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Swiss Bank Drops Wikileaks Lawsuit
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2008/03/05 10:02
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| A Swiss bank quietly dropped its lawsuit against renegade Web site Wikileaks.org on Wednesday, days after a judge reversed his order to disable the site for posting confidential bank documents.pIn court papers, Bank Julius Baer didn't give a reason for dropping the suit and reserved the right to refile it later. Bank lawyer William Briggs didn't return a telephone call seeking comment./ppLast month, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ordered the Web site shut down after Bank Julius Baer sued Wikileaks and the San Mateo company Dynadot. The bank argued it was trying to halt the unlawful dissemination of stolen bank records and personal account information of its customers./ppDynadot, which provided the site's U.S. domain name, agreed to disable Wikileaks in exchange for the bank removing it from the lawsuit./ppThe judge's order, however, backfired for Bank Julius Baer because it only led to bank's information being spread further across the Internet. Several other Web sites posted the same material out of solidarity with Wikileaks, and Wikileaks posted the documents on mirror Web sites it owns outside the U.S./ppAfter enduring criticism from free speech advocates and media organizations, including The Associated Press, White reversed himself on Friday and ruled the Web site could reopen and continue to post the documents until the lawsuit was resolved./ppWikileaks, which bills itself as an activist organization that urges the posting of leaked government and corporate documents to expose corruption, wasn't represented at that hearing. White, however, said he agreed with the dozen lawyers representing the critics that his initial ruling probably violated free speech laws./ppThe Wikileaks site claims to have posted 1.2 million leaked government and corporate documents that it says expose unethical behavior, including a 2003 operation manual for the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba./p |
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Judge Wants Shipwreck Evidence Worked On
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2008/03/05 04:18
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| A judge wants Florida shipwreck explorers and the Spanish government to settle their differences over sharing evidence related to an estimated $500 million in treasure the company recovered last year.pIn Tampa, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Pizzo told lawyers for Odyssey Marine Exploration and Spain to agree by Friday _ or he will be forced to intervene./ppSpain believes it has a claim to the 17 tons of colonial-era coins Odyssey raised from an Atlantic Ocean shipwreck. But Odyssey has kept most details of the find secret to protect the site from competitors./ppThe two sides bickered in a hearing Wednesday over whether Tampa-based Odyssey has handed over sufficient information about the wreck site and treasure for Spain to determine the extent of a possible claim./p |
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Lawsuit Dropped in Pain Doctor Case
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2008/03/04 14:21
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| A patient-advocacy group is dropping its lawsuit over the prosecution of a doctor accused of running a pill mill linked to 56 overdose deaths, just days after a stinging rebuke from a federal judge. div id=body_after_content_columnpThe Pain Relief Network had attempted to intervene to keep Dr. Stephen Schneider's clinic open. It claimed the clinic's 1,000 patients have been unable to find adequate care since Schneider's license was suspended in January. /ppBut a judge refused Friday to grant a request by the advocacy group for a temporary restraining order preventing the Justice Department from taking action against Schneider's clinic. /ppOn Tuesday, the group filed a voluntary motion for dismissal without prejudice of its civil lawsuit against the Department of Justice and the state of Kansas. /ppIf U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown agrees to dismiss the action without prejudice, it could be refiled later. /ppThe Pain Relief Network said in its motion it was seeking the dismissal after reviewing the current posture of the case. /ppSchneider, who is jailed without bond, faces 34 federal charges, including four counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance resulting in death. He has vehemently proclaimed his innocence. /ppThe Pain Relief Network filed the civil suit on behalf of Schneider's patients. /ppAt the earlier hearing, Brown told a room crowded with about 40 of Schneider's patients, some of them on crutches, that if they needed care they should go to the emergency room, not the court. /ppIn its lawsuit, the Pain Relief Network challenged the constitutionality of the Controlled Substances Act, arguing that it allows the federal government to improperly intrude in the physician-patient relationship. /p/div |
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Ciolli Sues Yale Law Students in AutoAdmit Scandal
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2008/03/04 14:06
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| Penn Law grad Anthony Ciolli — the former administrator of a href=http://www.autoadmit.com/main.php?forum_id=2amp;hid=1256 target=_blankfont color=#0253b7AutoAdmit/font/a who was named in a a href=http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/06/12/students-file-suit-against-autoadmit-director-others/ target=_blankfont color=#0253b7lawsuit/font/a filed in June by two Yale Law students against anonymous posters on the law-school discussion board and then subsequently a href=http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/11/09/autoadmit-lawsuit-update-ciolli-dropped/ target=_blankfont color=#0253b7dropped/font/a from the suit — is now returning fire. For backstory, click a href=http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/05/03/law-firm-rescinds-offer-to-ex-autoadmit-director/ target=_blankfont color=#0253b7here/font/a, a href=http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/06/13/why-was-ex-autoadmit-director-ciolli-sued/ target=_blankfont color=#0253b7here/font/a and a href=http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2008/01/30/subpoena-allowed-in-autoadmit-suit/ target=_blankfont color=#0253b7here./font/a pIn a href=http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/IravaniComplaint.pdf target=_blankfont color=#0253b7this complaint/font/a, which was filed today in state court in Philadelphia, Ciolli is suing the two Yale students as well as their lawyers, on eight counts, including abuse of process, libel, publicity placing plaintiff in a false light and tortious interference with contract. This fall, after being named in the original suit by the Yale women and accused of running a website called a href=http://xoxoreader.blogspot.com/2007/03/t14-girls-site-has-closed.html target=_blankfont color=#0253b7T14 Talent /font/a(now shuttered), which ranked women at the top 14 law schools based on their looks, Ciolli subsequently a href=http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/05/03/law-firm-rescinds-offer-to-ex-autoadmit-director/ target=_blankfont color=#0253b7lost an offer /font/afor a full-time associate job at Boston firm a href=http://www.eapdlaw.com/ target=_blankfont color=#0253b7Edwards, Angell, Palmer amp; Dodge/font/a. /ppIn defending the action filed against him, Ciolli was represented by a href=http://randazza.wordpress.com/ target=font color=#0253b7Marc Randazza/font/a. But this complaint is signed by a href=http://pview.findlaw.com/view/2442997_1 target=_blankfont color=#0253b7Mark Jakubik/font/a. /ppWe’ve reached out to Mark Lemley, a named defendant and the lawyer for the two women, as well as the other individuals named in the suit. We’ll let you know if we hear back./p |
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