Washington, D.C.: Court won’t get involved in patient advocate case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will not stop subpoenas issued to an advocate for chronic pain patients who is under investigation for obstruction of justice.
Siobhan Reynolds and her organization, the Pain Relief Network, are being investigated because of her involvement with a doctor and wife who illegally prescribed painkillers to dozens of patients who later died.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Reynolds.
Reynolds wanted justices to quash grand jury subpoenas and her contempt citation for not turning over subpoenaed e-mails and documents.
The court filings in Reynolds’ case have been sealed.
The case is In Re Grand Jury Proceedings, 10-512.
Louisiana: Katrina police shooting trial on hold
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A trial for five current or former New Orleans police officers charged in a man’s death after Hurricane Katrina is on hold for two days while the judge tends to a family medical emergency.
A court filing Monday by U.S. District Judge Lance Africk says the trial will resume Wednesday morning.
A jury has heard two days of testimony about the Sept. 2, 2005, shooting death of 31-year-old Henry Glover.
A former officer, David Warren, is charged with gunning down Glover outside a strip mall. Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann and Officer Gregory McRae are accused of burning Glover’s body. Former Lt. Robert Italiano and Lt. Travis McCabe are accused of falsifying a report to make it appear Glover’s shooting was justified.
Kentucky: Ky. Bar wants to regulate ads on social networking
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Bar Association is proposing to regulate ads for legal services on social networking sites, but critics say the regulations are too restrictive as written.
The proposed regulations would require attorneys soliciting clients on sites like Facebook to go through the bar’s Advertising Commission. They would also pay a $75 filing fee.
Louisville attorney Peter Ostermiller represents lawyers charged with misconduct. He told The Courier-Journal the proposed regulation was too vague.
Ostermiller said the current proposal could be interpreted as regulating what attorneys could say about their day in court or their beliefs about the law. He said that would be a violation of the First Amendment.
Pennsylvania: School sued over ‘boobies’-bracelet ban
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A free-speech lawsuit is being filed against a Pennsylvania school district that bans the popular “I (heart) boobies” bracelets.
The American Civil Liberties Union says the Easton Area School District ban violates students’ First Amendment rights.
The suit filed Monday says two middle school students received in-school suspensions last month for wearing bracelets that say, “I (Heart) Boobies. Keep a Breast.” The bracelets are sold by a nonprofit to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer organizations.
School officials call the rubber jewelry distracting and demeaning.
The ACLU says the bracelets are perhaps irreverent, but not indecent.
School districts across the country have run into similar disputes.
Florida: Former inmate sues over baby’s death
NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — A former Collier County jail inmate whose baby died while she was behind bars is suing the jail’s medical provider and the sheriff.
Joan Laurel Small, now known as Joan Graeber, says her civil rights were violated because she was denied necessary medical treatment. The 24-year-old says officials ignored her complaints that she was leaking fluid for almost two weeks. Graeber’s doctor told her the infant’s skull collapsed because Graeber had no amniotic fluid.
The lawsuit against Tennessee-based Prison Health Services and Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk was filed this month. Graeber’s baby died in February 2009. She now lives in New Jersey.
Prison Health Services declined comment on the lawsuit but previously said Graeber saw medical staff about 190 times in 128 days.
Georgia: Sugarland members settle founder’s $14M lawsuit
ATLANTA (AP) — The two members of the country duo Sugarland avoided a nasty public trial with the group’s founding member, settling a lawsuit over claims that she was owed an estimated $14 million of the band’s profits after she left to pursue a solo career five years ago.
Sugarland, which last week was named the Country Music Association’s vocal duo of the year, was set to go to trial Monday with founding member Kristen Hall over claims she was owed one-third of the band’s profits even though she quit the band in December 2005.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten signed a court order Friday saying the parties reached a settlement. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but Batten gave both sides until Dec. 13 to complete the agreement. Attorneys for the parties could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hall sued Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush in 2008, claiming that she should have been given a third of the group’s profits — a sum her lawyers said could exceed $14 million.
The complaint said Hall, who founded the band in 2002, set the stage for the group’s success by acting as its manager, marketing officer and tour organizer in its early years. It said she used her personal credit cards to pay for the band’s expenses, and that she “collaborated generously” on the debut album, which sold millions of copies.
Nettles and Bush countered in court documents that Hall never reached a profit-sharing agreement with them when she quit. They said they were left to repay almost $100,000 in debts after Hall left, and that she had “no expectation that the parties would ever work together again.”
Wyoming: Payment for wrong convictions?: $75 a day
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — Wrongly convicted inmates cleared by DNA would receive $75 for each day of incarceration, up to $300,000, under a measure under consideration by lawmakers.
The Casper-Star Tribune reports that the Joint Judiciary Interim Committee on Friday agreed to sponsor the measure in the upcoming legislative session. The money would be paid in increments of $30,000 a year.
Wyoming two years ago established a system that allows inmates to seek DNA tests to attempt to prove their innocence but didn’t establish a system to compensate those who were wrongly convicted.
Exonerated inmates would have to agree not to file a lawsuit in exchange for the money.
