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Montana court sends wind farm clash to California
Court News |
2014/07/22 14:15
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A dispute over a Montana wind farm's potential to harm nearby nesting eagles and other birds should be heard in California, the Montana Supreme Court said Friday, in an opinion that deals a legal setback to the project's developers.
The legal row over the Rim Rock wind farm near Cut Bank began last year, when San Diego Gas & Electric accused developer NaturEner of concealing the possibility that eagles and other birds could be harmed by the 126-turbine project.
NaturEner, whose parent company is based in Spain, filed a competing lawsuit in Montana. Its attorneys alleged SDG&E was trying to get out of an unfavorable contract and using the eagle issue as an excuse.
The Rim Rock wind farm is near an area with seven golden eagle nests and Montana's densest concentration of ferruginous hawks. Under federal law, a take permit is required for activities that could injure, kill or otherwise harm protected birds such as eagles.
SDG&E alleges federal officials recommended to NaturEner that the wind farm needed such a permit. NaturEner has denied the claim.
Montana District Judge Brenda Gilbert ruled in May that the case should be heard in Montana because of Rim Rock's importance to the economies of Glacier and Toole counties. She also issued an injunction requiring the utility to pay NaturEner nearly $2 million a month. |
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Media lawyer: Court's secrecy note not a surprise
Court News |
2014/07/11 12:31
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Critics of House Speaker Bobby Harrell said Thursday they're concerned by the state Supreme Court's call for secrecy in future court arguments in his case.
But media attorney Jay Bender said he thinks the justices only recognized the secrecy of grand juries.
On Wednesday, the state's high court unanimously overturned a lower court's decision and said Attorney General Alan Wilson has the authority to investigate Harrell and empanel a state grand jury to consider allegations the powerful Charleston Republican abused his power for personal benefit.
That lower court must now decide whether Wilson should be removed from the case, as Harrell initially sought in his February motion. The justices noted Judge Casey Manning had raised questions about Wilson's jurisdiction on his own.
Harrell, speaker since 2005, maintains he's done nothing wrong. He's called the allegations and investigation politically motivated.
Bender, a freedom of information expert, does not represent any parties in the case but does represent the news media, including The Associated Press.
He said he's not disturbed by a footnote in the ruling, which orders future arguments on jurisdiction and related issues to be held in private. Such hearings will likely involve what the grand jury is hearing, he said.
Bender noted that Wilson wanted to present sealed grand jury evidence to the Supreme Court as part of his appeal. The justices did not allow it, saying he can't use documents on appeal that were never presented to Manning.
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US Supreme Court lets Equifax tax ruling stand
Court News |
2014/07/01 12:21
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The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it won't hear an appeal from credit bureau Equifax Inc. involving what it considered an adverse tax ruling in Mississippi.
The appeal was a reaction to a 2013 Mississippi Supreme Court decision that Equifax had to prove that it didn't earn any taxable income in the state. The state Department of Revenue examined Equifax's income and allocated some to Mississippi, ruling it owed taxes and penalties.
The Mississippi court upheld the Revenue Department's calculation of the company's taxes based on revenue earned in Mississippi, thus increasing its tax liability from zero to over $700,000, according to court documents.
The Council on State Taxation, Georgia Chamber of Commerce and The Institute for Professionals had filed "friend of the court" briefs in the case.
Lawmakers responded during the 2014 session by passing a law to change how the state collects taxes.
A key part of the law could make it harder for the state to rule that multistate corporations are paying too little in taxes to Mississippi. It says the Department of Revenue would have to present clear and convincing proof before it could reallocate how a company splits its income among states, and only do so in "limited and unique, nonrecurring circumstances."
The Department of Revenue estimates all changes in the law, including a phase-in of lower interest rates for overdue taxes, will cost Mississippi $100 million a year. |
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California high court to decide defibrillator case
Court News |
2014/06/25 09:35
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The California Supreme Court will decide whether large retailers in the state are required to have defibrillators on hand to help treat customers and workers who suffer sudden cardiac arrest.
The high court said it will issue an opinion Monday morning. The devices deliver a jolt of electricity to a stalled heart and help victims recover.
For two decades, an increasing number of public places in the U.S. have been required to have automated external defibrillators on hand, including government buildings, airports and many other public places. A Los Angeles-area family who lost a relative to sudden cardiac arrest while shopping in Target filed a lawsuit to require large retailers to join the list.
During oral arguments in May, a majority of the seven-judge court appeared cool to the idea. |
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Condemned Texas inmate loses Supreme Court appeal
Court News |
2014/05/29 09:47
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The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review an appeal from condemned Texas inmate Duane Buck, whose supporters contend his death sentence decided by a Houston jury 17 years ago unfairly was based on race.
"His death sentence is the product of pervasive racial discrimination," attorneys Christina Swarns, Kathryn Kase and Kate Black said in a statement Wednesday.
Without comment, the high court Tuesday rejected Buck's appeal. The ruling was an appeal of a similar rejection in November from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court.
Buck, 50, was convicted of capital murder and sent to death row for the slaying of his ex-girlfriend and a man at her Houston apartment in July 1995. During the punishment phase of Buck's 1997 trial, psychologist Walter Quijano testified under cross-examination by a Harris County prosecutor that black people were more likely to commit violence.
Advocates for Buck, who is black, say that unfairly influenced jurors, who in Texas capital cases must decide when deliberating a death sentence whether an offender would be a continuing threat. Quijano, called as a defense witness, had testified earlier that Buck's personality and the nature of his crime, committed during rage, indicated he would be less of a future danger. |
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