Legal Radar

Inside Trading Acquittal Gives Bhara Rare Loss

Manhattan-based U.S. attorney Preet Bharara’s impressive winning streak on insider trading suits finally ended.

Just this Tuesday, a federal jury acquitted Raj Rajaratnam’s brother in his involvement with inside trading conspiracy. The verdict handed Bharara’s office a rare loss. The firm has won over 80 inside trading convictions and guilty pleas for the last several years.

The acquittal arrived in under four hours of discussion and followed an unprecedented rebuke of the judge regarding the government’s case in a lengthy three-week trial.

Naomi Buchwald, the U.S. District judge overlooking the case, shot down two securities fraud counts against Rengan Rajaratnam in the previous week, ruling there’s a lack of evidence to back up the claims.

The jury consisting of several men and women acquitted Rengan Rajaratnam, 43 years, on a single remaining count Buchwald permitted to proceed.

Rajaratnam worked with Galleon Group in the past, his older brother’s hedge fund, who was convicted of inside trading three years ago and currently serving an 11-year prison sentence.

U.S. Justice Department Files Lawsuit Against Washtenaw County Commissioner for Negligence of his Employee's Sexual Discrimination

The U.S Justice Department filed a lawsuit against a Washtenaw County commissioner and a man who managed his rental units in Ypsilanti for subjecting female tenants to unwanted sexual advances.
Filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, the lawsuit states that property manager Glen E. Johnson had been subjecting actual and prospective female tenants to unwanted sexual advances since 2005 at 11 single family properties owned by County Commissioner Ronnie Peterson.
Allegedly, Johnson entered the apartments of female tenants without their permission or advance notice and took adverse action against them if they objected to his advances.
The suit further alleges that Peterson who has been county commissioner since 2001 is responsible for Jonhson's conduct on account of the fact that he was not aware of the discriminatory conduct and because he failed to take preventive or corrective action.
To read more about the case click here.

Henry County Serriff to Face Civil Lawsuit for Misappropriation of County Funds

The former Sherriff of Henry County, Tennessee, David Bumpus, who recently finished serving a federal prison sentence in November, after he pleaded guilty to the crime of misappropriating county funds to purchase firearms for his personal use, now finds himself facing a civil lawsuit.
The county government is filing a civil lawsuit against Bumpus and a co-defendant, Samuel J.Ferren, seeking $238,000 in compensatory damages and $100,000 in punitive damages. The lawsuit states that the county is suing Bumpus and Ferren for breach of contract, fraud, theft , embezzlement and breach of trust.
To read more about the case click here.

Black Author Sues Police Department of Amite, Louisiana for Harassment

A black author who was cited by the police for placing an allegedly racially offensive sign on his car is being backed by the American Civil Liberties Union in his lawsuit against the police.
Johnny Duncan filed a case in U.S. District Court against the police department, and several city officials of Amite, Louisiana for the violation of his civil rights.
In August 2007, Duncan was confronted by officers for a sign on his car that read 'You might be a nigger'. The sign was advertising one of Duncan's books. The officer's cited him for violating the state's obscenity law. The ticket against him was later dismissed.
The Executive Director of ACLU for Louisiana stated that the facts of this case revealed that Duncan was detained for no other reason other than that the police in Amite did not like what he had to say.
As a result of the incident, Duncan filed a lawsuit against the officers in August 2007 seeking $15 million in damages for anxiety, defamation, fear, mental anguish and several other intangible factors.
Duncan believes that the citation against him was part of a larger pattern of harassment by the police.
To read more about the case click here.

Developers Sue City of Natchez

Low income housing developers, Brownstone Developments LLC, are suing the city of Natchez in Mississippi over the right to rezone land that they had been allotted for development.
The developers had plannd to build a residential area called Audubon Terrace in the Bluebird Drive area of the city, when the board of aldermen denied the developers the right to rezone the land.
As per a statement issued by their attorney, Michael Cory, the developers claim that they were given a letter of assurance by the former city planner, that the land they had purchased for their project was zoned properly for housing development.
Later however, the planning commission turned down the development project stating their reason for denial to be the improper zoning of the project.
The developers then repeatedly tried to get the area rezoned but were denied by the planning commission and by the board of alderman.
They are now filing a lawsuit claiming more than $1 million in damages.

To read more click here.

 
 

TV Journalist Awarded Paltry Sum in Damages for Trial Over Her Allegation of The Excessive Use of Force by the Police

Last Friday, a TV journalist won $5,000 in damages in a trial over an incident that took place nearly four years ago in which police officers allegedly used excessive force while arresting her. Although a Prince George County, Maryland civil jury decided in favor of Andrea McCarren, they also found that the county officers had acted appropriately in conducting a 'high-risk' stop of the WJLA-TV journalist.
McCarren had alleged in her lawsuit that the police officers had manhandled her and tried to intimidate her into ceasing her probe into the possible misuse of county government resources. McCarren further alleged that as a result of the excessive force used during the incident, she suffered tendon damage to a shoulder.
On behalf of McCarren one of her attorneys, Steven M Pavsner commented that although they were pleased that the jury had validated McCaren's allegation that the police had used excessive force, they were disappointed with the damages that had been awarded.

To read more about the case click here.

Public Outcry Over San Jose's Tough Stance on Public Drunkenness Culminates in Lawsuit Against the City and its Police Chief

San Jose Police Chief Rob Davis and the city of San Jose, have been slapped with a federal class action lawsuit which contends that thousands of people from minority communities have been falsely and unconstitutionally charged with public drunkenness.
The lawsuit filed by two men, seeks damages on behalf of all victims which could put a heavy cost on the city's aggressive drive to charge people who display public drunkenness.
The two men are from Santa Cruz County and were arrested on June 2008 in downtown San Jose. San Jose attorney Jeff Kallis has filed the lawsuit on behalf of the two men.
The lawsuit comes amidst a public upheaval after Mercury News reported that the department had arrested and charged more people for public drunkenness in the past few years than any other department in the state.
To read more about the case click here.

New Orleans' DA Contemplates Declaring Bankruptcy to Avoid Paying Multi-Million Dollar Payout to an Ex-Con

The New Orleans Parish District Attorney is trying to avoid paying a multi-million dollar payout, which he inherited, by declaring bankruptcy. Leon Cannizzaro is keeping his options open in order to avoid paying $15 million in damages to an ex-convict as per a jury verdict, declared in 2007. Cannizzaro's appeal to overturn the verdict was denied by an appeals court last month. The court passed a verdict against the district attorney's office for prosecutorial misconduct during the 80's when the department was under the aegis of Harry Connick.
Former death row inmate John Thompson was awarded $14 million in damages plus attorney's fee and interest by a jury in 2007. The verdict was passed as compensation for the fact that Thompson spent 18 years of his life in a prison cell after prosecutors hid evidence that could have benefited him, in order to improve their chances of convicting him for the murder of Ray Liuzza.
Cannizzaro wants to exercise the rarely used option of filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.  This legal protection is used by municipalities to hold of creditors and possibly reduce debts. However, this measure considerably damage the credit rating of the public agency.
To read more about the case click here.

Michigan Pays for its Past Mistakes with Taxpayer's Dollars

The state of Michigan may end up paying millions of dollars in damages to inmates of its correctional facilities, for the sexual abuse they faced while serving their prison terms.
The current scenario comes as no surprise to human rights groups who have been crying themselves hoarse for several years now, over the condition of female inmates in prison. They have alleged that prison guard were routinely groping, molesting and raping female inmates.
The class-action lawsuit was first filed in 1996. It may now end up costing the state hundreds of millions of taxpayer's dollars in damages. So far, 18 women have testified against the Michigan Department of Corrections. They have received $50 million in damages. Several more are yet to testify. The class-action lawsuit now has more than 500 inmates participating in it.
In its defense, the state has claimed that it did not take any action earlier because none of the inmates reported the alleged assaults. They also said that in any case, they found it hard to give credibility to the testimony of convicted criminals.
To read more about the case click here.

Atlantic City's Sanitation Department's Lone Female Truck Driver Files Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Against the City for Failing to Protect her

The only female truck driver for the sanitation department in Atlantic City has filed a lawsuit against the city claiming that the city failed to protect her from the sexual harassment meted out to her by her supervisors.
Lisa Fundberg-Carr who has been a truck driver for the city since 2006, alleges that her supervisor, Melvin Jones, 'pinned her against a wall and tried to put his tongue down her throat'. She reported the incident, which took place in March or April 2006, to Barbara Camper, the city's equal opportunity employment officer at that time but no action was taken.
Fundberg-Carr also claims that her co-worker, Brian Williams, passed sexually offensive comments about her while they were both in training together such as 'how does it feel between your legs'. Her lawsuit also alleges that Williams also sent her obscene photos of himself to her celphone.
Again she claims that she reported the incident but nothing was done. All the while Williams continued to harass her by calling her 'bitch' and yelling in her face.
Her lawsuit filed on December 15 also named Jones, Williams, Herman Baskerville, Camper, David Callaway and former assistant city solicitor John Hegarty as defendants.
Fundberg-Carr is being represented by David Castellani of Northfield. In her lawsuit she alleges that she suffered 'extreme emotional distress, mental anguish, embaressment, humiliation, loss of past and future wages, physical injury and other damages' and that Atlantic City failed to enforce policies relating to sexual harassment at the workplace. She is seeking punitive damages, legal fees and other costs associated with filing the lawsuit.