A federal judge in New York has rejected the proposed settlement between
the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup that would have
resolved the SEC's lawsuit accusing Citigroup of securities violations.
The judge in the case found that, because the proposed settlement did
not present the relevant facts, the settlement was "neither fair, nor
reasonable, nor adequate, nor in the public interest."
The California Supreme Court, answering a question from the Ninth
Circuit, has ruled that initiative backers in California have the right
to participate in a lawsuit to defend an initiative when state officials
have declined to do so. This decision should allow backers of
Proposition 8 to continue their defense of the amendment against
constitutional challenges.
A federal district court judge in Washington D.C. has issued a
preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of new rules by the Food and
Drug Administration that require cigarette manufacturers to display
graphic warning labels on every pack of cigarettes sold. The judge
found that the requirement violated cigarette manufacturers' rights
under the First Amendment since it forced them to engage in commercial
speech that goes beyond the conveyance of purely factual or
uncontroversial information.
The grand jury investigating allegations of sexual abuse against former
Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has issued a report that
outlines several instances of the alleged abuse. The report also
concludes that officials at Penn State failed to report alleged
instances of abuse and made materially false statements under oath
regarding the alleged abuse.
The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court's denial of
Afghanistan's motion to dismiss a complaint brought by the husband of a
victim of the September 11th attacks. The court found that the
plaintiff's suit was properly considered under the noncommercial tort
exception to foreign sovereign immunity, but remanded the case back to
the lower court to resolve factual issues concerning Afghanistan's
involvement with the 9/11 attacks.
A federal judge in Manhattan has dismissed the Madoff trustee's lawsuit
against JPMorgan Chase and UBS that claimed the banks knew or should
have known of Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The judge tossed the lawsuit after
finding that the trustee could not bring the suit on behalf of the
victims of Madoff's fraud.
The United States has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to block
South Carolina's immigration law, Act No. 69, from going into effect.
The US claims that the law infringes on powers reserved for the federal
government, and thus violates the Supremacy Clause of the US
Constitution.
