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Justices pepper health care law opponents with questions
Court News |
2015/03/05 14:40
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Supreme Court justices peppered opponents of President Barack Obama's health care law with skeptical questions during oral arguments Wednesday on the latest challenge to the sweeping legislation.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose vote is seen as pivotal, suggested that the plaintiffs' argument raises a "serious" constitutional problem affecting the relationship between states and the federal government.
The plaintiffs argue that only residents of states that set up their own insurance markets can get federal subsidies to help pay their premiums.
Millions of people could be affected by the court's decision. The justices are trying to determine whether the law makes people in all 50 states eligible for federal tax subsidies to cut the cost of insurance premiums. Or, does it limit tax credits only to people who live in states that created their own health insurance marketplaces?
During oral arguments, the courts' liberal justices also expressed doubts. In an earlier case involving the law, however, Kennedy was on the opposite side, voting to strike down a key requirement.
A ruling that limits where subsidies are available would have dramatic consequences because roughly three dozen states opted against their own marketplace, or exchange, and instead rely on the U.S. Health and Human Services Department's healthcare.gov. Independent studies estimate that 8 million people could lose insurance coverage. |
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Court revives copyright lawsuit against singer Frankie Valli
Court News |
2015/02/16 12:24
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A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a copyright lawsuit against Frankie Valli and fellow "Four Seasons" band member Robert Gaudio over "Jersey Boys," the popular musical about the band.
Donna Corbello sued Valli and Gaudio in 2011 for copyright infringement, claiming the musical was based in part on an unpublished autobiography of "Four Seasons" band member Thomas DeVito that her late husband ghost-wrote. She said she deserved to share in the profits from the musical's success.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling in favor of Valli and Gaudio and sent the case back down for further proceedings. The court said there was contradictory evidence about whether Valli and Gaudio executed an agreement with DeVito to produce the play in time to avoid termination of their ownership rights.
Daniel Mayeda, an attorney for Valli and Gaudio, said he was disappointed in the ruling, but he had not yet decided whether he would appeal.
Corbello is also suing DeVito. The 9th Circuit ruled that DeVito had transferred his copyright in the autobiography to Valli and Gaudio, and therefore had to account to Corbello for any profits he obtained from it. |
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Court says Chuck Yeager can sue Utah gun safe company
Court News |
2015/02/16 12:23
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A federal appeals court says record-setting test pilot Chuck Yeager can sue a Utah gun safe company that named a line of safes after him.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled Tuesday that the 91-year-old can sue Fort Knox Security Products over an oral agreement from the 1980s that allowed the use of his name and picture in exchange for free safes.
The decision says the arrangement ended around 2008, after Yeager's wife started asking questions about it.
The court dismissed some claims but ruled that Yeager can sue over claims that the company kept using his likeness after the agreement ended. The company disputes that accusation.
Yeager served during World War II and became the first person to break the sound barrier in 1947. |
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Court hearing could speed way for Revel casino sale
Court News |
2015/02/09 15:30
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The Florida developer buying Atlantic City's former Revel Casino Hotel could find out by the end of the day Monday how much longer he'll have to wait for it.Glenn Straub agreed late Sunday night to extend the deadline for his $95.4 million purchase to be completed.
The sale was supposed to close on Monday.Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Jerome Simandle will hold a hearing at 3 p.m. to hear from former tenants at Revel, including the popular HQ nightclub and celebrity restaurants, as well as the building's sole utility service provider.
The tenants say their $16 million investment should be considered before the court lets Straub buy Revel free and clear of their leases. And the power plant is seeking assurances its unpaid bills and debt from its construction will be paid.
Though much of the urgency of Monday's hearing has been avoided by Straub's willingness to wait, it still has the potential to resolve the most contentious issues standing in the way of Revel's sale.
ACR Energy Partners is threatening to cut off electricity, heat, air conditioning and water to the building if its debts are not paid.
They intended to pull the plug last Thursday, but agreed to keep the power flowing at least until Wednesday when a bankruptcy court judge will consider the issue.Revel and ACR say they are working toward a resolution that could eliminate the need for Wednesday's hearing.
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Panama high court OKs corruption probe of ex-president
Court News |
2015/01/30 10:00
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Panama's Supreme Court voted Wednesday to open a corruption probe against former President Ricardo Martinelli, a move likely to rally popular support in a nation where the politically powerful rarely face justice for misdeeds.
A statement from the court said all nine judges voted to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Martinelli over allegations he inflated contracts worth $45 million to purchase dehydrated food for a government social program.
The accusation is based on the testimony of a political ally, Giacomo Tamburelli, the former head of the National Assistance Program who has said he was taking orders from the then president to inflate contracts. He is now under house arrest.
Martinelli, a billionaire supermarket magnate, has denied the charges and says he is the target of political persecution by his successor, Juan Carlos Varela, who broke with the government in 2011 while serving as Martinelli's vice president and foreign minister. |
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Supreme Court sets stage for historic gay rights ruling
Court News |
2015/01/19 15:02
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The Supreme Court is getting back in the marriage business. The justices agreed Friday to decide a major civil rights question: whether same-sex couples have a right to marry everywhere in America under the Constitution.
The court will take up gay-rights cases that ask it to overturn bans in four states and declare for the entire nation that people can marry the partners of their choice, regardless of gender. The cases will be argued in April, and a decision is expected by late June.
The court chose not to decide this issue in 2013, even as it struck down part of a federal anti-gay marriage law that paved the way for a wave of lower court rulings across the country in favor of same-sex marriage rights.
At that time, just 12 states and the District of Columbia permitted gay and lesbian couples to wed. That number has jumped to 36, almost all because of lower court rulings.
"The country is ready for the freedom to marry today," said James Esseks, leader of the American Civil Liberties Union's same-sex marriage efforts.
The appeals before the court come from gay and lesbian plaintiffs in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The federal appeals court that oversees those four states upheld their same-sex marriage bans in November, reversing pro-gay rights rulings of federal judges in all four states. It was the first, and so far only, appellate court to rule against same-sex marriage since the high court's 2013 decision. |
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