A judge granted initial approval Friday to a $24 million settlement in which companies that manufactured or sold contaminated pet food would compensate pet owners for all costs related to the death or illness of their dogs and cats. The settlement doesn’t pay pet owners for pain and suffering from injuries to the pets. Plaintiffs lawyers are seeking $6 million of the settlement in fees.
The critical issue standing between New York’s 1,300 judges and a ruling that would entitle them to some form of pay relief is a determination of how much proof is needed to show that their independence has been undermined, a Manhattan judge said Thursday during an hourlong oral argument. That question is “the key to the whole case,” said Supreme Court Justice Edward H. Lehner, who was hearing arguments on a motion for summary judgment in a lawsuit brought by four individual judges.
More than 400 children removed from a polygamist sect’s ranch will be returned to their parents beginning today, Texas officials chastened by a state Supreme Court ruling said Friday. The agreement was reached with 38 mothers of 124 children who filed the complaint that prompted the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday, but state officials said about 300 others taken under identical circumstances also will be returned.
A federal judge has refused to dismiss antitrust suits accusing retail giant Babies R Us of conspiring with makers of high-end baby products to set minimum resale prices to squelch competition from Internet retailers. Consumers ordinarily lack standing to sue manufacturers for antitrust violations because the U.S. Supreme Court held in that only “direct purchasers” have standing to bring such claims. But Judge Anita B. Brody found was no impediment in this case.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that federal magistrate judges do not have the power to remand cases to state court. Addressing an issue of first impression under the Federal Magistrates Act, Judge Chester Straub said the 2nd Circuit was joining the 3rd, 6th and 10th circuits in finding that a remand order is the “functional equivalent” of a motion to dismiss and is thus a “dispositive” matter outside the realm of a magistrate judge’s authority.
Former Ernst & Young partner James Gansman and investment banker Donna Murdoch were charged with insider trading Thursday in an indictment unsealed in Manhattan. The two were charged with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and 11 counts of securities fraud. They are accused of joining a scheme to trade illegally on seven separate potential merger and acquisition transactions that involved clients of Ernst & Young, earning more than $390,000 in profits.
After the 4th Circuit, with no explanation, cut a Virginia capital defense lawyer’s fee by almost three-fourths, the lawyer sued the man who signs off on the payments: the 4th Circuit’s former chief judge. Last week, the federal appeals court ruled in the case.
A 13-year veteran paralegal in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice has filed a suit claiming she was discriminated against and harassed by managers who repeatedly passed her over for advancement because she is African-American. Joi Hyatte alleges that the DOJ “actively” sought only white and Hispanic candidates for higher-paying analyst positions. An attorney representing Hyatte says at least six other African-Americans in the voting section have complained of similar treatment.
The longtime general counsel at General Electric Co. has written a book about his experiences managing the global giant’s legal department of 1,000 lawyers spread around 100 countries. Ben W. Heineman Jr.’s “High Performance with High Integrity” will be published Tuesday by Harvard Business School Press. According to the publisher’s Web site, Heineman speaks frankly about the “dark side” of capitalism — a “temptation to cut corners, fudge accounts, or worse.”
Customers and vendors enter into letters of intent, or authorization, to jump-start an outsourcing transaction that has been mired in protracted negotiations. But LOIs present substantial risks to organizations, says attorney W. Carter Santos, and in most cases should be avoided.