Flatsigned Press Inc., a book publisher based in Nashville, Tenn., says Imus insulted the company last year in ads it paid for to promote a book by Ford on the Warren Commission's investigation into the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

On his "Imus in the Morning" show, the talker told WFAN listeners the publishers "have been waiting for (Ford) to croak so they can unload these (books)," the lawsuit claims.

Besides calling the ad spots "cheesy," Imus said of Ford's death, "Now that he's flatLINED, you go to flatSIGNED.com," the lawsuit filed in Manhattan's state Supreme Court says.

Marc Held, Flatsigned's lawyer, said Thursday that Ford approved the book and signed the copies Flatsigned was selling. Imus was told to read the script "word for word" and not insult the sponsor, "but he kept doing it," Held said.

Flatsigned's sales dropped $40,000 a day for several months after Imus' "libelous and disparaging statements," court papers say. The papers also say stores refused to stock the book because of his comments.

Flatsigned said it paid for two 30-second ad scripts a day for three days — Jan. 29, 30 and 31, 2007.

Imus, 67, read the first script as written, court papers say, but in later readings of the script, he made "unequivocally unacceptable" remarks about the publisher, even after officials at CBS, WFAN's parent, asked him to stop.

Karen Mateo, spokeswoman for CBS, said she had no comment on the lawsuit.

Imus, fired from WFAN last year after making a racially charged remark about the Rutgers University women's basketball team, now has a syndicated show on New York's WABC, which is owned by Citadel Broadcasting Corp.

A spokeswoman for Imus did not immediately return a call for comment, and his lawyer, Martin Garbus, was said to be traveling.

At a point where Imus was supposed to say Ford hand-signed the books before he died, Imus asked, "How else would he sign them, with his foot?" the lawsuit says.

During another ad spot, court papers say, Imus said, "Now that ol' President Ford has flatLINED, buy your piece of American history at FlatSIGNED.com."

Court papers say Imus acknowledged, "They asked me not to say that, but ..." He then agreed with someone in the studio that the play on words was too tempting to pass up, the lawsuit says.

Court papers say Flatsigned rejected an offer by CBS and WFAN in February 2007 to provide 15 "make good" commercial spots on other programs.

The lawsuit asks for $4 million in compensatory damages for breach of contract, libel and malice, and for another $59,000 spent for a newspaper ad that ran after the commercials on Imus's show.

Attorneys representing the Rev. Francis DeLuca argued unsuccessfully that the U.S. District Court did not have jurisdiction in the case.

The attorneys cited language in the state law eliminating the civil statute of limitations in child sexual abuse cases, saying it designated Superior Court for the cases. However, Judge Sue Robinson ruled that the law did not prohibit the federal court from hearing the case.

Robert Quill alleges DeLuca sexually abused him more than 300 times from 1968 to 1975. According to court documents, DeLuca has denied the allegations.

Earlier this year in Syracuse, N.Y., DeLuca pleaded guilty to charges he molested a teenage family member over several years. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail.

Linda Diane Sherrow faces up to five years in prison when she returns for sentencing April 21 in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

The former California Institution for Men correctional officer entered the guilty plea to perjury Wednesday.

The 49-year-old Sherrow lied to the grand jury in 2004. The panel was investigating fellow officer Shayne Ziska, who had helped inmates associated with the Nazi Low Riders prison gang.

Ziska was eventually sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for racketeering and civil rights allegations.

The Government has been accused of a "cavalier" attitude to personal information after it emerged that four CDs containing details from court cases have gone missing in the post.

In the latest embarrassing loss of potentially sensitive data, the computer discs vanished after being sent by recorded delivery.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) hand-delivered the four CD-Roms to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) on December 6.

The discs contained details of at least 55 magistrates' court defendants and other "restricted" data not released in open court, the Daily Mail reported.

They went missing after being posted on December 15, according to the paper.

A GMP spokesman said the CDs contain only "routine material" and were handed to HMICA by police in a "completely secure way" before going missing later.

The police spokesman could not confirm whether the discs contain details of witnesses, although he said they may have held defendants' names.

HMICA has launched an internal investigation into what has happened to the discs.

Shadow justice secretary Nick Herbert said: "Yet another data blunder suggests a cavalier attitude to the handling of personal information by Government agencies.

"We need to know whether this is a problem limited to these courts, or whether it is more widespread across the criminal justice system."

Sprint Nextel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc., which is owned by Deutsche Telecom, asked the justices to overturn the ruling. They said in court papers that state and local governments try to "hide" taxes and fees by barring carriers from listing them as separate items, requiring the companies instead to fold them in with the rest of their charges.

Consumer advocates, who support the lower court's ruling, responded that wireless companies frequently add a confusing array of charges that are not always the result of government taxes. Such complaints led the Federal Communications Commission to extend "truth in billing" rules to cell phones in 2005.

The legal question in dispute is whether the FCC was correct when it ruled in 2005 that federal law prohibits the states from barring separate line items. Federal communications law bars state regulation of rates but allows states to regulate "other terms and conditions" of service.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the FCC in 2006, ruling that line items on bills were "other terms and conditions" that states could prohibit. The justices' decision Tuesday allows that ruling to stand.

The issue is not completely settled, however. The Justice Department's Solicitor General, the Bush administration's lawyer, urged the court to turn down the case, even though the Solicitor General disagreed with the appeals court's ruling.

That's because the appeals court sent the case back to the FCC, and the agency is considering additional grounds for preempting state regulation of the wireless industry, the Solicitor General said. As a result, the issue is not yet ripe for Supreme Court review, the Solictor General said.

A woman is appearing in court in connection with the discovery of explosives during a Garda raid of a home.

Two pipe bombs, a shotgun, ammunition and drugs were seized during the search at Barry Park, Finglas, in north Dublin, last Friday. The 22-year-old woman, arrested during the operation, is expected to appear before Dublin District Court on charges linked to the finds.

Army bomb disposal experts were called in to deal with the explosive devices at the time. Cocaine and herbal cannabis believed to have a street value of 10,000 euro was sent to the Garda Technical Bureau for forensic analysis. The woman was being held at Finglas Garda station under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act.