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MMR class action on verge of collapse
International | 2007/06/09 08:40

Long-running, class action-style litigation brought against big drug companies by parents who claim that their children were injured by the triple-jab vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, appears on the point of collapse.

The High Court judge overseeing the case said yesterday that he would be recommending that the "group litigation" status given to the claims should be ended, because of the small number of claimants who now had the public funding necessary to pursue their cases.



Jefferson pleads not guilty to bribery
Breaking Legal News | 2007/06/08 07:46

Democratic Rep. William Jefferson, accused of hiding $90,000 in bribe money in his freezer, pleaded not guilty on Friday to making and taking payoffs for helping to arrange business deals in Africa. In court, a lawyer for the Louisiana lawmaker entered a not guilty plea to all 16 counts of racketeering, soliciting bribes, fraud, money laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis set a trial date of January 16, 2008, for Jefferson, a member of Congress since 1991 whose district includes New Orleans.

The judge ordered Jefferson to surrender his passport and post a $100,000 bond. Ellis said he would allow Jefferson unrestricted travel between the Washington area and Louisiana, but he must get the judge's approval for other trips.

Jefferson was accused of soliciting millions of dollars in bribes from nearly a dozen companies.

The business ventures included telecommunications deals in Nigeria and Ghana, oil concessions in Equatorial Guinea, satellite transmission contracts in Botswana, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo, and a Nigerian sugar plant.

According to the indictment, an FBI witness gave Jefferson $100,000 in cash intended as a bribe for an unnamed Nigerian official in 2005.

It said Jefferson put in his home freezer $90,000 of the cash, which was separated into amounts of $10,000, wrapped in aluminum foil and concealed inside various frozen food containers.

Representative Jefferson has not responded directly to the indictment, but his lawyer, Robert Trout, stated that his client was innocent and would "fight this indictment and clear his name." Acknowledging the comprehensive investigation carried out against his client, as detailed in the 94-page indictment, Trout pointed out that legislative action was not involved. "There is no suggestion that he promised anyone any appropriations," said Trout. "There were no earmarks. There were no government contracts."

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi expressed some concern over the allegations. "The charges in the indictment against Congressman Jefferson are extremely serious," said Pelosi. "While Mr. Jefferson, just as any other citizen, must be considered innocent until proven guilty, if these charges are proven true, they constitute an egregious and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power."

If found guilty of the charges ultimately, Representative Jefferson faces a maximum sentence of 235 years.



Ex-Enron lawyer seeks dismissal of SEC suit
Securities | 2007/06/08 06:58

A former Enron Corp. lawyer asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit in which the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission accuses him of helping ex-chief financial officer Andrew Fastow hide losses at the energy trader. Jordan Mintz, one-time top lawyer in Fastow's finance division, filed the dismissal request Tuesday in Houston. Mintz and former deputy general counsel Rex Rogers are accused of failing to publicly disclose the extent of Enron's use of partnerships Fastow controlled and the money he made from them.

Rogers argues the agency waited too long after Enron's 2001 collapse to sue him. Mintz says lawyers told him Fastow's dealings were properly disclosed.

Fifteen ex-Enron executives pleaded guilty to crimes in the conspiracy that destroyed Enron, once the world's largest energy trader. Neither Rogers nor Mintz has been criminally charged.



US quarantine laws need updating: CDC director
Law Center | 2007/06/08 06:38

Dr. Julie Gerberding, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), testified  before the US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Wednesday in the wake of a tuberculosis scare that US interstate and foreign quarantine regulations needs to be codified to reflect up-to-date disease containment methods such as isolation and quarantine. Gerberding said that "more explicit due process protections for written orders and an administrative review hearing" were necessary, as well as expanding the availability and reporting of ill passengers on aircraft. Gerberding also emphasized the need to tighten health security at ports of entry by increasing information sharing, detection equipment, and medically-trained staff.

Gerberding's recommendations follow an ongoing investigation of US citizen Andrew Speaker who traveled from Italy back into the United States by the way of the Czech Republic and Canada despite being instructed to cancel all his flight plans following a diagnosis of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB). Speaker also testified at the hearing by phone. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the CDC had requested that the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detain the patient upon his re-entry into the US, but according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a Border Patrol agent ignored the flag and allowed Speaker to reenter the US. He remains in quarantine under the authority of the Denver County health officials.



Immigration reform falls to polarized politics
Practice Focuses | 2007/06/08 04:46

"The reality is most people are just desperate to see a solution. If this goes down, the opposition is not offering an alternative and that means the problem is still an issue," said Pete Brodnitz, a Democratic pollster. "We're in a period where people are looking to see leadership and progress." All sides will find reasons to explain away what happened: Democrats blame Republicans for demanding too much and delivering too few votes. Republicans blame Democrats for being unwilling to take their views into account and for opposing details of a guest-worker program. Democrats blame the president for failing to bring his troops into line. Proponents blame anti-immigration forces for whipping up opposition.

There is truth in all their allegations. That this bill was imperfect is without dispute. Only a few politicians - Bush and McCain among them - were strongly vocal in urging passage, but they, too, had reservations about the compromise. House Democratic leaders were tepid in their support, demanding Republicans bring at least 60 votes for the measure in order to offer their freshman members from marginal districts the cover to vote "no."

Reid warned Thursday hours before the bill collapsed that he would not seek to revive the issue. Later, he pledged to work hard "in the next few weeks" to resurrect a deal. Perhaps, once people step back from what happened, they will try again. Perhaps they will succeed on their third try.

Loss of nerve

No one ever believed passing a comprehensive immigration reform bill would be easy. As McCain said in Tuesday's Republican debate in New Hampshire, "It's our job to do the hard things, not the easy things." But for a long time, Washington politicians have flinched at hard things, preferring to engage in political combat aimed at gaining partisan advantage first.

There is little time for progress on difficult issues before Bush's lame-duck status reduces his power even more and before the 2008 presidential and congressional campaigns turn the country into a partisan battlefield. Immigration provides one clear test for the system before that reality locks in. So far the system is losing.

If there is no attempt to revive the immigration bill, the issue will become fodder throughout the long campaign ahead. Already it is shaping the Republican presidential debate, with McCain on one side and his leading opponents all on the other.

Public opinion suggests an electorate open to, but by no means wildly enthusiastic about, comprehensive reform that provides the 12 million illegal immigrants a path to citizenship, but only if there is an effective border security plan already in place.

Republicans are clearly divided, but not perhaps as the heated rhetoric of the campaign trail suggests. The most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that, on the question of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, the public narrowly approves: 52 percent to 44 percent. Democrats back such a plan by 57 percent to 38 percent and independents by 51 percent to 45 percent. Republicans are opposed, by 53 percent to 43 percent - significant but not overwhelming.



Federman & Sherwood Files Securities Class Action
Class Action | 2007/06/08 03:49

Thursday after the bell, Federman & Sherwood announced that On June 1, 2007, a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada against Shuffle Master Inc. The complaint alleged violations of federal securities laws, including allegations of issuing a series of material misrepresentations to the market which had the effect of artificially inflating the market price. The class period is from December 22, 2006 through March 12, 2007. SHFL closed Thursday's regular trading session at $17.51, down $2.10 or 10.71%. During the extended session, stock further tumbled $0.16 or 0.91% and was at $17.35.



Bank of America Calls Dutch Court Action "Shocking"
Court Watch | 2007/06/08 02:54

In its fight for LaSalle Bank, Bank of America [ticker: BAC] said in an appeal filing that it was “shocking” that the Dutch court would disregard fundamental European Union law.

The Charlotte, N.C.-based bank has accused a Dutch court of unlawful action by blocking its $21 billion purchase of Dutch banking giant ABN Amro’s U.S. unit.

In support of calls from investors, last month a Dutch commercial court froze the deal between Bank of America and LaSalle Bank in order to allow for a shareholder vote.

The Dutch Supreme Court is hearing appeals by both ABN and Bank of America over the frozen deal and will rule later this month or in early July on whether the sale can take place.



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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet.
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