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Appeals court rejects secret Delaware arbitration
Court Watch |
2013/10/25 13:32
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A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling declaring that a Delaware law allowing chancery judges to oversee secret arbitration in high-stakes business disputes is unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-to-1 Wednesday to uphold a federal judge's ruling in favor of the Delaware Coalition for Open Government, which challenged the law.
DelCOG, backed by The Associated Press, The New York Times and several other major news organizations, claimed in its lawsuit that the secret arbitration conducted by Delaware's Chancery Court violated the First Amendment rights of citizens to attend judicial proceedings and access court records.
Attorneys for the state argued that secret arbitration made the Chancery Court more efficient and generated revenue for Delaware, corporate home to thousands of companies.
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Butte man pleads guilty in overdose death
Court Watch |
2013/09/30 14:26
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A 20-year-old Butte man has pleaded guilty to a selling a prescription narcotic patch to a man who died of an overdose.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says Dacota Robert Rogers pleaded guilty to distribution of Fentanyl during a hearing Friday before U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon in Helena. Sentencing is set for Feb. 21.
Court records say Rogers told investigators that he sold the victim the patch for $35 last December and showed him how to smoke it. The man died of an overdose on Dec. 8.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate used to manage moderate to severe pain for patients who don't get enough relief from morphine or oxycodone.
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Court withdraws ruling in BP insurance dispute
Court Watch |
2013/09/03 19:44
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A federal appeals court reversed course Thursday on its earlier ruling favoring BP in a multimillion-dollar insurance dispute, handing at least a temporary setback to the energy giant as it seeks to defray some of the enormous costs associated with the huge 2010 Gulf oil spill.
BP has argued that it is entitled to a portion of $750 million in coverage from a drilling contractor's insurance policies to help the London-based multinational help pay pollution-related costs following the explosion, fire and spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP leased the drilling rig that exploded from Transocean Ltd. and required by contract that the Swiss-based drilling company maintain minimum insurance coverage for BP's benefit. Transocean's policy with Ranger Insurance Ltd. provided at least $50 million in coverage, while its policies with several "excess liability" insurers added at least another $700 million in coverage.
BP contends it is entitled to coverage under those Transocean policies as an "additional insured" party, but U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier rejected the company's interpretation of the policy language in a November 2010 ruling. Then the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans reversed Barbier's ruling on March 1 in a decision favoring BP.
On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the same New Orleans based appeals court said the outcome of the dispute isn't clear and it would seek answers from the Texas Supreme Court to two questions that could help the federal appeals court ultimately decide the case. For now, Barbier's ruling against BP stands. |
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Calif. tax lawyer convicted of taking client money
Court Watch |
2013/08/27 00:10
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Federal prosecutors say a 73-year-old Northern California tax attorney has been convicted of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from clients for his own expenses including personal trainers and travel.
A U.S. attorney's statement says Stanford Law School graduate Orion Douglas Memmott of Willows was found guilty Wednesday of tax evasion and subscribing to a false tax document after a five-day bench trial in October.
The statement says Memmott took money from investors and law firm clients including one woman who was left destitute and homeless after he depleted her medical trust.
Prosecutors say Memmott concealed the embezzled money through nominee accounts and false statements to investors, clients, and the Internal Revenue Service. |
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Court asked to safeguard NM mental health audit
Court Watch |
2013/07/26 10:11
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The attorney general's office says an agreement has been reached for State Auditor Hector Balderas to have access to an audit that identified potential overbillings and fraud by behavioral health providers.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Al Lama said Thursday a state district judge in Santa Fe has been asked to issue an order making clear the audit report will be protected from public disclosure once it's provided to Balderas.
The auditor and Human Services Department support the request.
Balderas said his office needs the information in auditing the department's finances. He obtained a subpoena to try to force the department to provide him with the audit done for the agency.
Lama said public disclosure of the audit could jeopardize the attorney general's investigation of allegations against the behavioral health providers.
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Court says human genes cannot be patented
Court Watch |
2013/06/14 18:36
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The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that companies cannot patent parts of naturally-occurring human genes, a decision with the potential to profoundly affect the emerging and lucrative medical and biotechnology industries.
The high court's unanimous judgment reverses three decades of patent awards by government officials. It throws out patents held by Salt Lake City-based Myriad Genetics Inc. on an increasingly popular breast cancer test brought into the public eye recently by actress Angelina Jolie's revelation that she had a double mastectomy because of one of the genes involved in this case.
Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the court's decision, said that Myriad's assertion — that the DNA it isolated from the body for its proprietary breast and ovarian cancer tests were patentable — had to be dismissed because it violates patent rules. The court has said that laws of nature, natural phenomena and abstract ideas are not patentable.
"We hold that a naturally occurring DNA segment is a product of nature and not patent eligible merely because it has been isolated," Thomas said.
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