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US Supreme Court won't stop Missouri execution
Court Updates |
2014/12/11 14:38
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The U.S. Supreme Court turned down two petitions that sought to spare the life of a Missouri inmate Tuesday night, hours before his scheduled execution.
Paul Goodwin, 48, faces lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday for killing 63-year-old Joan Crotts inside her St. Louis County home in 1998.
An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and a clemency petition both claimed that Goodwin is mentally disabled, making him ineligible for the death penalty. Gov. Jay Nixon was still weighing clemency, but the Supreme Court declined to halt the execution, without comment.
The court also denied a second petition that questioned Missouri's use of an execution drug purchased from an undisclosed compounding pharmacy.
Goodwin's attorney, Jennifer Herndon, said his IQ has been tested at 73. His sister, Mary Mifflin, wrote in a statement that her brother remains child-like, even in prison. She said the death penalty "is not a just punishment for his crime — an act that occurred out of passion, not premeditation, by a man with the mental capabilities of a child, not an adult."
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Court to weigh challenge in suit on Israel attacks
Law Firm Press Release |
2014/12/11 14:38
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A federal appeals court said Tuesday it will consider the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization's pretrial challenge of a $1 billion lawsuit filed by U.S. terrorism victims.
The PA and PLO don't want the lawsuit to go to trial, saying a U.S. court should not have jurisdiction over the case and that the litigation could undermine their ability to govern and worsen tensions in the region.
In a one-paragraph order, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ordered lawyers who brought the lawsuit to file a response next week. The lawyers did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Tuesday.
A Jan. 12 trial is set over litigation brought by victims of seven shootings and bombings near Jerusalem between January 2001 and February 2004. The attacks killed 33 people and wounded hundreds more, including scores of U.S. citizens.
Lawyers for the PA and PLO told the 2nd Circuit earlier this month that a lower-court judge was wrong to establish jurisdiction over the lawsuit because of a 12-person office the PLO has maintained in the United States.
The lawyers said the PA and PLO's home was in the West Bank and that U.S. activities are a tiny portion of their worldwide activities.
The lawyers said the $1 billion sought by more than 40 plaintiffs could be automatically tripled by law to $3 billion if the PLO lost at a trial that is projected to last three months. |
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High court rejects BP appeal of spill settlement
Legal World News |
2014/12/11 14:37
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The Supreme Court is leaving in place BP's multibillion-dollar settlement with lawyers for businesses and residents over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The justices did not comment Monday in rejecting the London-based oil giant's arguments that lower courts misinterpreted settlement terms and put BP on the hook to pay inflated and bogus claims by businesses.
The court's decision makes the economic and property damage settlement final, starting a six-month deadline for filing claims, said plaintiffs' attorney Joe Rice of Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
BP PLC wanted the court to consider whether people and businesses seeking payments under the settlement included some who haven't actually suffered any injury related to the spill.
A district court and an appeals court ruled that, under the settlement BP agreed to, businesses do not have to prove they were directly harmed by the spill to collect money — only that they made less money in the three to eight months after the spill than in a comparable pre-spill period.
BP's Macondo well blew up on April 20, 2010, killing 11 men. An estimated 103 million to 176 million gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico before the mile-deep well was capped July 15, 2010. Lawyers for BP and the government agree that 34 million gallons was captured before it could pollute coastal marshes and fishing grounds.
"Today's ruling is a huge victory for the Gulf, and should finally put to rest BP's two-year attack on its own settlement," lead plaintiffs' attorneys Stephen J. Herman and James P. Roy said in an emailed statement.
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Court: No pay for Amazon warehouse security checks
Legal World News |
2014/12/11 14:36
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The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that warehouse workers who fill orders for retail giant Amazon don't have to be paid for time spent waiting to pass through security checks at the end of their shifts.
The unanimous decision is a victory for the growing number of retailers and other companies that routinely screen workers to prevent employee theft. The justices said federal law does not require companies to pay employees for the extra time because it is unrelated to their primary job duties.
Some workers at Amazon contractor Integrity Staffing Solutions, Inc., claim they wait up to 25 minutes to clear security before they can go home. Amazon has disputed those claims.
The Supreme Court reversed a ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said the screenings should be compensated because they were performed for the employer's benefit and were integral to the workers' jobs.
The case was being watched closely by business groups worried that employers could be on the hook for billions of dollars in retroactive pay for workers seeking pay for time spent in security checks.
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