Court upholds broad reach of bank fraud law
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is upholding the broad reach of a federal law prohibiting bank fraud.
The unanimous ruling on Monday came in the case of a California man who illegally siphoned about $307,000 out of a Taiwanese businessman’s Bank of America bank account.
Justice Stephen Breyer rejected Lawrence Shaw’s claim that the law applies only when a defendant intends to cheat the bank itself — not a bank customer. Breyer said the bank has property interests in the customer’s account and that Shaw misled the bank to steal the customer’s money.
The justices sent the case back to a lower court to decide whether the jury instructions in Shaw’s case were correct.
Justices ask lower court to reconsider class action case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is asking a lower court to take another look at a class action lawsuit brought by nearly 300 cable technicians that alleges their company encouraged workers to underreport overtime hours.
The justices said Monday that a federal appeals court should reconsider its decision allowing the lawsuit to proceed against cable installation firm FTS USA and its parent company, UniTek USA.
The companies argue that the district court should not have calculated damages for hundreds of workers by averaging the experiences of only 17 workers who testified.
A federal judge awarded the technicians $3.8 million after a jury found the company at fault. A federal appeals court said that award was too high, but rejected arguments that a single class action lawsuit was improper.
Court turns away appeal from ex-AIG executives
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from two former American International Group executives seeking to avoid civil fraud claims on charges they hid hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from investors.
The justices on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that said former chief executive officer Maurice Greenberg and former chief financial officer Howard Smith must stand trial.
New York state has accused the former executives of manipulating AIG’s accounting records to hide hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from investors.
The state seeks an order banning Greenberg from working in the securities industry or as an executive for any public company. It also is seeking $53 million, including bonuses Greenberg received during the period he is alleged to have manipulated the company’s finances.
Inmate loses appeal to block 2nd try at execution
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the appeal by a condemned Ohio killer whose 2009 execution was called off after two hours during which he cried in pain while receiving 18 needle sticks.
The court’s ruling denies death row inmate Romell Broom the opportunity to argue that giving the state prisons agency a second chance to execute him would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and double jeopardy.
Broom is only the second inmate to survive an execution in U.S. history and the only via lethal injection. In 1947, Louisiana electrocuted 18-year-old Willie Francis by electric chair a year after an improperly prepared electric chair failed to work. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to allow the second execution to proceed, rejecting double jeopardy arguments.
Broom was sentenced to die for raping and killing 14-year-old Tryna Middleton after abducting her in Cleveland in 1984 as she walked home from a football game with two friends.
The Ohio Supreme Court earlier this year rejected Broom’s state appeal. The court sided with prosecutors who say double jeopardy doesn’t apply to Broom because lethal drugs never entered Broom’s veins while executioners unsuccessfully tried to hook up an IV.
Prosecutors also argue that a previously unsuccessful execution attempt doesn’t affect the constitutionality of Broom’s death sentence.
Despite the ruling, a second execution is years away because of other scheduled executions and uncertainty over the state’s supply of lethal injection drugs.
Broom’s 2009 execution was stopped by then-Gov. Ted Strickland after an execution team tried for two hours to find a suitable vein. Broom has said he was stuck with needles at least 18 times, with pain so intense he cried and screamed.
An hour into the execution, the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction recruited a part-time prison doctor with no experience or training with executions to try — again, unsuccessfully — to find a vein.
Broom, 60, has been back on death row since. No new execution date has been set.
Court leaves in place $1B NFL concussion settlement
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected challenges to the estimated $1 billion plan by the NFL to settle thousands of concussion lawsuits filed by former players, clearing the way for payouts to begin to those who have been diagnosed with brain injuries linked to repeated concussions.
The settlement covers more than 20,000 retired NFL players for the next 65 years. The league estimates that 6,000 former players, or nearly three in 10, could develop Alzheimer’s disease or moderate dementia.
“This decision means that, finally, retired NFL players will receive much-needed care and support for the serious neurocognitive injuries they are facing,” said Christopher Seeger, a lawyer for the retired players.
“These courageous men and their families, who in the face of great adversity took on the NFL, have made history. Despite the difficult health situations retired players face today, and that many more will unfortunately face in the future, they can take comfort in the fact that this settlement’s significant and immediate benefits will finally become available to them and last for decades to come.”
The player lawsuits accused the NFL of hiding what it knew about the link between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease found in dozens of former players after their deaths. The deal avoids the need for a trial and means the NFL may never have to disclose what it knew and when about the risks and treatment of repeated concussions.
In a statement, NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league was pleased with the decision.
“We look forward to working with class counsel and Judge (Anita) Brody to implement the settlement and provide the important benefits that our retired players and their families have been waiting to receive,” McCarthy said.
The settlement awards up to $5 million for those with Lou Gehrig’s disease, also called amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS; $4 million for past CTE deaths; and $3.5 million for advanced Alzheimer’s disease. The average payouts would be closer to $190,000.
Critics complained that the settlement approved by Brody, a senior U.S. district judge in Philadelphia, does not cover future CTE cases. The lead negotiators said they instead set aside compensation for treatment for some CTE symptoms. That does not include the depression, aggression and mood swings reported by some former players who experienced repeated concussions.
As part of the settlement, the NFL admitted no fault. Although a league official during congressional testimony acknowledged a link between football and CTE, an appeals court said that admission was not grounds to overturn the settlement.
“This settlement will provide significant and immediate relief to retired players living with the lasting scars of a NFL career,” 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Thomas L. Ambro wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel in April. “We must hesitate before rejecting that bargain based on an unsupported hope that sending the parties back to the negotiating table would lead to a better deal.”
Players’ lawyers who negotiated the deal with the NFL, and stand to split $112 million in fees, say the settlement will help families get needed financial awards or medical testing that might take years if the case went to trial.
“Compensation for players who are coping with these (neurocognitive or neuromuscular) symptoms now is surely preferable to waiting until they die to pay their estates for a CTE diagnosis,” Ambro wrote.
Brody approved the deal last year after twice sending it back to lawyers over concerns the fund might run out. Individual players could receive up to $5 million in the case of severe brain trauma, which could put NFL payouts over 65 years, including interest and lawyer fees, at more than $1 billion.
Court won’t hear challenge to internet sales tax law
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t hear a challenge to a Colorado law that requires out-of-state internet retailers to tell customers how much they owe in state sales taxes.
The justices on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that said the law doesn’t discriminate against interstate commerce, as online retailers had claimed.
An industry trade group representing retailers challenged the law as unconstitutional because it applies only to companies outside the state. A federal appeals court rejected that challenge.
Colorado’s law doesn’t require internet retailers to collect taxes, but requires them to tell customers what taxes are owed and report purchases to the state government. A 1992 Supreme Court decision bans states from forcing out-of-state retailers to collect taxes if they don’t have a physical presence in the state.
