and with premeditation when he shot Sara Madrid, 34, eight times on Aug. 1. The shooting happened after the boy had argued with his mother over his chores. Madrid had left the family home after the argument, and the boy got a .22-caliber pistol from her bedroom closet, waited for her to return and then repeatedly shot her, according to court testimony. Madrid's live-in boyfriend of 10 years, Alfonso Munoz, witnessed the shooting and said the boy gave him the empty gun afterward. Munoz, who helped raise the boy, said he had taught the child how to use the weapon for emergencies and self-defense. The boy's lawyer, Sanford Edleman, had argued that the boy did not intend to kill his mother but only wanted to get back at her for abusing him. |
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Madoff Spinoffs - Another Investment Class Action
Class Action News |
2009/01/02 17:22
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A class action in Manhattan Federal Court claims Tremont Market Neutral Fund was grossly negligent in handing over 27% of its money to Bernard Madoff for his alleged $50 billion Ponzi scheme.
Here are the defendants in the Tremont Funds case: Tremont Market Neutral Fund LP, Tremont Partners Inc., Tremont Group Holdings Inc., Oppenheimer Acquisition Corp., Oppenheimer Funds Inc., Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co., and Ernst & Young LLP.
A class action in Manhattan Federal Court claims these defendants handed over investments in the Rye Select Broad Market Fund to Bernard Madoff for his alleged Ponzi scheme: Rye Select Broad Market Fund LP, Tremont Partners Inc., Tremont Group Holdings Inc., Rye Investment Management, Jim Mitchell, and Robert Schulman.
Three members of the Sciremammano family sued Bernard Madoff, saying he took more than $2 million from them, in Manhattan Federal Court. |
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Lobbyist Sues NY Times for Defamation
U.S. Legal News |
2009/01/02 17:14
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Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman sued The New York Times on Tuesday, claiming the newspaper defamed her in an article "falsely communicating that Ms. Iseman and Sen. John McCain had an illicit 'romantic' and unethical relationship in breach of the public trust in 1999, while Sen. McCain was chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and while Ms. Iseman was representing clients as a lobbyist on matters relating to the business of the committee."
Iseman demands $27 million from the Times and its editors and reporters, insisting she "did not engage in any behavior toward (McCain) that was anything other than professional and appropriate."
The lawsuit refers to the Feb. 21 story, "For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk." Iseman sued the four reporters whose bylines are on the story - James Rutenberg, Marilyn Thompson, Stephen Labaton and David Kirkpatrick - and editors Bill Keller and Dean Baquet.
The federal filing quotes more than 30 paragraphs from the Times story, which reported that two of McCain's "associates" were so concerned about his behavior with Iseman that, according to the article as cited in the lawsuit, "they joined in a serried of confrontations with Mr. McCain, warning him that he was risking his campaign and career. Both said Mr. McCain acknowledged behaving inappropriately and pledged to keep his distance from Mr. (sic) Iseman. The two associates, who said they had become disillusioned with the senator, spoke independently of each other and provided details that were corroborated by others.
"Separately, a top McCain aide met with Ms. Iseman at Union Station in Washington to ask her to stay away from the senator," the Times reported, according to the complaint.
Iseman claims the article is "reasonably susceptible of two levels of false and defamatory meanings, constitution 'defamation per se' under Virginia law. ... The first defamatory meaning was that MS Iseman exploited an alleged personal and social friendship with Sen. McCain to obtain favorable legislative outcomes for her clients, engaging in 'inappropriate' behavior that constituted a conflict of interest and a violation of professional and ethical norms in breach of the public trust. This meaning was communicated through the literal words of the article and also by implication, by what was intentionally suggested and implied 'between the lines.'
"The second defamatory meaning was that Ms. Iseman and Sen. McCain had engaged in an illicit and inappropriate romantic while Ms. Iseman was a lobbyist conducting business on behalf of clients before the committee chaired by Sen. McCain. This was also defamation per se under Virginia law. This meaning was also communicated through the literal words of the article and by implication, by what was suggested and implied 'between the lines.'"
The article then cites 1o major media outlets that followed up the Times story.
The Times broke the story of Iseman's lawsuit on its Web site Tuesday afternoon. The newspaper said it stands by its story.
Iseman's 36-page filing claims the Times story is false, that it damaged her reputation and her emotional and mental health, that it was "deliberately and recklessly misleading," and written with negligence and "actual malice."
Iseman claims she is a private figure and thus need prove only negligence to make the defamation claim stick. And she claims, on page 32 of the lawsuit, that the Times rushed the story into print to try to beat a story The New Republic was preparing "about The New York times failed and obsessive pursuit of the story, including its inability to 'nail down' the scandalous accusations," according to the complaint.
Iseman is represented by W. Coleman Allen Jr. of Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen. |
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Democrats' struggle over filling Obama seat
Law & Politics |
2008/12/31 17:12
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| Rep. Bobby Rush says he doesn't think any U.S. senator would be caught turning a black man away from serving alongside them. He thought wrong. No Senate Democrats responded to his racial challenge. And they got support from President-elect Barack Obama, who will be the first African-American in the White House. Rush, D-Ill., dared Senate Democrats Tuesday to block Roland Burris from becoming the Senate's only black member, urging them not to "hang and lynch" the former state attorney general for the alleged corruption by his patron, Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Obama was having none of it, siding with Senate Democrats who vowed to turn Burris away should he show up in Washington to be sworn in. "They cannot accept an appointment made by a governor who is accused of selling this very Senate seat," Obama said in a statement. "I agree with their decision, and it is extremely disappointing that Governor Blagojevich has chosen to ignore it." Obama voiced disapproval for the spectacle unfolding in his home state. "I believe the best resolution would be for the governor to resign his office and allow a lawful and appropriate process of succession to take place," Obama said. It was unclear what that process would be and who would choose Obama's successor. On Tuesday, Blagojevich declared himself the decider, defying the leaders of his party and naming Burris, 71, the next senator from Illinois. At a news conference in Chicago, he urged the Senate not to allow the charges that he tried to sell the same Senate seat to taint a well-respected man. |
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Nevada's No. 2 pleads not guilty to money charges
U.S. Legal News |
2008/12/31 17:11
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| Nevada's lieutenant governor pleaded not guilty Tuesday to four felony charges accusing him of mishandling a multibillion-dollar state college savings program when he was state treasurer. Republican Brian Krolicki, who is considering a 2010 run against U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, appeared in Clark County District Court and spoke only to answer brief questions from a hearing master and to enter his plea. He has claimed that the charges are politically motviated, and outside of court he maintained his innocence. "I look forward to getting my story out soon, and we'll do that. The facts will absolutely vindicate me in this," he said. The court set a July 14 trial date. Krolicki, 47, was indicted by a Las Vegas grand jury this month, along with his chief of staff, Kathryn Besser, who also served as his chief of staff in the treasurer's office. Krolicki served two terms in that office before being elected lieutenant governor in 2006. He is charged with two counts of misappropriation and falsification of accounts by a public officer and two counts of misappropriation by a treasurer. The four felony counts each carry a possible sentence of up to four years in prison. |
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