An appeals court has overturned the dismissal of a class-action lawsuit brought by investors against mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp.

The move by a panel of the California 2nd District Court of Appeal reverses the decision by a Superior Court judge in Los Angeles last year. That court threw out the complaint on grounds that a state court had no jurisdiction to hear the case, citing the U.S. Securities Act.

In the ruling issued Wednesday, the appeals court disagreed, concluding such a complaint could be heard in state court.

The decision allows the case to proceed.

The investors claim Countrywide had false or misleading statements in documentation for the mortgage-backed securities that they bought from the lender between 2005 and 2007.

The Oregon Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that a retired school bus driver can have her medical marijuana and a concealed handgun, too.

The ruling upheld previous decisions by the Oregon Court of Appeals and circuit court that determined a federal law barring criminals and drug addicts from buying firearms does not excuse sheriffs from issuing concealed weapons permits to people who hold medical marijuana cards and otherwise qualify.

"We hold that the Federal Gun Control Act does not pre-empt the state's concealed handgun licensing statute and, therefore, the sheriffs must issue (or renew) the requested licenses," Chief Justice Paul De Muniz wrote in the ruling issued in Salem.

Cynthia Willis, one of four plaintiffs, welcomed the ruling.

"I feel like a big girl now," Willis said. "I feel like a real human being now, not just a source of revenue to the county."

Leland Berger, the attorney representing Willis and other medical marijuana patients in the state, said the ruling was important in the continuing national debate over making marijuana legal to treat medical conditions.

"I am hopeful we will end cannabis prohibition the same way we ended alcohol prohibition, which was by refusing to enforce federal laws within the state," Berger said.

A London court sentenced a former government minister to 16 months in prison on Friday over the largest bogus claim exposed in Britain's lawmaker expenses scandal.

Elliot Morley pleaded guilty last month to two charges of false accounting over bills worth 32,000 pounds (nearly $52,000).

The 58-year-old former Labour Party politician claimed for mortgage payments on a loan that had already been paid off.

Justice John Saunders told Southwark Crown Court that Morley was guilty of "blatant dishonesty" and had "thrown away his good name and character."

In his verdict, Saunders said he was satisfied that "the excessive claims were made deliberately and are not explicable even in part by oversight."

The sentencing follows the 2009 disclosure of previously secret expense files that revealed how politicians had billed the public for items including swank second homes and pornographic movies.

Morley is the first former minister to be jailed for fiddling his expenses; three other former lawmakers received terms ranging from 12 to 18 months.

The case ended a political career spanning nearly 20 years. Morley, an environment minister in Tony Blair's government, chose not to run again for Parliament last year.