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Judge rules against explorers in treasure dispute
Court Feed News |
2012/02/01 13:26
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A federal judge has ruled against a deep-sea exploration company in a dispute with Spain over 17 tons of silver coins recovered from a sunken 19th century Spanish galleon.
Florida-based Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc., which found the treasure off the Portuguese coast in 2007, had requested a stay after a federal court in Atlanta ruled last year the explorers must give the treasure back to the Spanish government.
In an order Tuesday, a U.S. circuit court judge denied the company's motion for a stay.
In court documents, the exploration firm said it wanted to stay the proceedings until the U.S. Supreme Court could consider the case.
Odyssey had said in court filings that such a denial might mean Spain will keep the treasure forever. Spain's position is that it is not subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. courts, Odyssey said. |
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New York Securities Litigation Law Firm - Herskovits PLLC.
Law Firm Press |
2012/02/01 10:25
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New York FINRA Arbitration & Securities Litigation Attorney
Robert L. Herskovits
Robert concentrates his practice in the areas of securities litigation and regulatory enforcement matters. Robert routinely advises broker/dealers, industry professionals and investors in varied litigation, arbitration and regulatory matters relating to the securities industry. Robert is certified as an arbitrator for FINRA, AAA and the NFA and formerly served as in-house counsel for an NYSE-member broker/dealer.
Prior to forming Herskovits PLLC, Robert was a partner with Gusrae Kaplan Nusbaum PLLC for more than five years.
Robert received a JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and a BA from Syracuse University. Robert is admitted to practice in the State of New York and before various federal courts, including the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.
An active participant in the bar, Robert is the Co-Chair of the Committee for Securities and Exchanges of the New York County Lawyers' Association. Robert's accomplishments were recently recognized by Thomson Reuters' "Super Lawyers", which designated Robert as a 2011 Rising Star in business litigation.
Practice Areas
•Securities Litigation and Arbitration
•Securities Industry Regulatory Defense
•Broker-Dealer Advisory Services
•Securities Industry Employment Litigation
•Commercial Litigation
Address
1065 Avenue of the Americas
27th Floor
New York, New York 10018
Contact:
Tel: (212) 897-5410
Fax: (646) 558-0239 |
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Online game theft earns real-world conviction
Legal World News |
2012/01/31 18:10
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The amulet and mask were a 13-year-old boy's virtual possessions in an online fantasy game. In the real world, he was beaten and threatened with a knife to give them up.
The Dutch Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the theft conviction of a youth who stole another boy's possessions in the popular online fantasy game RuneScape. Judges ordered the offender to perform 144 hours of community service.
Only a handful of such cases have been heard in the world, and they have reached varying conclusions about the legal status of "virtual goods" — and whether stealing them is real-world theft.
The suspect's lawyer had argued the amulet and mask "were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value."
But the Netherlands' highest court said the virtual objects had an intrinsic value to the 13-year-old gamer because of "the time and energy he invested" in winning them while playing the game.
The court did not release the offender's name, only his year of birth — 1992. It said he and another youth beat and kicked the boy and threatened him with a knife until he logged into RuneScape and dropped the objects in 2007.
One of the thieves, who was also playing the game, was then able to pick up the items, making them his virtual property. Both were convicted by a lower court in 2009, but only one of them had appealed to the Supreme Court. |
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Occupy DC tries to stave off eviction in court
Legal Career News |
2012/01/31 15:09
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Members of one of the last major Occupy encampments are making a last-minute court effort to stave off eviction from public land in Washington.
A federal judge is hearing arguments Tuesday on a request to bar the National Park Service from enforcing a ban on camping that would affect the Occupy DC sites.
The ban went into effect at noon Monday at the two Occupy encampments at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza. But protesters still remain there.
A separate request seeks to prevent the police from destroying tents and other belongings of the protesters.
The hearing takes place in U.S. District Court before Judge James Boasberg. |
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Attorney: Texas redistricting talks have stalled
Law & Politics |
2012/01/31 13:09
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Negotiations between minority groups and Texas officials in a lengthy clash over new political districts appeared stalled Monday as both sides prepared to argue in Washington over whether the Republican-drawn maps violate the federal Voting Rights Act.
An attorney for the League of United Latin American Citizens, one of nine groups suing to block the maps, said negotiations to create temporary maps so Texas could salvage an April 3 primary date hit an impasse over the weekend. Both sides have another week to work out a deal, but Luis Vera, LULAC's general counsel, said he was not optimistic.
"It just doesn't seem feasible," he said.
A federal court in San Antonio last week gave the sides until Feb. 6 to draw up the temporary maps that would remain in place through November's election. If they don't, Texas' primaries will be pushed back for a second time. They were originally scheduled for March.
Lauren Bean, a spokeswoman for the Texas attorney general's office, said her office was not commenting on the negotiations.
Vera said a major obstacle is that the state isn't involving all parties in the negotiations. Gary Bledsoe, president of the Texas NAACP that is among the nine plaintiffs, said the state was mainly negotiating with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. |
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Business group weighs in on cigarette label suit
Business Law Info |
2012/01/31 12:10
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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is weighing in on a lawsuit over graphic cigarette warning labels that include the sewn-up corpse of a smoker and a picture of diseased lungs, saying the federal government has no legitimate authority to take space on a tobacco company's packaging or advertising to persuade consumers not to buy the product.
The pro-business lobbying group filed a friend of the court brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington late Monday in the lawsuit brought by some of the largest U.S. tobacco companies, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. and Lorillard Tobacco Co., challenging the Food and Drug Administration's plan to require the new labels be placed on cigarette packs later this year.
A U.S. District Court judge in November blocked the labels while deciding whether they violate the companies' free speech rights, ruling that it is likely the cigarette makers would succeed in a lawsuit. The FDA has appealed that decision and oral arguments are set for April. |
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