Anti-whaling activist to testify in US court

Headline Legal News

A fugitive anti-whaling activist known for confronting Japanese whaling vessels off Antarctica is due to testify about his actions in a U.S. court Wednesday.

Paul Watson, founder of the Oregon-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, is expected to take the witness stand in a contempt of court hearing in Seattle.

The Japanese whalers argue that the organization 10 times violated an order barring its vessels from attacking or coming within 500 yards of the whaling ships. They've asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to impose fines of $100,000 for each violation, though they suggested the court waive those fines as long as the protesters stop confronting their ships.

The case is part of a long-running fight between the protesters and Japan's whaling fleet, which kills up to 1,000 whales a year, as allowed by the International Whaling Commission.

Japan is permitted to hunt the animals as long as they are killed for research and not commercial purposes, but whale meat not used for study is sold as food in Japan. Critics say that's the real reason for the hunts.

For several years, Sea Shepherd operated anti-whaling campaigns in the Southern Ocean. Activists aboard its vessels would hurl acid and smoke bombs at the whalers and drag ropes in the water to damage their propellers.

Related listings

  • Appeals court rejects secret Delaware arbitration

    Appeals court rejects secret Delaware arbitration

    Headline Legal News 10/25/2013

    A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling declaring that a Delaware law allowing chancery judges to oversee secret arbitration in high-stakes business disputes is unconstitutional. A three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rule...

  • Farmers tied to listeria outbreak to plead guilty

    Farmers tied to listeria outbreak to plead guilty

    Headline Legal News 10/23/2013

    Two Colorado cantaloupe farmers are expected to plead guilty under a deal with federal prosecutors in the 2011 listeria outbreak that killed 33 people. Eric and Ryan Jensen have a change-of-plea hearing scheduled in federal court in Denver on Tuesday...

  • Wenatchee lawyer picked for federal judgeship

    Wenatchee lawyer picked for federal judgeship

    Headline Legal News 09/23/2013

    The White House has nominated Wenatchee lawyer Stanley Bastian to become Eastern Washington's newest federal judge. If approved by the Senate, he would replace Judge Edward Shea on the bench in Richland. Bastian is a 1983 University of Washington Law...

Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

Business News

West Hartford, Connecticut Special Education Lawyer Forte Law Group focuses on special education law and empowering parents to advocate for their child’s rights. >> read