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Supreme Court limits Wal-Mart sex bias case
Court Watch |
2011/06/20 07:25
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The Supreme Court on Monday blocked a massive sex discrimination lawsuit against Wal-Mart on behalf of women who work there.
The court ruled unanimously that the lawsuit against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. cannot proceed as a class action, reversing a decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The lawsuit could have involved up to 1.6 million women, with Wal-Mart facing potentially billions of dollars in damages.
Now, the handful of women who brought the lawsuit may pursue their claims on their own, with much less money at stake and less pressure on Wal-Mart to settle.
The justices divided 5-4 on another aspect of the ruling that could make it much harder to mount similar class-action discrimination lawsuits against large employers.
Justice Antonin Scalia's opinion for the court's conservative majority said there needs to be common elements tying together "literally millions of employment decisions at once."
But Scalia said that in the lawsuit against the nation's largest private employer, "That is entirely absent here."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, writing for the court's four liberal justices, said there was more than enough uniting the claims. "Wal-Mart's delegation of discretion over pay and promotions is a policy uniform throughout all stores," Ginsburg said.
Business interests lined up with Wal-Mart while civil rights, women's and consumer groups have sided with the women plaintiffs. |
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NJ mom accused of starving child pleads not guilty
Court Watch |
2011/06/02 09:06
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Two women pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of child endangerment a week after an 8-year-old was found dead in their apartment from severe malnutrition and an untreated broken leg and her injured and emaciated siblings were removed alive.
The children's 30-year-old mother, Venette Ovilde, stared blankly and answered a judge's questions in a barely audible whisper as she entered her plea through a court-appointed attorney. She remains held on $500,000 bail on aggravated manslaughter and child endangerment charges.
Her 23-year-old roommate, Myriam Janvier, also pleaded not guilty through a court-appointed attorney to child endangerment charges. Her bail was continued at $100,000.
Christiana Glenn died May 22 from severe malnutrition and a fractured femur that authorities said had never been treated. Her 7-year-old sister and 6-year-old brother remained hospitalized for treatment of malnutrition and other injuries after being removed from Ovilde's Irvington apartment.
The children were discovered after the police were called to the home on a report of a child not breathing.
The women, who were both born in Haiti but came to the U.S. at a young age, radically altered their lifestyles about two years ago when they came under the sway of a man they described as their religious leader, according to friends and acquaintances. |
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Appeals court reinstates charges against Worley
Court Watch |
2011/05/30 13:44
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A state appeals court has reinstated five felony charges against former Secretary of State Nancy Worley for a second time.
The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals issued a 4-0 ruling Friday. The charges accuse the former Democratic officeholder of violating election laws during her unsuccessful campaign for re-election in 2006. Her attorney, James Anderson, says he will ask the court to reconsider.
The charges resulted from an investigation by the attorney general. They were originally thrown out by a Montgomery judge. Then the Court of Criminal Appeals reinstated them. The Alabama Supreme Court reversed that ruling in September and told the appeals court to take another look.
The appeals court ruled Friday that prosecutors presented sufficient evidence to support the felony charges. |
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Truman schools settle whistleblower lawsuit
Court Watch |
2011/05/08 09:22
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U.S. District Judge Norman K. Moon in Lynchburg reached the opposite conclusion in a lawsuit filed by Liberty University, the conservative Christian school founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. Two weeks before Hudson's ruling, the 1997 appointee of President Bill Clinton ruled that the mandate is a proper exercise of congressional authority under the Commerce Clause.
The Truman School District in southern Minnesota will settle a lawsuit filed by a paraprofessional who said she was fired for being a whistleblower.
The school board voted Monday night to settle the lawsuit filed by Val Wilcox-Pesta for $80,000. The school district admits no guilt in the matter.
Wilcox-Pesta's lawsuit, filed in 2009, says she went to Principal Brian Shanks after finding marijuana in her son's pocket. Wilcox-Pesta alleged Shanks' son sold her son the drugs. Shanks' son denied the allegations.
The Fairmont Sentinel says Wilcox-Pesta went to state officials and the Minnesota Board of School Administrators because she believed there was a lack of concern by administrators and a failure to discipline students involved in the drug sale. Wilcox-Pesta was notified several months later that her position was eliminated. |
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Pa. lawmaker faces hearing on gun-related charge
Court Watch |
2011/05/07 09:21
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A Berks County judge says a Pennsylvania state senator who allegedly displayed a handgun while driving on Interstate 78 is guilty of a summary charge of disorderly conduct.
District Andrea Book convicted Sen. Bob Mensch after a hearing that lasted more than two hours.
Mensch faces a maximum $300 fine and 90 days in jail, but the prosecutor says he will not recommend jail time.
Mensch, a Montgomery County Republican, denied displaying any weapon even though state troopers who stopped him after the March 9 incident found two handguns in his vehicle. Mensch, who has a permit to carry the weapons, said the other motorist was harassing him
The other motorist, Brian Salisbury of Easton, called 911 after he says Mensch displayed the gun in the palm of his hand. |
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