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Court: No blanket exemption for police dashcams
Headline Legal News |
2014/06/13 14:36
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The state Supreme Court has ruled that state dashboard cameras can't be withheld from public disclosure unless they relate to pending litigation.
Five of the high court's members said Thursday that the Seattle Police Department wrongly used a state statute as a blanket exemption to the state's public records act when it denied providing dashboard camera videos to a reporter with KOMO-TV. Their ruling overturns a 2012 King County Superior Court judge's ruling that said the department could withhold the videos for three years.
The majority awarded KOMO attorney fees and sent the case back to the lower court.
Four justices argued that the statute was clear that that the recordings should not be released to the public until completion of any criminal or civil litigation. |
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High court won't hear California's prison appeal
Headline Legal News |
2014/06/10 13:26
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that California bears responsibility for nearly 2,000 disabled parolees housed in county jails.
The decision could leave state taxpayers liable for problems at some of the jails, said Jeffrey Callison, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
The high court did not comment as it declined to consider Gov. Jerry Brown's appeal of a January 2012 decision by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland.
She ruled that state prison officials failed to monitor and protect former inmates who were returned to county jails instead of state prisons for parole violations under a now 3-year-old state law.
That law keeps most parole violators and lower-level offenders in county jails instead of state prisons in response to federal court orders requiring the state to reduce the prison population.
The ruling in the parolee case was upheld last year by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, despite objections by the state.
"We believe that the lower court impinged upon a state's right to delegate responsibilities to local governments," Callison said.
The state penal code says parole violators in county jails are under counties' jurisdiction, he said, but "the federal court decided that didn't matter, that they were still ultimately state parolees."
That could make the state financially responsible for providing jailed parolees with the accommodations to which they are entitled under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, he said. |
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Top court rejects bail plea of Indian tycoon
Headline Legal News |
2014/06/06 15:34
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India's Supreme Court Wednesday rejected an appeal by an Indian tycoon accused of a multibillion dollar fraud to be released from jail and allowed house arrest.
Subrata Roy, head of the Sahara India conglomerate, has been jailed since March 4 on charges that his company failed to return billions of dollars to investors. Bail was earlier set at $1.68 billion and the company has struggled to raise the funds.
India's securities regulator has accused Sahara India of raising nearly 200 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) through bonds that were later found to be illegal.
Sahara is well known throughout India because it sponsors the Indian cricket team. The company also sponsors the Indian hockey team and owns a stake in Formula One racing team, Force India.
The company has interests in microfinance, media and entertainment, tourism, health care and real estate, including New York's landmark Plaza Hotel and London's Grosvenor House.
The court Wednesday allowed the Sahara group to sell properties in nine Indian cities after the company said it had not succeeded in raising the $1.68 billion needed to obtain bail for Roy.
The court had earlier rejected a proposal by the company to pay bail in instalments. |
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State court allows 'pink slime' lawsuit to proce
Headline Legal News |
2014/05/27 11:51
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The South Dakota Supreme Court is allowing a $1.2 billion defamation lawsuit to proceed against television network ABC over its coverage of a meat product that critics derided as "pink slime."
The decision on Thursday allows the plaintiffs to potentially depose news anchor Diane Sawyer, two of the networks correspondents and other defendants.
Dakota Dunes-based Beef Products Inc. sued the network in 2012 for its coverage of the meat product the industry calls "lean, finely textured beef." BPI alleges that the coverage led to plant closures and layoffs because it misled consumers into believing the product was unsafe.
Attorneys for ABC in court filings say the network in each of its broadcasts stated the FDA deemed the product safe to eat. The network didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Appeals court won't rehear BP settlement issue
Headline Legal News |
2014/05/20 12:54
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A federal appeals court on Monday refused to reconsider its previous ruling that businesses don't have to prove they were directly harmed by BP's 2010 Gulf Of Mexico oil spill to collect settlement payments.
The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans could be a step toward resuming a claims process that was suspended after a district court ruling in December. However, BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said in an emailed statement Monday night that the company is considering its legal options.
BP had asked the full 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to rehear the case after a three-judge panel's March ruling. The court voted 8-5 against a rehearing.
The action preserves U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier's (BAHR'-bee-ay) ruling that BP had agreed in a 2012 settlement to pay claims without requiring proof that losses were directly caused by the spill resulting from the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which killed 11 workers.
Judge Leslie Southwick wrote in Monday's order that a 2012 policy statement, issued by the court-appointed claims administrator and developed with "input and assent from BP," spelled out the criteria for business claims.
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