The latest in a tangled series of state and federal court decisions has halted New York state's plan to collect taxes on cigarettes sold by Native American retailers to non-Indian customers.

A state appellate court judge in western New York on Wednesday restored an order stopping the collections, Gov. David Paterson's office said. An earlier order had been lifted Monday by a state judge, a decision appealed by the Seneca and Cayuga nations.

Those tribes won a separate federal court order Tuesday temporarily barring collections against them. But the state had said it would start imposing the $4.35 per pack levy on other reservation retailers starting Wednesday.

"We are disappointed today that the appellate division has stayed the implementation of our statute and regulations with respect to licensed stamping agents," Paterson spokeswoman Jessica Bassett said. "Despite this ruling, we believe the state's legal arguments are sound and we believe that ultimately the state will prevail in this matter."

The Indians' challenges are in multiple courts because they're attacking the taxation on several levels. The Senecas' federal court suit, which the Cayugas joined, seeks to invalidate the state tax law by arguing New York lacks jurisiction to regulate Indian nations within their territories. The tribes' state court challenge, meanwhile, opposes the expedited way New York tax officials chose to adopt the regulations to implement the law, not the law itself.

Attempts to collect the tax in the 1990s resulted in sometimes-violent protests and fires on Seneca territories, which at one point shut down the New York State Thruway where it bisects the Senecas' Cattaraugus reservation. State officials have been reluctant to push the issue since.

But with New York facing a fiscal crisis, the governor and state lawmakers vowed in June to go after what they view as a potential $200 million revenue source by requiring cigarette wholesalers, effective Sept. 1, to prepay the sales taxes before supplying reservation stores.

A federal appeals court has denied former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy's request to be released from prison on bond.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta turned down Scrushy's request late Tuesday.

Scrushy has served almost three years of a more than six year term for bribery and other charges. He was convicted along with former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman in 2006 in a government corruption case. The court had denied an earlier request from Scrushy that he be released from prison, saying he was a flight risk.

Scrushy had renewed the request in July, saying he is broke and does not have the means to flee.

Tully Rinckey PLLC is pleased to announce that partner Steven L. Herrick has been selected as a 2010 New York Super Lawyer.  Herrick, who also serves as the firm’s Director of Legal Services in Washington, D.C., was recognized for his work in the area of business and corporate law. 

Super Lawyers selects attorneys using a rigorous, multiphase process.  Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research.  Each candidate is evaluated on twelve indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement.  That means that Herrick was hand-picked by his colleagues as an attorney who is well respected in the legal community.

“It’s an honor to be included on this prestigious list,” says Herrick.  “It’s hard enough to find a good lawyer.  This recognition is verification that people who need legal representation have come to the right place.”

Only five-percent of attorneys in Upstate New York are named to the list.  The publication is intended to serve as a guide for consumers researching legal counsel.  There is no connection between advertising dollars and being published on the list.  In fact, Super Lawyers maintains a strict separation between the selection process and advertising. 

With thirty years of experience in all facets of litigation, Steven L. Herrick, Esq., provides representation to clients across a broad spectrum of employment-related matters, corporate and commercial law.  Mr. Herrick is admitted to practice in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal, District of Columbia and Second Circuits and the United States District Courts for Northern, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into certain types of stock trade orders that could be distorting share prices and trading volume, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The SEC is investigating the practice called "quote stuffing" where exceptionally large numbers of orders to buy or sell stocks are placed and canceled almost immediately, the Journal said citing anonymous sources. It is also reviewing another practice known as "sub-penny pricing," where orders are priced in increments smaller than a penny, but are far from the price at which the stock is trading.

Quote stuffing and sub-penny pricing have become more prevalent as high-frequency computer trading has become the dominant part of the stock market in recent years, the Journal said.

The SEC could also be trying to determine if the pair of practices played a role in the May 6 "flash crash," a panicked disruption in trading that saw the Dow Jones industrials drop hundreds of points in minutes.

The Journal said the SEC wants to figure out if the practices artificially drive stock prices lower or help make it appear there is more trading volume than there truly is, which would allow sellers to profit from perceived rising demand. Manipulating share prices to benefit from the distortions would be considered illegal.

Supporters of a voter initiative that could help bring cheaper prescription drugs to North Dakota are hoping a legal technicality won't keep them from getting the issue placed on the ballot.

At issue is a state law that requires most pharmacies to have a pharmacist as their majority owner. Those who want it repealed say the change will allow large retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Walgreen Co. to sell cheaper prescription drugs from their own store pharmacies. Opponents fear the measure could drive rural pharmacies out of business.

North Dakota is the only state in the nation with such a law, according to industry officials.

It's not certain whether the voter initiative will land on the ballot. Petitions in support of the measure were circulated without a list of the proposal's sponsors, an apparent violation of the requirements in the state constitution.

An attorney representing the supporters asked the state's Supreme Court on Wednesday to overlook what he called an honest mistake.

A New Jersey man who was a chemist for a suburban Chicago-based paint company has pleaded guilty to stealing trade secrets.

Federal prosecutors say 54-year-old David Yen Lee of Jersey City, N.J., pleaded guilty Wednesday. They say he admits to stealing formulas and information that was valued at up to $20 million. He formerly was a technical director at Valspar Corp.

Prosecutors say Lee stole the information from Valspar as he was preparing to work for a competitor in China. Lee formerly lived in Arlington Heights. Federal officials say he stole secret formulas for paints and coatings from Valspar's offices in Wheeling.

The Justice Department, as promised, moved Tuesday to block a court ruling preventing use of government funds for embryonic stem cell research.

The lower-court decision that bars the use of publicly funded stem-cell work had stunned the Obama administration, which had vowed to appeal.

"The government is seeking a stay of the court's injunction to prevent the irreparable human and financial harm that could occur if these life-saving research projects are forced to abruptly shut down," said Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler.

"The court's order causes irrevocable harm to the millions of extremely sick or injured people who stand to benefit from continuing research as well as to the taxpayers who have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on this research," a Justice Department statement said.

The Justice lawyers filed the notice of appeal and the proposed stay with U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth, who had granted the injunction sought by plaintiffs opposed to research in which embryos had been destroyed.