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NY top court allows private securities claims
Court Feed News |
2011/12/20 18:17
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Enforcement by the state attorney general against securities fraud doesn't pre-empt private common-law claims of negligence against investment companies, New York's top court ruled Tuesday.
The Court of Appeals rejected J.P. Morgan Investment Management's argument that New York's Martin Act gives the attorney general exclusive authority over fraudulent securities and investment practices. The court said Assured Guaranty (UK) Ltd. can sue J.P. Morgan.
"We agree with the attorney general that the purpose of the Martin Act is not impaired by private common-law actions that have a legal basis independent of the statute because proceedings by the attorney general and private action have the same goal — combating fraud and deception in securities transactions," Judge Victoria Graffeo wrote.
Assured claimed breach of fiduciary duty and gross negligence, alleging J.P. Morgan invested heavily in risky mortgage-backed securities while committing to a conservative investment policy for reinsurance company Orkney RE II PLC, whose obligations Assured guaranteed. After the market crashed, Assured had to cover Orkney losses.
"Here, the plain text of the Martin Act, while granting the attorney general investigatory and enforcement powers and prescribing various penalties, does not expressly mention or otherwise contemplate the elimination of common-law claims," Graffeo wrote. The unanimous ruling upheld a midlevel court, which had reversed a judge. |
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Operative gets prison for bilking NYC mayor
Court Feed News |
2011/12/19 18:10
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A political operative convicted of bamboozling Mayor Michael Bloomberg out of hundreds of thousands of dollars was sentenced to prison Monday un a case that brought the billionaire politician to the witness stand and gave the public a behind-the-scenes look at his campaign and City Hall.
John Haggerty agreed to pay $750,000 in restitution to Bloomberg in addition to his prison term of 1 1/3 to 4 years.
Haggerty, a veteran Republican campaign consultant, was convicted in October after a trial that jurors called a crash course in the workings of politics. Besides the business-mogul-turned-mayor, the case drew in the state's third-largest political party and featured a coterie of Bloomberg insiders sketching their roles in his political, philanthropic and business affairs.
"Since starting my career, I've worked hard to make a reputation in the world of politics and government as a dedicated, honorable individual. Today, my reputation is destroyed," Haggerty told the judge in a strong voice. "If I could do it all over again, I would certainly do it much differently than I did."
He walked out of court briskly, without handcuffs, after state Supreme Court Justice Ronald Zweibel pronounced a sentence he said he felt necessary "to restore the public's confidence in the electoral process and to serve as a deterrent." Haggerty's lawyers said they planned to ask an appeals court to let him out on bail during a planned appeal. |
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Court Rules in Favor of Davenport Strip Club
Court Feed News |
2011/12/16 17:27
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The Iowa Court of Appeals has ruled that a Davenport strip club can open, rejecting city arguments that an ordinance regulating adult businesses prohibits it.
KWQC-TV reports Chorus Line applied for a license to operate in 2009 but the city denied its request because the club would be right next to another business that is mainly a lingerie shop.
The ordinance prohibits two adult entertainment businesses from opening within 500 feet or on the same lot. The lingerie business was not required to get an adult entertainment license and the court sided with the strip club in its ruling on Wednesday.
City officials say the court got it wrong and they will consider an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court. |
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Wisconsin court accepts wind farm challenge
Court Feed News |
2011/12/15 19:30
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The state Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Wisconsin regulators properly approved a huge wind farm in southern Minnesota.
Regulators in Wisconsin and Minnesota gave Wisconsin Power & Light permission in 2009 to build the $450 million farm just north of Albert Lea.
Two Wisconsin groups representing energy consumers contend the Wisconsin Public Service Commission should have applied stiffer approval criteria to the project. The commission has countered that such standards don't apply to out-of-state facilities.
The 4th District Court of Appeals asked the Supreme Court to take the case directly. Online court records indicate the high court has accepted the case, with the first briefs due in mid-January. |
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Mass. court OKs release of Bishop inquest report
Court Feed News |
2011/12/13 18:15
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The highest court in Massachusetts has sided with The Boston Globe in a battle to release a report and transcript of an inquest into the 1986 shooting death of the brother of an Alabama professor accused of killing three colleagues in a 2010 shooting rampage.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday that the inquest materials can be released, but said Amy Bishop, her family, prosecutors and others can still argue to show "good cause" why the materials should remain sealed.
After Bishop was charged in Alabama, a Massachusetts judge conducted an inquest into her brother's death. A grand jury later indicted Bishop for murder.
The high court outlined new rules for the release of inquest materials, saying they should become public after prosecutors decide whether to bring criminal charges. |
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Condemned inmate gets new trial after juror tweet
Court Feed News |
2011/12/08 10:56
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The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out a death row inmate's murder conviction and said he deserves a new trial because one juror slept and another tweeted during court proceedings.
Erickson Dimas-Martinez's attorneys had appealed his 2010 murder conviction because the juror sent the tweets despite the judge's instruction not to post on the Internet or communicate with anyone about the case. The lawyers also complained that another juror slept.
In one tweet, juror Randy Franco wrote: "Choices to be made. Hearts to be broken...We each define the great line." Less than an hour before the jury announced its verdict, he tweeted: "It's over."
Other tweets by Franco made passing references to the trial, with posts such as, "the coffee sucks here" and "Court. Day 5. Here we go again."
The court said Franco, known as Juror 2 in court documents, violated general instructions to not discuss the case. |
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