Rupert Murdoch's News America Marketing has agreed to pay a whopping $125 million to settle a years-long lawsuit brought by tiny Insignia Systems Inc. that alleged Murdoch's people unfairly interfered and lied in attempt to take business from the Plymouth company, which provides in-store promotions.

The settlement, which is more than Insignia's market value and more than four times its 2009 revenue, was reached a day after the trial commenced before U.S. District Judge John Tunheim in Minneapolis.

The deal was announced after the markets closed Wednesday. Insignia's stock has traded lately at more than $6.50 per share, a five-year high and partly in anticipation by traders that Insignia would win a favorable outcome in light of recent, similar settlements reached by other competitors of News America, which is part of Murdoch's News Corp. holdings. Insignia shares closed at $7.57, up 3 percent in Wednesday's trading.

Under the settlement, New York-based News America will pay Insignia $125 million and Insignia will pay $4 million in return for a 10-year business arrangement that gives Insignia access to some News America clients. Insignia had sought more than $250 million in damages.

A federal judge on Wednesday questioned whether a key component of the landmark Voting Rights Act is outdated, expressing skepticism about using evidence of racial discrimination from 40 or 50 years ago to justify continued election monitoring for a group of mostly Southern states.

U.S. District Judge John Bates' comments came during oral arguments in an Alabama county's lawsuit targeting the law — a constitutional challenge that a number of legal observers predict could well reach the Supreme Court.

Shelby County, backed by conservative legal groups, maintains that it and other covered state, county and local governments should no longer be forced to get federal approval before changing even minor election procedures. They note that the Voting Rights Act — enacted in 1965 and extended by Congress for another 25 years in 2006 — relies heavily on past discrimination in determining which jurisdictions are covered by the "pre-clearance" requirement for election changes, such as moving a polling place or redrawing school district lines.

Bates posed sharp questions to the legal teams on both sides but at times appeared sympathetic to the county's argument.

It's yet another twist in a family feud that erupted last week over who will control Ho's interests in the world's biggest gambling market.

Ho, who was hospitalized for seven months after reportedly undergoing brain surgery in August 2009, has 16 surviving children by four women he calls his "wives." The unfolding drama highlights a power struggle among different branches of the family for control of his lucrative gambling business.

The video clips show the 89-year-old billionaire answering questions from his lawyer, Gordon Oldham, about the dispute, which became public when Hong Kong-listed casino operator Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, or SJM, said nearly all of Ho's shares were being transferred to the families of his second and third wives.

In one video dated Jan. 25, Ho tells Oldham that he was forced to sign some documents for the transfer and calls it "something like robbery."

"We still go ahead," Ho says when Oldham asks him what to do if the two families don't reply to requests to return the stake.

Ho is currently hospitalized for what Oldham said was a procedure involving a tube in his throat that allows him to breathe. Oldham said he planned to see Ho later Monday evening.

Ho also denies that the transfer of ownership of a holding company named Lanceford — which indirectly owns the stake in SJM and represents the bulk of his assets — to the two families was part of succession plans put in place in December.

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from opponents of same-sex marriage who want to overturn the District of Columbia's gay marriage law.

The court did not comment Tuesday in turning away a challenge from a Maryland pastor and others who are trying to get a measure on the ballot to allow Washingtonians to vote on a measure that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Bishop Harry Jackson led a lawsuit against the district's Board of Elections and Ethics after it refused to put that initiative on the ballot. The board ruled that the ballot question would in effect authorize discrimination.

Last year, Washington began issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples and in 2009, it began recognizing gay marriages performed elsewhere.

The Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. Files a $1.5 Million Whistleblower Claim Against Raymond James & Associates, Inc.

The Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. www.suemyadvisor.com, announced today it filed an arbitration claim against Raymond James & Associates, Inc. (“RJA”), (NYSE: RJF) on behalf of a former Operations Manager.

The claim alleges that the Claimant, while serving as an Operations Manager for one of RJA’s California branch offices, consistently reported on a series of inappropriate and violative sales practices by the branch manager, and certain other financial advisors of the branch office to regional management,
senior management and home office compliance department. Some of the alleged violations included unsuitable trading and churning in accounts of elderly customers, failure to respond to exception reports, unapproved seminar speaking, misuse of marketing funds and mismarking trade confirmations.

Claimant was then terminated and allegedly defamed on his Form U5 in alleged retaliation for threatening to speak to regulators.

Michael Hill, Managing Partner with the Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. says, “one would think that given Raymond James’ and its affiliates’ regulatory history of supervisory failures, according to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, that it would act on compliance reports from its field force and increase its compliance posture to protect the investing public.”

For a free case evaluation or to discuss this matter, please contact the Securities Law Firm of Menzer & Hill, P.A. at 888-923-9223, or visit us on the web at www.suemyadvisor.com.