Court

NGOs Launch Massive Lawsuit Against EU-Canada Trade Deal

A group of German NGOs filed a complaint to the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, asking the nation’s highest judges to block the early – albeit temporary – implementation of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The organizations, Campact, Foodwatch and Mehr Demokratie, say CETA subverts the German constitution because it does not leave room for parliamentarians to interpret …


Decision in AXA Excessive-Fee Lawsuit Preserves the Status Quo

A judge’s recent decision favoring AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. in a lawsuit over excessive mutual fund fees in variable annuities was a win of sorts for insurance companies, in that it upholds a traditional structure of offering investment options. At issue in the lawsuit, Sivolella v. AXA Equitable Life Insurance Co. et al, is whether the insurer and an RIA subsidiary, which act as …


Court Dismisses Lawsuit Over Tourism Marketing District Fee

The Superior Court of California has issued a tentative ruling dismissing a lawsuit filed over a hotelier-approved assessment on hotel room bills, which funds operations of the San Diego Tourism Marketing District. Judge Joel Wohlfeil said the court found that San Diegans for Open Government, represented by local attorney Cory Briggs, does not have standing since it does not include parties …


Wounded Indianapolis Officer Confronts Law Protecting Gun Sellers

A convicted felon walked into an Indianapolis sporting goods store with a friend in December 2011. In the presence of a store employee, the felon pointed out the handgun he wanted, and the friend purchased it for him a few hours later, a lawsuit alleges. Two months later, the felon, Demetrious Martin, used the handgun to shoot Dwayne Runnels, an …


Texas AG Files Lawsuit Against Waller County Over Open Carry

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Waller County over its ban on guns at its courthouse. The suit, filed Monday afternoon in district court in Travis County, centers on a provision of Texas’ new open carry law, which took effect in January. The law, which allows Texans with licenses to openly carry handguns, has an exemption prohibiting …


Judge Tosses Kansas Muslim Inmate’s Religious-Rights Lawsuit

A federal judge in Kansas has thrown out a Muslim inmate’s lawsuit that accused a county jail and its administrators of violating the convicted killer’s religious rights. U.S. Magistrate Judge David J. Waxse dismissed Eddie Gordon Sr.’s case involving the Shawnee County Jail after Gordon missed a court-imposed deadline to submit any evidence the alleged misconduct harmed him …


Court Throws Out Federal Government’s Lawsuit Over AT&T “Unlimited” Data Plans

Nearly two years ago, the Federal Trade Commission sued AT&T for allegedly misleading wireless customers by charging them for “unlimited” data plans while simultaneously throttling their cellular connection speeds when they passed certain monthly thresholds. AT&T failed in 2015 to get the case dismissed in District Court, but yesterday succeeded in convincing a federal appeals court to throw …


Google Tries to End Browser Privacy Violation Lawsuit

Google is trying again to end an advertisement tracking privacy violation court case brought against it in 2012, this time with a settlement offer of US$5.5 million (A$7.3 million). At the heart of the legal action is Google’s bypass of the default cookie settings in Apple’s Safari for iOS and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browsers. Cookies are small text files that web servers can place on …


Appeal of Concussion Settlement Will Indeed continue

More than three years after the NFL and a class of thousands of former players agreed on terms of the settlement of the concussion class action, the settlement still won’t be finalized. Contrary to a report in the New York Post that the remaining players objecting to the deal had failed to file petitions for appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court by Monday’s deadline, at least one petition was …