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WaMu shareholders get their voice in bankruptcy
Court Watch |
2010/01/29 10:51
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Shareholders of Washington Mutual Inc will have a voice in the company's bankruptcy after a judge refused on Thursday to disband their committee, which Washington Mutual said would complicate the case. The U.S. Trustee, who plays an oversight role in bankruptcy, appointed the committee earlier this month after being petitioned by 3,500 shareholders. The company immediately asked the court to disband it. The committee will be able to speak with a unified voice and hire professionals, who would be paid by the company. Washington Mutual has said since it filed for bankruptcy in 2008 that it is hopelessly insolvent, and therefore there is no need for an official committees of shareholders.
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Prison officials seize 96-page D&D manuscript
Topics in Legal News |
2010/01/26 04:56
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A man serving life in prison for first-degree intentional homicide lost his legal battle Monday to play Dungeons & Dragons behind bars.
Kevin T. Singer filed a federal lawsuit against officials at Wisconsin's Waupun prison, arguing that a policy banning all Dungeons & Dragons material violated his free speech and due process rights.
Prison officials instigated the Dungeons & Dragons ban among concerns that playing the game promoted gang-related activity and was a threat to security. Singer challenged the ban but the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld it as a reasonable policy.
Dungeons & Dragons players create fictional characters and carry out their adventures, often working together as a group, with the help of complicated rules.
Singer, 33, has been a devoted player of the fantasy role-playing game since he was a child, according to the court ruling. After the ban went into effect, prison officials confiscated dozens of Dungeons & Dragons books and magazines in his cell as well as a 96-page manuscript he had written detailing a potential scenario for the game that players could act out. |
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Lahore High Court extends Rehman Malik's bail
Court Watch |
2010/01/26 04:55
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The court, however, has extended Rehman Malik’s interim bail until February 25.
On December 23, 2009, a division bench of the Lahore High Court had stayed execution of a three-year sentence, awarded by an accountability court to Malik, in two National Accountability Bureau cases, and granted him bail until January 26.
The petitioner, through his counsel, Chaudhry Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, had contended his prosecution was political victimisation and he was sentenced in absentia without fulfilling legal requirements.
Earlier, the Lahore High Court had dismissed Malik's application to waive his sentence in two references in the yellow cab scam and directed his counsel to file a written petition under Article 199 of the Peoples' Representatives Act.
These two references had been filed against the then Director FIA Rehman Malik for committing fraud in the yellow cab scheme. |
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Judge Slashes Music Sharing Fine
Court News |
2010/01/26 04:55
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A Minnesota woman fined nearly $2 million for illegally downloading music has seen the fine reduced from that "monstrous" amount by a U.S. District Court judge who dropped the fine to $54,000.
Jammie Thomas-Rasset, a single mother with four children, said she is seeking a way to have the fine -- leveled after she lost a case with the Recording Industry Association of America -- reduced even further.
"Whether it's $2 million or $54,000, I'm a mom with four kids and one income and we're not exactly rolling in that kind of dough right now," she said, according to media reports.
In his opinion, Judge Michael Davis said, "The need for deterrence cannot justify a $2 million verdict for stealing and illegally distributing 24 songs for the sole purpose of obtaining free music." Judge Davis added that the $54,000 for downloading the music tracks "is significant and harsh... this Court has merely reduced that award to the maximum amount that is no longer monstrous and shocking." |
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