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Police witnesses called in fake 'Rockefeller' case
Criminal Law Updates |
2012/01/20 14:06
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A Superior Court judge testified in a murder case against a man who posed as an heir to the Rockefeller fortune, saying that more than two decades ago he lent a chain saw to the defendant while the two were living in San Marino.
William Stewart said he was a lawyer when Christian Gerhartsreiter, then known as Christopher Chichester, asked to borrow an electric chain saw in late 1984 or early 1985.
"He said he had a problem with a branch on a tree that was scratching a window," Stewart said Thursday.
Stewart, who met the defendant at his church, said Chichester kept the tool for several months, returning it just before leaving town in the spring of 1985.
The hearing for Gerhartsreiter will determine whether there is enough evidence to put him on trial for the apparent bludgeoning death of John Sohus that only came to light when the victim's bones were dug up at the former home of John and Linda Sohus in 1994, nearly 10 years after the couple vanished. Gerhartsreiter was a tenant in the guesthouse at the home. |
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Appeals court rejects appeal by Abramoff partner
Legal Career News |
2012/01/20 14:05
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An appeals court says it cannot reduce a $20 million restitution order against the public relations consultant who partnered with lobbyist Jack Abramoff to bilk Indian tribes out of millions in inflated fees.
Michael Scanlon is serving a 20-month sentence after pleading guilty in part to defrauding the tribes of their right to "honest services." Abramoff persuaded tribes that hired him for lobbying to pay inflated fees for Scanlon's public relations services, and the two secretly split the profits.
The Supreme Court weakened the honest services law last year and Scanlon argued the $20 million he's been ordered to repay his victims should be lowered to reflect that ruling.
But a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington ruled Friday that courts cannot modify plea agreements. |
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Colo. court weighs energy leases near Utah parks
Lawyer Blog News |
2012/01/19 17:34
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A federal appeals court in Denver was to hear arguments Thursday on the Obama administration's decision to cancel Bush-era oil and gas leases near national parks in Utah, the auction for which prompted an environmental activist to drive up prices with his bidding in an act of civil disobedience.
The case before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals involves leases near Arches and Canyonlands national parks and Dinosaur National Monument that were auctioned off in the final month of the President George W. Bush's administration. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar later canceled the leases and energy companies challenged his decision in court.
Thursday's hearing came after a federal judge ruled in September 2010 that a lawsuit brought by energy producers challenging the cancellation of the 77 oil and gas drilling leases was filed too late. U.S. District Judge Dee Benson ruled the companies failed to file their lawsuit within 90 days of Salazar's February 2009 decision. |
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Girard Gibbs LLP Announces Class Action Settlement
Law Firm News |
2012/01/19 16:34
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The law firm of Girard Gibbs LLP today announced that two years after bringing a class action case against Securities America, Inc., its corporate parent Securities America Financial Corporation and Ameriprise Financial, Inc., over 2,000 investors throughout the U.S. are receiving checks totaling $80 million. Investors will recover an average of over $30,000 per person.
The distribution represents the last chapter of a lawsuit filed by Securities America customers who purchased private placement investments in Medical Capital Notes and Provident Royalties, which were both revealed to be Ponzi schemes. Girard Gibbs and associated counsel represented the investors and won final approval of the $80 million settlement in Federal District Court in Dallas, Texas on July 25, 2011.
“We are pleased that our clients will recover a substantial percentage of their losses within two years of the date this litigation got underway,” said Daniel Girard, senior partner at Girard Gibbs. “We commend our adversaries for coming to the settlement table in good faith and negotiating a fair compromise with all the affected investors.”
For more information, please access the firm’s web site at www.GirardGibbs.com. |
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Amazon Hit With Class Action Over Zappos Data Breach
Business Law Info |
2012/01/18 18:01
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Shoe retailer Zappos is facing a national class action suit one day after it warned customers that its servers had been hacked.
On Monday, the Amazon-owned shoe company sent a mass email stating that 24 million customer accounts had been breached. The incident resulted in hackers obtaining names, phone numbers, emails, encrypted passwords and the last four numbers of customer credit cards.
The lawsuit claims Amazon violated a part of the Fair Credit Reporting Act by failing to properly encrypt and secure customer information, and seeks unspecified damages for 24 million customers.
The lead plaintiff in the case is a Texas woman but the suit was filed in federal court in Louisville, Kentucky on the grounds that Amazon has servers located in that state.
As these type of hacking incidents have become more common, so too have related lawsuits. So far, though, few of these lawsuits been successful because customers have been unable to show that they have been harmed by the data breaches.
The Kentucky lawsuit appears based in part on a novel legal theory that customers will now be more susceptible to phishing and other online scams because hackers have their email. It also alleges the plaintiffs suffered emotional distress. Other high-profile data breach cases such as one involving Sony’s Play Station have been based in part on state consumer laws.
Although courts have been reluctant to find that customers have been harmed by data breaches, there is evidence this may be changing. A security publication recently reported
that an appeals court allowed customers to claim they suffered harm in the form of having to buy insurance for identity theft.
Some media publications this week praised Zappos’ for having a pre-arranged plan to respond to the data theft. The company claims that its customer credit cards remained secure because they were stored in a separate server. |
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Court lets telemarketers be sued in federal court
Legal Career News |
2012/01/18 18:00
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The Supreme Court is keeping telemarketers and other businesses on the hook for nuisance phone calls, letting those annoyed by the disruptions sue in federal as well as state courts.
The high court's decision Wednesday involves a lawsuit claiming a debt collector harassed a man with repeated recorded calls.
Marcus Mims of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said he kept getting the calls from Arrow Financial Services LLC, which was trying to collect a student loan debt for Sallie Mae. He sued for violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, passed by Congress to ban invasive telemarketing practices.
Mims' lawsuit was thrown out by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said that Congress did not explicitly give permission for federal lawsuits in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, although the law does say people can file in state courts. Other federal courts ruled differently and let lawsuits move forward.
The high court said in a unanimous opinion that federal lawsuits are allowed under the law. |
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