Court

Iowa Supreme Court Throws Out AFSCME Lawsuit Against Governor Branstad

The Iowa Supreme Court has ruled Governor Branstad had the authority to close the state-run Mental Health Institutes in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant last year. Court: The citizens of Iowa granted the governor item-veto power The court threw out a complaint by two dozen Democrats in the state legislature and the president of the union that represented many of the workers at the two facilities. …


Victory for America’s Youth: Federal Judge Rules Climate Lawsuit Can Proceed

The federal court in Eugene, Oregon decided in favor of 21 youth plaintiffs on Thursday, in their “groundbreaking” constitutional climate lawsuit against President Obama, numerous federal agencies and the fossil fuel industry. U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken rejected all arguments to dismiss raised by the federal government and fossil fuel industry, determining that the young plaintiffs’ …


OPINION: SCOTUS Hasn’t Looked at Class Action Settlement in 17 Years. Time to Revisit?

The last time the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a challenge to an approved class action settlement, AOL ruled the Internet, Bill Clinton was president and Donald Trump was months away from considering a run for the presidency in an October 1999 interview with Larry King. It was a long time ago, in other words. The National Football League and plaintiffs’ lawyers representing a …


Appellate Court Reverses Prieto Lawsuit Dismissal

A federal appeals court has reversed a lower court’s dismissal of a lawsuit alleging Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto created a sexually hostile work environment by hugging and kissing a female employee while on the job. The reversal sends the case back for trial in U.S. District Court in Sacramento. Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto.


Krispy Kreme Sued for Fraud in Federal Court Over Doughnut Ingredients

Krispy Kreme is facing a class-action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles federal court Wednesday by a former customer who says the doughnut chain is guilty of false advertising and fraud because some of its supposed fruit-filled and maple-glazed products are made with “nutritionally inferior ingredients.” The 32-page, class-action complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of …


Appeals Court Rejects Utah Challenge of Class-Action Suit

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver will not hear a case about Utah’s efforts to stall a class action lawsuit over mental health treatment in the state’s jails. The Standard-Examiner reports (http://bit.ly/2emtf06 ) that the Utah Attorney General’s Office asked the court to consider its challenge of a ruling certifying the Disability Law Center’s suit as a class action. The appeals …


Justice Department: Virginia May Be Punishing Poor by Suspending Driver’s Licenses

The Justice Department filed a brief Monday supporting a class-action lawsuit that claims Virginia suspends poor people’s driver’s licenses in an “unconstitutional scheme,” court documents show. In July, the class-action lawsuit, Stinnie et al. v. Holcomb , was filed in U.S. District Court in Western Virginia against the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, claiming 940,000 people …


The President-Elect Faces Court Date in Fraud Case

After an election, a president-elect has an enormous amount of work to do. The period between Election Day and Inauguration Day flies by, and an incoming leader has to assemble a team, receive policy briefings, put an agenda in place, and attend a seemingly endless stream of meetings. In Donald Trump’s case, there’s another part of his upcoming schedule that most presidents-elect don’t have to …


Volkswagen’s Audi Facing Fresh Emissions Cheating Lawsuit

Embattled Volkswagen is facing a new lawsuit in US courts over devices used to cheat emissions standards, this one against luxury brand Audi, according to court documents. The new case filed Tuesday in Illinois court, cites a media report Audi installed the cheating devices on gasoline-powered cars to hide the true emissions of climate-warming gas carbon dioxide, court papers say. The latest suit follows last month’s USD 14.7 billion class action settlement in Volkswagen’s diesel emissions cheating scandal, which has rocked …


Lawsuit Challenges Tennessee Sex Offender Registry

Retroactive enforcement of Tennessee’s sex offender registry law is being challenged in a federal court lawsuit that mimics a separate, successful appeal that led to the nullification of retroactive laws in Michigan. The case, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Nashville, argues that Tennessee’s registration laws are illegally applied retroactively. It notes that the laws and restrictions on those offenders have become significantly more burdensome since the laws were first enacted in 1994. The first registry law deemed the register of sex offenders confidential and only accessible by law enforcement. The General Assembly tweaked the law multiple times, and made registrants public, and then…