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Missouri appeals court upholds red-light camera fines
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/10/25 11:57
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A Missouri appeals court has upheld an ordinance in a suburban St. Louis city that imposes a $100 fine when cameras catch vehicles running red lights.
The Eastern District appeals court on Tuesday rejected an argument that the Creve Coeur ordinance violates due process rights by ticketing a vehicle's owner without knowing if the owner was driving when the vehicle ran a red light.
The appeals panel said the city's traffic-camera ordinance is similar to a parking ticket in that it is a civil penalty — not a criminal violation. The court said such tickets can be issued to the vehicle owner without regard to who was driving the vehicle. |
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Japanese nurse sentenced to hanging in Malaysia
Legal World News |
2011/10/25 09:55
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A Malaysian court has sentenced a Japanese nurse to death by hanging for drug trafficking. The High Court in central Selangor state found 37-year-old Mariko Takeuchi guilty of transporting 7.7 pounds (3.5 kilograms) of methamphetamine in a suitcase when she flew from Dubai into the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Oct. 30, 2009. Takeuchi is the first Japanese convicted of drug trafficking in Malaysia. A conviction carries a mandatory death penalty. Takeuchi's lawyer Mohamad Rafik Rahem said Tuesday they will appeal the verdict. The court rejected Takeuchi's claim that she had not known about the drugs and was carrying the suitcase as a favor for an Iranian acquaintance. Mohamad Rafik said Takeuchi was "very sad and disappointed." |
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Scott+Scott LLP Announces Securities Class Action Lawsuit
Class Action News |
2011/10/24 17:00
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On October 19, 2011, Scott+Scott LLP filed a class action complaint against K-V Pharmaceutical Company and certain of the Company's officers in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. The action for violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 is brought on behalf of those purchasing the common stock of K-V between February 14, 2011 and April 4, 2011, inclusive.
If you purchased the common stock of K-V during the Class Period and wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in the action, you must move the Court no later than 60 days from today. Any member of the investor class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of its choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. If you wish to discuss this action or have questions concerning this notice or your rights, please contact Scott+Scott.
http://www.scott-scott.com/cases/new/securities-fraud-litigation-1533-k-v-pharmaceutical-company-kv-a.html
The complaint filed in the action charges that during the brief Class Period, the Company issued false and misleading statements claiming the Food and Drug Administration had granted K-V the exclusive distribution rights over its "Makena," a drug compound that had previously been prescribed by physicians for decades to prevent miscarriages, and that the agency would enforce those rights by preventing K-V's competitors from distributing generic compounds of Makena. The complaint also alleges that defendants told investors K-V's Makena distribution program was designed to "expand access" to the drug compound, including to low-income and other at-risk groups, while concealing that the $1,500 list price K-V was charging would actually reduce availability of the drug compound to physicians and their patients. As a result, based on a fundamental misperception of K-V's sales and earnings potential, the complaint charges that K-V's stock traded at artificially inflated prices during the Class Period, allowing K-V to sell $200 million worth of senior secured notes, with the proceeds used in large part to pay down the Company's debts. |
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Baker Donelson law firm acquires Houston practice
Law Firm News |
2011/10/24 16:57
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A Memphis-based law firm with a large presence in Louisiana will expand into Texas through an acquisition announced today. Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC will retain its name as it merges with Houston-based Spain Chambers.
Ranked the 73rd-largest law firm in the country before the merger, the expanded Baker Donelson will include 620 attorneys and advisors working in 17 offices in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and the District of Columbia.
The merger will help to retain and attract new clients, as large companies doing business across mutliple states look to consolidate their legal service providers, said Roy Cheatwood, managing shareholder of Baker Donelson's Louisiana offices.
"Many of our clients would ask us if we had a Texas presence, because if so, they would be interested in having us as their law firm there," said Cheatwood. "It's no surprise that many New Orleans firms, the firms we consider to be our major competition, have Houston offices."
While the Spain Chambers practice focuses primarily on litigation, energy, construction and the financial sector, Baker Donelson provides legal services to a broader range of industries, including banking, real estate, and health care. The merger will allow Baker Donelson to further expand its offerings, Cheatwood said. |
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Judge deciding if convicted killer gets DNA tests
Court Feed News |
2011/10/24 16:56
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A Texas death row inmate is trying to convince the courts to force prosecutors to turn over knives, clothing and other evidence for DNA testing that his attorneys say could prove his innocence.
But prosecutors say the request from 49-year-old Henry Watkins Skinner is an empty tactic to delay his execution next month.
Both sides will lay out their arguments Monday before a federal magistrate judge in Amarillo. The hearing comes after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Skinner could ask for the untested evidence but left unresolved whether prosecutors had to surrender the items.
Skinner was convicted for the 1993 deaths of his girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her two adult sons, Elwin "Scooter" Caler and Randy Busby. They were killed on New Year's Eve at their home. |
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GOP candidates would cut federal judges' power
U.S. Legal News |
2011/10/24 16:56
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Most of the Republican presidential candidates want to wipe away lifetime tenure for federal judges, cut the budgets of courts that displease them or allow Congress to override Supreme Court rulings on constitutional issues.
Any one of those proposals would significantly undercut the independence and authority of federal judges. Many of the ideas have been advanced before in campaigns to court conservative voters.
This time, though, six of the eight GOP candidates are backing some or all of those limits on judges, even though judges appointed by Republican presidents hold a majority on the Supreme Court and throughout the federal system.
A group that works for judicial independence says the proposals would make judges "accountable to politicians, not the Constitution."
Bert Brandenburg, executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign, said, "Debates like these could threaten to lead to a new cycle of attempts to politicize the courts."
Only the former governors in the race, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Jon Huntsman of Utah, have not attacked federal judges in their campaigns.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been the most outspoken critic of the courts. He would summon judges before Congress to explain their decisions and consider impeaching judges over their rulings. |
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