Iraqi officials call the incident 'premeditated murder.' Blackwater still claims that its contractors acted lawfully. Burke O'Neil LLC was asked to file the suit. The firm has represented others who were in the Abu Ghraib prison scandals.

Blackwater has recieved over $1 billion in contracts. The suit claims Blackwater had already dropped off its passenger and wasnt protecting anyone. Blackwater says the team was going to aid another team proecting a diplomat.

But because he has already been jailed for 19 months, Colliton, 43, was eligible for immediate release. His lawyer, Howard Greenberg, said he expected the defendant to be released Thursday.

Corrections officials did not immediately return an after-hours call Thursday night.

The 38-year-old mother of the two underage sisters pleaded guilty in April 2006 to endangering the welfare of a child. She admitted she allowed her girls to have sex with Colliton, knew he was giving them money and gifts, and said she had asked him for money for herself.

Colliton, who is married with five children, was formerly with the prestigious Manhattan law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore.

He admitted when he pleaded guilty that he had sex many times with one girl younger than 15 and another under 17 between Dec. 25, 2000, and March 1, 2005. Colliton also admitted he visited a prostitute younger than 17 between August 2000 and February 2004.

He had faced as many as 30 years in prison if he had been convicted of several counts of rape and sodomy.

A judge began criminal contempt-of-court proceedings against Brown on Tuesday, just three days after he agreed to pay nearly $7 million to settle the lawsuits that led to contempt allegations surrounding Brown's decision to send the church official to Canada.

Before the hearing, plaintiffs' lawyers said they expected the judge to dismiss the contempt filing because the case had been settled. But Diocese of Orange attorney Peter Callahan insisted the proceedings go forward to clear the bishop's name, and Judge Gail Andler took him up on the offer.

Brown waived his arraignment, which lawyers said was the equivalent of a not guilty plea.

"This is one more example of the diocese stepping in their own mess," said John Manly, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case. "Now we can have our cake and eat it too."

Plaintiffs' attorneys had accused Brown of sending Msgr. John Urell to Ontario, Canada, for medical treatment before he could complete a deposition in one of four cases settled Friday. The monsignor was responsible for handling sexual abuse allegations against the diocese.

Brown testified in a pretrial deposition that he made the decision to send Urell to the Southdown Institute, although he knew Urell "had given a deposition and was going to be called back for further deposition."

He said Tuesday the facility is one of few that specializes in psychological care for clergy and because it could take him immediately.

Andler allowed attorneys to deliver their opening statements in the contempt case before postponing the rest of the hearing until Dec. 3. She said a subpoena for Urell's testimony would remain in effect until that date.

Callahan will argue at the hearing to dismiss the contempt matter.

Venus Soltan, a plaintiffs attorney, said Brown sent Urell away to suppress critical evidence about the diocese's handling of sexual abuse. Urell went away a week after he broke down during his deposition by plaintiffs' attorneys.

"When Msgr. Urell was there for half a day, he couldn't take it because he was too upset about having to testify about hiding all these allegations," she said in court. "This is plain and simply hiding the facts."

Callahan, however, said there was no evidence that a court order was in effect when Brown sent Urell away and asserted that a plaintiffs' attorney had verged on perjury in the court filings that precipitated the contempt hearing.

Urell knew nothing about the current case, which involved allegations that a lay assistant basketball coach molested a 16-year-old girl at Mater Dei High School, Callahan said.

"I was disappointed that the judge didn't rule. We were hoping that the bishop would have the opportunity to exonerate himself by telling the truth but he didn't get the opportunity," he said.

At a news conference outside court, two of the young women who were plaintiffs in the cases angrily asked Brown and his attorneys questions about how church officials handled their cases.

Brown did not respond to the questions directly, but apologized.

"To both of you, and to the other victims, all I can do is repeat once again, my sincerest and deepest and most compassionate apology on the part of the church for what happened to you, which was terrible and sinful and criminal and reprehensible," Brown said. "I'm just so very sorry it happened."

Three years ago, Brown agreed to pay $100 million to settle lawsuits from about 90 sexual abuse victims.

Sallie Mae's lawsuit seeks a declaration that the buyer group has reneged on the merger agreement, that no "material adverse change" has occurred, and that Sallie Mae may terminate the takeover and collect the $900 million.

A material adverse change (MAC) is a condition that could cause a substantial reduction in earnings power and it can give buyers or lenders a "walk right" from their obligations.

The lawsuit is being seen by many as a hard-ball attempt by Sallie Mae to force the buyer group to stick to the original deal, in which the group offered $60 a share, or come up with something closer to it than its revised proposal of $50 a share, or $20.6 billion offer, plus extra payments depending on how the company performed.

"We are prepared to close under the contract the parties signed in April," said Sallie Mae chairman Albert Lord in a statement late on Monday. "Sallie Mae has honored its obligations under the merger agreement. We ask only that the buyer group do the same."  

A prominent Texas Republican has sued Rudy Giuliani’s law firm and a close friend and partner of Giuliani’s, Kenneth Caruso, alleging that Caruso, the firm and others "schemed and conspired to steal $10 million."

J. Virgil Waggoner, a Houston businessman and philanthropist, filed the in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan in July. He alleges that Caruso, his former lawyer, conspired with Waggoner’s investment adviser to cover up the disappearance of $10 million Waggoner invested through a Caribbean bank, the British Trade & Commerce Bank.

Waggoner claims Caruso "may have also been romantically involved"with the investment adviser.

The Caribbean bank was shut down after its handling of Waggoner’s investment came to light, and its president was later jailed for money laundering.

Caruso, Bracewell & Giuliani, and Caruso’s two former firms — all named as defendants — have filed motions to dismiss the complaint on largely procedural grounds, and Caruso’s personal defense lawyer, Fred Warder, called it "meritless."

"It’s a pretty familiar tale of a deal gone bad and the principal trying to scapegoat his lawyers,"Warder said. "We expect it will go away on motions."

The Waggoner lawsuit is the latest messy allegation to hit Giuliani’s private businesses, which include the law firm and his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, located five blocks from each other in Midtown Manhattan.

His former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik, left the consulting firm after his nomination to head the Department of Homeland Security collapsed amid questions about his personal ethics. Kerik was convicted and fined in 2006 for illegally accepting gifts and failing to report a personal loan while running the police department.

Giuliani and his firm have also faced protests for employing a Giuliani childhood friend and Catholic priest, Alan Placa, who was barred from priestly duties after being accused of molesting boys more than two decades ago. Placa has insisted the charges are false, and Giuliani has stoutly defended him.

Caruso, who joined Bracewell & Giuliani in 2005, was, like many of the former New York mayor’s tight inner circle, an assistant U.S. attorney when Giuliani was U.S. attorney for the Southern District in the Reagan administration.

Later, he worked on Giuliani’s mayoral campaigns. In Giuliani’s book, "Leadership," he describes Caruso as "a close friend"whose advice he sought when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2000.

Watada's first court-martial, which gained international attention, ended in a mistrial earlier this year. U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle wants time to consider whether a second trial would violate Watada's constitutional rights that protect him from "double jeopardy" that is a guarantee against being twice put to trial for the same offense.

"This Court has not been presented any evidence showing that Petitioner's double jeopardy claim lacks merit," Settle wrote. "On the contrary, the record indicates that Petitioner's double jeopardy claim is meritous."

For Settle, another key issue is whether a civilian court has the right to step in and block a military trial. Settle said that, as a general rule, civilian courts should not step in to rule on military trials. But in this case, all of the appeals to military courts had been exhausted, so a civilian judge could become involved.