Montana
Religious schools excluded from program file suit
HELENA, Mont. (AP) - An association of Christian schools and a Missoula family are challenging a Montana rule that excludes religious schools from a new tax-credit program created to provide scholarships for students at private schools.
The Pacific Legal Foundation said Tuesday that it filed a federal lawsuit challenging a Revenue Department rule for implementing a tax credit of up to $150 for donations made to private school scholarships or to innovative public school programs. The rule, adopted on Dec. 15, bars religious schools from benefiting, citing the Montana Constitution's prohibition on appropriations to religious institutions.
The federal lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of the Association of Christian Schools International, along with Kathy and Jerry Armstrong of Missoula, argues the rule violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of religious freedom and equal protection. They argue it also violates the intent of the law, which was to expand educational options for all families with school-aged children.
"By singling out faith-based schools, and their students for exclusion, the Department of Revenue is brazenly violating the Constitution," Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Ethan Blevins said in a statement.
Montana Solicitor General Dale Schowengerdt submitted comments while the agency was drafting the rule that said a judge would likely decide it is unconstitutional to categorically exclude religious entities from a neutral benefits program without reason. "The Attorney General believes that it would not be defensible," Schowengerdt wrote of Montana Attorney General Tim Fox.
Fox's office would be called upon to defend the state against the federal lawsuit and another one filed in state court on Dec. 16 that argued tax credits are not state appropriations.
A majority of Montana lawmakers polled about the rules said they do not follow the legislature's intent in passing the Scholarship Tax Credit program. That poll can be used as evidence in the two cases.
Louisiana
State seeks to limit attorney fees in heat suit
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana corrections officials want a federal judge to reduce the nearly $890,000 that a team of lawyers is requesting in a lawsuit over hot conditions on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.
The Advocate reports the attorneys for Elzie Ball, Nathaniel Code and James Magee are asking Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson to order the state to pay the attorneys $795,550 in fees and another $92,000-plus in costs.
Lawyers for the state Department of Corrections claim in court documents that the billing records for the inmates attorneys are "compromised by vague entries, imprecise record-keeping, duplicative work and unreasonable time expended without adequate justification."
Corrections officials are urging Jackson to carefully scrutinize the billing records and find that "far less than half of the time submitted is compensable in this case."
The judge has given the inmates' attorneys until Jan. 13 to respond to the state's opposition.
In a Dec. 16 federal court filing, the state's lawyers claim the inmates' attorneys have overstaffed the case, noting that the prisoners are represented by no less than seven attorneys.
"Plaintiffs are seeking fees for excessive hours per task, team billing for preparation and drafting of pleadings, group attendance at hearings and depositions, and hours upon hours of generalized groupthink about the case," Special Assistant Attorney General Carlton Jones III and other state's attorneys argue in the filing.
The state's attorneys also complain about the inmates' lawyers seeking compensation for work performed on the case more than two years before the prisoners' lawsuit was filed in June 2013.
Jackson ruled in December 2013 that the state was violating the constitutional rights of Ball, Code and Magee by allowing excessive heat indexes on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary.
The state has proposed a daily cool shower, personal ice chests and more fans for the three prisoners.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said the state does not have to install air conditioning on death row.
Maine
Supreme court justices to help with backlog
AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Maine's supreme court justices are planning to do their part to ease a backlog of criminal cases.
A spokeswoman says the seven justices are going to serve as trial court judges this spring to try to put a dent in the backlog.
Mary Ann Lynch, spokeswoman for the Maine court system, says justices have done the same thing at least once in the past. She says the drug epidemic in Maine is playing a role in the backlog. She says drug and alcohol abuse play a role in many crimes.
The governor this month released judicial nominations to fill remaining vacancies. Filling those judicial posts will also help keep cases moving forward.
Wyoming
Bill would protect guns, ammo from bankruptcies
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) - A group of bipartisan lawmakers is sponsoring a bill that would allow gun owners to keep a limited number of guns and ammunition in the process of seizing a debtor's assets.
The Casper Star-Tribune reports that Senate File 10 would exempt up to three firearms and up to 1,000 rounds of ammunition per gun in bankruptcies and other instances in which creditors seize a person's assets.
The law already protects several assets from creditors, including a house with $20,000 in equity, retirement accounts and wedding rings.
Ohio
Court: Insurance estimates not covered by law
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that laws protecting consumers from deceptive practices don't apply to insurance company repair estimates.
The court made that ruling last week in the case involving a Columbus insurer, voting 5-2 to overturn a lower court ruling that said an insurance company providing a repair estimate constituted a "consumer transaction."
The case involved a couple who sued Farmers Insurance Co. in a dispute over the use of original manufacturer parts or cheaper non-original parts in the repair of their 2-year-old car.
The court's written ruling said that a 1990 law applicable in the case specifically exempts dealings between insurers and customers from the definition of a consumer transaction.
The couple had successfully sued using the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act.
Published: Mon, Jan 04, 2016
