Southern California's Metrolink system and Connex Railroad filed court papers Wednesday accepting the maximum $200 million in liability for a 2008 head-on collision between a commuter train and a freight that killed 25 people and injured more than 100.

The sum is the maximum for a train accident under federal law, said Keith Millhouse, board chairman of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority.

"The rationale is this is the maximum that could be recovered in any event and will expeditiously get the maximum compensation to the victims and their families," Millhouse said.

Investigators believe the commuter train's engineer was texting when he ran a red light and collided head on with a Union Pacific freight train in the Chatsworth area of the San Fernando Valley on Sept. 12, 2008.

Engineer Robert Sanchez, who was among those killed, was provided by Connex.

The court, which has to approve the settlement, would distribute the fund to victims.

The filing noted that 109 lawsuits, almost all involving passengers, are pending in Los Angeles County Superior Court and asked that all passenger claims be consolidated into the federal proceeding.

The ACLU of Virginia is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court ruling that bans alcohol advertising in Virginia's college newspapers.

In a 2-1 ruling in April, the 4th U.S. District Court of Appeals concluded that the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission ban is a minimally restrictive approach to combat problem drinking.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition on Monday asking the high court to review the ruling, saying a ban on truthful advertising is only constitutional if it advances "important societal goals."

ACLU legal director Rebecca Glenberg said the ban doesn't meet that standard because there is no evidence that banning the ads diminishes underage or binge drinking on campus.

A U.S. Appeals Court ruled on Tuesday against New York City in its long-running dispute with India and Mongolia over whether they owe about $47 million in taxes on property that houses staff assigned to consulates and United Nations missions.

The demands by the city that hosts the United Nations headquarters for property taxes from several foreign governments had become an irritant in diplomatic relations, according to a U.S. Department of State notice cited by the three-judge panel.

The June 2009 notice granted an exemption from property taxes on property owned by foreign governments and used to accommodate their personnel in the United States. The City of New York argued the properties should be taxable, despite the department's order under the Foreign Missions Act.

A man who has been trying for decades to take back his guilty plea in a notorious child molestation case won a huge moral victory Monday when a federal appeals court encouraged prosecutors to reopen their investigation.

Although the judges on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals denied Jesse Friedman's request to withdraw his plea, saying there was no legal basis to allow that, the panel criticized interrogation techniques by investigators in the 1988 case and actions by prosecutors and the trial judge.

"The record here suggests 'a reasonable likelihood' that Jesse Friedman was wrongfully convicted," the judges said in a 31-page decision. "While the law may require us to deny relief in this case, it does not compel us to do so without voicing some concern regarding the process by which the petitioner's conviction was obtained."

A teenage Friedman and his father, Arnold, pleaded guilty in 1988 to molesting 13 children during computer classes in the basement of their home in Great Neck, on Long Island. Jesse Friedman, now 40, was paroled in 2001; his father committed suicide in prison in 1995. The pair were charged with several hundred counts of sex abuse.

A Northern California appeals court has struck down a shopping mall's policy barring people from approaching strangers to chitchat.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal this week said the rules at Roseville's Westfield Galleria violate the California Constitution's free speech guarantee.

The mall prohibited people in its common areas from approaching people they didn't know to talk unless the conversation was about business involving the mall or its tenants. The case arose after mall officials issued a citizen's arrest of a 27-year-old pastor who tried to talk about his faith.

The appeals court says the policy effectively bars shoppers from chatting about the weather or offering directions.

A spokeswoman for Westfield says the mall is considering appealing to the California Supreme Court.

A federal appeals court in New York City has thrown out a decision that barred Congress from withholding funds from the activist group ACORN.

The ruling Friday reverses a decision by a district court. That judge found Congress had violated ACORN's rights by punishing it without a trial.

ACORN describes itself as an advocate for low-income and minority home buyers and residents.

Critics say the group has engaged in voter registration fraud and embezzlement. They say it has violated the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities.

ACORN's full name is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.