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U.S. top court upholds TV profanity crackdown
Court Watch |
2009/04/28 08:45
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| The Supreme Court upheld on Tuesday a U.S. government crackdown on profanity on television, a policy that subjects broadcasters to fines for airing a single expletive blurted out on a live show. In its first ruling on broadcast indecency standards in more than 30 years, the high court handed a victory to the Federal Communications Commission, which adopted the crackdown against the one-time use of profanity on live television when children are likely to be watching. |
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Civil beating case against Snoop Dogg begins
Court Watch |
2009/04/25 08:47
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| A man suing Snoop Dogg for millions told a jury Friday that the euphoria of being near one of his idols quickly turned to terror during a 2005 concert when he was savagely beaten. Richard Monroe Jr. claims the rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, hit him with a brass-knuckle microphone after he jumped onstage and put his hand on the performer's shoulder. Broadus sat a few feet away as Monroe described waking up naked, robbed, and in a pool of blood after the beatdown by other performers and the rapper's security detail. A videotape of the incident that occurred at the White River Amphitheater near Seattle was also shown to jurors Friday. Broadus' attorneys said the video doesn't show the blow to the back of the head that Monroe claims the rapper delivered, nor evidence that the rapper should be forced to pay any damages. They told jurors during the trial's opening moments Friday that Broadus' security guards had mere seconds to react when Monroe — who stands 6-feet-3 inches tall and weighs nearly 300 pounds — came on stage unexpectedly. |
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California Court Weighs Same-Sex Marriage Ban
Court Watch |
2009/03/05 22:05
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As thousands demonstrated outside, California Supreme Court justices on Thursday weighed whether voters' decision to ban same-sex marriage was a denial of fundamental rights or within what one justice called the people's "very broad powers" to amend the state constitution.
Gay rights advocates are urging the court to overturn the ban, approved in November as Proposition 8, on the grounds it was put before voters improperly, or at least prematurely. Under state law, the legislature must approve significant constitutional changes before they can go on the ballot.
Proposition 8's sponsors, represented by former Pepperdine law school dean and Whitewater independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, said it would be a miscarriage of justice for the court to overturn the results of a fair election.
The ballot initiative, which passed with 52 percent of the vote, changed California's constitution to trump last year's 4-3 Supreme Court decision that legalized gay marriage. The court found that denying same-sex couples the right to wed was an unconstitutional civil rights violation. |
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Long Beach Sues Lehman Bros. CEO and Others
Court Watch |
2009/02/27 09:47
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The City of Long Beach sued Lehman Bros. CEO Richard Fuld Jr., 12 other top Lehman officers and Ernst & Young accountants, saying they suckered the city into buying $20 million worth of 27-day short-term paper on Sept. 3, 2008, despite warning signs of Lehman's impending collapse. Fuld was paid $100 million in salary and stock grants from 2005-2007, according to the complaint.
Long Beach says its $19,963,250 investment in Lehman's short-term paper has been written down to "zero."
"Despite the fact that defendants were aware of materially adverse facts on Sept. 3, 2008, a mere two weeks before the company filed for bankruptcy, said defendants did not disclose the financial disaster that was about to decimate the company," according to the Superior Court complaint. "instead, defendants lulled the plaintiff, and the rest of the market, into a false sense of security that Lehman would survive, right up to the brink of the bankruptcy filing."
Defendants in the claim of fraud, deceit and misrepresentation are Lehman CEO and Chairman of the Board Richard S. Fuld Jr.; CFO and controller Christopher M. O'Meara; controller Erin M. Callan, who resigned in June 2008 but signed Lehman's Form 10-K for FY 2007; and directors Michael L. Ainslie, John F. Akers, Roger S. Berlind, Thomas H. Cruikshank, Marsha Johnson Evans, Sir Christopher Gent, Roland A. Hernandez, Henry Kaufman, John D. Macomber.
Ernst & Young was Lehman's auditor for FY 2005-07.
Plaintiffs are represented by Bruce Simon with Pearson Simon & Warshaw of San Francisco. |
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"Soul Man" Sues MGM and The Weinstein Co.
Court Watch |
2009/02/19 09:00
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Sam Moore, "The Legendary Soul Man," sued The Weinstein Co. and MGM Studios for trademark infringement, privacy invasion and unfair competition, saying the studios made an offensive movie allegedly based on his life, called "Soul Men." Moore and the late Dave Prater - Sam & Dave - sang the immortal ditties, "Soul Man," "Hold On, I'm Comin'" and others.
Moore sued The Weinstein Company dba Dimension Films, MGM Studios, Genius Products, Concord Music Group, Harvey Weinstein, and Bob Weinstein.
The federal complaint states: "In early 2008, Sam Moore learned from a press release that TWC and the Weinsteins were producing a new film entitled 'Soul Men' about a lack duo from the 1960s that broke apart and was reunited after a long separation to perform a tribute at the famed Apollo Theater. The movie's title, theme, characters and music (the Memphis sound which became synonymous with Stax Records) immediately raised suspicions that the lead characters of the movie were being passed off as 'Sam and Dave.'"
He claims the movie contains "many references to Sam Moore." He claims that the "shooting script," which Moore apparently obtained, includes the direction: "(O)ver the opening credits 'The infectious, foot tapping sounds of 'Sam & Dave' rendition of 'Sweet Soul Music' plays over the credits. While that song plays, the script then provides for vintage footage to place the movie's lead characters, the singing duo The Real Deal, into their era - the 1960s and 1970s."
Sam & Dave were a hit act from 1961 to 1971. The complaint cites numerous other parts of the shooting script to substantiate the claim that the film is based on Sam & Dave. Moore claims that the movie and ads for it have been "highly damaging to Sam Moore, because among other things, the movie is filled with incessant, gratuitous and offensive language; the movie contains unnecessary, inappropriate and vulgar sexual content; the lead character identified with Sam Moore engages in the criminal use of a handgun; the lead characters' musical performances, most particularly Sam & Dave song, 'Hold On I'm Comin',' are so poor as to make a mockery of Sam Moore's talent; and the characters engage in the use of constant, repeated and despicable racial slurs and epithets."
Moore alleges conspiracy, trademark violation and dilution, unjust enrichment, unfair competition, deceptive competition, unfair publicity and privacy invasion. He wants all copies of the movie and all products associated with it recalled, plus punitive damages and disclaimers.
Moore is represented by Steven Zralek with Bone McAllester & Norton. |
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