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Va. court: Hookah lounge exempt from smoking ban
Legal News Digest |
2013/12/20 11:02
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A divided Virginia Court of Appeals has ruled that a Blacksburg hookah lounge is exempt from the state's restaurant smoking ban.
In a 6-3 ruling Tuesday, the court said the She-Sha Cafe and Hookah Lounge is not subject to the ban because it's a retail tobacco store as well as a restaurant. She-Sha says most of its revenue comes from customers' use of hookahs - tall water pipes that are used to smoke flavored tobacco.
The state law regulating indoor public smoking covers restaurants but specifically exempts tobacco retailers. The court's majority cited that exemption in ruling in She-Sha's favor.
The decision reverses a three-judge panel's ruling that She-Sha is covered by the ban because it also serves food. |
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Tenn. senator's fired chief of staff back in court
Law News |
2013/12/16 11:13
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The fired chief of staff for Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is returning to court in Washington after his arrest on charges of possession and attempted distribution of child pornography.
Ryan Loskarn was arrested Wednesday, and the 35-year-old made his first appearance in court Thursday. At the time, a judge ordered him held until a hearing Monday.
In asking that Loskarn remain in custody, a prosecutor argued he was a flight risk and a danger to society. He faces up to 10 years on the possession charge and five to 20 years on the distribution charge.
Loskarn had served for two years as chief of staff for Republican Alexander. |
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Court won't hear appeal over news release
Headline Legal News |
2013/12/16 11:12
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The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a CEO convicted because a news release misstated the results of a drug's effectiveness.
The high court on Monday declined to hear an appeal from Dr. W. Scott Harkonen, the chief executive of the biotechnology company InterMune Inc. from 1998 until 2003. He was convicted wire fraud in the marketing of the drug Actimmune, which was supposed to fight the fatal lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
The conviction centered on an August 2002 news release that misstated the results of a clinical trial using Actimmune. The release falsely said the test showed Actimmune helped IPF patients live longer.
Harkonen's lawyers say the results of the trial were accurate, and he is being punished for offering a scientific opinion about the results. |
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Court looks at EPA rule on cross-state pollution
Legal World News |
2013/12/12 13:34
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The Supreme Court indicated Tuesday it could breathe new life into a federal rule requiring states to reduce power plant pollution from the South and Midwest that fouls the air in the eastern U.S.
Several justices suggested during a 90-minute argument that they believe the Environmental Protection Agency did not exceed its authority when it issued its cross-state air pollution rule in 2011. A divided federal appeals court panel invalidated the rule last year.
The EPA sought to reduce pollution from power plants in 28 states that drifts above states in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Texas led 14 states and industry groups in challenging the rule. Most downwind states support it.
Justice Department lawyer Malcolm Stewart said the EPA is trying to be "an honest broker" between upwind and downwind states.
Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide pollution from power plants can be carried long distances and the pollutants react with other substances to form smog and soot, which have been linked to illnesses. The cross-border pollution has prevented many cities from complying with health-based standards set by law.
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NY court: Reporter shielded in Colo. shooting case
Press Release |
2013/12/12 13:34
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A Fox News reporter is protected by New York law from being forced to reveal her sources for a story about the suspect in the mass shooting that left 12 people dead in a suburban Denver movie theater last year, the state's top court ruled Tuesday.
The state's shield law supports refusing to recognize a Colorado court's petition for a subpoena, the New York Court of Appeals ruled, 4 to 3.
Lawyers for the suspect, James Holmes, wanted New York-based reporter Jana Winter brought to Colorado to name two law officers who told her Holmes had mailed a notebook depicting violence to a psychiatrist. They argued that the sources violated a judge's gag order, may have lied under oath about that and won't be credible as trial witnesses.
"There is a substantial likelihood that a New York reporter will be compelled to divulge the identity of a confidential source (or face a contempt sanction) if required to appear in the other jurisdiction _ a result that would offend the core protections of the shield law, a New York public policy of the highest order," the court said in overturning a mid-level appeals court's decision supporting the subpoena.
One dissenting judge said New York's law does not protect Winter because the privileged communications with her sources took place in another state. |
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