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Appeals court affirms Petters conviction, sentence
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/12/09 21:11
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A federal appeals court Friday upheld the 2009 conviction and 50-year prison sentence of Minnesota businessman Tom Petters, who was found guilty of orchestrating a $3.7 billion Ponzi scheme.
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Petters got a fair trial.
A three-judge panel rejected defense claims that the U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle prevented his attorneys from presenting a complete defense by restricting their ability to question a key prosecution witness, Larry Reynolds, a convicted felon and disbarred lawyer who was in the witness protection program, about his links to organized crime.
The panel also said the judge acted properly when he rejected proposed jury instructions that would have highlighted Petters' claims that he was an unwitting participant in a fraud conceived by others, and that he acted in good faith on advice from his attorney.
It ruled that the judge did not err by denying a change in venue due to the extensive media coverage the case generated. The panel also rejected defense claims of procedural errors in Petters' sentencing.
A jury found Petters guilty of 20 counts of wire fraud, mail fraud, money laundering and conspiracy.
According to testimony and documents presented at trial, Petters Co. Inc. used fake purchase orders and phony bank records to dupe investors into financing what they were told would be purchases of electronics such as big-screen televisions that PCI would resell to discount retailers such as Sam's Club and Costco. In reality, the prosecution contended, the merchandise never existed and the sales never took place. |
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NYC lawyer: Boy a menace before shopping cart case
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/12/07 17:15
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Officials say a 13-year-old had a history of troubling behavior before he helped push a shopping cart that fell on a woman from a fourth-floor walkway at a New York City mall.
A city lawyer told a judge Tuesday the boy tried to run schoolmates over on his bike, threw things in the lunchroom and hit his mother's cat.
The attorney says the boy joked around at a police precinct after his Oct. 30 arrest and expressed more concern about his sneakers than about the woman who was seriously hurt.
The boy's lawyer says the teen needs and wants counseling for his behavioral problems.
The boy was charged as a juvenile and pleaded guilty in Family Court last month to assault. His sentencing was postponed Tuesday until later this month. |
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High court to hear suit over Cheney event arrest
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/12/05 18:06
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The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear an appeal from Secret Service agents who say they should be shielded from a lawsuit over their arrest of a Colorado man who confronted Vice President Dick Cheney.
The justices will review a federal appeals court decision to allow Steven Howards of Golden, Colo., to pursue his claim that the arrest violated his free speech rights. Howards was detained by Cheney's security detail in 2006 after he told Cheney of his opposition to the war in Iraq.
Howards also touched Cheney on the shoulder, then denied doing so under questioning. Appellate judges in Denver said the inconsistency gave the agents reason to arrest Howards.
Even so, the appeals court said Howards could sue the agents for violating his rights — an unusual twist that the agents and the Obama administration said conflicts with other appeals court decisions and previous high court rulings in similar cases.
Justice Elena Kagan is not taking part in the case, probably because she worked on it while serving in the Justice Department. |
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Ala court voids $8.4M verdict against GE Capital
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/12/02 19:01
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The Alabama Supreme Court has reversed an $8.6 million verdict against GE Capital Aviation Services in a lawsuit filed by Pemco World Air Services Inc.
The justices ruled Friday that a lower court was wrong when it refused to overturn a verdict returned by jurors in 2009 in Dale County. The Tampa, Fla.-based, Pemco has a plant in Dothan.
Pemco refurbishes airplanes, and GE Capital leases and finances aircraft. The companies accused each other of breach of contract and fraud in 2004 over a contract to convert Boeing 737 owned by GE Capital from passenger planes into freighters.
Jurors sided with Pemco, but the Supreme Court says evidence didn't support the claim. The justices sent the case back to Dale County for a new trial. |
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Court to look at overtime pay for drug sales reps
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/11/28 16:01
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The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether pharmaceutical sales representatives can bill their employers for overtime, a case that could affect the pay of tens of thousands of people.
The court said Monday that it will review a federal appeals court ruling that held the sales reps do not qualify for overtime under federal labor law. Other appeals courts have ruled differently and the pharmaceutical industry joined in the call for Supreme Court review.
The sales reps meet with physicians in the hope that doctors will prescribe one company's medicine over another's. Two salesmen who once worked for drug maker GlaxoSmithKline filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that they were not paid for the 10 to 20 hours they worked each week on average outside the normal business day. |
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NY top court clears probe of inflated appraisals
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/11/22 17:46
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New York's top court has cleared the state attorney general to pursue allegations that First American Corp. and subsidiary eAppraiseIT inflated property appraisals under pressure from client Washington Mutual.
The Court of Appeals says federal regulations do not pre-empt state claims alleging fraud and violations of real estate appraisal rules.
Then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo brought the 2007 civil suit alleging the practice contributed to the national subprime mortgage crisis.
Washington Mutual collapsed in 2008 and became the nation's largest bank failure ever.
Six top court judges ruled that Congress envisioned "a robust partnership with the states" in aiming to prevent real estate appraisal abuse.
In a dissent, Judge Susan Read says the suit challenges a bank's federally regulated mortgage practices. |
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