Top Legal Headlines

Small business lobby to go to court on health law By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Attorneys general and governors for 20 states won't be alone in their legal challenge to President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. The nation's most influential small business lobby is going to court with them.

Underground broker network a bane in terror probes By DAVID B. CARUSO Associated Press Writer NEW YORK (AP) - Long before there was MoneyGram and Western Union, people in South Asian countries often used an informal network of brokers, called an "hawala," to transfer money over long distances when it was too inconvenient or dangerous to send cash by courier.

Family sues teacher in recorded attack on student HOUSTON (AP) - The family of a 13-year-old whose beating by a Houston charter school teacher was caught on a classmate's cell phone video has filed a lawsuit against the teacher and the school. The lawsuit was filed Thursday on behalf of Isaiah Reagins by his mother, Alesha Johnson.

Trial begins in killing that has captivated DC By SARAH KARUSH Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The paramedics summoned to a townhouse in the posh Dupont Circle neighborhood on a steamy night in August 2006 had seen their share of crime scenes, but the room where 32-year-old Robert Wone lay dead was different.

Prosecutors seek longer sentence for ex-NY senator NEW YORK (AP) - Federal prosecutors are seeking a longer sentence for a former New York state senator on federal fraud charges. They say in court papers that Efrain Gonzalez Jr. lied when he requested to withdraw his guilty plea to charges that he used charity groups to finance his lifestyle with $600,000 in stolen money.

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Latest Case Summaries

• Bradley v. Allstate Ins. Co. (U.S. 5th Cir.) - In an action against an insurer seeking proceeds for property damage due to Hurricane Katrina, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed in part where: 1) the district court did not err in concluding that defendant was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the claim for loss of contents; and 2) because plaintiffs did not establish any plausible breach of contract for unpaid additional living expenses (ALE), there was no basis for asserting a bad faith claim against defendant with respect to unpaid ALE. However, the judgment is vacated in part where: 1) under the policy's total loss provision, plaintiffs were entitled to recover up to the policy limit for covered losses, and the district court erred by ignoring the total loss provision; and 2) the district court erred by calculating the actual cash value of the property based on the pre-storm market value of the house.

• Beckford v. Dept. of Corrs. (U.S. 11th Cir.) - In an action by female corrections officers claiming that the institution failed to remedy a sexually hostile work environment that male inmates created for female employees, judgment for plaintiffs is affirmed where: 1) there was no reason to treat prison inmates differently from other third-party harassers and prisons differently from other employers under Title VII; 2) a reasonable jury could have found that prison officials should have enforced the inmate dress policy, which required inmates to wear pants when female staff were in the close management dorms; and 3) the refusal of the district court to instruct the jury about the Faragher defense did not prejudice defendant.

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Legal Commentary Network

Messing With Miranda Rights To Fight Terrorism: Did Attorney General Holder Need A Warning, Too?

By JOHN W. DEAN
FindLaw columnist and former counsel to the president John Dean comments on Attorney General Eric Holder's indication, during recent television appearances, that the Obama Justice Department may be inclined to change its policy regarding reading terrorism suspects their Miranda rights. Dean argues that two aspects of Holder's appearances were disturbing: First, Dean observes that Holder's comments seemed to evolve from tentative ideas into possible policy through journalistic questioning. Second, Dean contends that if a change to Miranda policy is truly forthcoming, then it will place the Obama Administration to the right of even the Bush/Cheney Administration on the issue, will seriously harm the U.S.'s recently-much-improved human-rights image; and will contravene what we know about Miranda in practice.

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