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Immigrants Sue Alabama Over Immigration Law
Headline Legal News |
2011/07/28 08:32
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Alabama’s new immigration law will subject all immigrants to harassment, says a lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit is filed on behalf of five plaintiffs, who include two undocumented immigrants, two Mexican immigrants who are U.S. citizens and the spouse of an undocumented worker. The lawsuit maintains that the law violates provisions in the Alabama Constitution that encourage immigration.
"Our point is these people have individual rights that cannot be tread upon by the Alabama Legislature," said Thomas Drake, a Cullman attorney representing the plaintiffs.
A statement from Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange's office said they were reviewing the complaint and would defend the law "vigorously."
Signed by Gov. Robert Bentley on June 9, the new immigration law makes it a crime to be an undocumented immigrant in Alabama and allows law enforcement to detain individuals they have a "reasonable suspicion" of being in the country illegally.
The law also makes it illegal to give undocumented immigrants rides and requires school districts to check on the immigration status of students who enroll.
The law is modeled on Arizona's immigration law, parts of which have been blocked by federal court.
The American Civil Liberties Union, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Immigration Law Center filed suit earlier this month to overturn Alabama’s immigration law. |
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Iowa insurers get more time on new health law
Headline Legal News |
2011/07/25 08:17
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Iowa insurance companies have been given more time to comply with a new federal rule designed to curb insurers' profits.
The regulation that went into effect this year calls for insurance companies to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on medical care and quality assurance. For employer plans covering more than 50 people, the requirement is 85 cents. Insurers that fall short of the mark are required to issue their customers a rebate.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told the state on Friday that Iowa insurers will be given have to reach the 80 percent mark by 2013, but will be required to meet interim goals until then, the Des Moines Register reported.
The Iowa Insurance Division had requested extra time to comply with the law, citing fears that insurers would leave the state in droves. Six pulled out of Iowa after the law was passed.
Steve Larsen, director of HHS' Center for Consumer Information and Oversight, said in a letter to the state that implementing the law in Iowa in 2011 could cause turmoil in the insurance market. So, he laid out a timetable for compliance that calls for Iowa insurers to spend 67 percent of premiums on medical care this year, 75 percent in 2012 and 80 percent in 2013.
Iowa insurance commissioner Susan Voss said she wasn't displeased by the decision. The state had sought even more time for companies to comply, but, "I don't think we'll see companies exit as a result of this," Voss said.
Of those particularly hard-hit by the law are insurers who sell individual policies because those premiums are more volatile. Employers or large groups can negotiate for better premiums, and the risk in those plans are spread among the group.
There are 56 insurance companies in Iowa that offer individual policies. Seven of those account for 95 percent of the market, with Wellmark holding onto almost 84 percent. Wellmark spent 92 percent of premiums on care but none of the state's other top insurers met the 80 percent standard in 2010.
Federal regulators said that had the law gone into effect this year, Iowa consumers would have received $6.5 million in rebates over three years. |
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Paralegal accused of stealing from law firm
Headline Legal News |
2011/07/20 09:40
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Authorities say a South Florida paralegal stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from her Fort Lauderdale law firm.
Miami-Dade officials on Tuesday charged 53-year-old Brenda Wilcott-Kelly with more than 80 felonies, including grand theft and forging documents. Records show she's also took money from a lawyer who was on his deathbed.
Employees of Hermelee & Geffin were in court Tuesday as Judge Dennis Murphy set Wilcott-Kelly's bond at $116,000.
Defense attorney Morgan Cronin said his client is innocent.
According to the arrest affidavit, Wilcott-Kelly took $82,472 from the firm to pay off her husband's credit cards. She is also accused of stealing $31,050 from lawyer Steven A. Schultz, while he was in the hospital. Schultz leased space from the firm. |
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Ex-law firm office manager sentenced for theft
Headline Legal News |
2011/07/11 00:50
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The former office manager of a northern New Jersey law firm has been sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing more than $400,000 from her employers.
The firm's owners say the thefts Beth Friedland committed between 2003 and January 2010 caused serious financial problems and forced them to lay off staff and associates. The Roxbury Township resident pleaded guilty in March to theft by unlawful taking, admitting she stole $448,721 from the Chatham-based firm of Maloof, Lebowitz, Connahan &Oleske.
The firm, though, claims Friedland took $1.1 million overall and has sued her to regain those funds.
Friedland must serve about 17 months of the sentence imposed Friday before becoming eligible for parole. Her husband, Alex Cruz, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy, was sentenced Friday to three years probation. |
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Lawyer sentenced in insider trading scheme in NYC
Headline Legal News |
2011/07/07 09:56
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A New Jersey lawyer was sentenced Thursday to 2 1/2 years in prison for his role in a hedge fund insider trading scheme as the judge said it was important to send a message of deterrence to Wall Street and to lawyers nationwide.
Arthur Cutillo teamed with another lawyer at a prominent Manhattan law firm to provide tips about mergers and acquisitions of public companies to friends trading stocks professionally.
Cutillo must report to prison in September. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan also ordered the 34-year-old Newark, N.J., resident to forfeit $378,608, which represents a portion of the roughly $7 million that authorities estimate was illegally made by traders as a result of inside information from a variety of sources in the case.
Cutillo, who apologized before he was sentenced, was among those arrested in 2009 when U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara unveiled what he said was the biggest hedge fund insider trading case in history.
After the sentence was announced, Bharara said: "With today's sentence, he now joins a growing group of privileged professionals who are paying a high price for insider trading."
Cutillo admitted providing tips to a former college friend in 2007 and 2008 about secrets he learned at the international firm Ropes & Gray. In return, he received $32,500 in cash, part of $100,000 paid to Cutillo and another Ropes & Gray lawyer in return for stock tips.
The prosecution also resulted in the conviction of Raj Rajaratnam, a one-time billionaire who the government said made tens of millions of dollars through inside information provided by longtime friends carrying secrets about public companies.
Sullivan cited Cutillo's challenging family circumstances, including two children with special needs, as reasons that he did not boost the sentence beyond the minimum recommended in a plea deal with prosecutors. |
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