Recent Updates
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El Segundo Ponzi Scheme Targets Latinos
Headline Legal News 04/15/2009An El Segundo woman took $23 million in a Ponzi scheme that targeted Latinos, the SEC says in Los Angles Federal Court. Clelia A. Flores and her business, Maximum Return Investments, took the money from more than 150 people in seven states, by "guara...
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Tainted Chinese drywall shows up in Katrina homes
Headline Legal News 04/14/2009Thomas Stone and his wife rebuilt after their home was flooded by sixfeet of water during Hurricane Katrina, never dreaming they would facethe agony of tearing it apart all over again. They tapped Lauren Stone's 401(k) retirement savings and saved $1...
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Differing Views in GOP Voting
Headline Legal News 04/11/2009The GOP's struggle over its future and the party's fitful steps to attract minorities are on full display in the differing responses of Republican governors to a major Supreme Court case on voting rights. The court will hear arguments April 29 about ...
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Texas Court Upheld Civil Verdict
Headline Legal News 04/09/2009A Texas appeals court has upheld a multimillion dollar civil verdictagainst a Florida private prison company in the beating death of aninmate. The 13th Court of Appeals ruled last week that Wackenhut CorrectionsCorp., now known as The GEO Group, and ...
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CA Court to Rule Over Gay Marriage Ban
Headline Legal News 03/04/2009The California Supreme Court may reveal Thursday whether it intends to uphold Proposition 8, and if so, whether an estimated 18,000 same-sex marriages will remain valid, during a high-stakes televised session that has sparked plans for demonstrations...
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US Demands 52,000 IDs from Swiss Banks
Headline Legal News 02/20/2009The United States filed for an injunction Thursday against Swiss bank USB AG, asking it to disclose the identities of the bank's nearly 52,000 American customers with Swiss accounts. The complaint claims that an estimated $14.8 billion in assets was ...
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Media Giants Forcing Smaller Guys Out
Headline Legal News 02/10/2009A magazine wholesaler claims industry giants - including The News Group and Time Inc. - are colluding to drive it out of business, and already have destroyed "the only other non-colluding wholesaler in the market," which went out of business last wee...
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Wrongfully convicted, man can't sue prosecutor
Headline Legal News 01/27/2009The Supreme Court says a man who was wrongly convicted and spent 24 years in prison may not sue the former Los Angeles district attorney and his chief deputy for violating his civil rights.The justices, ruling unanimously Monday, say decisions of sup...
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ACLU Challenges Gov't Secrecy in the False Claims Act
Headline Legal News 01/20/2009The federal government has been defrauded of billions of dollars in hundreds of cases it has sealed under the False Claims Act, the ACLU claims in Federal Court. "The result of the secrecy provisions is that the federal court system is home to an ent...
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Hollywood Firm Dreier Trying to Sever Ties
Headline Legal News 01/07/2009A top Hollywood law firm is quietly but doggedly trying to sever ties with its New York owner in the wake of his arrest on financial fraud charges. Santa Monica-based Dreier Stein, the 40-attorney outpost of Dreier Llp. and home to well-known enterta...
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Holocaust Survivors' Class Action Dismissed
Headline Legal News 01/05/2009A federal judge dismissed Holocaust survivors' class-action claim that the Republic of France and its railroad company stole thousands of Jews' property as they were being deported to Nazi-run concentration camps. "(T)he court concludes that the boun...
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Relatives mourn family slain in Santa shootings
Headline Legal News 12/29/2008Joseph and Alicia Ortega came from Mexico and raised a large, loving family supported by the metal painting business they started in Southern California.The remaining members of that family now are in mourning, after a Christmas Eve attack on the Ort...