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Vision-Impaired Transit Riders Lose ADA Claims
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2009/08/18 09:06
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Courthouse News reports that the 9th Circuit dismissed the claim that the Bay Area Rapid Transit violated disability law by not making its steps and handrails more accessible to vision-impaired riders.
A three-judge panel in San Francisco overturned a federal judge's ruling that BART violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by not offering accessible handrails or color-contrast striping on stairs.
US District Judge Claudia Wilken conceded that, despite complaints from vision-impaired riders, BART was in compliance with the Department of Transportation's regulations. However, she found those regulations both arbitrary and capricious and plainly contrary to the ADA.
She awarded the plaintiffs, two sight-impaired BART riders, $35,000 in compensatory damages, plus legal costs and attorney fees. She also ordered BART to take specific steps to improve accessibility for riders with poor vision. |
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Court Upholds Texas School's Dress Code
Headline Topics |
2009/08/17 09:14
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According to Courthouse News, Texas school district's dress code banning shirts with words on them doesn't violate students' free-speech rights, the 5th Circuit ruled.
Paul Palmer, then a sophomore at Waxahachie High in the Waxahachie Independent School District, wore a shirt to school in September 2007 with the words San Diego written on it. His assistant principal told him the shirt violated the district's dress code.
Palmer called his parents, who then brought him a John Edwards for President '08 T-shirt instead. That shirt wasn't allowed, either.
Palmer sued in April 2008, claiming the dress code violated his First Amendment right to free speech. But because the school district had adopted a new dress code for the upcoming year four days before the hearing, the court dismissed Palmer's motion without prejudice.
In siding with the school district, the New Orleans-based appeals court called Palmer's argument flawed, because it fails to include another type of student speech restriction that schools can institute: content-neutral regulations. |
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Virginia Power Plant Loses Emissions Claim
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2009/08/14 09:04
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According to Courthouse News, a coal-fired power plant in Virginia lacks standing to challenge state environmental laws that it claimed would force it out of business, the 4th Circuit ruled.
Mirant Potomac River asked the court to vacate the Environmental Protection Agency's approval of a Virginia plan to regulate industrial pollution. It took issue with certain provisions that barred power plants from complying with federal standards by trading emissions allowances with other power plants. The Clean Air Act and the Clean Air Interstate Rule allow such cap-and-trade activity.
But Mirant's power plant must also meet the state's emissions standards because of its geographic location in a nonattainment area, a region where pollution levels exceed national standards.
The Richmond, Va.-based appeals court found that the Virginia provisions do not, as Mirant claimed, interfere with its ability to trade allowances to meet its obligation. |
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Visitation Denied To Kidnapping Birth Mom
Headline Topics |
2009/08/13 09:33
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According to Courthouse News, a mother who gave her twins up for adoption and later kidnapped them during a visitation is not entitled to see the children again, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled.
Allison Quets used in vitro fertilization to become pregnant, using donated eggs and sperm. After the successful procedure, she looked into the possibility of giving her twins up for adoption.
After giving birth to Hannah and Tom in Florida, Quets arranged for them to be adopted by relatives of her 67-year-old boyfriend. The agreement called for limited visitation and communication between Quets and the twins.
Quets and the children were found in Canada four days after Christmas. The Needhams retrieved the twins, and Quets was charged with kidnapping. She was fined and placed on probation.
Quets sued to have the adoption invalidated, claiming that she was a victim of fraud. She also asked that her original open adoption agreement from Florida be enforced.
The trial court ruled that a parent who gives up a child for adoption lacks standing to sue for custody and visitation. The appeals court affirmed the decision, disagreeing with the Quets' assertion that the open adoption agreement gives her standing. |
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WTO Tells China To Ease Regulation of US Media
Headline Topics |
2009/08/12 11:50
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According to Courthouse News, the World Trade Organization handed the United States a major victory on Wednesday with a ruling that China can't claim exclusive distribution rights to the CDs, DVDs, books, music and other media products made by US companies and sold in China.
The United States filed suit in March 2008, after unsuccessfully trying to get China to lift its hold on distribution. China required all US media producers to route their products through Chinese state-owned companies.
The WTO issued the 464-page ruling last month, but the opinion wasn't released to the public until Wednesday. The WTO panel supported many of the claims made by trade associations representing US media companies such as EMI, Sony BMG, McGraw-Hilland Simon amp; Schuster.
Hollywood studios like Warner Bros., Disney and Paramount were less successful in challenging China's purported duopoly, or requirement that US films go through one of two distributors, a restriction not imposed on Chinese films. |
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Judge Limits Reliance Theory In BDO Seidman Securities Case
Headline Topics |
2009/08/11 09:18
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According to The Legal Intelligencer, a federal judge has denied a motion for class certification made by a group of investors seeking to hold accounting firm BDO Seidman responsible for poor returns on their purchase of notes and other securities from American Business Financial Services.
In determining whether the plaintiffs in emMalack v. BDO Seidman/em met qualifications for receiving class status, US District Court Judge Thomas N. O'Neil Jr. for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania gave a lengthy analysis of the varying cases in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other district and circuit courts that dealt with the issue at hand in emMalack/em --a fraud-created-the-market theory of reliance. The theory relaxes the burden of proof for plaintiffs regarding reliance when it comes to newly issued securities, which is what the plaintiffs purchased from now bankrupt ABFS.
The idea is that because the notes are new and the price isn't determined by the market, but by the seller, investors can rely on securities laws to protect them from fraud. |
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Suquamish Tribe Can Fish Outside Usual Areas
Headline Topics |
2009/08/10 13:46
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Courthouse News reports the Suquamish Tribe can fish in Puget Sound areas outside their traditional grounds, the 9th Circuit ruled, explaining that a 1978 federal court decision clearly allowed the tribe to fish in Saratoga Passage and Skagit Bay.
The Skagit Tribe and federal government challenged the Suquamish Tribe's fishing in these Puget Sound zones, as the Suquamish only recently changed their fishing patterns to include these areas.
The Suquamish Tribe, along with the state of Washington, appealed US District Judge Ricardo Martinez's grant of summary judgment to the Skagit Tribe.
The 9th Circuit found that the 1978 decision, written by now-deceased US District Judge Boldt, unambiguously defined the Puget Sound as bounded from the northern tip of Vashon Island to the Fraser River. This clearly includes Saratoga Passage and Skagit Bay, the appeals court said, as these regions lie in the sound's center. |
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