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Lawyer: First Toyota case to go to trial in 2013
Legal Career News |
2011/10/12 15:58
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A lawyer says a case against Toyota Motor Corp. that was dismissed by a federal judge in California last month has been refiled and will be the first to reach trial out of hundreds of sudden acceleration complaints.
Plaintiffs' attorney Mark Robinson said Tuesday that the case of two Utah residents will go to trial in February 2013. They were killed when their Toyota Camry slammed into a wall last year.
The trial had been one of several bellwether cases expected to determine how other lawsuits would proceed. But U.S. District Judge James Selna ruled in September that he didn't have jurisdiction because a certain claim in the lawsuit could not reach $50,000 in damages.
Robinson says he has removed the Toyota dealer from the case so it can move forward. |
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Court won't hear gay dads' birth certificate case
Legal Career News |
2011/10/12 10:56
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The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a gay couple who want both of their names to appear on the Louisiana birth certificate of the child they adopted. The court said Tuesday it won't review a federal appeals court ruling against the adoptive parents. The appeals court ruled that the Louisiana registrar's insistence that only one father's name can go on the certificate does not violate the child's right to equal protection under the law or deny legal recognition of the adoption by both men. The adoption occurred in New York, which allows same-sex couples to adopt. Louisiana says its birth certificate policy reflects state law prohibiting adoption by unmarried couples, whether heterosexual or gay. |
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High court to decide double jeopardy question
Legal Career News |
2011/10/11 10:20
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The Supreme Court will decide whether a jury forewoman's offhand comment that the jury was unable to make a decision on a murder charge means the suspect can't be retried on that charge.
The high court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal from Alex Blueford, whose murder trial in Arkansas ended in a hung jury.
The jury forewoman told the judge before he declared a mistrial that the jury had voted unanimously against capital murder and first-degree murder. The jury had deadlocked on a lesser charge, manslaughter, which caused the judge to declare a mistrial.
Blueford argued the forewoman's statement, said in open court, meant that he has been acquitted of capital murder and first-degree murder.
Prosecutors decided to retry Blueford on all three charges. He contended he could not be retried on capital murder and first-degree murder because of Fifth Amendment double jeopardy protections.
Arkansas courts have disagreed. The high court will now review that decision.
Blueford was on trial for killing his girlfriend's 20-month-old son. |
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Hogan to be new courts administrative officer
Legal Career News |
2011/10/06 16:15
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Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan is the new director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Hogan, a former chief U.S. District Court judge in Washington, will serve a one-year term as the chief administrative officer for the federal court system. He will oversee the federal judiciary's 35,000 employees and its almost $7 billion annual budget. The Judicial Conference of the United States is the principal policymaking body for the federal court system. As its presiding officer, Chief Justice John Roberts selected Hogan for the position. Hogan will begin Oct. 17. He plans to resume work as a senior federal judge after his term ends. The previous director, James Duff, left this summer to become president of the Freedom Forum. |
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High court appears to favor Ala. death row inmate
Legal Career News |
2011/10/04 17:47
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The Supreme Court appeared likely Tuesday to order a new court hearing for an Alabama death row inmate who lost the chance to appeal his death sentence because of a mailroom mix-up at a venerable New York law firm.
Both conservative and liberal justices indicated they would throw out a federal appeals court ruling that relied on the missed deadline to refuse to consider Cory Maples' claims that he received inadequate legal representation, dating back to his trial on charges he gunned down two friends in 1995.
Justice Samuel Alito, a former federal prosecutor, said he did not understand why Alabama fought so hard to deny Maples the right to appeal when the deadline passed "though no fault of his own."
Justice Antonin Scalia was the only member of the court who appeared to agree with the state's argument that Maples' protests are overblown because he was never left without a lawyer. The state also says the role of Maples' lawyers in missing the deadline is unfortunate but nothing the court should correct under its earlier rulings.
Gregory Garre, a former solicitor general who is representing Maples in the Supreme Court, said the earlier legal work for Maples was so bad that it violated the Constitution.
Whatever the shortcomings of Maples' trial lawyers, he appeared to "win the lottery" when two lawyers at Sullivan and Cromwell agreed to represent him for free in his appeals, Garre said. The New York-based firm has 800 lawyers and offices in a dozen cities. |
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Court turns away lawsuit over Obama eligibility
Legal Career News |
2011/10/03 13:40
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The Supreme Court has turned away another challenge to President Barack Obama's eligibility to be president.
The high court on Monday refused without comment to hear a challenge brought by conservative activist Alan Keyes and other members of the American Independent Party. They contend Obama wasn't eligible to be president because he was not born in the U.S., and thus not a citizen. U.S. courts, and the Supreme Court, have previously thrown out similar suits.
Keyes wanted the certification of Obama's victory halted in California until there was documented proof by a state official that he was eligible to be president. The Supreme Court of California threw out the lawsuit. |
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