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Goldman agrees to settle mortgage debt class action
Legal Business |
2012/07/18 16:07
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Goldman Sachs Group Inc has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit with investors who claimed losses on $698 million of securities backed by risky mortgage loans issued by defunct subprime lender New Century Financial Corp.
Lawyers for the investors said in a letter filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Tuesday that a proposed settlement had been reached. Terms were not immediately disclosed, though they are expected to be included in court papers filed by July 31.
Goldman is one of many banks accused by U.S. legislators and regulators of fueling the nation's housing and financial crisis by misleading investors about the quality of mortgage debt they sold.
A federal judge in February ordered Goldman to face the class-action lawsuit that accuses it of defrauding investors in GSAMP Trust 2006-S2, a $698 million offering of certificates backed by second-lien home loans.
The loans were made by New Century, a subprime mortgage specialist that went bankrupt in 2007.
The investors, led by the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi, contend the offering documents contained materially untrue statements about the underwriting and appraisal standards used by California-based New Century, the mortgage originator. Goldman securitized and issued the certificates. |
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Japan whistleblower sidelined despite court ruling
Legal Business |
2012/07/11 15:39
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An employee at Japanese medical equipment maker Olympus said Wednesdaythat his humiliating treatment has not changed despite a Supreme Courtruling that his demotion for whistleblowing was illegal.Masaharu Hamada said he is still isolated in the office and after lastmonth's court judgment is not given any work. His was the firstwhistleblower case to reach Japan's highest court.His lawyer Koichi Kozen said Hamada may have to file another lawsuit,complaining of human rights violations. Japan remains behind Westerncountries in penalizing companies that fail to abide by court rulings,and some fines are so small companies would rather pay up than abide,Kozen said."We would hope the company would respond quickly, but there has beenno response," Kozen said. "We want Mr. Hamada to get a new assignment,where he can be happy."Hamada, 51, an Olympus salesman with experience in the United States,first sued in 2008, alleging punishment for relaying a supplier'scomplaint.He is considered a whistleblower in Japan because he raised questionsabout colleagues' professional behavior and was subjected to bizarreand humiliating punishment, such as taking rudimentary tests. |
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Md. appeals court chief judge nearing retirement
Legal Interview |
2012/07/09 15:24
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The final year of Robert M. Bell's tenure as chief judge of Maryland's top court began Friday, when he turned 69 in a state where the constitution requires jurists to retire at 70.
Chief Judge Robert M. Bell has served on the Court of Appeals since 1991 and has led it since 1996.
Thus, the clock has started for Gov. Martin O'Malley to name the first new Court of Appeals chief judge since 1996.
"A year out is not too early at all to be thinking of this (appointment), because others are," said Parris N. Glendening, the former Maryland governor who appointed Bell chief judge 16 years ago. "Of all the various appointments that I made, that was the one that was most intensely lobbied, discussed."
The intensity is strong because the opportunity is so rare.
The Court of Appeals has only had two leaders during the past 40 years: Bell and his predecessor, Robert C. Murphy.
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NY court: Gay marriage caucus didn't break rules
Court News |
2012/07/06 15:39
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A state appeals court rejected a challenge to New York's year-old same-sex marriage law Friday, ruling closed-door negotiations among senators and gay marriage supporters including Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not violate any laws.
The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court in Rochester ruled against gay marriage opponents who argued that Republican state senators violated New York's open meeting rules ahead of the law's passage last year.
The marriage law was given final legislative approval by the state Senate after weeks of intensive lobbying and swiftly signed by Cuomo, making New York the largest state to legalize same-sex weddings. Same-sex couples began marrying by the hundreds on July 24, 2011, the day the law became official.
"The court's decision affirms that in our state, there is marriage equality for all, and with this decision New York continues to stand as a progressive leader for the nation," Cuomo said after the court's ruling.
New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms said Cuomo and another gay marriage supporter, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, met behind closed doors with the Senate's Republican majority in violation of the open meeting law. |
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Romney calls Obama's health care requirement a tax
Legal Business |
2012/07/05 02:08
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Mitt Romney on Wednesday said requiring all Americans to buy health insurance amounts to a tax, contradicting a senior campaign adviser who days ago said the Republican presidential candidate viewed President Barack Obama's mandate as anything but a tax.
"The majority of the court said it's a tax and therefore it is a tax. They have spoken. There's no way around that," Romney told CBS News. "You can try and say you wish they had decided a different way but they didn't. They concluded it was a tax."
Romney's comments amounted to a shift in position. Earlier in the week, senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said Romney viewed the mandate as a penalty, a fee or a fine - not a tax.
The Supreme Court last week ruled that the federal requirement to buy health insurance or pay a penalty is constitutional because it can be considered a tax. The requirement is part of the broad health care overhaul that Obama signed into law in March 2010.
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