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Ex-Calif. teacher in court on molestation charges
Court News |
2012/02/01 09:37
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The children at Miramonte Elementary School never complained about their third-grade teacher. Not, authorities said, when he blindfolded them, not when he put tape over their mouths or even placed live cockroaches on their faces.
He told them it was a game and then photographed them, creating images that would eventually lead to his arrest, investigators said of Mark Berndt, who is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges that he committed lewd acts on 23 boys and girls, ages 6 to 10, between 2008 and 2010. He has hired a lawyer and has made no statements to authorities, said Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
The investigation began when a film processor found Berndt's photos more than a year ago. Since the discovery, the school district fired Berndt and police put him under surveillance.
"If it wasn't for the film processor, this could still be continuing today," said sheriff's Lt. Carlos Marquez.
Berndt was arrested Monday at his home in Torrance and was being held on $2.3 million bail.
Some parents picking up their pre-kindergarteners at the school on Tuesday complained that officials at the school in South Los Angeles should have notified them when the photos were found.
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Filings of Securities Class Actions in Canada Reach New High
Court Watch |
2012/02/01 09:37
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Securities class action filings in Canada reached their highest level to date in 2011 with 15 new filings, according to NERA Economic Consulting’s annual report, Trends In Canadian Securities Class Actions: 2011 Update. The previous high was 12 filings in 2008.
Driving this increase in filings are so called “Bill 198” cases, which are those involving claims in respect of an issuer’s continuous disclosure obligations pursuant to PartXXIII.1 of the Ontario Securities Act (OSA) and analogous sections of the other provincial securities acts. Nine of the 15 cases filed in 2011 were Bill 198 cases, compared to the seven filed in 2010. A total of 35 Bill 198 cases have been filed since the new provisions came into force in 2005. Of these, 24 remain unresolved, 10 have settled, and one has been dismissed.
“The uptick in securities class actions filings observed since 2008 is clearly not a transient phenomenon,” said NERA Senior Vice President and Trends co-author Mark Berenblut. “This trend has been driven by filings of Bill 198 cases, which account for more than two-thirds of the cases filed between 2008 and 2011.”
“This upward trend seems likely to continue at least through 2012. Several factors may influence the number of filings and the size of settlements in the future, including future rulings in leave applications, certification motions, and any trial judgments, as well as the evolving landscape of US class actions involving foreign companies and investors following the US Supreme Court decision in Morrison,” added NERA Vice President and Trends co-author Brad Heys.
Filings against Chinese Companies
Three of the new filings during 2011 were made against Chinese companies whose shares trade on the TSX or TSX Venture Exchange. These filings are a reflection of one of the major trends driving class action filings in the United States last year. The filings in Canada include the case against Sino-Forest—one of the highest-profile suits brought against Chinese companies on either side of the border.
About NERA
NERA Economic Consulting (www.nera.com) is a global firm of experts dedicated to applying economic, finance, and quantitative principles to complex business and legal challenges. For nearly half a century, NERA's economists have been creating strategies, studies, reports, expert testimony, and policy recommendations for government authorities and the world's leading law firms and corporations. We bring academic rigor, objectivity, and real world industry experience to bear on issues arising from competition, regulation, public policy, strategy, finance, and litigation. |
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Judges skeptical of Texas in redistricting case
Court News |
2012/02/01 09:37
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Three federal judges weighing the legality of Texas' new political maps reacted with skepticism Tuesday when the state's lawyer suggested the intent of the redrawn boundaries was to maximize the influence of Republicans, not to minimize the influence of minorities.
The U.S. Justice Department and a coalition of minority groups contend the legislative and congressional maps the Texas Legislature drew last year recut districts in a way meant to dilute the state's burgeoning minority voting population. They say the maps violate a section of the Voting Rights Act that requires states with a history of racially discriminatory voting practices to get so-called "pre-clearance" from the Justice Department before making electoral changes.
Texas is gaining four congressional seats this year due to population readjustments made in the 2010 census. That has increased the redistricting stakes, with Hispanics and Democrats often clashing with the GOP-controlled Legislature about how the lines should be drawn.
John Hughes, a lawyer for Texas, which is seeking to keep the maps in place, said during closing arguments before a Washington federal court panel that the maps were the result of partisan gerrymandering that didn't violate federal law. He argued that "a decision based on partisanship" is not based on race, even if it results in minority voters having less political influence. |
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NY court: Judge can't block $18B Chevron judgment
Topics in Legal News |
2012/01/27 09:10
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A judge overstepped his authority when he tried to ban enforcement around the world of an $18 billion judgment against Chevron Inc. for environmental damage in Ecuador, a federal appeals court said Thursday.
The three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals explained why it lifted the ban last year and blocked a judge from staging a trial to decide if the judgment was obtained fairly.
It said the judge has authority to block collection if Ecuadorean plaintiffs move against Chevron in New York, but law does not give him authority "to dictate to the entire world which judgments are entitled to respect and which countries' courts are to be treated as international pariahs."
The judgment came last February after nearly two decades of litigation that stemmed from the poisoning of land in the Ecuadorean rainforest while the oil company Texaco was operating an oil consortium from 1972 to 1990 in the Amazon. Texaco became a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron in 2001.
Chevron obtained an order from U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in March blocking Ecuadorean plaintiffs from trying to collect the $18 billion until he could stage a trial to determine whether the judgment was fraudulently obtained.
The Ecuadorean plaintiffs appealed Kaplan's ruling to the 2nd Circuit. The appeals court heard oral arguments and then issued an order in September lifting Kaplan's block on collection efforts. On Thursday, it went a step further, tossing out the portion of Chevron's challenge to the judgment that sought to block its enforcement anywhere in the world. |
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'Barefoot Bandit' to be sentenced in federal court
Headline Legal News |
2012/01/27 09:10
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"Barefoot Bandit" Colton Harris-Moore is scheduled to be sentenced Friday in a Seattle federal courtroom for his two-year international crime spree of break-ins and boat and plane thefts.
The 20-year-old pleaded guilty last month to his state crimes and was sentenced to seven years.
Federal prosecutors have asked for six-and-a-half years to be served while he serves the state time. Harris-Moore's attorneys want less than six years.
Authorities say he flew a plane stolen in Washington to the San Juan Islands; stole a pistol in British Columbia and took a plane from Idaho to Washington; stole a boat in southwestern Washington to go to Oregon; and took a plane in Indiana and flew to the Bahamas, where was arrested in 2010.
He committed several of the crimes without wearing shoes. |
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