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Supreme Court to hear another arbitration argument
Court Watch News |
2011/05/02 09:13
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The Supreme Court will consider a plea from companies that cater to people with bad credit to keep disputes with their customers out of court and in the more business-friendly forum of arbitration.
Days after handing businesses a huge victory by limiting class action claims against them, the court said Monday it will take up a new arbitration dispute in the fall.
The new case involves consumer complaints about companies that issue low-rate credit cards to people with bad credit ratings. The consumers said they were promised an initial $300 in available credit, but were charged $257 in fees in the first year they had the credit card.
The consumers sued in federal court, but the companies say the dispute must be handled by an arbitrator, under an agreement the customers signed to receive the card.
The federal Credit Repair Organizations Act, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, says consumers have a right to sue, which the federal appeals court in San Francisco interpreted as a right to go into court, rather than be forced to submit to arbitration. Appeals courts in Atlanta and Philadelphia have ruled otherwise in evaluating the same language in the law. |
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Firm hired by GOP ends work on gay marriage ban
Marketing |
2011/05/02 09:13
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A prominent law firm hired by Republican lawmakers to defend the federal ban on gay marriage said Monday it was withdrawing from the case amid criticism by advocacy groups, prompting the partner leading the work to quit.
The move by Atlanta-based King amp; Spalding is the latest flashpoint in the public debate over gay rights. Chairman Robert Hays Jr. said the firm chose to divorce itself from the controversy after determining that the decision to take the case wasn't vetted properly, but gay rights groups had also been pressuring the 800-lawyer company with plans for a protest Tuesday in Atlanta and with calls to its other clients. The groups cheered the move.
The decision, however, was sharply criticized by conservative groups, legal observers and the partner who had been handling the case, a former high-ranking Justice Department official under President George W. Bush. Washington-based attorney Paul Clement said he's moving to another law office so he can continue the work.
Clement had been retained by House Republican leaders after President Barack Obama ordered the Justice Department in February to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act. His administration said it believes the 1996 law, which defines marriage as only between a man and a woman, was unconstitutional. |
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Bachmann uses Holocaust to illustrate tax point
Headline Topics |
2011/05/02 09:13
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Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann on Saturday described the loss of economic liberty that young Americans face today as a flash point of history in which the younger generation will ask what their elders did to stop it.
In a speech to New Hampshire Republicans, Bachmann recounted learning about a horrific time in history as a child — the Holocaust — and wondering if her mother did anything to stop it. She said she was shocked to hear that many Americans weren't aware that millions of Jews had died until after World War II ended.
Bachmann said the next generation will ask similar questions about what their elders did to prevent them from facing a huge tax burden.
I tell you this story because I think in our day and time, there is no analogy to that horrific action, she said, referring to the Holocaust. But only to say, we are seeing eclipsed in front of our eyes a similar death and a similar taking away. It is this disenfranchisement that I think we have to answer to. |
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Court sides with Wyoming in dispute with Montana
Court Watch News |
2011/05/02 09:12
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The Supreme Court says Wyoming is not taking too much water from a river system it shares with Montana.
The high court on Monday turned away Montana's complaint that Wyoming is taking too much water from the Tongue and Powder rivers in violation of a 1950 agreement between the states.
Montana claimed that more efficient irrigation in Wyoming is preventing runoff from rejoining the river and flowing downstream.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the 7-1 decision, which says more efficient irrigation is permissible to the detriment of downstream users. Justice Antonin Scalia was the only dissenting vote.
Justice Elena Kagan did not participate in the case because she worked on it while in the solicitor general's office. |
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Possible plea deal in Ohio abortion gunpoint case
Political View |
2011/05/01 09:13
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A prosecutor says discussions about a possible plea bargain are under way in the case of an Ohio man accused of trying to force his pregnant girlfriend at gunpoint to get an abortion.
Police say 28-year-old Dominic Holt-Reid pulled a gun Oct. 6 on his girlfriend, Yolanda Burgess, and forced her to drive to an abortion clinic.
Authorities say the procedure never happened because Burgess managed to slip a note to a clinic employee, who called police.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien told The Associated Press in a statement Wednesday that his office and lawyers for Holt-Reid have been discussing a potential plea.
A message left with Holt-Reid's lawyer seeking comment wasn't immediately returned.
O'Brien approved charging Hold-Reid under a 1996 fetal homicide law. Holt-Reid has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, kidnapping and other charges. |
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Corps halts levee break prep as states argue
Headline Topics |
2011/05/01 09:10
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| pA federal judge hearing arguments over the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' plan to intentionally break a Mississippi River levee left the bench Thursday without making a ruling but indicated he was reluctant to get in the agency's way./ppU.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. heard arguments from attorneys for the state of Missouri and the Army Corps of Engineers on the corps' proposal to use explosives to blow a 2-mile-wide hole through the Birds Point levee in southeast Missouri. The corps says breaking the levee would ease waters rising around the upstream town of Cairo, Ill., near the confluence of the swollen Mississippi and Ohio rivers./ppThe corps, however, halted its preparation for the break on Thursday, saying it needed until the weekend to assess whether a sustained crest of the Mississippi at Cairo would demand the extraordinary step./ppThe river's crest at the Cairo flood wall could reach 60.3 feet — nearly a foot above its record high — as early as Sunday, corps spokesman Jim Pogue said. The wall protects the town up to 64 feet, but there's concern the crest could last up to five days and create extra pressure on the wall./p |
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Court upholds $311K award against debt collector
Industry News |
2011/04/19 08:50
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div class=entrydiv class=articlepA North Dakota law firm accused of trying to collect a $3,800 debt after the statute of limitations expired is now the one that owes a lot of money./ppAn appellate court has upheld a $311,000 jury award to a Montana man who sued the firm in 2007 over a violation of the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act./ppJohnson, Rodenburg amp; Lauinger appealed the April 2009 summary judgment and damages awarded to Timothy McCollough of Laurel. The case was heard in July by a special panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Billings, including retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor./ppThe panel issued a decision Friday upholding the damages. They include $1,000 statutory maximum for violating the debt collection law, $60,000 in punitive damages and $250,000 for emotional distress./ppI'm just so giddy it's all over. We're finally able to take a deep breath, McCullough told The Billings Gazette on Friday. We knew we had a good case, but it just went on forever./ppMcCullough said he hoped the case showed debt collectors that people are going to know they don't have to take the garbage. They can fight back./pp
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