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California voters soundly reject budget measures
Legal Business |
2009/05/20 09:07
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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers are facing the arduous task of closing a state budget gap of more than $21 billion after ballot measures aimed at bolstering the state's finances were soundly defeated by voters.
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Results for Tuesday's special election posted on the California's secretary of state's website showed more than 60 percent of voters rejected the five fiscal measures on the ballot./pspan id=midArticle_1/spanpA sixth measure barring pay increases for state officials amid deficits was approved by about 74 percent of the voters.
Surveys in recent weeks had found little support for the fiscal measures, and Schwarzenegger all but conceded defeat by joining President Obama in Washington on Tuesday for his announcement on auto emission rules instead of campaigning for the measures through election day./p |
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Feds appeal ruling in oil royalties case
Legal Business |
2009/03/30 09:41
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| The federal government on Monday asked a group of appeals court judges to overturn a ruling that could prevent the U.S. Interior Department from collecting billions in royalties on oil and natural gas leases.pIn January, a smaller three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling that said the Interior Department could not collect royalties from eight deepwater leases held by Anadarko Petroleum Corp. in the Gulf of Mexico. The leases were obtained between 1996 and 2000 by Kerr-McGee Corp., which Anadarko later acquired./ppGovernment lawyers are now asking for an en banc review of the case, bringing it before the entire New Orleans-based 5th Circuit. A court spokesman said the circuit has 17 active judges./ppAt issue is interpretation of a 1995 federal law designed to provide a break from royalties at a time when oil and natural gas prices were extremely low. The law waived all royalty payments until a specific amount of oil and gas was produced./ppThe Interior Department has contended it had the authority to lift the royalty relief once prices reached a certain level. The law became particularly prickly as oil prices rose and oil companies began posting huge profits./p |
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Facebook ConnectU Settlement Figure Revealed
Legal Business |
2009/02/10 10:34
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When the founders of ConnectU agreed last year to settle their 2004 lawsuit charging Facebook with stealing its idea for a social networking site, one of the key provisions was that the amount Facebook paid would be a secret.
And it remained secret--until ConnectU's former firm, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver Hedges, published the settlement figure ($65 million) in a brochure touting its litigation wins from 2008, according to this fantastic story in the Recorder, an Am Law Daily sibling publication.
Firm chair John Quinn told the Recorder that the figure's inclusion was an oversight and asked the paper not to publish the story. It's even more than an oversight, considering ConnectU fired Quinn over the firm's $13 million fee request in the Facebook case. The firm and its former client currently are in arbitration in New York over the matter, according to the Recorder. |
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John Landis not Thrilled with Michael Jackson
Legal Business |
2009/01/29 09:08
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Michael Jackson cheated director John Landis of his 50% share of profits from the Thriller video for the past 4 years, Landis' representative Levitsky Productions claims in Superior Court. In a separate complaint, Landis sued Jackson and Nederlander of California, which allegedly offered Jackson $400,000 for dramatic rights to the video.
Levitsky says Landis directed and co-wrote the 14-minute Thriller Video and Documentary in 1983 and is contractually entitled to a half share of the profits.
It claims Jackson and his defunct corporation, Optimum Productions, have refused to provide accounting or pay royalties for the past 4 years. The claim includes profits from Thriller video-related rights to video games, toys, comic books and DVDs.
In his complaint against Jackson, Optimum and Nederlander, Landis says Jackson did not have his permission to license the dramatic rights, for which Jackson allegedly has received, or will receive, $400,000 from Nederlander.
Landis and Levitsky are both represented by Miles Feldman with Liner Yankelevitz amp; Sunshine. |
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Court sides with police officers in search case
Legal Business |
2009/01/22 14:26
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| The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police officers in Utah who searched a suspect's home without a warrant cannot be sued for violating his constitutional rights.pIn ruling unanimously for five officers attached to the Central Utah Narcotics Task Force, the court also abandoned a rigid, two-step test that it adopted in 2001 to guide judges in assessing alleged violations of constitutional rights./ppTrial and appellate judges should be permitted to exercise their sound discretion in evaluating such claims, Justice Samuel Alito said in his opinion for the court./ppUnder the 2001 ruling, courts first had to determine whether an action amounts to a violation of a constitutional right and then decide whether the public official, often a police officer, should be immune from the civil lawsuit./ppOfficials can't be held liable in situations where it is not clearly established that their actions violated someone's constitutional rights./ppThe case grew out of a search of the home of Afton Callahan of Millard County, Utah, in 2002./ppAn informant contacted police to tell them he had arranged to purchase drugs from Callahan at Callahan's trailer home./p |
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