Posts on ‘February 11th, 2009’

A federal judge declined Tuesday to intervene in the force-feeding of Guantanamo Bay detainees, writing that the law bars civilian courts from interfering with the inmates’ treatment. It was the third attempt by Mohammed Bawazir’s lawyers to get an order barring the use of restraining chairs. The lawyers call the feedings a “needlessly painful” process, in which inmates are strapped down by the forehead, limbs and torso, before having a feeding tube inserted through the nose without the use of anesthesia or lubricant.

A deeply divided Superior Court en banc panel has ruled that asbestos plaintiffs didn’t have standing to challenge on constitutional grounds a statute limiting the liability of successor corporations in asbestos litigation. While the plaintiffs, administrators of estates of three people who died from mesothelioma, agreed Crown Cork was protected under the statute, they argued the statute violated the Commerce Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, as well as provisions of Pennsylvania’s constitution.

The Mississippi Supreme Court ruled last week that former county Judge Solomon Osborne be publicly reprimanded for racial remarks made in 2006. The court said removal from office would have been appropriate, had the judge not resigned in 2008. The case stems from remarks made before the Greenwood Voters League — which the court describes as “predominantly African-American.” A local newspaper quoted Osborne, who is black, as telling the group, “White folks don’t praise you unless you’re a damn fool.”

Alaska AG Talis Colberg, a major figure in the abuse-of-power investigation of Gov. Sarah Palin, resigned Tuesday amid what Palin called a “harsh political climate.” Colberg, a Republican named to the post after Palin was elected, represented seven of nine state employees who initially refused to testify regarding Palin’s firing of her public safety commissioner in what became known as Troopergate. A state House committee raked Colberg over the coals for his role in the employees’ decision not to honor the subpoenas.

Obtaining regular reports from Steven Rondos, the New York attorney
accused of fleecing guardianship accounts of $4 million, was like
“pulling teeth,” said one of the court-appointed examiners charged with
monitoring Rondos’ performance. Albert Spencer, who inherited two cases
from prior court examiners, said that Rondos engaged in “stringing us
along” by requesting repeated delays and offering excuses for tardy
filings. Five examiners have resigned in the wake of the investigation,
according to a court spokesman.

A month before a pharmaceutical class action was set for trial, a Philadelphia judge decertified the class of users of the drug Neurontin who were seeking reimbursement from the drug’s maker, Warner-Lambert and merger partner Pfizer, after they were prescribed the drug for uses not approved by federal regulators. The judge wrote in his opinion that he granted Pfizer’s decertification motion because there was a question of fact about whether each class member had benefited or been harmed from their off-label prescriptions.