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Lawyer fees case before Miss. Supreme Court
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/08/04 15:27
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Republican state Auditor Stacy Pickering has asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to declare funds the attorney general collects from lawsuits to be public money and to require the money to all be turned over the Legislature, including what private law firms collect for their work.
Attorney Arthur Jernigan Jr. told the court Wednesday that Pickering has no dispute with Attorney General Jim Hood's hiring of private lawyers to help with litigation. Jernigan said the dispute centers on the legal fees that the firms collect; he contends the money should go to the state.
The Supreme Court heard Pickering's challenge to a judge's decision last year upholding $10 million in fees paid to lawyers for handling a state lawsuit against computer software manufacturer Microsoft Corp.
Microsoft is not a party to Pickering's lawsuit.
Hinds County Chancellor Denise Owens last April ruled against Pickering.
Microsoft reached a $100 million settlement with the state of Mississippi in 2009. It agreed to pay $10 million to private lawyers hired by the attorney general's office to handle the case. |
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Ind. asks court to lift Planned Parenthood order
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/08/02 16:01
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Indiana has asked a federal appeals court to lift a judge's order blocking parts of a new abortion law that cuts some public Planned Parenthood funding. In an appeal filed Monday, Indiana says the issue should be decided by Medicaid officials and not the courts. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the law May 10, temporarily cutting off about $1.4 million to Planned Parenthood of Indiana because it provides abortions. The state is asking the federal appeals court in Chicago to reverse U.S. District Judge Tanya Walton Pratt's June 24 preliminary injunction. Pratt's ruling barred the state from cutting Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood. The appeal came just days after the state complied with Pratt's ruling by giving Planned Parenthood a $6,000 grant. |
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Oklahoma Supreme Court sets hearing in bribery case
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/08/01 15:38
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The Oklahoma Supreme Court has agreed to hear a former state senator's request to dismiss a bribery charge against her and scheduled oral arguments for September.
Former Sen. Debbe Leftwich, D-Oklahoma City, faces bribery charges along with Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Moore. Prosecutors say Terrill offered Leftwich an $80,000-a-year job at the state Medical Examiner's Office in exchange for Leftwich not running for re-election and clearing the way for Republican Rep. Mike Christian of Oklahoma City to run. Christian has not been charged a crime and is expected to be a witness.
Leftwich's attorney, Robert McCampbell, filed a motion to dismiss the charge that maintains Leftwich is exempt from prosecution for alleged wrongdoing in the performance of her professional duties under the speech and debate clause of the Oklahoma Constitution.
The court scheduled oral arguments from her defense, Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater and attorneys for the Oklahoma Senate for Sept. 13, according to an entry posted Thursday on the Supreme Court's website. The entry also says Leftwich's case is on hold until the court makes a decision.
The Senate's attorneys also will have a chance to express lawmakers' concerns about language in a recent Court of Criminal Appeals decision denying Leftwich's motion to dismiss, the entry said. |
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Health care lawsuit reaches Supreme Court
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/07/29 15:34
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A conservative law firm asked the Supreme Court Wednesday to strike down the health care overhaul, challenging the first federal appeals court ruling that upheld President Barack Obama's signature domestic initiative. The appeal filed by the Thomas More Law Center of Ann Arbor, Mich., said Congress overstepped its authority in requiring Americans to purchase health insurance or pay financial penalties. The center said that if the Supreme Court ratifies the law, "the federal government will have absolute and unfettered power to create complex regulatory schemes to fix every perceived problem imaginable and to do so by ordering private citizens to engage in affirmative acts, under penalty of law." Last month, a divided three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati rejected the center's argument in upholding the centerpiece of the law, the insurance requirement. In addition to being the first appeals court ruling on the landmark law, the 6th Circuit's decision also was the first in which a Republican-appointed judge, Jeffrey Sutton, voted to uphold the law. President George W. Bush nominated Sutton. |
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Jeffco Commission chooses to hire California law firm
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/07/27 16:38
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There are 48 hours until the Jefferson County Commission's big decision on whether to file bankruptcy, settle, or wait some more. But the county is already spending money to prepare for what would be the biggest Chapter 9 bankruptcy ever. Tuesday the commission hired bankruptcy expert Kenneth Klee's L.A.-based law firm to consult with the county and represent it if bankruptcy is filed.
The county hasn't heard any response from its creditors to a plan to settle the sewer debt out of court, so they're preparing as if they'll be going into court as early as Thursday.
All 5 commissioners left no doubt they are prepared to file Chapter 9 bankruptcy if they don't see an agreeable settlement.
"Without any meaningful progress by the creditors, I believe this commission has the wherewithall, and the fortitude to do what's necessary and to go ahead and resolve this crisis," Commissioner Jimmie Stephens said.
Part of the reason? They want to protect customers from a 25% rate increase proposed by the receiver and keep $75 million in sewer funds that the receiver wants control of. Both of those could happen Friday if there's no agreement.
"The receiver is going to put a 25% rate increase, and our constituents can't take that," Commissioner Sandra Little-Brown said. "It's a burden on them and this will save them from that, they way to do that is to file bankruptcy." |
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Conn. court: church can't be sued by ex-principal
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/07/26 16:01
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The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Monday that a former Catholic school principal cannot sue the Archdiocese of Hartford on claims she was wrongly fired for not retaliating against a student, who complained about sexual remarks allegedly made by a priest now accused of abusing children.
The high court unanimously overturned a lower court ruling in favor of Patricia Dayner, former principal of St. Hedwig's School in Naugatuck. Justices said Dayner's lawsuit against the archdiocese was barred under the "ministerial exception" to state courts' authority to decide employment cases. The exception is based on the First Amendment right to freedom of religion, and the right of religious organizations to control their own internal affairs.
But the state Supreme Court, in its first ruling on the issue, didn't ban all labor-related lawsuits against religious institutions. Justices adopted the view of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, which ruled in 2008 that courts can decide to step into church employment disputes based on the nature of the complaints and whether court action would intrude on churches' right to decide issues related to doctrine or internal governance.
Federal appeal courts have issued conflicting rulings in ministerial exception cases. The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the issue later this year, when it hears a case involving a teacher at a church-run school in Michigan and decides whether ministerial exception applies to the Americans with Disabilities Act in cases where church workers are deemed secular, and not religious, employees. |
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