Recent Updates
-
Supreme Court takes up special education case
Court Alerts 04/28/2009The Supreme Court is again trying to decide when taxpayers must foot the bill for private schooling for special education students. The court will hear arguments Tuesday in an Oregon case in which a local school district contends that students should...
-
Court refuses appeal from reputed drug kingpin
Court Alerts 04/27/2009A reputed cocaine kingpin has lost his fight to reduce his 195-year prison term. The Supreme Court, acting Monday, rejected an appeal from Salvador Magluta, who was convicted of laundering at least $730,000 in drug money and bribing a juror at an ear...
-
LA judge rules fraud in suits against Dole
Court Alerts 04/24/2009A California judge on Thursday dismissed two lawsuits by purported Nicaraguan banana plantation workers against U.S. food giant Dole and other companies on grounds of fraud and attempted extortion. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Victoria Cha...
-
2 men sue priest who pleaded guilty to raping them
Court Alerts 04/22/2009Two upstate New York men have filed a $10 million lawsuit against a Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to raping them. The men say in court papers filed Monday in New York City that the Rev. Frank Genevive abused them between 1978 and 1987, when they...
-
Supermarket mogul guilty of bribery, racketeering, soliciting murder
Court Alerts 04/21/2009George Torres, a feisty entrepreneur who built a multimillion-dollar grocery store chain by catering to some of Los Angeles' poorest communities, was convicted of racketeering, solicitation of murder, bribery and other crimes Monday by a federal cour...
-
Court turns down challenge to jury's use of Bible
Court Alerts 04/21/2009The Supreme Court has turned away a challenge from a death row inmate in Texas who claimed his constitutional rights were violated by jurors who consulted a Bible during deliberations. Jurors reviewed a biblical passage relating that a murderer who u...
-
Ole Miss coach makes plea deal in Ohio
Court Alerts 04/20/2009Mississippi basketball coach Andy Kennedy has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct in his cab driver assault case. Kennedy avoided trial and possible jail time with the plea deal Monday in Hamilton County Municipal Court in Cincin...
-
Appeals court wants medical records on Demjanjuk
Court Alerts 04/20/2009A U.S. appeals court has asked the government to provide medical records in the deportation case of John Demjanjuk (dem-YAHN'-yuk), who faces charges in Germany that he was a guard at a Nazi death camp. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says the ...
-
Appeals Court: Marine can't sue Murtha
Court Alerts 04/16/2009A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Rep. John Murtha cannot be sued for accusing U.S. Marines of murdering Iraqi civilians "in cold blood," remarks that sparked outrage among conservative commentators. The appeals court in Washington dismissed...
-
Texas court upholds $42.4M verdict in prison death
Court Alerts 04/09/2009A Texas appeals court has upheld a multimillion dollar civil verdict against a Florida private prison company in the beating death of an inmate. The 13th Court of Appeals ruled last week that Wackenhut Corrections Corp., now known as The GEO Group, a...
-
Investors ask court to free funds in Stanford case
Court Alerts 04/08/2009Investors unable to access $1.7 billion connected to companies owned by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford asked a federal appeals court Monday for access to their money. The holders of about 4,000 accounts had their constitutional rights violated w...
-
Court to decide if good lawyers can get more money
Court Alerts 04/06/2009The Supreme Court will decide whether a judge can award more money to winning lawyers because the judge thought they did a good job. The high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from the state of Georgia over attorney fees for lawyers who sued t...