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Fugitive Russian lawmaker living in Beverly Hills
Breaking Legal News |
2011/05/28 13:07
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A sensational dispute between Moscow billionaires with a storyline that rivals Hollywood has spilled across international borders: Surveillance photographs showed a fugitive Russian lawmaker living in Beverly Hills, California. Someone tried to hack into computers at his London law firm. And he filed a federal lawsuit in New York accusing his business rivals of trying to force him to return home.
Ashot Egiazaryan, who said he could be killed if he is forced to return to Russia, is fighting to remain in the United States despite a request by Interpol to have him arrested and deported. He came to the U.S. in early September and quickly filed a lawsuit in Cyprus and another in an arbitration court of appeal in London claiming that a politically connected group of Russian tycoons extorted him into surrendering his major stake in the historic Moskva Hotel. The multibillion dollar property sits a few steps from Red Square.
Since then, and after a published interview with The Associated Press in February, Egiazaryan said in court papers he has been subjected to continuing surveillance and a public relations smear campaign. Scotland Yard is currently investigating a report that someone tried to plant sophisticated spyware on a computer that belongs to one of his lawyers, according to a person briefed on the investigation.
Egiazaryan said the lucrative Moskva project was wrested from him in 2009 by prominent Russians including mining magnate Suleiman Kerimov, a billionaire and a member of the Russian senate, and Arkady Rotenberg, a wealthy businessman and the longtime judo partner of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. At Egiazaryan's urging, the Cyprus court temporarily froze about $8 billion in stock owned by two of Kerimov's Cyprus-based companies, OAO Polyus Gold and fertilizer maker OAO Uralkali, one of the world's leading producers of potash. The freeze came at an awkward time for Kerimov, who was in the midst of efforts to build one of the world's largest mining empires.
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Head of Delaware Business Court Joining Law Firm
Breaking Legal News |
2011/05/23 09:00
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The head of Delaware's Court of Chancery, a key venue for matters of corporate law, is taking a job with a California-based law firm.
Chancellor William Chandler III will join Palo Alto-based Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati on June 18. He had announced in April that he was retiring from the bench. In a statement released by the firm Thursday, Chandler said Wilson Sonsini has an outstanding legal practice and one of the most enviable client bases in the nation.
Chandler has served on the chancery court since 1989 and was appointed to the top post of chancellor in 1997.
He has presided over many high-profile cases, involving companies such as Walt Disney Co., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp., News Corp., eBay Inc., Citigroup Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dow Chemical Co.
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Lawyer: Soldier to plead guilty in detainee death
Breaking Legal News |
2011/05/23 08:58
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The lawyer for a mentally ill U.S. soldier accused of killing an Afghan detainee says the soldier will plead guilty to murder in exchange for a substantially reduced prison term.
Attorney James Culp said Sunday that Pfc. David Lawrence of Lawrenceburg, Ind., will enter his plea Wednesday.
Army doctors say Lawrence was mentally ill and didn't realize his conduct was wrong when he allegedly shot and killed a suspected Taliban member jailed by the U.S. in Afghanistan in October.
The Army decided to prosecute Lawrence anyway, saying he was capable of participating in his defense.
Lawrence could have faced execution or life in prison. Culp declined to say how long a prison term the plea agreement calls for.
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SD Supreme Court disciplines circuit judge
Breaking Legal News |
2011/05/19 09:11
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The South Dakota Supreme Court has ruled that Circuit Judge A.P. "Pete" Fuller of Rapid City must retire or undergo a six-month suspension followed by strict probation for misconduct that involved mistreating lawyers, court personnel and others.
The Judicial Qualifications Commission had recommended that Fuller be removed from office or forced to retire because he repeatedly displayed a lack of courtesy and respect for lawyers and court staff.
The case marked the first time in the 121-year history of the South Dakota judicial system that the Supreme Court had been asked to remove a judge from the bench.
In a hearing last month, Fuller told the high court he is ashamed of his behavior but believes he could return to the bench and be an effective judge. |
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4 ex-Auburn players indicted on felony charges
Breaking Legal News |
2011/05/18 09:10
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Four former Auburn football players have been indicted on felony robbery and burglary charges by a Lee County grand jury.
Court documents posted online Wednesday show that Michael McNeil, Antonio Goodwin, Shaun Kitchens and Dakota Mosley were indicted on five counts of first-degree robbery, one count of first-degree burglary and one count of misdemeanor third-degree theft of property.
They are scheduled for arraignment on May 26 in Lee County Circuit Court.
Mosley also faces a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to hinder business.
The players were pulled over and arrested shortly after five occupants of a mobile home reported being robbed at gunpoint on March 11. |
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Costs Of Oklahoma DHS Lawsuit Mounting
Breaking Legal News |
2011/05/16 08:46
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Oklahoma taxpayers have spent about $4.2 million on attorneys since April 2008 for the state Department of Human Services to defend a class-action lawsuit alleging abusive conditions in the state's foster-care system, records show.
The suit was filed in February 2008 in federal court in Tulsa by Children's Rights. The New York-based nonprofit accuses the state of placing foster children in danger because of systemic deficiencies including too many cases per worker, not enough home visits, multiple placements and not enough foster parent training.
DHS is facing a shortfall in the next budget of about $39 million and is considering cutting staffing levels and changing the eligibility standard to receive child-care subsidies.
"It's unfortunate that funds have to be spent to defend the state against unmerited claims," said DHS spokeswoman Sheree Powell in an emailed statement. |
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China gymnast's US lawsuit risks tainting image
Breaking Legal News |
2011/05/12 08:47
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Thirteen years after a training accident left her paralyzed and ended her career as a world-class gymnast, China's Sang Lan has filed a lawsuit in the United States, one that threatens to tarnish her carefully maintained reputation for resilience at home. The $1.8-billion suit targets everyone — from Ted Turner, who founded the Goodwill Games where the accident happened in 1998 in New York, to the former AOL Time Warner Inc. media company, which owned the games, to USA Gymnastics, which supported the event, to the couple who were her guardians in New York. It says they broke promises to care for Sang, then 17 and paralyzed from the chest down ever since. The suit is an unexpected turn for Sang, whose sweet smile and upbeat nature earned her many supporters in China and who became a symbol of determination and courage in the face of a devastating injury. Returning home in 1999, she received a hero's welcome, with officials calling her "the pride of all Chinese." Since then, she has used her fame to advocate for the disabled. Sang says her public image and the lawsuit are separate affairs, and she thinks it's more important to set the record straight about the circumstances surrounding her fall. "At that time, people said that Sang Lan herself lost control and made the mistake that caused her to fall," Sang, now 29, said during an interview Wednesday in her two-bedroom apartment in northeast Beijing, where Beijing Olympics memorabilia decorate the shelves. She says she fell because she was distracted by someone who moved a mat while she was in mid-air. |
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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 and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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