Recent Updates
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Supreme Court Allows RICO Tax Lien Lawsuit
National News 06/10/2008A pair of Chicago-area companies have the right to sue their competitors under federal racketeering law for allegedly gaining more than their fair share of tax liens, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled. BCS Services Inc. and Phoenix Bond & Indemnity Co...
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Two Foreclosure Crooks Plead Guilty
National News 06/05/2008Two men pleaded guilty Tuesday to defrauding homeowners in a "foreclosure rescue" scam that netted the criminals titles to more than 80 houses, more than $20 million in fraudulently acquired home equity loans and $1.4 million in fees, federal prosecu...
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FTC Shuts Down Pretexters
National News 05/29/2008The Federal Trade Commission has obtained court orders shutting down a ring that used "pretexting" to get people's confidential telephone records and sell them to third parties. The FTC also fined the defendants $600,000, their profits from the opera...
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Chicago Isn't Liable For Club Tragedy, Court Says
National News 05/27/2008The city of Chicago is not liable for the deaths and injuries of E2 Nightclub patrons trampled in a stairwell trying to flee the club after security guards used pepper spray to quell a disturbance, an Illinois appellate court ruled. The estates of 20...
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Woman Profited From Disabled Children
National News 05/21/2008A Florida woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to bilking New York state and city of $1.7 million intended to support 11 adopted, disabled children. But Judith Leekin kept many of them restrained in her basement, did not let them go to school, and spent the ...
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Court Sides With MySpace In Suit Over Sex Assault
National News 05/19/2008MySpace is immune from a lawsuit accusing it of failing to protect a teen girl from the alleged sexual assault of a 19-year-old man she met on the popular social-networking site, the 5th Circuit ruled. A three-judge panel upheld a Texas judge's dismi...
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Vallejo, CA Declares Itself Bankrupt
National News 05/08/2008The Vallejo City Council has voted unanimously to declare the city bankrupt. The council cited falling property values and tax receipts and a $16 million budget deficit for the fiscal year that begins in July. Residents of Vallejo, a town of 120,000 ...
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Federal judge rejects Katrina damage immunity bid
National News 05/06/2008Judge Stanwood R. Duval Jr. of the US Eastern District of Louisiana ruled again Friday that the US Army Corps of Engineers cannot claim immunity from suit in connection with damages suffered by plaintiffs by virtue of alleged defects in the Mississip...
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Mothers May Sue Gerber Over Sugary Fruit Snacks
National News 05/02/2008The 9th Circuit allowed two mothers to pursue their class action accusing Gerber Products Co. of deceptively dressing up sugar-loaded gummy treats as healthy snacks for toddlers. The mothers claimed Gerber falsely touts its Gerber Fruit Juice Snacks ...
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Convicted terror plotter sent to ’Supermax’
National News 04/21/2008Convicted terrorism plotter Jose Padilla will serve his term at a Colorado federal prison known as “Supermax” for its strict, isolated conditions and roster of infamous inmates, prison officials said Friday.Padilla, 37, was sent from a Miami prison t...
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Defense in CIA case wants Berlusconi as witnesses
National News 04/17/2008A former Italian secret services chief's defense lawyers requested Wednesday that Premier-elect Silvio Berlusconi testify in the trial of 26 Americans and others charged with kidnapping a terror suspect during a CIA operation.Nicolo Pollari's defense...
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Fed Appeals Court Dismisses Free Speech Case
National News 04/10/2008The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by Kentucky high school student Timothy Morrison against the Boyd County Board of Education over a 2004 policy that banned Morrison and other students from expressing...