Houston, Texas - Wrongful Death Law Firm

In Texas, if you are the surviving family of the victim who has been involved in a automobile accident, drowning, product defects, or structure collapses, you can have the right to a wrongful-death case. A wrongful death case results in the death due to negligence or other dangerous conditions. However, there are some restrictions as to who can file for a wrongful death case. For instance, a sibling is not able to bring a case for the death of their sibling if it occurred while they were there. If you want to find out if you have a wrongful death claim, contact Houston Texas personal injury lawyer today.

Appeals court allows capital retrial of Wolfe

A federal appeals court will allow a capital murder case to proceed against an accused drug kingpin from northern Virginia.
In a 2-1 ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned a federal judge in Norfolk who had ordered a halt to the prosecution of Justin Wolfe and his immediate release.
That judge said misconduct by prosecutors in Prince William County made it impossible for Wolfe to get a fair trial.
But a majority on the appellate court disagreed. The judges ruled that a new trial can be done fairly. A dissenting judge said the misconduct was so bad that freeing Wolfe was the only proper outcome.
Wolfe was sent to death row in 2002 for a drug-related murder, but his original conviction and sentence were overturned.

Retired Supreme Court Justice O'Connor visits SC

Issues dealing with church and state will always be among the toughest the nation's courts deal with and there's no easy test for deciding them, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said Monday.

"Religious pluralism lies at the very heart of the American political tradition and I think it remains a major concern as our country becomes ever more the home of larger and larger communities of people from widely different ethnic and religious backgrounds," the first woman appointed to the high court told a legal symposium focusing on a constitutional test she proposed in a high court ruling almost 30 years  ago.

The symposium at the Charleston School of Law was sponsored by the Charleston Law Review and the Riley Institute at Furman University.

O'Connor's endorsement test proposed that a government action can violate the First Amendment's separation of church and state if a reasonable observer sees that action as either endorsing or disapproving religion. But O'Connor, who is 83 and who retired from the court in 2006, said that there is no grand unified theory for applying to such cases. Over the years the Supreme Court has made seemingly contradictory decisions.

Doctor to plead guilty in CA prescription case

A Southern California doctor has agreed to plead guilty to charges of illegally prescribing drugs to his patients at nightly meetings in Starbucks stores.
Court documents show 44-year-old Alvin Mingczech Yee entered into a plea agreement earlier this week. He is expected to plead guilty to seven counts at a April 17 hearing.
Prosecutors say Yee saw up to a dozen patients nightly at Starbucks coffee stores across suburban Orange County at meetings that cost up to $600. Prosecutors say Yee barely examined them but prescribed drugs including OxyContin and Vicodin.
Yee was arrested in October 2011 at his Irvine office and has been free on bond.

MJM Law Office, P.C. - DUII / DUI / DWI Offenses

Most people agree that driving while you are high and/or drunk is not a good idea, but it is also a very common and sometimes difficult to avoid occurrence in America’s geographically dispersed car culture.  Residents of Oregon should be aware that the state’s drunk driving laws are some of the toughest in the country, making DUII (Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants) an extremely serious offense.  If you’ve been charged with driving under the influence, you’ll want to have an experienced Eugene DUI lawyer on your side to ensure you make the best possible decisions throughout your case.

Losing your driving privileges can create major obstacles in your everyday life.  After a DUII arrest, you are at risk of losing your license both criminally (through the court) as well as civilly (through the DMV).  A DMV hearing is used to determine whether you will keep or lose your license, regardless of whether or not you are convicted.  Long term consequences of a DUII conviction can include difficulty obtaining employment, maintaining professional licenses, and qualifying for financial aid for schools.  In addition, those offenders that are professional motor vehicle operators may lose their commercial driver’s license and be completely out of work.

http://www.mjmlawoffice.com/criminal-law/duii-dui-dwi-offenses

Ex-hedge fund manager pleads not guilty in NYC

A former hedge fund portfolio manager charged with engineering a record-setting inside trade scheme has pleaded not guilty to insider trading charges.

Authorities say Mathew Martoma persuaded a medical professor to leak secret data from an Alzheimer's disease drug trial. Investigators say it helped him earn more than a quarter-billion dollars in illegal profits.

Martoma appeared Thursday in federal court in Manhattan. He remains free on bail.

He was arrested in November at his $2 million Palm Beach County, Fla., home on securities fraud and conspiracy charges.

He is a former portfolio manager at an affiliate of a Stamford, Conn.-based firm owned by Steven A. Cohen, one of the world's richest men.

Martoma is the fourth person associated with SAC Capital to be arrested on insider trading charges in the past four years.

Court: Officers may have to pay fees in lawsuit

The Supreme Court says a South Carolina sheriff's office can be held liable for attorneys' fees for stopping abortion protesters in South Carolina who wanted to hold up signs showing aborted fetuses.

Justices on Monday reversed a decision saying the Greenwood County sheriff's office was not required to pay attorney's fees in a lawsuit brought by Steven Lefemine and Columbia Christians for Life. The group was told by officers they couldn't protest with their signs in November 2005. A federal judge agreed that the sheriff was wrong, but did not award damages or lawyer's fees.

The justices threw out that decision without hearing arguments, saying the legal decision that officers could not stop the protesters "supported the award of attorney's fees." The case now goes back to the lower courts.