February 2010 Archives

A Sikh filed a discrimination lawsuit today after being told to remove his religiously-mandated beard if he wanted a job. The Sikh, Gurpreet Singh Kherha, filed his lawsuit in New Jersey state court against Tri-County Lexus where he wanted to work as a sales representative.

In 2008, Mr. Kherha was recruited for a sales position at Tri-County Lexus in Little Falls, New Jersey.  After completing two days of training at Lexus, Mr. Kherha participated in a final group interview with a Tri-County Lexus manager.  

After the interview ended, a recruiter approached Mr. Kherha to ask if his beard is a religious requirement.  Mr. Kherha explained that he is a practicing Sikh who does not cut his hair, including his facial hair.  The recruiter then asked Mr. Kherha if he would be willing to remove his beard in order to obtain a job as a Tri-County Lexus sales representative.  Mr. Kherha replied he would not.

The recruiter then left Mr. Kherha to speak to his colleagues. Upon his return he informed Mr. Kherha that he had not been selected for a sales position at Tri-County Lexus.

The recruiter told Gurpreet that Tri-County Lexus' General Manager stated he was "exactly what they were looking for," "well-qualified" and "well-educated" but that the company has a corporate policy prohibiting salespersons from maintaining facial hair.  The recruiter also stated that Tri-County's general manager had contacted the corporate headquarters to request an accommodation for Mr. Kherha's religious practices, but had been rejected.

"I am taking a stand against not only Tri-County Lexus, but all employers who discriminate against qualified applicants," said Mr. Kherha. "I don't want any other Sikh to be told they are well educated and well qualified, but not hired because of their faith."

The Sikh Coalition has represented Mr. Kherha since April 2008. The Coalition engaged attorney Ravinder Singh Bhalla, an experienced New Jersey litigator, to work with jointly on the case. Since then, the legal team has:

• Been in direct contact with attorneys for Tri-County Lexus, which denies any wrong-doing. 
• Filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).  The legal team has met with the EEOC and is cooperating with the agency's ongoing investigation of the case.
• Filed a lawsuit in New Jersey state court to vindicate Mr. Kherha's rights.

"Tri-County Lexus forced a Sikh to choose between his religion and employment," said Ravinder S. Bhalla. "Now they will have to answer for their discrimination in court."

Background:

Sikhism is the fifth largest world religion, with approximately 21 million adherents worldwide. Under the principals of their faith, Sikhs are mandated to leave their hair uncut, wrapping the hair on their heads underneath a turban.

Since 9/11, misperceptions about this appearance have led to hate attacks and discrimination against Sikhs across the country, by both public and private actors. The Sikh Coalition has worked to end this discrimination.

SOURCE Sikh Coalition

Stephen Harbeck, president of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which maintains a special reserve fund authorized by Congress to help investors at failed brokerage firms, issued the following statement today:

"From the outset of the Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC  (Madoff) liquidation proceeding, the Securities Investor Protection Corporation has made it clear that our No. 1 goal is to make sure that every eligible Madoff investor receives every penny that he is or she is entitled to receive per the recovery process.

"We have a great deal of empathy for the Madoff victims.  That is why we have worked around the clock for more than a year to expedite this matter despite the unprecedented complexities arising from the web of deceit spun by Mr. Madoff.   Our concern for the victims was also the reason why we worked with  Irving H. Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the Madoff liquidation, to establish a special hardship procedure for particularly hard-hit victims requiring special attention.

"That is why we are disappointed to see that certain attorneys are exploiting the plight of these victims to incorrectly direct their anger and frustration at SIPC.   Sadly, this frivolous litigation will have the effect of making it harder for SIPC to focus all of its time and attention on aiding the Madoff victims.

"That being said, SIPC is not now and never was a FDIC-like 'insurance' entity.  

"Regarding the question of 'net equity', which the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is now weighing, we firmly believe that the calculation being used by Irving H. Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC of New York, NY, is correct.

"This determination is completely consistent with past precedent on the matter.

"SIPC has filed two extensive briefs with the Court, which explain our position in detail. At this time, we are awaiting the court's ruling on the matter. We look forward to the decision resolving this matter."

SIPC's primary brief in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New

The Securities Investor Protection Corporation is the U.S. investor's first line of defense in the event a brokerage firm fails, owing customer cash and securities that are missing from customer accounts. SIPC either acts as trustee or works with an independent court-appointed trustee in a brokerage insolvency case to recover funds.

The statute that created SIPC provides that customers of a failed brokerage firm receive all non-negotiable securities - such as stocks or bonds -- that are already registered in their names or in the process of being registered. At the same time, funds from the SIPC reserve are available to satisfy the remaining claims of each customer up to a maximum of $500,000. This figure includes a maximum of $100,000 on claims for cash. From the time Congress created it in 1970 through December 2008, SIPC has advanced $520 million in order to make possible the recovery of $160 billion in assets for an estimated 761,000 investors.

SOURCE Securities Investor Protection Corporation, Washington, D.C.

In response to a Florida woman's lawsuit alleging NFL Hall of Famer and former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin raped her, Michael Irvin's Attorney Larry Friedman filed a $100 million lawsuit today in Dallas County against Nicole Alicia Mustafa alleging a "civil extortion plot."

"Michael Irvin is appalled at Alicia Mustafa's accusations. He is a victim of his own success and what has become a widespread venture to sue high profile celebrities. It is typical for fame-seekers to attack celebrities of Irvin's stature to try and make a quick-buck. It is very obvious that this is a civil extortion plot," said Friedman.

The suit describes Mustafa's attorneys, "who created a salacious lawsuit and were sending copies around Dallas and Miami looking for people with ties to Irvin. When Mustafa's attorneys finally reached Irvin, they told him that if he did not pay them a million dollars they would file a lawsuit that would ruin his career."

According to the suit, over the next five months, Mustafa's attorneys constantly called Irvin inquiring into whether Irvin was going to "pay up."  According to the suit, "in January 2010, Mustafa's attorneys let it be known that if they did not get paid, they would file a pleading more detailed than required by the rules of the court during the Super Bowl so that his career would be over. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled effort to carry out Plaintiff's civil extortion plot while capitalizing on the media of Super Bowl weekend."

According to the suit, in July 2007, Mustafa went to the Seminole County Police Department claiming she was raped by Michael Irvin on July 5, 2007 fifteen days after the alleged incident.  On July 21, 2007, the day after opening a file with the police department, Mustafa signed two waivers of prosecution.

The Seminole Police Department found Mustafa's claims un-credible and stopped actively investigating the file over two years ago.

According to the suit, after seeing Irvin's success on Dancing With The Stars and his new reality show, Fourth and Long, Mustafa decided to take another stab at Irvin.

According to Larry Friedman, the $100 million suit filed today in Dallas County by Larry Friedman is the vehicle through which Irvin can recover against "the morally bankrupt individuals attempting to destroy the hard earned reputation and career of a highly-acclaimed sports figure." The causes of action listed in the suit include: Tortious Interference with Current and Prospective Business Relations; Civil Conspiracy; Defamation and Slander; and Civil Extortion among others.

SOURCE Larry Friedman

LORD Corporation -- a leader in vibration and motion control products and solutions for defense, aerospace and commercial markets -- filed suit in 2009 against Active Shock (recently acquired by General Kinetics Engineering Corporation) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina (civil action number 5:09-CV-00318).  In this suit, LORD Corporation asserts certain patent infringement and false advertising as well as unfair and deceptive trade practices claims.  

Specifically, LORD Corporation claims infringement of its three U.S. patents entitled:  "Vibration Attenuating Method Utilizing Continuously Variable Semiactive Damper,"  "End Stop Control Method," and "System for Reducing Suspension End Stop Collisions."  LORD Corporation has taken this action to protect its intellectual property for these high-value, enabling technologies and to ensure that LORD Magneto-Rheological (MR) and adaptive suspension technology is accurately represented to customers.  

LORD Corporation's MR and adaptive suspension technology has been thoroughly proven through the licensing and broad intellectual property portfolio used in developing Delphi's MagneRide™ suspension system (now part of BWI Group).  First introduced on the 2002 Corvette, more than 500,000 devices appear in more than a dozen models from a wide range of manufacturers including Audi, Acura, Ferrari, GM, Holden and Honda.  The rapid acceptance of the technology by a wide range of manufacturers, from high-performance sports cars to SUVs, demonstrates the confidence the automotive industry has in the performance, reliability and durability of LORD technology.

LORD MR technology is based on commercial proprietary and patented fluid, damper, mount, brake and clutch designs and sophisticated computer control algorithms. When exposed to a magnetic field, MR materials change state nearly instantaneously and with complete reversibility. As a result, MR technology provides fast and infinitely variable control of energy dissipation for industrial and automotive devices. As the only provider of commercial MR fluids with more than 110 MR fluid, device, and controller algorithm patents worldwide, LORD is the largest manufacturer of MR devices and systems.  For information about LORD MR applications, visit www.lord.com/mr.

With headquarters in Cary, N.C., USA, and sales in excess of  $700-MM, LORD Corporation is a privately-held company that designs, manufactures and markets devices and systems to manage mechanical motion and control noise and vibration; formulates, produces and sells general purpose and specialty adhesives and coatings; and develops products and systems utilizing magnetically responsive technologies. With manufacturing in nine countries and offices in more than 15 major business centers, LORD Corporation employs more than 2,500 worldwide. Visit www.lord.com for more information.  

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) today joined petroleum refiners and other end-users in a legal challenge to California's recently enacted low-carbon fuel standard (LCFS). The regulation adopted by the California Air Resources Board requires annual reductions in the carbon intensity of gasoline and diesel over the next ten years. The LCFS regulation falls directly upon fuel providers (refiners, importers and blenders of fuel), but will impact end-users because of associated fuel price increases.

The legal challenge is largely based on the Commerce Clause with assertions that the "shuffling" of low-carbon fuel to California and away from other states will significantly burden fuel providers and consumers without any net change in fuel's carbon-intensity on a global scale, resulting in no reduction -- and a likely increase -- in greenhouse gas emissions.

"The LCFS would essentially ban imports to California of fuels derived from unconventional sources such as oil sands from Canada, oil shale from the Western U.S., or domestic coal supplies that can be converted into transportation fuels," said ATA Vice President Rich Moskowitz. "Discouraging these fuels will simply increase costs while failing to prevent their export to and consumption by other nations."

The Complaint, filed in United States District Court in California, also challenged the regulatory scheme as discriminating in favor of California-produced fuels by assigning them lower carbon-intensity ratings because of shorter transportation distances to users. Others joining the suit include the Center for North American Energy Security, Consumer Energy Alliance and National Petrochemical and Refiners Association.

The American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of other trucking groups, industry-related conferences, and its 50 affiliated state trucking associations, ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of motor carrier in the United States.

SOURCE American Trucking Associations