A New Jersey court has found that records of settlements reached by insurance companies on behalf of government entities should be open to the public.

In 2008, lawyer Mark Cimino asked used the state's Open Public Records Act to request copies of legal settlements involving Gloucester County government.

The county argued that the settlements were made by insurance companies and that records of them were stored with the firms.

A lower court judge agreed that those factors meant the documents in question were not covered by the open records law.

But today, a three-judge appeals panel reversed the ruling, sending it back to a lower court.

A federal judge agreed Monday that a lawyer for Denver-based band The Fray might face liability in the band's ongoing court battle with a former manager.

The band alleges its former manager, Gregg Latterman, failed to disclose that his company obtained ownership to a portion of the band's music when a publishing agreement was signed in 2005.

In a hearing Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Boyd Boland agreed to consider Latterman's claim that the band's lawyer, J. Reid Hunter of New York, was aware of the publishing agreement and failed to inform the band. Hunter didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.

The band's hits include 2006's "How to Save a Life" and 2009's "You Found Me."

Latterman filed counterclaims alleging breach of contract. He says The Fray owes his company more than $750,000 in commission and expenses.

Latterman claims The Fray tried to end his management contract early and pressured him to accept concessions, including smaller commissions, as the band's popularity grew.

The Utah Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case of a condemned inmate set to die by firing squad.

Ronnie Lee Gardner is scheduled to be executed June 18.

His attorneys filed an appeal seeking to stop the execution and asking for a review of Gardner's 1985 death sentence.

Gardner was convicted in the fatal courthouse shooting of attorney Michael Burdell.

The high court on Thursday set a June 3 hearing date and issued a schedule for attorneys to submit written arguments.

Gardner's attorneys will argue he was denied state funds to pay for experts and investigators who could have provided mitigating evidence during the penalty phase of his trial.

Former Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona has asked an appeals court to reverse his 2009 conviction for witness tampering.

A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Wednesday in Pasadena.

The former sheriff was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for trying to persuade ex-assistant sheriff Don Haidl to lie during a grand jury probe.

Carona's lawyers argued that prosecutors broke an ethical rule when they arranged for Haidl to secretly record an August 2007 conversation despite knowing Carona had retained a criminal defense attorney.

A federal attorney argued that the government used what he called "permissible decoys."

Carona was acquitted in January of conspiracy, mail fraud and a second witness tampering count in a sweeping public corruption case.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist said Tuesday it is "within the realm of possibility" that the state will sue BP PLC over any damage the Gulf oil spill causes.

Crist made the comment after meeting with workers at the Escambia County emergency operations center. He said a decision would come soon. BP announced Tuesday that it was giving the state an initial $25 million to cover costs its incurred preparing for the oil's arrival.

Crist said that while it remains unclear when the spill might reach Florida or what its affect would be, the state needs to be prepared. The state Department of Environmental Protection says no landfall is expected in Florida through Thursday. The department is taking air and water samples and about 20 miles of boom has been laid off the Panhandle coast to protect environmentally sensitive areas.

Crist has declared a state of emergency in 19 counties from Escambia in the Panhandle to Sarasota in southwest Florida.

The justices denied Delaware's petition for judicial review without comment, leaving in place a ruling by the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia that limits sports betting in Delaware to multi-game, or parlay, bets on National Football League games.

The appeals court heard arguments last August on a request by the NFL and other sports leagues for an injunction to prevent Delaware from starting sports betting with the launch of the NFL season. But instead of ruling on the injunction, the appeals court turned directly to the leagues' claim that Delaware's proposal to allow single-game bets on a variety of professional and collegiate sports would violate a 1992 federal ban on sports wagering.

The court declared that the state's new sports betting lottery had to be similar to the betting scheme used in a failed 1976 National Football League lottery that allowed Delaware to be one of only four states to receive grandfathered exemptions from the federal ban.

The ruling stunned attorneys for the state, who were not given the opportunity to defend the merits of the sports betting proposal. Gov. Jack Markell subsequently approved an appeal to the Supreme Court that was funded by Delaware's three slot-machine casinos, which have exclusive rights to offer sports betting.