Court Roundup

Georgia Secret Service, IRS investigate megachurch LITHONIA, Ga. (AP) -- Federal officials say they're investigating issues surrounding investment seminars hosted by a metro Atlanta megachurch after some former members say they lost their retirement savings. U.S. Secret Service spokesman Mark Ritchie says agents have seized laptops from employees at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia. WSB-TV first reported details of the federal probe. Ritchie says the IRS is the primary federal agency involved and the Secret Service is assisting the IRS and DeKalb County police. DeKalb County police Lt. Pam Kuntz says the department forwarded its information to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Ten former church members are suing New Birth and Bishop Eddie Long, saying they conspired with others to defraud them through "wealth-building" seminars and sermons. New Birth spokesman Art Franklin declined to comment on the lawsuit. West Virginia Judge affirms most of $91.5M damage award CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A Kanawha County judge has affirmed most of a $91.5 million damage award against a Charleston nursing home. Media outlets report that Circuit Judge Paul Zakaib Jr. cut about $400,000 from the jury's award in a lawsuit against Heartland of Charleston. In August, jurors found that the nursing home failed to feed and care for 87-year-old Dorothy Douglas. She died of dehydration complications after she left the facility. Zakaib ruled Thursday that 20 percent of about $5 million in non-economic damages awarded by the jury was subject to West Virginia's $500,000 cap on such damages in medical malpractice cases. Heartland's owner, HCR Manorcare, argued that the entire award should be subject to the cap. HCR Manorcare attorney Brian Glasser says the company will ask for a new trial. Florida Philip Morris, RJR win round in smoker suits MIAMI (AP) -- A jury in Miami has ruled for Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds in another of the thousands of lawsuits brought by Florida smokers. It marked Philip Morris's 9th win in its last 13 Florida verdicts. Jurors decided Thursday that smoker Annie Ingraham was not addicted to cigarettes. Her daughter sued after she died of emphysema. Tobacco companies contend they should not be held liable for smoking-related diseases because people are aware of the risks. Smokers' lawsuits contend the companies sold dangerous products and hid risks for years. Smoker lawsuits are being tried across Florida following a 2006 decision by the state Supreme Court tossing out a $145 billion class action verdict. The court ordered each lawsuit tried individually. Juries have awarded Florida smokers more than $360 million in damages. California Sex abuse case against 2 priests rejected SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- An Orange County jury Thursday rejected claims by two brothers who alleged they were molested by Franciscan priests nearly 20 years ago. Under an agreement reached before trial, the Franciscan Friars of California have to pay $400,000 to the two brothers, according to The Orange County Register. Had the jury sided with the brothers on any of their claims, the Friars would have had to pay $1.4 million. The lawsuit, filed in 2009, accused Gus Krumm and the Rev. Alexander Manville of sexual misconduct when the two were priests at Saints Simon and Jude Catholic church in Huntington Beach in 1993 and 1994. Manville was Krumm's supervisor for six years. From 1988 to 1998, Krumm worked as the associate pastor at both churches and has admitted instances of abuse in the 1970s and 1980s. He has since been defrocked. Paul Gaspari, a lawyer for the Friars, said his previous admission made him vulnerable to the new allegations and the brothers concocted the stories of abuse for financial gain. Mark Spencer, a lawyer for the brothers, lamented that there were no independent witnesses in the case who could testify to the abuse. In a 2006 settlement, the Friars agreed to pay $28.5 million to plaintiffs in 25 separate sex-abuse lawsuits against Krumm and eight others. Wisconsin Lawmakers pass bill letting victims sue MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The state Assembly has approved a bill that would allow crime victims to sue public officials who harass them. Republicans introduced the measure in hopes of discouraging prosecutors and police from taking advantage of vulnerable victims. Former Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz resigned last year after The Associated Press reported he tried to strike up an affair with a woman while he prosecuted her ex-boyfriend for domestic abuse. The bill calls for public officials to treat crime victims fairly and respect their privacy. The measure gives victims the ability to bring lawsuits if they feel those rights were violated. The measure passed on a voice vote. It goes next to the state Senate. Pennsylvania ACLU chapter files lawsuit for Mexican workers PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania says it has filed a lawsuit on behalf of nine Mexican men who claim they were falsely arrested at a western Pennsylvania mall. The ACLU says in a statement Thursday the men were arrested and detained at a J.C. Penney store in the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills in Tarentum last October simply because they were Mexican. The men were legal temporary workers on a shopping trip. The lawsuit claims police and J.C. Penney employees violated their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure and their rights to be free from discrimination on the basis of their ethnicity. A J.C. Penney spokeswoman declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. Tarentum police did not respond to a message seeking comment. California Artists sue auction houses over royalties law LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Famed New York painter Chuck Close and other artists are suing Sotheby's, Christie's and eBay, contending the auctioneers willfully violated a California law requiring royalty payments on sales of their works. The three federal suits filed Tuesday seek class-action status to represent many other artists and demand unspecified royalties and damages -- which could total hundreds of thousands of dollars given current art prices. The suits were filed on behalf of Close -- best known for his enormous photorealistic paintings -- along with Los Angeles artist Laddie John Dill, and the estate of late sculptor Robert Graham. Graham's works include the ceremonial gate for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that was commissioned for the 1984 Olympics and features nude statues modeled on some of the athletes. A foundation of late California painter Sam Francis also is named as a plaintiff in the suits against Christie's and eBay Inc. The Los Angeles Daily Journal first reported some of the suits. The 1977 California Resale Royalties Act grants artists or their estates 5 percent of the proceeds from resale of their works if the sale is made in California or the seller is a resident. The law applies only to original paintings, drawings, sculpture or glasswork by living artists or those who have been dead for less than 20 years. The lawsuits contend the auctioneers engaged in a "pattern of conduct" intended to conceal that the sale or seller was in California. "We believe that we have meaningful defenses to the claims asserted and they will be vigorously defended," Sotheby's said in a statement Thursday. "Although Christie's has yet to be served with the complaint, it views the California Resale Royalties Act as subject to serious legal challenges. Christie's looks forward to addressing these issues in court," the company said in a statement. An email seeking comment from eBay was not immediately returned. Published: Mon, Oct 24, 2011