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Group sues Calif. over race-based prison lockdowns
Court Watch |
2011/04/28 02:19
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California's use of race as a basis for locking prisoners in their cells after fights amounts to illegal discrimination and should be banned, attorneys representing inmates said in a class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday.
The policy unfairly punishes innocent inmates simply because they have the same color skin as those involved in the violence, the nonprofit Prison Law Office said in its suit, filed in federal court in Sacramento.
Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said lockdowns are sometimes necessary to protect safety and security. It is not the department's policy to base lockdowns and other restrictions solely on race or ethnicity, she said.
However, a proposed revision to the department's lockdown policy says inmates often organize themselves based on race or geographical area. The policy acknowledges that some uninvolved inmates may be affected, but it is the department's goal to get them back to a normal routine as soon as possible.
Rebekah Evenson, an attorney with the Berkeley-based Prison Law Office, said the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a similar argument in 2005 when it told the state to end its policy of housing inmates based on their race. The high court and other states have found that such race-based policies encourage violence by splitting inmates along racial lines, Evenson said.
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Decisions for Daniels as he weighs White House bid
Breaking Legal News |
2011/04/27 09:19
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As Mitch Daniels, the Republican governor of Indiana who last year called for a "truce on the so-called social issues," approaches his deadline for deciding whether to run for president, state lawmakers have put on his desk a pair of showcase conservative ideas.
In the final days of the state's legislative session, lawmakers approved plans to create the nation's broadest private school voucher system and make Indiana the first state to cut off all government funding for Planned Parenthood.
Daniels has pushed the voucher program, but the Planned Parenthood measure could present a political predicament for him as he nears a decision on whether he will run for president.
The governor has said it's a decision he'll make after lawmakers adjourn for the year, but he told The Indianapolis Star Thursday that he would not have an announcement this weekend even though the legislative session ends Friday. Spokeswoman Jane Jankowski confirmed Daniels' comments to The Associated Press but said he was unavailable for comment.
The Indiana House approved both ideas Wednesday, sending them to Daniels to decide what to do next.
The Planned Parenthood measure is a significant victory for the anti-abortion movement and would cut the $3 million in federal money the state distributes to the Planned Parenthood organization for family planning and health programs. It also ban abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy unless there is a substantial threat to the woman's life or health and requires women seeking an abortion be told that life begins at conception and that doctors performing abortions have admitting privileges in a nearby hospital.
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Conn. high court hears death penalty appeal
Law Center |
2011/04/25 09:20
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A lawyer told the state Supreme Court yesterday that his client’s death penalty case was the weakest one ever to go before the high court, alleging that the jury was biased and that key evidence was improperly withheld from the trial.
Justices heard the appeal of former Torrington resident Eduardo Santiago, 31, who prosecutors say agreed in 2000 to kill a West Hartford man in exchange for a pink-striped snowmobile with a broken clutch. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2005 after a jury convicted him, despite no clear evidence that he was the one who pulled the rifle trigger.
Two other men are serving life prison sentences for the killing of Joseph Niwinski, 45, who was shot in the head while sleeping in his home.
Santiago’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher, told the Supreme Court that there was no way a reasonable jury could have condemned Santiago. The defense presented 25 mitigating factors, including Santiago’s troubled childhood, for jurors to consider against the death penalty, while the state based its argument for execution on one aggravating factor, that Niwinski was killed in a murder-for-hire plot.
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Court close to seating Blagojevich jury
Breaking Legal News |
2011/04/25 09:19
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Jury selection in the retrial of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is entering the home stretch after dragging on for longer than expected.
Thursday should be the last day of questioning of would-be jurors by U.S. District Judge James Zagel. He told attorneys Wednesday that opening arguments would take place Monday.
After a week of jury selection, 42 people are in the pool of potential jurors. Zagel says he only needs a few more before picking the final 12 jurors and six alternates.
One person the judge agreed to dismiss was a woman who had tickets to "The Oprah Winfrey Show." She had worried jury duty would force her to miss it.
Another person bumped was a school teacher who the judge said displayed "terrible grammar" in his questionnaire. |
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Apple hit by lawsuit over in-app purchases by kids
Corporate Governance |
2011/04/20 09:20
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Apple is facing a lawsuit from a Pennsylvania man whose 9-year-old daughter racked up $200 in charges buying "Zombie Toxin" and other game items on her iPod. The lawsuit seeks class-action status, saying Garen Meguerian of Phoenixville is among many people with bill shock after children went on buying sprees in iPhone, iPad and iPod games. These games are typically free to download, but players can buy items that speed up the game. An Associated Press story in December highlighted the issue. In many cases, it appeared that children bought items such as "Smurfberries" from "Smurfs' Village" without knowing they were spending real money. ITunes didn't ask for a password for in-game purchases if it had been entered within the previous 15 minutes for any reason. This meant that parents could download a free app, hand over their devices to their kids, and later find big charges on their iTunes accounts. Apple reversed the charges of complaining customers. It also tightened its password policy with a software update in March. Entering the password outside an app no longer triggers a password-free period for in-app purchases, which now have a separate 15-minute timer. Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said the company does not comment on pending litigation. |
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SUTTS, STROSBERG LLP FILES CLASS ACTION AGAINST ALANGE ENERGY CORP
Class Action |
2011/04/18 09:54
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A class action has been commenced in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on behalf of all investors who acquired shares of Alange Energy Corp. during the period August 30, 2010 to and including January 12, 2011. The plaintiff alleges that the defendants engaged in violations of Ontario's Securities Act and the common law.
The plaintiff has retained Sutts, Strosberg LLP to prosecute the class action.
The plaintiff alleges that throughout the Class Period, the defendants misrepresented its daily production of oil that was reported and disseminated to the public.
On January 13, 2011, Alange disclosed that it overstated its daily production of oil by as much as 39 per cent. After the disclosure, Alange's share price declined by more than 37 per cent on trading volume of more than 100 million shares.
Jay Strosberg, a partner of Sutts, Strosberg LLP said, "The question that is being asked is how could a company with experienced management so significantly overstate the amount of oil that it was producing?"
Sutts, Strosberg LLP pioneered securities class actions in Ontario. As a result of resolving class actions such as YBM Magnex, Southwestern Resources, Atlas Cold Storage, CV Technologies and NovaGold Resources; Sutts, Strosberg LLP has recovered more than $150 million for its clients in securities class action alone. Please visit the Sutts, Strosberg LLP website www.strosbergco.com and www.aleclassaction.com for more information about the Alange class
.
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Apple Hit with Class Action Lawsuit over In-App Purchases
Class Action |
2011/04/18 09:52
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Apple’s in-app purchasing policies have been challenged by a Pennsylvania man, Garen Meguerian, who claims that the Cupertino-based technology firm’s concerned policies are supporting unauthorized purchases.
Garen Meguerian, a father of two girls, filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple in a Northern California district court, claiming that Apple unlawfully targets children and entices them to purchase expensive virtual goods from the iTunes App Store.
Meguerian says that Apple’s in-app purchasing policies allowed his nine-year-old daughter to purchase virtual goods worth roughly $200 without permission.
Explaining the problem, Meguerian says that after entering a password to download an app a user gets a fifteen-minute window to make in-app purchases without entering the password again.
Meguerian adds that the in-app purchase policies allow "unlawful exploitation" of children and their parents’ wallets.
This is not the first time when Apple is feeling the brunt of parents’ criticism over its in-app purchasing policies. A few months back, the Washington Post reported that an eight-year-old child racked up $1,400 in in-app charges while playing Capcom's "Smurfs' Village" game |
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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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