Indiana
$120M lawsuit over part factory set to proceed
TIPTON, Ind. (AP) — The Indiana appeals court has decided against stopping a lawsuit filed by a Detroit-based construction company against the German company that stopped building a new transmission factory in central Indiana five years ago.
The appeals court declined to hear an appeal from Getrag Transmission of a Tipton County judge’s ruling that the lawsuit filed by Walbridge Construction should go to trial or settlement.
The Kokomo Tribune reports Walbridge is seeking nearly $120 million from Getrag for work on the transmission factory nearly the city of Tipton that Getrag was building as part of a partnership with Chrysler.
The lawsuit claims Getrag’s actions cost Walbridge lost tens of millions of dollars, much of which would have paid subcontractors from Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.
Maryland
AG responds to report he drove his car recklessly
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland’s attorney general ordered troopers to drive him around with lights and sirens on, and to speed and run red lights on the way to appointments, according to written reports by state police officials.
Documents obtained by The Washington Post also showed Doug Gansler directed troopers to bypass traffic jams by driving on the shoulder. In one case, police said Gansler insisted on driving himself, running red lights with sirens blaring.
Gansler is now a Democratic candidate for governor. His campaign released a statement Sunday after the police reports and memos were made public and said the accusations were part of a political attack.
“The picture being painted by these documents is not an accurate reflection of reality,” Gansler said in a statement. “I deeply respect the troopers, the job they do protecting me and the public. A few of the 18 troopers who have provided me protection felt my backseat driving made them uncomfortable — for that I apologize.”
The campaign said Gansler considered the matters settled in 2011 after he met with Col. Marcus Brown, the superintendent of state police.
At one point Gov. Martin O’Malley was briefed and authorized police to take whatever action they deemed necessary, including revoking Gansler’s transportation services, the newspaper reported. O’Malley has since endorsed Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Gansler’s opponent in the Democratic primary for governor June 24.
The episode highlights the bitter race developing between two of the state’s highest officials.
Gansler was elected attorney general in 2006. The tension between him and state troopers lasted for at least five years, according to a December 2011 memo by Lt. Charles Ardolini, the commander of the state police executive protection section.
“This extremely irresponsible behavior is non-stop and occurs on a daily basis,” Ardolini wrote in the memo. “Attorney General Gansler has consistently acted in a way that disregards public safety, our troopers’ safety and even the law.”
Ardolini wrote that he made troopers driving state executives sign an order to adhere to the state’s “Emergency Driving” policy on when to use lights and sirens. Troopers were instructed to provide written accounts of any problems.
Within months after the 2011 memo, troopers reported problems. In one trip between Baltimore and Annapolis, a trooper driving Gansler came upon an accident that stopped traffic. The trooper, whose name was redacted from state documents, was told by Gansler to drive on the right shoulder. The trooper complied, and they ended up passing the governor’s vehicles that were stopped in traffic.
Ardolini’s memo said Gansler also insisted on driving with lights and sirens to breakfast meetings and to his children’s sporting events.
According to a December 2012 email, Gansler told a trooper he planned to drive himself to a Washington Redskins game and that he would use “emergency equipment” because he was running late. Troopers also reported seeing damage on the attorney general’s SUV that they did not cause.
The problems began when inexperienced troopers were assigned to Gansler, said Bob Wheelock, Gansler’s campaign spokesman.
“Doug was feeling like he was being given second-tier or too recently trained troopers,” Wheelock said. “They were very inexperienced, and several of them didn’t know the area well.”
Massachusetts
Man seeks to overturn beating attack conviction
BOSTON (AP) — The former operator of a Tyngsborough pizza parlor sentenced to four years in prison for beating an employee he thought stole $21,000 from the restaurant is asking a court to overturn his conviction.
In documents filed with the state Appeals Court, Eric Sideri claims the trial judge erred by not allowing the jury to consider a lesser included offense to the assault and battery charge.
Sideri is the former operator of Angela’s Coal Fired Pizza.
The Sun reports that Sideri’s attorney also argues that the judge didn’t correctly instruct the jury on self-defense.
Prosecutors in their response say “none of the defendant’s claims has merit.”
Sideri was convicted in February 2012 of beating the other man. Police say there was no evidence the victim had stolen the money.
Alabama
Court reverses portion of state divorce standard
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A decision by the Alabama Supreme Court from earlier this month could have an impact on how students of divorced parents finance their college educations.
The state’s high court ruled on Oct. 4. that non-custodial parents should no longer be legally required to help pay for their child’s college expenses, The Opelika-Auburn News reported Sunday.
The case, Christopher v. Christopher, began in Limestone County after a divorced father asked his estranged wife to help finance their son’s college education. A court ordered the woman to pay a quarter of the boy’s education costs and the decision was upheld by the Court of Civil Appeals before it was heard by the state Supreme Court.
Now, arrangements between divorced couples financing children’s educations must be voluntary.
Stephanie Pollard, an attorney from Auburn, says the decision reversed one of the state’s most controversial family law cases.
In 1989, the Alabama Supreme Court determined in the Bayliss v. Bayliss case that non-custodial parents should help pay the cost of some educational expenses for children who were at least 19 years old and unable to support themselves.
