|
|
|
High court rules against steelworkers' claim
Court News |
2014/01/27 13:53
|
The Supreme Court says steelworkers do not have to be paid for time they spend putting on and taking off protective gear they wear on the job.
The court was unanimous Monday in ruling in favor of United States Steel Corp. over workers' claims that they should be paid under the terms of federal labor law for the time it takes them to put on flame-retardant jackets and pants, safety glasses, earplugs, hardhats and other equipment.
Justice Antonin Scalia said for the court that the labor agreement between the company and the workers' union says the employees don't get paid for time spent changing clothes. Scalia said most of the items count as clothing. He said earplugs, glasses and respirators are not clothing, but take little time to put on. |
|
|
|
|
|
Court: Lawyers will be disbarred over child porn
Press Releases |
2014/01/24 13:23
|
Lawyers convicted of child pornography charges will automatically be disbarred and prohibited from practicing law in California, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Deciding the fate of an Orange County lawyer whose license was suspended after he pleaded guilty to having child porn at his home, the court said that keeping sexual images of children constitutes an act of moral turpitude that makes an attorney unfit for the legal profession.
"The knowing possession of child pornography is a serious breach of the duties of respect and care that all adults owe to all children, and it shows such a flagrant disrespect for the law and for societal norms, that continuation of a convicted attorney's State Bar membership would be likely to undermine public confidence in and respect for the legal profession," Justice Carol Corrigan wrote in the opinion.
The unanimous ruling came in the case of Gary Douglass Grant, a former Army lawyer at the Los Alamitos Army Reserve Base in Orange County. Grant pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly possessing child pornography in 2009 after sheriff's deputies found videos and photographs of underage girls mixed in with a large adult pornography collection on his computers and data discs. |
|
|
|
|
|
2 killed in attack at German court
Legal Center |
2014/01/24 13:22
|
Two men were killed Friday in a shooting and stabbing at a court complex in Frankfurt in what may have been a revenge attack, authorities said.
Frankfurt prosecutors said the case appeared to be linked to the fatal stabbing of a car dealer near Frankfurt in 2007, which the court was considering this week, news agency dpa reported.
Deputy police chief Gerhard Bereswill said the suspected assailant is believed to be the brother of the 2007 victim and was injured himself in the earlier attack, while the two men who died Friday — who also were car dealers — were suspects.
The suspect is believed to have fired shots in a courtyard at the courthouse in the German financial capital at about 8:45 a.m., fatally wounding one of the victims. The other apparently fled inside the building, but the assailant followed and stabbed him, police spokesman Ruediger Reges told N24 television.
The two victims were aged 45 and 50. One died at the scene and the other shortly afterward at a hospital, police said.
The suspected attacker fled on foot but was arrested near the courthouse, he said. A police statement said he was a 47-year-old Afghan national and resident of Eschborn, a town near Frankfurt. |
|
|
|
|
|
Court hearings for 2 arrested in student stabbing
Legal Center |
2014/01/20 13:42
|
A 23-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy arrested in the stabbing of a Seattle University student have been ordered held after initial court appearances.
The Seattle Times reports that bail for the man was set Thursday at $1 million while the teen was ordered held in juvenile custody. Prosecutors say they expect to file charges Friday.
A 16-year-old girl arrested in the attack early Wednesday was released pending further investigation.
The suspects were arrested for investigation of robbery and assault. Police allege they followed a 23-year-old student, pushed him to the ground and stabbed him in the chest. He called for help from an emergency kiosk on campus. The student was hospitalized in serious condition. |
|
|
|
|
|
Italian court hears final rebuttals in Knox trial
Lawyer News |
2014/01/20 13:41
|
A prosecutor urged a court on Monday to take steps to make sure that American Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend would serve their sentences, if they are convicted of murdering British student Meredith Kercher.
Prosecutor Alessandro Crini preceded his request by noting that Knox has remained in the United States for this trial, while co-defendant Raffaele Sollecito has traveled abroad during it.
The defense and prosecution were both making their final rebuttals on Monday before the court begins deliberations on Jan. 30. A verdict is expected later that day.
Crini has requested guilty verdicts and jail sentences of 26 years for both defendants, and that the court increase to four years Knox's three-year sentence for a slander conviction, which has been upheld.
In the case of Sollecito, who told reporters Monday that he intends to remain in Italy for the verdict, the precautionary measures could include immediate arrest, house arrest or the confiscation of his passport.
The court's reach in Knox's case is limited by her presence in the United States, where she returned a free woman after the 2009 guilty verdicts against her and Sollecito were thrown out by a Perugia appeals court in 2011. Italy's highest court ordered a second appellate trial after blasting the acquittal. |
|
|
|
|
|
High court OKs Miss. lawsuit on LCD price fixing
Court Watch |
2014/01/16 14:21
|
The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that Mississippi can pursue claims of price-fixing against a manufacturer of LCD screens in state court.
The justices on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling that blocked the state-court suit against AU Optronics Corp.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the court, said the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was wrong to order that the case be tried in federal court.
The issue was whether the federal Class Action Fairness Act, aimed at taking class-action lawsuits from consumer-friendly state courts to more business-friendly federal courts, also applied to cases filed by a state on behalf of its residents.
Taiwan-based AU Optronics is one of several Asian companies sued for fixing prices for thin film transistor liquid-crystal display panels from 1999 to 2006. |
|
|
|
|