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Ga. county must $4 million to billboard firm
Court and Trial |
2012/09/05 15:41
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A Georgia county has been ordered to pay more than more than $4 million in damages and attorney fees to a billboard company as part of its ongoing fight to keep billboards out of Atlanta's northern suburbs.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that the verdict is the latest blow to Fulton County in its long-running legal battle against billboard companies.
A U.S. District Court in Atlanta jury last month awarded the $3.97 million in damages to KH Outdoor, which sued the county in 2003. Last week, a federal judge ordered the county to pay $477,156 in attorneys' fees and expenses to the company's lawyers.
Adam Webb, a lawyer for the billboard company, declined to comment. Fulton County Attorney David Ware said an appeal by the county remains a viable option. |
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Superior court rejects appeal in Pa. double-murder
Court and Trial |
2012/08/31 11:22
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An appeals court has rejected a petition that could have delayed next months' scheduled trial of a man accused of having killed two people and buried them on his northeastern Pennsylvania property a decade ago.
The state Superior Court on Tuesday sided with a Luzerne County judge who said prosecutors were justified in splitting four murder cases linked to 38-year-old Hugo Selenski into two separate trials.
Defense attorneys could appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
Selenski is charged in the deaths of Michael Kerkowski and his girlfriend, Tammy Fassett, whose bodies were unearthed in 2003 behind Selenski's Kingston Township home.
Selenski was acquitted in the slayings of two other men whose remains were found there but is serving 32 1/2 to 65 years in a Monroe County home invasion case. |
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Apple lists 8 Samsung products it wants banned
Legal News Interview |
2012/08/29 11:22
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Apple Inc. on Monday gave a federal judge a list of eight Samsung Electronics Co. products it wants pulled from shelves and banned from the U.S. market, including popular Galaxy model smartphones.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh asked for the list after a jury in San Jose last week slammed Samsung with a $1.05 billion verdict, finding that the South Korean technology giant had willfully copied Apple's iPhone and iPad in creating and marketing the products. Samsung plans an appeal.
The products Apple wants out are all smartphones: Galaxy S 4G, Galaxy S2 ATamp;T, Galaxy S2, Galaxy S2 T-Mobile, Galaxy S2 Epic 4G, Galaxy S Showcase, Droid Charge and Galaxy Prevail.
Koh on June 26 banned the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from the U.S. market after finding it likely violated a design patent. Samsung is now asking for that ban to be lifted after the jury found the computer tablet didn't infringe that particular patent, but it did find it infringed three Apple's software patents that cover the popular bounce-back and pinch-to-zoom features.
The judge has scheduled a Sept. 20 hearing to discuss Apple's demands for the sales bans. She asked Apple on Friday to submit the list of products its wants removed from U.S. stores after Samsung complained that it doesn't have enough time to prepare for the scheduled hearing. |
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Court: Texas can cut off Planned Parenthood funds
Lawyer World News |
2012/08/24 11:42
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A federal appeals court ruled late Tuesday that Texas can cut off funding for Planned Parenthood clinics that provide health services to low-income women before a trial over a new law that bans state money from going to organizations tied to abortion providers.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans lifted a federal judge's temporary injunction that called for the funding to continue pending an October trial on Planned Parenthood's challenge to the law.
State officials sought to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood clinics that provide family planning and health services to poor women as part of the Texas Women's Health Program after the state's Republican-led Legislature passed a law banning funds to organizations linked to abortion providers. No state money goes to pay for abortions.
The appeal's court decision means Texas is now free to enforce its ban on clinics affiliated with abortion providers. Planned Parenthood provides cancer screenings and other services — but not abortions — to about half of the 130,000 low-income Texas women enrolled in the program, which is designed to provide services to women who might not otherwise qualify for Medicaid.
The ruling is the latest in the ongoing fight over Texas' efforts to halt funding to clinics affiliated with abortion providers. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has said that the new state rule violates federal law. Federal funds paid for 90 percent, or about $35 million, of the $40 million Women's Health Program until the new rule went into effect. Federal officials are now phasing out support for the program. |
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Appeals court removes key civil service protection
Court and Trial |
2012/08/22 14:42
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A federal appeals court ruling that has taken key civil service protection away from government employees involved in national security work will have far-reaching implications, advocates for federal workers say.
Tom Devine, legal director of the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy group, said Tuesday that the appeals court has given agencies a blank check to cancel all government accountability in civil service law.
In a 2-1 decision Friday involving two Defense Department employees, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the Merit Systems Protection Board is prohibited from reviewing dismissals and demotions of government employees who hold noncritical sensitive positions, regardless of whether those jobs require access to classified information.
The dissenting judge in the case said the decision effectively nullifies the 1978 civil service law. Advocates for federal workers point out that federal employees in noncritical sensitive jobs work at many federal agencies, making the impact of the ruling government-wide. |
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