| Appeal of legal fees may delay residential school payments: victims' lawyer | | Posted Saturday, January 20, 2007 3:04:28 PM by Blog57 Team | | REGINA (CP) - Compensation payments for thousands of survivors of abuse at residential schools could be delayed because Ottawa is moving to appeal millions in legal fees, a lawyer at the heart of the settlement suggested Thursday. The attorney general has asked the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal for permission to challenge a lower court's ruling on payments to Tony Merchant's Regina law firm. Merchant said the payment of between $25 million and $40 million is fair. "We have had about a hundred lawyers do work over time, over a 10-year period, and this is a payment that is appropriate," Merchant said Thursday. "It's a payment that was agreed by the government. They asked a judge to decide on the issue of legal fees, the judge decided, they didn't like the result, and then they appeal." The settlement announced in December is expected to see the federal government pay as much as $5 billion in restitution to 80,000 residential school claimants.... | |
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| | | Henry Bellingham: Legal aid | | Posted Saturday, January 13, 2007 1:05:22 PM by Blog57 Team | | I declare my interest as a barrister who did legal aid work in the past. I welcome the debate in Government time, although it is regrettable that it is not in the main Chamber. There are 25 Members here, which is I suggest probably many more than are in the Chamber for the debate on social exclusion. Everyone agrees that action is needed to control the criminal legal aid budget, and I want first to discuss criminal legal aid in general terms, before considering civil legal aid. The cost is up 37 per cent. from 1997 to more than £2 billion, as the Minister pointed out, and I want to consider the drivers of that increase. Lawyers' fees are certainly not responsible, because standard and non-standard fees, taken together, are up 1.7 per cent. since 2001. I suggest that the increase in the legal aid budget is largely due to the increased volume of cases, changes in procedure and changes in the rules of evidence.... | |
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| | | IBM settles overtime pay legal action | | Posted Monday, November 27, 2006 1:11:47 PM by Blog57 Team | | IBM announced today that it has agreed to resolve "all claims" in a legal action which alleged that the company had unfairly prevented some of its staff benefiting from overtime pay.The class action lawsuit was filed in the Federal District Court in the Northern District of California in January 2006.The case focused on current and former employees within IBM's Technical Services Professional and Information Technology Specialist job categoriesThe suit alleged that some employees were classified as exempt from overtime under the Fair Labour Standards Act and certain state laws. It is claimed that these workers should have been classified as non-exempt and paid overtime wages. Under the terms of the settlement, still subject to final approval by the Court, each qualified individual in these two job categories will be entitled to apply for a payment, in accordance with an agreed formula, in full and complete settlement of all claims in the case.... | |
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| | | Liberty Dollars used in Asheville are not legal tender | | Posted Tuesday, November 14, 2006 3:09:56 AM by Blog57 Team | | What's in your wallet? If it's a Liberty Dollar, watch out. Similar in size and design to the U.S. Mint coins that are legal tender for all debts, public and private, Liberty Dollars are stamped from 1 troy ounce of 0.999 fine silver with a supposed face value of $20. It's an alternative currency accepted by some 85 businesses in Asheville, the largest city in the mountains of western North Carolina. .... | |
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| | | Supreme Court puts end to legal battle of teacher after 31 years | | Posted Sunday, November 12, 2006 11:03:19 AM by Blog57 Team | | New Delhi, Nov 10: Putting an end to the 31-year old legal battle, the Supreme Court has upheld the termination of a Kendriya Vidyalaya teacher holding that it was done in accordance with the terms of employment and not on the basis of inquiry report indicting him for awarding corporeal punishment to an ill student.Arun Kumar Madhavrao Sinddhaye, a Physical Education Teacher, had challenged his termination as illegal contending his service was taken away by way of punishment and not by following the proper procedure.An enquiry was held against him after a formal complaint was lodged with the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pune, alleging that he forced an ailing student to run four km as part of punishment.Analysing the facts and various material evidence, a Bench comprising Justice G P Mathur and Justice A K Mathur held that the service was terminated as per the terms and conditions mentioned in the appointment letter."The services of the respondent (teacher) were, therefore, not terminated by way of punishment," the Bench said.The teacher's service was terminated in 1975 and he was reinstated on the order of the Bombay High Court which had turned down the trial court verdict holding the termination as correct.... | |
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| | | Supreme Court tosses out suit over Auburn trustees | | Posted Friday, November 10, 2006 3:11:46 PM by Blog57 Team | | AUBURN, Ala. (AP) -- The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled against a lawsuit over the length of Auburn University trustee terms. The court says trustee Dwight Carlisle didn't have legal standing to file the suit and it must be dismissed. The ruling went in favor of Auburn President Ed Richardson and other trustees, including Governor Riley. Carlisle filed suit after Attorney General Troy King issued an advisory opinion declaring that trustees' new terms begin when their selections are approved by the state Senate, not when their previous terms end. That meant the term of trustee Charles Ball of Gadsden legally ended in 2005. King's opinion also meant the terms of several other trustees, including Montgomery banker Bobby Lowder, would be longer than previously thought. Lowder's term was extended four years, from 2007 to 2011.... | |
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| | | Legal help in home-buying can offer extra protection | | Posted Thursday, November 09, 2006 1:29:28 PM by Blog57 Team | | Beginning this month, attorneys from the Minnesota Association of Black Lawyers (MABL) will be contributing articles to a monthly column series addressing legal issues of interest to the community. For most homeowners, their home is their biggest investment. The process of buying a home can be one of the most intimidating legal transactions you will ever undertake. If there was ever a time to seek legal advice, this is a good time to do so. Role of the real estate agent Homebuyers often engage real estate agents to represent them in the purchase of their home. Real estate agents typically charge a commission, which is generally paid by the seller, based on a percentage of the homes sale price (commonly six or seven percent). The commission is usually split between the sellers agent and the buyers agent.... | |
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| | | Lloyd's of London Names Lose Claim Against Treasury (Update1) | | Posted Wednesday, November 08, 2006 7:09:02 PM by Blog57 Team | | Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Lloyd's of London investors lost a legal bid to recover damages over the alleged misregulation of the 300-year-old insurance market, potentially saving the U.K. government as much as 1 billion pounds ($1.9 billion). The High Court in London today dismissed a class action- style lawsuit brought against the Treasury by more than 1,000 wealthy individuals, known as Lloyd's ``names,'' who back the market's underwriting activities. The politicians, businessmen and philanthropists involved in the case claim they suffered large losses because the government failed to implement European legislation regulating insurance risk. The High Court ruled that the law didn't give private individuals the right to bring a damages suit. ``There is no grant of rights to Names on whatever basis they seek to claim it,'' Justice Gordon Langley wrote in the judgment.... | |
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| | | EU Warns of Legal Action on Work Week | | Posted Tuesday, November 07, 2006 7:11:04 AM by Blog57 Team | | The European Union's top labor official warned EU governments Monday that most of them could face legal action from Brussels unless they adhere to a contentious 48-hour limit on the work week. EU employment ministers will try to break a deadlock Tuesday on closing loopholes that have allowed Britain and other opponents to avoid the requirement. Talks on updating the 1993 rules have been under way for over two years. EU Employment and Social Affairs Commissioner Vladimir Spidla appealed Monday for EU governments to compromise. Spidla warned that if no deal is reached, he could step up legal action against violators of the existing rules -- which currently includes most of the 25 EU nations. "We have to do our utmost to try and reach an agreement," Spidla told reporters.... | |
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| | | Red Hat adds new Linux legal protection | | Posted Sunday, November 05, 2006 11:10:17 AM by Blog57 Team | | Faced with new competitive challenges from Novell, Microsoft and Oracle, Linux seller Red Hat has begun promising protection against intellectual-property lawsuits. The leading Linux seller quietly slipped the indemnification provision into a question-and-answer page on their Web site after Novell and Microsoft announced a technical and patent partnership last week. "As with any indemnification provision, if (a customer) were to get sued for intellectual-property infringement over code they got from us, the provision of the indemnification language kicks in," said Mark Webbink, Red Hat's deputy general counsel. "At that point, we step into their shoes" to handle the legal attack." Indemnification of open-source software rose to prominence after the SCO Group sued IBM, arguing that it copied proprietary SCO Unix code into open-source Linux against the terms of IBM's Unix license.... | |
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