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Court limits gender pay discrimination lawsuits
Court Watch |
2007/05/29 11:13
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| The US Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that an employee cannot bring a lawsuit for pay discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for allegedly discriminatory actions that occurred outside the statutory limitations period even when a paycheck is received during the statutory limitations period. In Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Lilly Ledbetter, who worked at Goodyear for 19 years, alleged that she received less pay than male counterparts because of sex discrimination. The district court awarded Ledbetter $360,000 in damages but the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit reversed, holding that the district court should have granted Goodyear's motion for judgment as a matter of law because the statute required Ledbetter to file her complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) within six months of the alleged illegal employment practice. The Supreme Court affirmed the federal appeals court, rejecting Ledbetter's argument that each paycheck issued violated Title VII, triggering a new six-month EEOC filing period. The Court held that "a pay-setting decision is a discrete act that occurs at a particular point in time" and that the statutory period for filing an EEOC claim begins when that discrete act occurs. Read the Court's 5-4 opinion per Justice Alito, along with a dissent from Justice Ginsburg. |
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Ga. Judge: Keep Potter Books in School
Court Watch |
2007/05/29 10:16
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| The adventures of boy wizard Harry Potter can stay in Gwinnett County school libraries, despite a mother's objections, a judge ruled Tuesday. Laura Mallory, who argued the popular fiction series is an attempt to indoctrinate children in witchcraft, said she still wants the best-selling books removed and may take her case to federal court. "I maybe need a whole new case from the ground up," said Mallory, who was not represented by an attorney at the hearing. Superior Court Judge Ronnie Batchelor's ruling upheld a decision by the Georgia Board of Education, which had supported local school officials. County school board members have said the books are good tools to encourage children to read and to spark creativity and imagination. J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, published by London-based Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (other-otc: BLOOMSBURY.PK - news - people ), tell stories of children with magic powers. They have been challenged numerous times since 2000, making them the most challenged texts of the 21st century, according to the American Library Association. At Tuesday's hearing, Mallory argued in part that witchcraft is a religion practiced by some people and, therefore, the books should be banned because reading them in school violates the constitutional separation of church and state. "I have a dream that God will be welcomed back in our schools again," Mallory said. "I think we need him."
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Ex-youth league official pleads guilty
Court Watch |
2007/05/26 12:48
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A former Casper Youth Baseball official has pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling money from the organization. As part of a plea agreement, four other embezzlement charges against Keith Hood were dropped, Assistant Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen said Friday. Hood was accused of writing $6,600 worth of checks to himself from the organization's bank account. He faces a two- to three-year prison sentence that will be suspended, provided he completes three years of supervised probation and makes restitution, Itzen said.
Hood said in Natrona County District Court on Friday that he has already paid back $4,500 to the league, which serves about 700 children. pervised probation and makes restitution, Itzen said. |
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Appeals Court Upholds Adelphia Fraud Convictions
Court Watch |
2007/05/25 11:03
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| A U.S. appeals court Thursday upheld the criminal convictions of Adelphia Communications Corp. founder John J. Rigas and his son Timothy, who both face lengthy prison terms for concealing loans and stealing millions from the cable operator. The court affirmed the bulk of the pair's July 2004 convictions on 18 counts of fraud, including securities fraud and conspiracy. One count of bank fraud was dismissed, however, and the appeals court said the two men should be resentenced. John Rigas, 82, was sentenced in June 2005 to 15 years in prison, and Timothy Rigas, 51, the company's former finance chief, was sentenced to 20 years. Both men have remained free on bail while they pursued their appeals. At the time, U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand in Manhattan admonished the elder Rigas for his lack of remorse and said he would have imposed a lengthier prison term if not for Rigas' age and ill health. The Adelphia case was one of the biggest corporate fraud prosecutions in recent years. The father and son were accused of looting the company to pay for personal land deals and vacation homes. In its decision Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said the defendants needed to show substantial errors by the district court for a reversal of the jury verdict. "Given the weight of evidence supporting the jury's verdict on each charge, we conclude that they have not done so," the judges said. Attorneys for the Rigases had no immediate comment on the ruling, nor did the U.S. attorney's office in New York, which prosecuted the case. Adelphia filed for bankruptcy protection in June 2002. Its cable assets have been sold to Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Inc.
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Teens Plead Guilty in Cell Phone Sex Assault
Court Watch |
2007/05/25 08:07
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| Two of five teens have pleaded guilty to their role in a group sex assault recorded on a cell phone. Sixteen-year-old Reginald Pope Junior of Detroit, and 19-year-old Robinson Brown of Clinton Township pleaded guilty yesterday before a Macomb County judge. They were charged in the rape of an eleven-year-old girl in Pope's basement bedroom of an Eastpointe home. Prosecutors are recommending that Pope be placed on probation while Brown gets at least two and a-half years in prison. Both will be sentenced in July. Investigators say the girl wasn't threatened but she felt coerced into complying. Prosecutors are in plea discussions with attorneys for the three other defendants. |
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Appeals court throws out mother's death sentence
Court Watch |
2007/05/24 07:21
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| A sharply divided Texas Court of Criminal Appeals threw out the death sentence Wednesday of a Beaumont woman convicted of killing her newborn son. The 5-4 ruling by the state's highest criminal court means that Kenisha Berry, 29, will serve a life prison term. The baby's body was found bound with duct tape in a Jefferson County trash bin. He remained unidentified for five years until Berry was identified as the mother of a newborn girl who was found alive but abandoned and covered with fire ants in a ditch in June 2003. A DNA test later showed that Berry was also the baby boy's mother. A jury in Beaumont convicted her of capital murder and sentenced her to death. The appeals court upheld her conviction but ruled that Jefferson County prosecutors misstated the special issue presented to jurors regarding Berry's likelihood of being a future danger to society. In a Tarrant County case, the appeals court upheld the conviction and sentence of Sheldon Ward, 27, condemned for killing Nyanuer "Mary" Pal five years ago in Fort Worth. Ward's attorneys had raised 13 points of error from his trial. |
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Court rejects Exxon appeal on damages
Court Watch |
2007/05/23 20:21
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| A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected Exxon Mobil Corp.'s request to reconsider its earlier decision that cut nearly in half a $4.5 billion jury award punishing the company for the 1989 Valdez oil spill that fouled 1,500 miles of Alaskan coastline. In December, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reduced the punitive damage award to $2.5 billion in a case that began with a 1994 decision by an Anchorage jury siding with 34,000 fishermen and other Alaskans. The plaintiffs said they were hurt when Exxon's oil tanker struck a charted reef and spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil. An Exxon spokesman said the Irving-based company, which still sees the award as excessive, would appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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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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