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Court: Ohio overcharged employers for years
Court News | 2014/05/16 14:50
The director of the state insurance fund for injured workers said Friday that he's disappointed with an unusually pointed appeals court decision that says the fund overcharged employers by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Steve Buehrer, Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation administrator and CEO, said the agency is considering its options.

Buehrer said he's pleased the court recognized that many businesses benefited from a program that put companies in group rating plans. But the court also said the plans resulted in nearly 300,000 companies being overcharged.

The 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals on Thursday said the plans amounted to an illegal rating system that resulted in employers being overcharged nearly $860 million over several years. It said the agency set up a system of winners and losers by giving discounted premiums to companies that joined group insurance plans and charging companies outside of the plans excessive rates to pay for the discounts.

"Reduced to its essence, this appeal is about a cabal of Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation bureaucrats and lobbyists for group sponsors who rigged workers' compensation insurance premium rates so that for employers who participated in the BWC's group rating plan, it was 'heads we win,' and for employers who did not participate in the group rating plan, it was 'tails you lose,'" the court said.

The court's unanimous ruling affects about 270,000 mostly small-business owners who paid non-group premiums from July 2001 to June 2009. Many are unaware they are covered by the class-action lawsuit that lead to the ruling.


Court orders Turkey to pay Cyprus over invasion
Court News | 2014/05/13 11:38

Europe's top human rights court on Monday ordered Turkey to pay 90 million euros ($123 million) to Cyprus over the 1974 invasion of the island and its subsequent division, in one of the largest judgments in its history.

The decision from the European Court of Human Rights said the passage of time did not erase responsibility in the case, ruling that Turkey must pay 30 million euros in damages to relatives of those missing in the operations and 60 million euros in damages for "the enclaved Greek-Cypriot residents of the Karpas peninsula."

Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only Turkey recognizes the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state that was proclaimed in the north of the island.

The judgment comes as the Turkish and Greek Cypriot communities are engaged in a new effort to reunite the island.

The court said it would be up to the government of Cyprus to determine how to award the damages.



Casino law hinges on Massachusetts high court case
Court News | 2014/05/05 15:04
The fate of casino gambling in Massachusetts may hinge on a case before the state's highest court Monday.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court is set to hear arguments in a case centered on whether a question should be allowed on the November ballot asking voters if they want the state's 2011 casino law repealed. The court is expected to issue a decision by July.

If allowed on the ballot, the referendum could upend the state's ongoing casino licensing process.

Gambling giants MGM, Wynn, Mohegan Sun and others have expressed concern they could lose millions of dollars they've invested in the planning, development and promotion of their proposals if the referendum prevails. They also argue the state risks losing much more.

"Jobs certainty and billions of dollars in economic development hang in the balance," said Carole Brennan, a spokeswoman for MGM, which has proposed an $800 million casino project in downtown Springfield. "The Gaming Act allows for the creation of more than 10,000 jobs and the recapture of billions of dollars in tax revenues that are currently leaving the state. It doesn't make sense to forgo those opportunities."

State Attorney General Martha Coakley, a Democrat running for governor this year, has ruled that the question violates the state constitution and shouldn't be allowed on the ballot.


Supreme Court considers juice label dispute
Court News | 2014/04/25 10:09
The Supreme Court seems likely to rule that juice maker Pom Wonderful can bring false advertising claims against the Coca-Cola Co. over a competing juice product.

Several justices indicated during argument at the high court Monday that allowing Pom's lawsuit to go forward under federal trademark laws would not interfere with government regulation of food labels.

Pom alleges the label on a "Pomegranate Blueberry" beverage offered by Coke's Minute Maid unit is misleading because 99 percent of the drink consists of apple and grape juice. Coke claims the lawsuit should be thrown out because the label complies with Food and Drug Administration regulations.

Lower courts had ruled in favor of Coke. The food and beverage industry is concerned that a ruling for Pom could subject food makers to more litigation.


Oklahoma gay-marriage case before US appeals court
Court News | 2014/04/17 13:58
Court arguments over Oklahoma's ban on same-sex marriage will center on whether voters singled out gay people for unfair treatment when they overwhelmingly defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Judges at a federal appeals court in Denver will hear arguments Thursday from lawyers representing a couple challenging Oklahoma's ban and the Tulsa County clerk who refused to grant them a license. The judges heard a similar case from Utah last week.

Oklahoma voters approved the ban in 2004 by a 3-1 margin. The Tulsa couple tried to obtain a marriage license shortly afterward.

A federal judge overturned the ban in January, saying it violated the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. Lawyers for the state say voters have a right to set their own laws.


Court rejects early appeal of surveillance ruling
Court News | 2014/04/08 10:46

The Supreme Court has declined an early look at a constitutional challenge to the National Security Agency's bulk collection of millions of Americans' telephone records.

Conservative lawyer Larry Klayman persuaded a federal judge in December to rule that the agency's activities likely violate the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches. The justices on Monday rejected Klayman's unusual request to bypass the traditional appeals process and hear the case immediately.

Klayman says the case is too important to wait for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to reach a decision. The district court judge granted an injunction against the NSA, but put it on hold pending a government appeal.

The Obama administration has defended the NSA program as a crucial tool against terrorism.


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