Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Court revives Coast Guard suit against Bollinger Shipyards

A federal appeals court has revived a federal lawsuit accusing Bollinger Shipyards of lying about the strength of eight patrol boats it lengthened for the Coast Guard.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a district judge was wrong to dismiss the suit against the Lockport shipyard, a subcontractor on a project to lengthen eight patrol boats from 110 to 123 feet.

Lawyers for Bollinger did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday from The Associated Press.The government wants Bollinger to repay $78 million, NOLA.com 'The Times-Picayune reports.

Four of the boats were delivered in 2004. The hull of the first, the Matagorda, began to buckle at sea in September 2004. The Coast Guard accepted the other four after modifications to boost their hull strength, but it wasn't enough, according to the ruling.

The Coast Guard revoked its acceptance of all eight in 2007; the Justice Department sued in 2011.

US Supreme Court takes case, but plaintiff missing

When the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take Bobby Chen's case involving a run-down Baltimore row house razed by the city, it looked past the fact he was too poor to pay the court's filing fee and had no attorney. But now Chen can't be found, something unheard of at the nation's highest court.

The Supreme Court agrees to take less than 1 percent of the roughly 10,000 petitions it receives every year, but it was even rarer for the court to take a case like Chen's. On average, the court takes just 10 petitions a year like his, in which the party making the request is too poor to pay the court's $300 filing fee.

But since the court agreed to take Chen's case in November, he hasn't surfaced. Dec. 22 was Chen's deadline to mail his main legal brief in the case. The court hadn't heard from him as of Tuesday, said Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg.

The court's Clerk's Office, which corresponds with parties who have a case before the court, has tried to reach Chen by letter and email. But it's not clear he got the messages, Arberg said. And he didn't list a phone number when he asked the court to take his case. The Associated Press also tried to reach Chen by email, but the message bounced back as undeliverable. Efforts to find a telephone number were also unsuccessful.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Court halts ridesharing service Uber in Germany

A court has barred ridesharing service Uber from operating in Germany, the latest shot in the popular app's fight with taxi drivers worldwide. Frankfurt state court spokesman Arne Hasse said Tuesday the decision that Uber can't offer its services without a specific permit under German transport laws applies nationwide. The injunction applies pending a full hearing of a suit brought against Uber by Taxi Deutschland, a German cab association that also offers its own taxi-ordering app. The suit is being heard in Frankfurt because it is one of the several German cities in which Uber operates. San Francisco-based Uber said in a statement it would use "all legal means" to fight the case. "It's never a good idea to limit people's choices," Uber said. "We believe that innovation and competition is good for everyone — it profits both drivers and passengers." The ruling comes after Berlin authorities last month barred Uber from operating in the capital because of safety concerns.

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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Colorado high court won't hear pension lawsuit

The Colorado Supreme Court has decided not to hear a lawsuit from state Treasurer Walker Stapleton seeking information about employee benefits in the state's pension system. The court issued its decision Monday. Stapleton had appealed to the state's highest court after two lower courts ruled against him. Stapleton, a Republican, has sought non-identifying information about the top 20 percent of the pension's beneficiaries and their annual retirement benefit. He says the information would help him to assess the health of the state pension's program and how to keep it solvent. The pension board that manages the Public Employees Retirement Association has maintained that the information is confidential.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

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Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Place & Hanley - Securities Attorneys Florida Services

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