|
|
|
Phil Spector to take appeal to US Supreme Court
Headline News |
2011/12/16 17:28
|
A lawyer for imprisoned music legend Phil Spector is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his murder conviction, arguing his constitutional rights were violated by the trial judge.
Attorney Dennis Riordan contends that Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler became a witness for the prosecution by offering his opinion on an expert's testimony.
The filing was expected to reach the court Friday. It cites the prosecution's use of the judge's videotaped comments and his picture during prosecution summations.
The same arguments were made to state appellate justices, who refused to consider them because of a belated filing. They upheld Spector's second-degree murder conviction in the death of actress Lana Clarkson.
The California Supreme Court declined to review the case. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court: State prisoners count at home in redistricting
Headline News |
2011/12/05 14:06
|
A state court ruled Friday that prisoners must be counted among voters back in their home neighborhoods rather than in upstate prisons for the purpose of redrawing state legislative districts, a likely blow to the slim Republican majority in New York’s Senate.
Although prisoners cannot vote, the decision means more voters will be counted as living in heavily Democratic New York City and other urban areas as part of the redistricting process, which is tied to the census. That would reduce the population upstate and likely result in fewer seats in the Assembly and Senate representing sparsely populated upstate areas where prisons are located.
The Senate’s Republican majority says it will appeal the ruling by a trial level judge in Albany.
The immediate practical result of the decision could be minor. The state redistricting commission is already redrawing legislative districts by following a 2010 law requiring prisoners to be counted in their latest home neighborhoods. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
CARRIER iQ, Inc. Sued in Class Action
Headline News |
2011/12/04 18:06
|
New York City based Horwitz, Horwitz & Paradis, Attorneys at Law and Los Angeles based Kiesel Boucher & Larson LLP announced this morning that they have filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against Mountain View, California based CARRIER iQ, Inc. on behalf of a class comprised of all persons and entities who own an electronic device, including but not limited to, smartphones, feature phones, tablets, and electronic-readers (collectively, the "Electronic Devices"), in which CiQ's Mobile Intelligence software application is installed.
The class action complaint, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that CiQ manufactures a software application that, unbeknownst to Class members, was embedded into a wide variety of Electronic Devices, including but not limited to, smartphones, feature phones, tablets, and electronic-readers, purchased by Class members over the past six years. Plaintiff further alleges that CiQ utilized its software application to illegally intercept, collect, and share the data and communications sent or received by Class members over their Electronic Devices in which CiQ's software application has been secretly installed for approximately six years.
More specifically, Plaintiff alleges that CiQ's software application enabled CiQ to illegally intercept and monitor all communications that are sent to, and received by, an Electronic Device in which CiQ's software is installed. CiQ's software does so by: (i) intercepting and recording all keystrokes depressed on the Electronic Devices; (ii) intercepting, reading and displaying the actual text of all text messages sent from, or received by, the Electronic Devices; and (iii) intercepting, reading and displaying all Internet browser searches conducted on private Wi-Fi networks
In commenting on the allegations of the Class Action Complaint, Plaintiff's attorney Paul O. Paradis remarked, "The vast nature of CiQ's illegal interception activities and the fact that the Company's illegal activities were able to be conducted without detection for nearly 6 years is frightening. In the digital age in which we live, the revelation of CiQ's illegal electronic interception activities is a watershed moment for privacy advocates around the world and serves as an alarming wake up call to all of us who are concerned about protecting the privacy of confidential communications of any type." Attorney Paul Kiesel added, "At this juncture of the litigation, it appears that in excess of 140 million class members were victimized by CiQ's illegal interception activities. That fact, in and of itself, is stunning."
Plaintiff alleges that CiQ's illegal interception and data collection and sharing activities violated both the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act and California's Invasion of Privacy Act, as well as other laws intended to protect Class member's privacy and property interests. Plaintiff seeks statutory damages, restitution, punitive damages on behalf of himself and all Class members, as well as an injunction enjoining Defendant from continuing the illegal practices complained of in the Complaint.
If you have any information concerning practices complained of in the Class Action Complaint or would like further information regarding this nationwide class action, please contact Paul O. Paradis at 212-986-4500 or e-mail at pparadis@hhplawny.com or Paul Kiesel at 310-854-4444 or email at kiesel@kbla.com.
Horwitz, Horwitz & Paradis, Attorneys at Law, and Kiesel Boucher & Larson, LLP have been retained as two of the law firms to represent the Class. The attorneys at Horwitz, Horwitz & Paradis, Attorneys at Law, and Kiesel Boucher & Larson, LLP have extensive experience in prosecuting class action cases, and have been appointed as Lead Counsel in numerous major class actions by federal and state courts across the United States and have obtained major recoveries on behalf of injured parties. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court reviews Ga. firing of transgender woman
Headline News |
2011/12/01 11:30
|
A federal appeals court is considering whether a former Georgia state legislative aide who was fired amid her sex change was the target of sexual discrimination.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday heard the case of Vandy Beth Glenn, who said in a 2008 lawsuit that legislative counsel Sewell Brumby fired her after she told him she would come to work dressed as a woman as she transitioned from man to woman.
Glenn, formerly known as Glenn Morrison, said she was told she was fired because her gender transition would be seen as "immoral" by Georgia lawmakers.
State attorneys contend they broke no law and said federal laws that guarantee the rights of some minorities don't extend to transgender employees. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fla. hired law firm with ties to Gov. Scott
Headline News |
2011/11/18 13:55
|
Florida has spent nearly a half-million dollars - and could spend even more - with a large, well-known law firm that has connections to both the Republican Party of Florida as well as Gov. Rick Scott.
Since August the state has paid nearly $400,000 to the law firm of Alston and Bird to defend a new state law that requires public employees to contribute 3 percent of their pay to the state pension fund.
The firm was hired at the urging of the Scott administration which asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to approve paying the firm hourly rates at $495 an hour or nearly $300 more than what is normally allowed.
The Scott administration and Bondi have defended the hiring of the firm, saying it specializes in the kind of litigation that the state is now involved in.
But the firm's roster also includes a one-time business associate of Scott.
While not working directly on the lawsuit, a senior counsel with the firm's Washington D.C. office is Thomas Scully. Scully is also a general partner with the New York investment firm of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe. That's the investment firm that this June purchased Scott's shares in Solantic, a chain of urgent care clinics the governor started back in 2001.
Scully, who once led the Federation of American Hospitals, was appointed to the board of directors of Solantic back in 2008. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Conn. teeth-whitening rules challenged in court
Headline News |
2011/11/16 16:33
|
Connecticut's rules that only a dentist can provide certain teeth-whitening services are being challenged in court.
The Institute for Justice filed the lawsuit in federal court in Hartford on Wednesday. The Arlington, Va.-based law firm says the state Dental Commission's regulations promote a monopoly for dentists by banning certain teeth whitening at salons and shopping malls.
A spokesman for the state Department of Public Health says officials haven't read the lawsuit and won't comment.
Regulations imposed in June cite inherent risks in teeth whitening and say whitening involves the practice of dentistry for diagnosing causes of discoloration, customizing treatment and other work.
The Institute for Justice, which takes on libertarian causes, says the regulations have put several practitioners out of business. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Recent Lawyer News Updates |
|
|
Lawyer News RSS
