|
|
|
Insurer settles suit with former USU frat members
Legal News |
2011/05/02 09:23
|
A Georgia insurance company that paid a wrongful death claim on behalf of a former Utah State University fraternity has settled the lawsuit it brought against four of the fraternity's members.
The Herald Journal of Logan reports that attorneys for RSUI Inc. told a 1st District Court judge the company had resolved a dispute with the four men. Court records show attorneys met with the judge April 20 — one day before a planned hearing.
RSUI sought $50,000 each from Sigma Nu pledge Chad Burton and chapter officers Cody Littlewood, Colton Hansen and Mitchell Alm as compensation for a settlement payment to the parents of Michael Starks.
Starks died Nov. 21, 2008, from alcohol poisoning after a fraternity event.
At the time, RSUI was the insurer for the fraternity and its members, including pledges. RSUI attorneys have acknowledged that both the company and the four defendants would have been jointly liable to Starks' parents, George and Jane Starks of Salt Lake City. The company claims it paid the full amount of a settlement with the Starks, although those terms have not been made public. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appeals court overturns stem cell research ban
Legal News |
2011/04/29 09:22
|
div class=entrydiv class=articlepOpponents of taxpayer-funded stem cell research lost a key round in a federal appeals court Friday./ppIn a 2-1 decision, a panel of the U.S. court of appeals in Washington overturned a judge's order that would have blocked taxpayer funding for stem cell research. The judges ruled that opponents of taxpayer-funded stem cell research are not likely to succeed in their lawsuit to stop it./ppThe panel reversed an opinion issued last August by U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, who said the research likely violates the law against federal funding of embryo destruction./ppWe're thrilled with this decision and look forward to allowing federally funded scientists to continue with their work without political constraints, said Sean Tipton, a spokesman for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine./ppResearchers hope one day to use stem cells in ways that cure spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease and other ailments. Opponents say the research is a form of abortion because human embryos must be destroyed to obtain the stem cells./ppThe 1996 law prohibits the use of taxpayer dollars in work that harms an embryo, so private money has been used to cull batches of the cells. Those batches can reproduce in lab dishes indefinitely, and the Obama administration issued rules permitting taxpayer dollars to be used in work on them./p/div
/div |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pierre contract dispute goes before high court
Law Firm News |
2011/04/29 07:22
|
The South Dakota Supreme Court has heard arguments in a dispute between Pierre and the union representing a majority of city workers.
The city a year ago imposed its final salary offer of a 1 percent raise for all employees and another 1 percent for eligible workers. A circuit court judge last fall ruled that the city was within its rights to do so. The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 appealed.
KCCR radio reports that union attorney Todd Love told Supreme Court justices Thursday that the city didn't follow proper procedure. The attorney for Pierre argued that the city dealt with the union in good faith and had no other alternative.
Justices will rule later. Meanwhile, the city and union will continue under terms of the 2009 contract. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Conn. high court hears death penalty appeal
Legal Line News |
2011/04/29 05:22
|
div class=entrydiv class=articleA lawyer told the state Supreme Court yesterday that his client’s death penalty case was the weakest one ever to go before the high court, alleging that the jury was biased and that key evidence was improperly withheld from the trial.
Justices heard the appeal of former Torrington resident Eduardo Santiago, 31, who prosecutors say agreed in 2000 to kill a West Hartford man in exchange for a pink-striped snowmobile with a broken clutch. He was sentenced to death by lethal injection in 2005 after a jury convicted him, despite no clear evidence that he was the one who pulled the rifle trigger.
Two other men are serving life prison sentences for the killing of Joseph Niwinski, 45, who was shot in the head while sleeping in his home.
Santiago’s lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Mark Rademacher, told the Supreme Court that there was no way a reasonable jury could have condemned Santiago. The defense presented 25 mitigating factors, including Santiago’s troubled childhood, for jurors to consider against the death penalty, while the state based its argument for execution on one aggravating factor, that Niwinski was killed in a murder-for-hire plot.
/div
/div |
|
|
|
|
|
Legal Marketing News RSS
