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Court considers Calif. prison mental health care
Headline Legal News |
2013/03/30 22:48
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A federal judge in Sacramento is set to hear arguments Wednesday over Gov. Jerry Brown's push to regain state control of inmate mental health care after 18 years of federal oversight and billions of dollars spent to improve treatment.
Lawyers representing the state argue that California is now providing a constitutional level of care to its prison inmates, while attorneys for the inmates say more improvement is needed.
California has spent more than $1 billion in construction for mental health facilities and increased salaries to hire more and better mental health workers. It now has more than 1,700 psychiatrists, psychologists, therapists, social workers and nurses to treat more than 32,000 mentally ill inmates, or about one specialist for every 19 patients.
"California has invested tremendous amounts of money, resources and effort to transform its prison mental health care system into one of the best in the country," the state said in one of its recent court filings.
Inmates' attorneys say the efforts so far are not enough and that more mental health facilities must be built and staffed. They also say more must be done to reduce a suicide rate that exceeds the national average for state and federal prisons.
California's prison suicide rate was 24 per 100,000 inmates in 2012. That compares to 16 per 100,000 inmates in other state prisons and the historical average of nine suicides per 100,000 inmates in federal prisons.
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Fee proposed for public court record access
Court News |
2013/03/19 09:06
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A proposal by the state's judicial branch to charge $10 to view a public file at the Santa Rosa courthouse is being criticized by those who say it would limit access to public information.
A spokesman for the Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the courts, tells the Santa Rosa Press Democrat the search fee would generate $6 million annually.
But open government advocates and some journalists say it will create an unfair financial barrier to public documents.
The new search fee is among 11 recommendations from a panel of judges, lawyers and legislators that have been sent to Sacramento for inclusion in Gov. Jerry Brown's budget.
The newspaper says the proposals are expected to raise $30 million statewide. |
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Court says police don't have to prove dog training
Law Firm News/Florida |
2013/03/04 15:45
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The Supreme Court says police don't have to extensively document a drug-sniffing dog's reliability in the field to uphold its work in court.
The high court in a unanimous decision Tuesday overturned the Florida Supreme Court's ruling in the case of Aldo, a drug-sniffing police dog.
That lower court threw out drug evidence obtained against Clayton Harris during a 2006 traffic stop. Aldo alerted his officer to drugs used to make methamphetamine inside a truck. But two months later, Harris was stopped again, Aldo again alerted his officer to the presence of drugs but none was found.
The Florida court said in every case police have to bring records, including a log of performance in the field, to establish the dog's reliability in court. The Supreme Court overturned that ruling. |
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Court-appointed receiver recovers $312 million
Securities Class Action |
2013/03/03 14:55
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Hundreds of millions of dollars have been recovered so far in a massive North Carolina-based Ponzi scheme that authorities say attracted more than 1 million investors. The case involves Rex Venture Group, which operated several online projects. The Securities and Exchange Commission froze the company's assets in August. Court-appointed receiver Kenneth Bell has filed a document in federal court in Charlotte detailing his expenses. As of Dec. 31, Bell says he has recovered $312 million and has incurred $1.6 million in fees and services for the investigation. The SEC says the company, operated by Paul Burks of Lexington, ran a $600 million Ponzi scam, where money from new investors is used to pay out old ones. Burks is paying a $4 million penalty and cooperating with the SEC. |
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SC court nixes James Brown estate settlement
Court News |
2013/02/28 23:41
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The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a settlement divvying up the multi-million dollar estate of James Brown, saying a former attorney general didn't follow the late soul singer's wishes in putting together the deal.
Attorney General Henry McMaster brokered a settlement in 2009 that split Brown's estate, giving nearly half to a charitable trust, a quarter to his widow Tomi Rae Hynie and leaving the rest to be split among his adult children.
But the justices ruled the deal ignored Brown's wishes for most of his money to go to charity. The court ruled the Godfather of Soul was of sound mind when he made his will before dying of heart failure on Christmas Day 2006 at age 73.
The court sent the estate back to a lower court to be reconsidered.
The justices did agree with the lower court's decision to remove Brown's original trustees. Members of Brown's family said they wanted them gone because the trustees mismanaged the estate until it was almost broke. |
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Investment Fraud Litigation |
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Securities fraud, also known as stock fraud and investment fraud, is a practice that induces investors to make purchase or sale decisions on the basis of false information, frequently resulting in losses, in violation of the securities laws. Securities Arbitration. Generally speaking, securities fraud consists of deceptive practices in the stock and commodity markets, and occurs when investors are enticed to part with their money based on untrue statements.
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The content contained on the web site has been prepared by Securities Law News as a service to the internet community and is not intended to constitute legal advice or a substitute for consultation with a licensed legal professional in a particular case. | Affordable Law Firm Website Design by Law Promo |
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