Original Story: NYTimes.com
A prominent hacker set to be sentenced in federal court this week for breaking into numerous computer systems worldwide has provided a trove of information to the authorities, allowing them to disrupt at least 300 cyberattacks on targets that included the United States military, Congress, the federal courts, NASA and private companies, according to a newly filed government court document. This shows that we need more people with a Criminal Justice Degree to stop these types of crime.
The hacker, Hector Xavier Monsegur, also helped the authorities dismantle a particularly aggressive cell of the hacking collective Anonymous, leading to the arrest of eight of its members in Europe and the United States, including Jeremy Hammond, who the Federal Bureau of Investigation said was its top “cybercriminal target,” the document said. Mr. Hammond is serving a 10-year prison term.
The court document was prepared by prosecutors who are asking a judge, Loretta A. Preska, for leniency for Mr. Monsegur because of his “extraordinary cooperation.” He is set to be sentenced on Tuesday in Federal District Court in Manhattan on hacking conspiracy and other charges that could result in a long prison term.
It has been known since 2012 that Mr. Monsegur, who was arrested in 2011, was acting as a government mole in the shadowy world of computer hacking, but the memorandum submitted to Judge Preska late on Friday reveals for the first time the extent of his assistance and what the government perceives of its value. It also offers the government’s first explanation of Mr. Monsegur’s involvement in a series of coordinated attacks on foreign websites in early 2012, though his precise role is in dispute.
The whereabouts of Mr. Monsegur have been shrouded in mystery. Since his cooperation with the authorities became known, he has been vilified online by supporters of Anonymous, of which he was a member. The memo, meanwhile, said the government became so concerned about his safety that it relocated him and some members of his family.
“Monsegur repeatedly was approached on the street and threatened or menaced about his cooperation once it became publicly known,” said the memo, which was filed by the office of Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan.
Born in 1983, Mr. Monsegur moved to the Jacob Riis housing project on the Lower East Side of Manhattan at a young age, where he lived with his grandmother after his father and aunt were arrested for selling heroin. He became involved with hacking groups in the late 1990s, drawn, he has indicated, to the groups’ anti-government philosophies.
Mr. Monsegur’s role emerged in March 2012 when the authorities announced charges against Mr. Hammond and others. A few months later, Mr. Monsegur’s bail was revoked after he made “unauthorized online postings,” the document said without elaboration. He was jailed for about seven months, then released on bail in December 2012, and has made no further postings, it said.
The memo said that when Mr. Monsegur (who used the Internet alias Sabu) was first approached by F.B.I. agents in June 2011 and questioned about his online activities, he admitted to criminal conduct and immediately agreed to cooperate with law enforcement.
That night, he reviewed his computer files with the agents, and throughout the summer, he daily “provided, in real time, information” that allowed the government to disrupt attacks and identify “vulnerabilities in significant computer systems,” the memo said.
“Working sometimes literally around the clock,” it added, “at the direction of law enforcement, Monsegur engaged his co-conspirators in online chats that were critical to confirming their identities and whereabouts.”
His primary assistance was his cooperation against Anonymous and its splinter groups Internet Feds and LulzSec.
“He provided detailed historical information about the activities of Anonymous, contributing greatly to law enforcement’s understanding of how Anonymous operates,” the memo said.
Neither Mr. Bharara’s office nor a lawyer for Mr. Monsegur would comment about the memo.
Mr. Monsegur provided an extraordinary window on the activities of LulzSec, which he and five other members of Anonymous had created. The memo describes LulzSec as a “tightly knit group of hackers” who worked as a team with “complementary, specialized skills that enabled them to gain unauthorized access to computer systems, damage and exploit those systems, and publicize their hacking activities.”
The memo said that LulzSec had developed an “action plan to destroy evidence and disband if the group determined that any of its members had been arrested, or were out of touch,” and it credits Mr. Monsegur for agreeing so quickly to cooperate after being confronted by the bureau. Had he delayed his decision and remained offline for an extended period, the document said, “it is likely that much of the evidence regarding LulzSec’s activities would have been destroyed.”
After his arrest, Mr. Monsegur provided information that helped repair a hack of PBS’s website in which he had been a “direct participant,” and helped patch a vulnerability in the Senate’s website. He also provided information about “vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure, including at a water utility for an American city, and a foreign energy company,” the document said.
The coordinated attacks on foreign government websites in 2012 exploited a vulnerability in a popular web hosting software. The targets included Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Brazil, according to court documents in Mr. Hammond’s case. The memo said that “at law enforcement direction,” Mr. Monsegur tried to obtain details about the software vulnerability but was unsuccessful.
“At the same time, Monsegur was able to learn of many hacks, including hacks of foreign government computer servers, committed by these targets and other hackers, enabling the government to notify the victims, wherever feasible,” the memo said.
The memo does not specify which of the foreign governments the United States alerted about the vulnerabilities.
But according to a recent prison interview with Mr. Hammond as well as logs of Internet chats between him and Mr. Monsegur, which were submitted to the court in Mr. Hammond’s case, Mr. Monsegur seemed to have played a more active role in directing some of the attacks. In the chat logs, Mr. Monsegur directed Mr. Hammond to hack numerous foreign websites, and closely monitored whether Mr. Hammond had success in gaining access to the sites.
Sarah Kunstler, a lawyer for Mr. Hammond, said on Saturday: “The government’s characterization of Sabu’s role is false. Far from protecting foreign governments, Sabu identified targets and actively facilitated the hacks of their computer systems.”
At his sentencing in November, Mr. Hammond was prohibited by Judge Preska from naming the foreign governments that Mr. Monsegur had asked him to hack. But, according to an uncensored version of a court statement by Mr. Hammond that appeared online that day, the target list included more than 2,000 Internet domains in numerous countries.
Mr. Hammond’s sentencing statement also said that Mr. Monsegur encouraged other hackers to give him data from Syrian government websites, including those of banks and ministries associated with the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
AS WARS END, MILITARY GIVES ITS TRADEMARKS NEW VIGILANCE
Original Story: NYTimes.com.
WASHINGTON — United States Marine G-string underwear. The Starfleet Marine Corps Academy. And the motto from a human resources company: “The Few. The Proud. The Well-Paid.”
Of course, none of those are actually from the United States Marine Corps.
As one war has ended and another winds down, enterprising members of the armed services are rushing home to get their piece of the American dream and woo consumers by showing off any affiliation with the American military. As a result, the Pentagon’s handful of trademark attorneys have been churning out cease-and-desist letters to try to protect their brands from look-alike logos on products that are not always the image of dignity, including a toilet paper called Leatherneck Wipes. An Oklahoma City Trademark Lawyer said these cases are not a joking matter.
The Pentagon is playing offense as well. Military attorneys have been running back and forth to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register trademarks for military brands — in part to make sure that the services will get a cut of licensing fees. In the past year, the Marines have been to the trademarks office 68 times for products like Guadalcanal sweatshirts, meant to evoke the World War II battle against the Japanese, and Tip of the Spear newsletters, named for the motto of the Marine Corps’ First Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. There are also “Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body” water bottles, meant to promote, well, general Marine toughness.
The Marines registered only one trademark in 2003 and four in 2008. But as troops came home from Iraq and then Afghanistan, efforts began picking up. In 2010 and the first half of 2011, the Marines registered nine trademarks. A Fresno Trademark Lawyer said that current employee familiar with a business are often the competition later. In this case the employees are the troops.
Then Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, Disney tried to trademark the name SEAL Team Six, and things ratcheted up from there. The Navy immediately fired back at Disney, filing its own trademark for the phrases “SEAL team” and “Navy SEALs,” terms that, the Navy said in its filing, imply membership in a Navy organization that “develops and executes military missions involving special operations strategy, doctrine and tactics.”
Still, the berm had been breached, especially with so many servicemen and women returning home and setting up small businesses. In 2012 and 2013, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines all saw a big spike in efforts to use military branding to sell goods and services, military trademark lawyers said.
“Because we’ve been in two wars in 10 years, we’ve had a lot of patriotism,” said Philip Greene, the Marines’ trademark counsel. “A lot of people are getting out of the service, saying, ‘I want to go into business.’ ” He said the “unpleasant part of my job is going out and talking to a Marine” and having to say no to someone who, proud of his or her affiliation with the service, wants to show it conspicuously in branding. A Idaho Trademark Lawyer agreed that it can be a difficult conversation.
Such was the conversation Mr. Greene had recently with Shadrach Brooks, a Marine veteran who started Semper Fidelis Garage Doors in Mesa, Ariz., in 2012. In addition to the company name — Latin for “always faithful,” and the Marine motto — Mr. Brooks initially put the iconic Marine seal on the company’s masthead, complete with a bald eagle, a globe showing the Americas and an anchor. And, at the bottom of the seal, “garage doors.”
Mr. Greene promptly called him. “At first I thought it was a friend playing a joke on me,” Mr. Brooks recalled. Eventually the two worked things out — and Semper Fidelis Garage Doors is still called Semper Fidelis Garage Doors. But now there is no Marine seal logo, just two crossed swords.
The military services do allow some use of their brands in exchange for a license fee. Since 2009, the Marines have collected $5.4 million in such fees, and last year their trademarks office turned over $700,000 to a morale, welfare and recreation fund.
There are plenty of critics who say government entities like the Marines should not be making it so hard for American taxpayers to wear — or sell — their brand. “Should the military be able to monetize expressions of support for these entities?” asked Paul Levy, a lawyer with Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group. “I would say no.” Americans, he added, “should be able to express our affinity to government agencies we like without paying them a fee.”
For some Marines, being told that they cannot use a brand they fought for does not sit well. “They believe they earned it on Parris Island,” said Capt. Eric Flanagan, a Marine Corps spokesman, referring to the installation near Beaufort, S.C., where 16,000 enlisted Marines go through basic training every year. “They died for it, and now you’re going to try to take it? You going to take that tattoo off my arm, too?”
The Army, Navy and Air Force have been furiously registering trademarks for their brands as well. Mike Sullivan, the Army’s brand director, said his office more than doubled its number of licenses in two years, to 265 in 2013 from 120 in 2011.
But the Marines, who assiduously promote themselves as a brand that is the first, fastest and best in the military, have had the biggest spike, relative to their smaller size, in registering trademarks. And the desire of former Marines to identify their postservice professional lives with that branding is exactly why so many of them run into legal entanglements. A Lexington Patent Lawyer said that he has also seen an increase from military personal with patents.
“The most important thing to us is preserving the historic integrity of the Marine Corps trademarks,” said Jessica O’Haver, director of the Marine Corps Trademark Licensing Office. The same things that entrepreneurial former Marines want to capitalize on — including Marine slogans like “No better friend, no worse enemy” and “Earned, not given” — are the slogans that the Marine Corps, she said, must fight to protect.
Which is why Mr. Greene, the lawyer for the Marines, fired off another cease-and-desist letter recently when he spotted a website for the Starfleet Marine Corps, a “Star Trek” fan site complete with the Marine eagle.
The usual negotiations ensued, and the intergalactic warriors got rid of the Marine eagle but kept the name.
Mr. Greene said he did not have a problem with the Marine Corps name being a part of the “Star Trek” fan site. “There’s a British Royal Marines, there are all kinds of marines out there,” he said. “And if you’re out in this galaxy somewhere, I care even less. But don’t copy my logo.”
WASHINGTON — United States Marine G-string underwear. The Starfleet Marine Corps Academy. And the motto from a human resources company: “The Few. The Proud. The Well-Paid.”
Of course, none of those are actually from the United States Marine Corps.
As one war has ended and another winds down, enterprising members of the armed services are rushing home to get their piece of the American dream and woo consumers by showing off any affiliation with the American military. As a result, the Pentagon’s handful of trademark attorneys have been churning out cease-and-desist letters to try to protect their brands from look-alike logos on products that are not always the image of dignity, including a toilet paper called Leatherneck Wipes. An Oklahoma City Trademark Lawyer said these cases are not a joking matter.
The Pentagon is playing offense as well. Military attorneys have been running back and forth to the United States Patent and Trademark Office to register trademarks for military brands — in part to make sure that the services will get a cut of licensing fees. In the past year, the Marines have been to the trademarks office 68 times for products like Guadalcanal sweatshirts, meant to evoke the World War II battle against the Japanese, and Tip of the Spear newsletters, named for the motto of the Marine Corps’ First Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. There are also “Pain Is Weakness Leaving the Body” water bottles, meant to promote, well, general Marine toughness.
The Marines registered only one trademark in 2003 and four in 2008. But as troops came home from Iraq and then Afghanistan, efforts began picking up. In 2010 and the first half of 2011, the Marines registered nine trademarks. A Fresno Trademark Lawyer said that current employee familiar with a business are often the competition later. In this case the employees are the troops.
Then Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in May 2011, Disney tried to trademark the name SEAL Team Six, and things ratcheted up from there. The Navy immediately fired back at Disney, filing its own trademark for the phrases “SEAL team” and “Navy SEALs,” terms that, the Navy said in its filing, imply membership in a Navy organization that “develops and executes military missions involving special operations strategy, doctrine and tactics.”
Still, the berm had been breached, especially with so many servicemen and women returning home and setting up small businesses. In 2012 and 2013, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines all saw a big spike in efforts to use military branding to sell goods and services, military trademark lawyers said.
“Because we’ve been in two wars in 10 years, we’ve had a lot of patriotism,” said Philip Greene, the Marines’ trademark counsel. “A lot of people are getting out of the service, saying, ‘I want to go into business.’ ” He said the “unpleasant part of my job is going out and talking to a Marine” and having to say no to someone who, proud of his or her affiliation with the service, wants to show it conspicuously in branding. A Idaho Trademark Lawyer agreed that it can be a difficult conversation.
Such was the conversation Mr. Greene had recently with Shadrach Brooks, a Marine veteran who started Semper Fidelis Garage Doors in Mesa, Ariz., in 2012. In addition to the company name — Latin for “always faithful,” and the Marine motto — Mr. Brooks initially put the iconic Marine seal on the company’s masthead, complete with a bald eagle, a globe showing the Americas and an anchor. And, at the bottom of the seal, “garage doors.”
Mr. Greene promptly called him. “At first I thought it was a friend playing a joke on me,” Mr. Brooks recalled. Eventually the two worked things out — and Semper Fidelis Garage Doors is still called Semper Fidelis Garage Doors. But now there is no Marine seal logo, just two crossed swords.
The military services do allow some use of their brands in exchange for a license fee. Since 2009, the Marines have collected $5.4 million in such fees, and last year their trademarks office turned over $700,000 to a morale, welfare and recreation fund.
There are plenty of critics who say government entities like the Marines should not be making it so hard for American taxpayers to wear — or sell — their brand. “Should the military be able to monetize expressions of support for these entities?” asked Paul Levy, a lawyer with Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group. “I would say no.” Americans, he added, “should be able to express our affinity to government agencies we like without paying them a fee.”
For some Marines, being told that they cannot use a brand they fought for does not sit well. “They believe they earned it on Parris Island,” said Capt. Eric Flanagan, a Marine Corps spokesman, referring to the installation near Beaufort, S.C., where 16,000 enlisted Marines go through basic training every year. “They died for it, and now you’re going to try to take it? You going to take that tattoo off my arm, too?”
The Army, Navy and Air Force have been furiously registering trademarks for their brands as well. Mike Sullivan, the Army’s brand director, said his office more than doubled its number of licenses in two years, to 265 in 2013 from 120 in 2011.
But the Marines, who assiduously promote themselves as a brand that is the first, fastest and best in the military, have had the biggest spike, relative to their smaller size, in registering trademarks. And the desire of former Marines to identify their postservice professional lives with that branding is exactly why so many of them run into legal entanglements. A Lexington Patent Lawyer said that he has also seen an increase from military personal with patents.
“The most important thing to us is preserving the historic integrity of the Marine Corps trademarks,” said Jessica O’Haver, director of the Marine Corps Trademark Licensing Office. The same things that entrepreneurial former Marines want to capitalize on — including Marine slogans like “No better friend, no worse enemy” and “Earned, not given” — are the slogans that the Marine Corps, she said, must fight to protect.
Which is why Mr. Greene, the lawyer for the Marines, fired off another cease-and-desist letter recently when he spotted a website for the Starfleet Marine Corps, a “Star Trek” fan site complete with the Marine eagle.
The usual negotiations ensued, and the intergalactic warriors got rid of the Marine eagle but kept the name.
Mr. Greene said he did not have a problem with the Marine Corps name being a part of the “Star Trek” fan site. “There’s a British Royal Marines, there are all kinds of marines out there,” he said. “And if you’re out in this galaxy somewhere, I care even less. But don’t copy my logo.”
Friday, May 23, 2014
DETROIT MAYOR'S OFFICE: WE WON'T KEEP ORR OR LAW FIRM AFTER TIME'S UP
Original Story: Freep.com
Mayor Mike Duggan's office said Thursday he won't support extending Kevyn Orr's time as the city's emergency manager or keeping on his former law firm, Jones Day, if Detroit's bankruptcy extends beyond Orr's expected exit date in late September. A Tulsa Bankruptcy Lawyer is viewing details of the story.
The issue arose after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes questioned Jones Day lawyers during a hearing Thursday, asking what impact a delay in the schedule of the bankruptcy case would have on the high-priced law firm the city hired.
Lawyers for Detroit's financial creditors and for Oakland and Macomb counties tried Thursday to convince Rhodes to delay the case by a month because city lawyers aren't releasing critical documents quickly enough to meet ambitious timetables for this summer's confirmation trial on the plan to exit the nation's largest-ever municipal bankruptcy. A Boston Bankruptcy Lawyer agrees that this makes things difficult.
Rhodes appeared concerned about whether such a delay would push the ultimate resolution of Detroit's bankruptcy beyond the tenure of the state-appointed emergency manager, whose 18-month term is set to end in late September, when city officials have the legal option to vote to fire Orr under Michigan's emergency manager law.
Rhodes asked whether Jones Day, the law firm hired by the city under former Mayor Dave Bing, would stay on after Orr is gone. Greg Shumaker, a Jones Day lawyer, acknowledged that the uncertainty about that matter "could be dramatic." But he told the judge: "We have not talked to the mayor or the City Council about that issue."
"I'm surprised by that," Rhodes said.
He then asked Shumaker whether the goal of ending Detroit's bankruptcy case before Orr leaves sets up deadlines that might conflict with sound practices in bankruptcy court. Shumaker concurred.
Duggan made clear that if the bankruptcy proceedings extend beyond Sept. 25, he won't support keeping Jones Day as the city's law firm in bankruptcy.
"We have no intention of keeping Jones Day," Duggan's spokeswoman and chief of staff, Alexis Wiley, told the Free Press. "We have every intention of running this city, and that means both services and finances."
Wiley declined to discuss how Duggan would handle the bankruptcy after ditching Jones Day, or which lawyers would pick up where the firm left off.
Bill Nowling, a spokesman for Orr, acknowledged there have been no discussions about Jones Day staying on after Orr is gone, noting that Orr and the firm's lawyers have been "operating on the schedule which has the confirmation hearings concluding in August."
Orr, who was working out of the Jones Day office in Washington before coming to Detroit, has said previously that he is not interested in staying in Detroit beyond September. A Lexington Commercial Bankruptcy Attorney said he doesn't blame him.
The confirmation hearings are to determine whether Rhodes approves the city's blueprint for exiting bankruptcy, which has been on a fast-track schedule in large part because Orr's time in Detroit was limited to 18 months. The hearings had been set to begin July 24 and last into August, but a group of financial creditors this week asked Rhodes to push the beginning of the hearings to Aug. 26.
Lawyers for creditors including Syncora -- a bond insurer that's on the hook for nearly $250 million because it guaranteed a disastrous $1.4-billion debt deal meant to shore up underfunded pensions in 2005 -- argued that delays in the city's release of documents creditors have requested make the schedule impossible to follow.
"The city's actions are crippling our efforts," Syncora lawyer Stephen Hackney said during a status conference Thursday.
Creditors' lawyers say that their expert witnesses won't have enough time to analyze and report on city financial assumptions without the delay.
The creditors are seeking access to a number of documents they say the city hasn't released, including reports on the physical condition of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department infrastructure and long-term financial projections for the system, as well as financial background used by consultants such as Milliman, Ernst & Young and Conway MacKenzie, who have advised the city on some matters including restructuring city government and its liabilities and devising a long-term plan to operate Detroit after bankruptcy.
Jones Day lawyer Heather Lennox, representing the city, said that Detroit had already released key documents to the creditors and that the remainder would be handed over by next week. She and other lawyers for the city suggested that the creditors were seeking access to documents in a bid to delay the trial.
Geoff Irwin, also representing the city, said the crush of requests for additional documentation "is becoming incredibly burdensome and unmanageable for the city." A New Orleans Business Bankruptcy Attorney said that they should expect this type of request.
Rhodes didn't immediately rule on the request for the delay, saying he would issue an order soon to address the concerns. But he told lawyers for the city that the creditors are entitled to access a significant number of the documents they're requesting.
How a major shift in legal representation during the endgame of the case would impact Detroit's bankruptcy wasn't immediately clear.
Even if Orr departs before the bankruptcy is settled, under the state's emergency manager law, Public Act 436, Detroit would remain under a financial emergency -- with significant state oversight -- until Gov. Rick Snyder declares the emergency over. That could put pressure on Duggan and the council to accept new agreements to maintain Jones Day's representation in some form.
Snyder's spokeswoman couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.
As of last fall, Jones Day's contract with the city had been approved up to $18 million, among the largest fees charged by lawyers and consulting firms addressing Detroit's financial collapse. .
Mayor Mike Duggan's office said Thursday he won't support extending Kevyn Orr's time as the city's emergency manager or keeping on his former law firm, Jones Day, if Detroit's bankruptcy extends beyond Orr's expected exit date in late September. A Tulsa Bankruptcy Lawyer is viewing details of the story.
The issue arose after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes questioned Jones Day lawyers during a hearing Thursday, asking what impact a delay in the schedule of the bankruptcy case would have on the high-priced law firm the city hired.
Lawyers for Detroit's financial creditors and for Oakland and Macomb counties tried Thursday to convince Rhodes to delay the case by a month because city lawyers aren't releasing critical documents quickly enough to meet ambitious timetables for this summer's confirmation trial on the plan to exit the nation's largest-ever municipal bankruptcy. A Boston Bankruptcy Lawyer agrees that this makes things difficult.
Rhodes appeared concerned about whether such a delay would push the ultimate resolution of Detroit's bankruptcy beyond the tenure of the state-appointed emergency manager, whose 18-month term is set to end in late September, when city officials have the legal option to vote to fire Orr under Michigan's emergency manager law.
Rhodes asked whether Jones Day, the law firm hired by the city under former Mayor Dave Bing, would stay on after Orr is gone. Greg Shumaker, a Jones Day lawyer, acknowledged that the uncertainty about that matter "could be dramatic." But he told the judge: "We have not talked to the mayor or the City Council about that issue."
"I'm surprised by that," Rhodes said.
He then asked Shumaker whether the goal of ending Detroit's bankruptcy case before Orr leaves sets up deadlines that might conflict with sound practices in bankruptcy court. Shumaker concurred.
Duggan made clear that if the bankruptcy proceedings extend beyond Sept. 25, he won't support keeping Jones Day as the city's law firm in bankruptcy.
"We have no intention of keeping Jones Day," Duggan's spokeswoman and chief of staff, Alexis Wiley, told the Free Press. "We have every intention of running this city, and that means both services and finances."
Wiley declined to discuss how Duggan would handle the bankruptcy after ditching Jones Day, or which lawyers would pick up where the firm left off.
Bill Nowling, a spokesman for Orr, acknowledged there have been no discussions about Jones Day staying on after Orr is gone, noting that Orr and the firm's lawyers have been "operating on the schedule which has the confirmation hearings concluding in August."
Orr, who was working out of the Jones Day office in Washington before coming to Detroit, has said previously that he is not interested in staying in Detroit beyond September. A Lexington Commercial Bankruptcy Attorney said he doesn't blame him.
The confirmation hearings are to determine whether Rhodes approves the city's blueprint for exiting bankruptcy, which has been on a fast-track schedule in large part because Orr's time in Detroit was limited to 18 months. The hearings had been set to begin July 24 and last into August, but a group of financial creditors this week asked Rhodes to push the beginning of the hearings to Aug. 26.
Lawyers for creditors including Syncora -- a bond insurer that's on the hook for nearly $250 million because it guaranteed a disastrous $1.4-billion debt deal meant to shore up underfunded pensions in 2005 -- argued that delays in the city's release of documents creditors have requested make the schedule impossible to follow.
"The city's actions are crippling our efforts," Syncora lawyer Stephen Hackney said during a status conference Thursday.
Creditors' lawyers say that their expert witnesses won't have enough time to analyze and report on city financial assumptions without the delay.
The creditors are seeking access to a number of documents they say the city hasn't released, including reports on the physical condition of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department infrastructure and long-term financial projections for the system, as well as financial background used by consultants such as Milliman, Ernst & Young and Conway MacKenzie, who have advised the city on some matters including restructuring city government and its liabilities and devising a long-term plan to operate Detroit after bankruptcy.
Jones Day lawyer Heather Lennox, representing the city, said that Detroit had already released key documents to the creditors and that the remainder would be handed over by next week. She and other lawyers for the city suggested that the creditors were seeking access to documents in a bid to delay the trial.
Geoff Irwin, also representing the city, said the crush of requests for additional documentation "is becoming incredibly burdensome and unmanageable for the city." A New Orleans Business Bankruptcy Attorney said that they should expect this type of request.
Rhodes didn't immediately rule on the request for the delay, saying he would issue an order soon to address the concerns. But he told lawyers for the city that the creditors are entitled to access a significant number of the documents they're requesting.
How a major shift in legal representation during the endgame of the case would impact Detroit's bankruptcy wasn't immediately clear.
Even if Orr departs before the bankruptcy is settled, under the state's emergency manager law, Public Act 436, Detroit would remain under a financial emergency -- with significant state oversight -- until Gov. Rick Snyder declares the emergency over. That could put pressure on Duggan and the council to accept new agreements to maintain Jones Day's representation in some form.
Snyder's spokeswoman couldn't be reached for comment Thursday.
As of last fall, Jones Day's contract with the city had been approved up to $18 million, among the largest fees charged by lawyers and consulting firms addressing Detroit's financial collapse. .
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
CANDID CAMERAS PROVE KEY IN DRUG BUST
Original Story: DetNews.com
Detroit— Three fez-wearing drug dealers who fled ahead of guilty verdicts Monday were once among the most closely watched crooks in Metro Detroit, thanks to a little known surveillance tool that helped crack one of the area’s biggest drug rings. A Hudson Valley Criminal Defense Lawyer did not agree with the legality of the submission of the video as evidence.
Federal drug agents secretly mounted video cameras atop utility poles next to drug dealers’ homes and a warehouse to record narcotics shipments and watch millions in cash change hands. Investigators do not need search warrants if the cameras shoot footage in a place where a person would not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
The camera footage played a key role in the indictments of drug kingpin Carlos Powell and 12 others in early 2012. The surveillance by investigators, and the trio’s later escape, provide an ironic twist to an ongoing manhunt as federal agents search for the Washington Township man, his brother Eric Powell and friend Earnest Proge.
Federal agents have used the so-called pole cameras for about 30 years, occasionally to devastating effect in court. Business Video Security Systems can have the same effect is catching criminals in the act.
“It’s video,” said defense attorney Michael Rataj, who represented a courier charged in the case. “Not much you can do about it.”
Pole cameras are one weapon in the government’s arsenal and, in this case, were used alongside physical surveillance, search warrants, wiretaps and vehicle-tracking devices.
The camera footage played a starring role in opening arguments during the Powell trial this month. Prosecutors showed jurors footage of Carlos Powell behind a home on Detroit’s east side in June 2010.
Agents watched a second man arrive in a Nissan Murano and go into the brick ranch on Conley Street. Powell arrived soon after in a truck and was seen carrying a large bag into the house.
As agents watched footage from the pole camera, the second man left the home and put several objects into the rear of his sport utility vehicle before driving away.
Agents followed the Murano as it traveled along Interstate 69 in Charlotte. A Michigan State Police trooper stopped the Murano.
“Did you find anything unusual?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Cares asked DEA Special Agent Edward Donovan during the trial.
“Yes,” Donovan testified. “A concealed compartment.”
Agents couldn’t figure out how to unlock the secret compartment, however.
“So we got a saw to cut it open,” the agent said.
“Did you find anything?” the prosecutor asked.
“Yes,” Donovan said. “Bundles of money: $259,000.”
The size, scope and profits of Powell’s alleged drug ring places Powell among the most prolific drug dealers in Metro Detroit history. During a years-long investigation, agents seized 66 pounds of heroin, 12 kilograms of cocaine, 1,000 pounds of marijuana and more than $21 million in cash.
Powell tried unsuccessfully to suppress the pole camera footage. Possibly House Arrest Services Detroit may be needed.
The DEA installed hidden cameras atop DTE Energy utility poles at four locations in Detroit, Centerline and Eastpointe. Two locations, outside a brick ranch on Conley on the city’s east side and an Eastpointe home, were used by Powell’s drug ring to stash drugs and money, prosecutors say.
The cameras are camouflaged to blend in with other utility pole equipment and can be rotated and zoomed. They can capture footage 24 hours a day and allow agents to monitor footage remotely via the Internet.
Federal agencies have their own teams of armed agents who are tasked with secretly shimmying up utility poles, sometimes dressed in utility worker uniforms.
The DEA declined to comment on investigative techniques used in the Powell case.
Few criminals are aware of a technology used by federal agents for about 30 years. Paranoid crooks are often more concerned about wire taps, helicopters and agents tailing behind in traffic, law enforcement sources said.
“Because it is so low-tech, people aren’t as aware of it,” said criminal defense lawyer Keith Corbett, a former chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Organized Crime Strike Force in Detroit. “If you have photos of the bad guys, and blow them up, and the jury can see the defendant going into a drug house, it’s pretty compelling and a pretty effective piece of evidence.”
Installing the pole cameras can be too risky, depending on the target.
Corbett never considered using pole cameras while investigating former Detroit mafia boss Jack Tocco.
“If I wanted to put a camera outside Jack Tocco’s house, it would have been problematic in the sense that while you’re installing it, someone might see you and Jack might have become aware of it,” Corbett said.
Carlos Powell and his co-defendants had an expectation of privacy that was violated by the use of pole cameras, defense lawyers wrote in a November 2012 court filing.
“In some instances, the placement of the cameras allowed the investigators to peer into areas within the (private areas) of a dwelling, and to observe events which would not have been visible by a person standing at street level,” defense lawyers wrote.
During opening statements, Carlos Powell’s defense lawyer Deday LaRene tried to blunt the footage’s impact, insisting the footage did not show drug deals. However, someone may still end up using a Criminal Ankle Bracelet in the near future.
“Saying something doesn’t make it so,” LaRene told jurors.
The key is trying to undercut the footage during cross-examination, Rataj said.
“Sometimes what one person thinks they’re observing isn’t necessarily what another person thinks,” Rataj said. “But generally, like a wiretap, it’s your own words and actions coming back to haunt you.”
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140517/METRO01/305170025#ixzz32HWKfZ6E
Detroit— Three fez-wearing drug dealers who fled ahead of guilty verdicts Monday were once among the most closely watched crooks in Metro Detroit, thanks to a little known surveillance tool that helped crack one of the area’s biggest drug rings. A Hudson Valley Criminal Defense Lawyer did not agree with the legality of the submission of the video as evidence.
Federal drug agents secretly mounted video cameras atop utility poles next to drug dealers’ homes and a warehouse to record narcotics shipments and watch millions in cash change hands. Investigators do not need search warrants if the cameras shoot footage in a place where a person would not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
The camera footage played a key role in the indictments of drug kingpin Carlos Powell and 12 others in early 2012. The surveillance by investigators, and the trio’s later escape, provide an ironic twist to an ongoing manhunt as federal agents search for the Washington Township man, his brother Eric Powell and friend Earnest Proge.
Federal agents have used the so-called pole cameras for about 30 years, occasionally to devastating effect in court. Business Video Security Systems can have the same effect is catching criminals in the act.
“It’s video,” said defense attorney Michael Rataj, who represented a courier charged in the case. “Not much you can do about it.”
Pole cameras are one weapon in the government’s arsenal and, in this case, were used alongside physical surveillance, search warrants, wiretaps and vehicle-tracking devices.
The camera footage played a starring role in opening arguments during the Powell trial this month. Prosecutors showed jurors footage of Carlos Powell behind a home on Detroit’s east side in June 2010.
Agents watched a second man arrive in a Nissan Murano and go into the brick ranch on Conley Street. Powell arrived soon after in a truck and was seen carrying a large bag into the house.
As agents watched footage from the pole camera, the second man left the home and put several objects into the rear of his sport utility vehicle before driving away.
Agents followed the Murano as it traveled along Interstate 69 in Charlotte. A Michigan State Police trooper stopped the Murano.
“Did you find anything unusual?” Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Cares asked DEA Special Agent Edward Donovan during the trial.
“Yes,” Donovan testified. “A concealed compartment.”
Agents couldn’t figure out how to unlock the secret compartment, however.
“So we got a saw to cut it open,” the agent said.
“Did you find anything?” the prosecutor asked.
“Yes,” Donovan said. “Bundles of money: $259,000.”
The size, scope and profits of Powell’s alleged drug ring places Powell among the most prolific drug dealers in Metro Detroit history. During a years-long investigation, agents seized 66 pounds of heroin, 12 kilograms of cocaine, 1,000 pounds of marijuana and more than $21 million in cash.
Powell tried unsuccessfully to suppress the pole camera footage. Possibly House Arrest Services Detroit may be needed.
The DEA installed hidden cameras atop DTE Energy utility poles at four locations in Detroit, Centerline and Eastpointe. Two locations, outside a brick ranch on Conley on the city’s east side and an Eastpointe home, were used by Powell’s drug ring to stash drugs and money, prosecutors say.
The cameras are camouflaged to blend in with other utility pole equipment and can be rotated and zoomed. They can capture footage 24 hours a day and allow agents to monitor footage remotely via the Internet.
Federal agencies have their own teams of armed agents who are tasked with secretly shimmying up utility poles, sometimes dressed in utility worker uniforms.
The DEA declined to comment on investigative techniques used in the Powell case.
Few criminals are aware of a technology used by federal agents for about 30 years. Paranoid crooks are often more concerned about wire taps, helicopters and agents tailing behind in traffic, law enforcement sources said.
“Because it is so low-tech, people aren’t as aware of it,” said criminal defense lawyer Keith Corbett, a former chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Organized Crime Strike Force in Detroit. “If you have photos of the bad guys, and blow them up, and the jury can see the defendant going into a drug house, it’s pretty compelling and a pretty effective piece of evidence.”
Installing the pole cameras can be too risky, depending on the target.
Corbett never considered using pole cameras while investigating former Detroit mafia boss Jack Tocco.
“If I wanted to put a camera outside Jack Tocco’s house, it would have been problematic in the sense that while you’re installing it, someone might see you and Jack might have become aware of it,” Corbett said.
Carlos Powell and his co-defendants had an expectation of privacy that was violated by the use of pole cameras, defense lawyers wrote in a November 2012 court filing.
“In some instances, the placement of the cameras allowed the investigators to peer into areas within the (private areas) of a dwelling, and to observe events which would not have been visible by a person standing at street level,” defense lawyers wrote.
During opening statements, Carlos Powell’s defense lawyer Deday LaRene tried to blunt the footage’s impact, insisting the footage did not show drug deals. However, someone may still end up using a Criminal Ankle Bracelet in the near future.
“Saying something doesn’t make it so,” LaRene told jurors.
The key is trying to undercut the footage during cross-examination, Rataj said.
“Sometimes what one person thinks they’re observing isn’t necessarily what another person thinks,” Rataj said. “But generally, like a wiretap, it’s your own words and actions coming back to haunt you.”
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140517/METRO01/305170025#ixzz32HWKfZ6E
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
PAUL WALKER CRASH: DRIVER'S WIDOW SUES PORSCHE, ALLEGES DESIGN FLAWS
Original Story: LATimes.com
The widow of the man behind the wheel of the Porsche Carrera GT that crashed and killed actor Paul Walker last year has sued the car manufacturer, alleging that faults with the design and suspension led to the fatal crash. A Tacoma Product Liability Lawyer may be consulted on the case.
The lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of Roger Rodas’ widow, Kristine Rodas, also contradicts a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department's report that found the sports car was traveling at an unsafe speed of more than 90 mph along a road in a Santa Clarita business park.
Both men died within seconds of the crash.
The suit alleges that the $500,000 vehicle was going just 55 mph on Nov. 30, 2013, when it “malfunctioned” and crashed, wrote attorney Mark Geragos.
The lawsuit contends that the right rear tire suddenly steered to the left and that despite the efforts of Rodas, a veteran race car driver, the vehicle continued a clockwise movement before climbing the curb, swiping a tree and then hitting a light pole and a second tree.
The car then hit a third tree on the passenger side, causing the vehicle to split and catch fire.
Geragos alleges the car’s suspension system forced it to careen out of control. The lightweight construction in the 605-horsepower vehicle described by Porsche as "close to a race car as we will ever get” lacked a proper crash cage and safety features in the gas tank that would have saved Rodas and Walker, Geragos wrote in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit. A Nashville Product Liability Lawyer is watched this case closely.
The impact of the crash caused the fuel tank to rupture and spill fuel into the engine compartment, the suit said.
"The Carrera GT was unsafe for its intended use by reason of defects in its manufacture, design, testing, component and constituents, so that it would not safely serve its purpose," according to the suit.
Rodas' family is seeking unspecified damages from Porsche Cars North America.
The sheriff’s and CHP reports released in March found unsafe speed and not mechanical problems was responsible for deadly crash. Investigators reached those conclusions after consulting with Porsche technicians.
The vehicle is known to be difficult to drive. A Denver Product Liability Lawyer said that could be the ground work that gives this case some legs to stand on.
"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno, a veteran super-car driver, spun a Porsche Carrera GT at 180 to 190 mph at Talledega. "It was kind of like driving on ice," Leno said on his Jay's Garage website. Leno, however, praised the vehicle for its engine built for Le Mans and incredible gearbox.
The car was the subject of a lawsuit after a 2005 crash that claimed the lives of two men at the California Speedway when they swerved into a concrete wall.
In 2006, Porsche contributed 8% of a $4.5-million settlement after owner Ben Keaton and his passenger, Corey Rudl, died. They swerved to avoid a collision with a slower-moving Ferrari that had entered the track, according to records and attorneys. Rudl's widow sued the track, Keaton's estate and the car manufacturer in San Diego Superior Court.
They settled without acknowledging any wrongdoing. Porsche says the car is safe. A New Mexico Product Liability Lawyer said that just because the case was settled does not mean that the car is safe.
Craig McClellan, the San Diego-based personal injury attorney representing Rudl's widow, argued that Porsche was partly to blame for the crash because it knew the car had a history of over-steering problems during development and the company designed it without an electronic stability control system.
"It is a fairly stripped-down car designed for the race track," McClellan said.
The widow of the man behind the wheel of the Porsche Carrera GT that crashed and killed actor Paul Walker last year has sued the car manufacturer, alleging that faults with the design and suspension led to the fatal crash. A Tacoma Product Liability Lawyer may be consulted on the case.
The lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of Roger Rodas’ widow, Kristine Rodas, also contradicts a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department's report that found the sports car was traveling at an unsafe speed of more than 90 mph along a road in a Santa Clarita business park.
Both men died within seconds of the crash.
The suit alleges that the $500,000 vehicle was going just 55 mph on Nov. 30, 2013, when it “malfunctioned” and crashed, wrote attorney Mark Geragos.
The lawsuit contends that the right rear tire suddenly steered to the left and that despite the efforts of Rodas, a veteran race car driver, the vehicle continued a clockwise movement before climbing the curb, swiping a tree and then hitting a light pole and a second tree.
The car then hit a third tree on the passenger side, causing the vehicle to split and catch fire.
Geragos alleges the car’s suspension system forced it to careen out of control. The lightweight construction in the 605-horsepower vehicle described by Porsche as "close to a race car as we will ever get” lacked a proper crash cage and safety features in the gas tank that would have saved Rodas and Walker, Geragos wrote in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit. A Nashville Product Liability Lawyer is watched this case closely.
The impact of the crash caused the fuel tank to rupture and spill fuel into the engine compartment, the suit said.
"The Carrera GT was unsafe for its intended use by reason of defects in its manufacture, design, testing, component and constituents, so that it would not safely serve its purpose," according to the suit.
Rodas' family is seeking unspecified damages from Porsche Cars North America.
The sheriff’s and CHP reports released in March found unsafe speed and not mechanical problems was responsible for deadly crash. Investigators reached those conclusions after consulting with Porsche technicians.
The vehicle is known to be difficult to drive. A Denver Product Liability Lawyer said that could be the ground work that gives this case some legs to stand on.
"Tonight Show" host Jay Leno, a veteran super-car driver, spun a Porsche Carrera GT at 180 to 190 mph at Talledega. "It was kind of like driving on ice," Leno said on his Jay's Garage website. Leno, however, praised the vehicle for its engine built for Le Mans and incredible gearbox.
The car was the subject of a lawsuit after a 2005 crash that claimed the lives of two men at the California Speedway when they swerved into a concrete wall.
In 2006, Porsche contributed 8% of a $4.5-million settlement after owner Ben Keaton and his passenger, Corey Rudl, died. They swerved to avoid a collision with a slower-moving Ferrari that had entered the track, according to records and attorneys. Rudl's widow sued the track, Keaton's estate and the car manufacturer in San Diego Superior Court.
They settled without acknowledging any wrongdoing. Porsche says the car is safe. A New Mexico Product Liability Lawyer said that just because the case was settled does not mean that the car is safe.
Craig McClellan, the San Diego-based personal injury attorney representing Rudl's widow, argued that Porsche was partly to blame for the crash because it knew the car had a history of over-steering problems during development and the company designed it without an electronic stability control system.
"It is a fairly stripped-down car designed for the race track," McClellan said.
DRIVING WHILE PREGNANT: CAR CRASH RISK SPIKES 42% IN SECOND TRIMESTER
Orginal Story: LATimes.com
Pregnancy is not without health risks, and now researchers from Canada have identified a new one: serious car crashes. This information greatly intrigued a Grand Rapids Car Accident Lawyer who defends many types of clients.
During the second trimester of pregnancy, a woman’s odds of being behind the wheel in a multi-vehicle accident that was bad enough to send her to a hospital emergency room were 42% greater than they were in the three years before she became pregnant, according to a study published Monday in CMAJ, the Canadian Medical Assn. Journal. However, by the third trimester, the risk was significantly lower than it was before pregnancy, and it fell even further in the first year after the women gave birth.
“It amounts to about a 1 in 50 statistical risk of the average women having a motor vehicle crash at some point during her pregnancy,” said Dr. Donald Redelmeier of the University of Toronto, who led the study. A Hackensack Car Accident Lawyer found this information extremely surprising.
The research team, from the University of Toronto and affiliated institutions, wondered whether the fatigue, distraction, nausea and other annoyances that accompany pregnancy might make women more vulnerable behind the wheel. They were particularly curious about the second trimester, a time when pregnant women often feel like their normal selves. As a result, they don’t change their behavior to account for the significant physiological changes happening in their bodies.
The researchers identified more than 500,000 women who gave birth in Ontario during a five-year period from 2006 to 2011. They combed through data from Ontario hospitals to see how often they got into serious car crashes during the three years before they became pregnant; during each trimester of their pregnancy; and for the first year after their babies were born.
The women in the study were not paragons of perfect driving during the baseline period. The researchers counted up a total of 6,922 crashes, which worked out to about 4.55 crashes per 1,000 women per year. That was more than double the population-wide average of roughly 2 crashes per 1,000 people per year. However, the researchers noted that the women in the study were relatively young, which helps explain their higher crash rate.
During the first month of the first trimester of pregnancy, the crash rate fell slightly to 4.33 crashes per 1,000 women, the researchers found. However, that difference was too small for the drop to be considered statistically significant. A Chicago Car Accident Attorney thought that women are often over cautious during this time, especially during first pregnancies.
But something had definitely changed by the first month of the second trimester. During that month, the women’s crash rate soared to 7.66 collisions per 1,000 women per year, according to the study. That was the most dangerous month for pregnant women behind the wheel. For the entire second trimester, the crash rate was 6.47 collisions per 1,000 women per year, which was 42% higher than during the baseline period.
Women from all walks of life became more vulnerable during this period, the researchers found. The increased crash risk was seen in all women regardless of age, socioeconomic status, whether their babies were born early, the gender of their babies and most other factors. Time of day, week and year also had no effect. The only characteristic that seemed to influence the crash rate in the second trimester was whether the women lived in urban or rural areas (it was higher for city drivers).
The safest month for all women turned out to be the last month of pregnancy. In those final weeks, the women tracked in the study had only 2.74 crashes per 1,000 women per year. And in the year after giving birth, the accident rate dropped even more, to 2.35 crashes per 1,000 women per year, the researchers reported.
The women saw no increase in car accident injuries when they were passengers in other people’s cars, or as pedestrians, according to the study.
Health experts have previously identified auto accidents as the leading cause of fetal death related to a trauma. However, the study did not include data on crashes that caused injuries serious enough to kill a fetus because women in those cases didn’t go on to give birth. As a result, the statistics probably underestimate the true risk of driving while pregnant, the study authors wrote. A Minneapolis Car Accident Lawyer would like to know this data.
“The message here is not to stop driving,” Redelmeier said in a video released by the Sunnybrook Research Institute, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto and the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (where Redelmeier is a staff physician). “The message is to start driving more carefully.”
He added that the pregnant women he cares for ask about the risks of flying planes, soaking in hot tubs and skating on Rollerblades. However, he said, “not once has a woman asked me about road safety despite it being the much larger, greater risk.” A Nashville Car Accident Lawyer thought that this information should be shared with all women especially those who are pregnant.
Redelmeier’s previous research on automobile accidents has found that American drivers are more likely to crash on days when presidential elections are held.
Pregnancy is not without health risks, and now researchers from Canada have identified a new one: serious car crashes. This information greatly intrigued a Grand Rapids Car Accident Lawyer who defends many types of clients.
During the second trimester of pregnancy, a woman’s odds of being behind the wheel in a multi-vehicle accident that was bad enough to send her to a hospital emergency room were 42% greater than they were in the three years before she became pregnant, according to a study published Monday in CMAJ, the Canadian Medical Assn. Journal. However, by the third trimester, the risk was significantly lower than it was before pregnancy, and it fell even further in the first year after the women gave birth.
“It amounts to about a 1 in 50 statistical risk of the average women having a motor vehicle crash at some point during her pregnancy,” said Dr. Donald Redelmeier of the University of Toronto, who led the study. A Hackensack Car Accident Lawyer found this information extremely surprising.
The research team, from the University of Toronto and affiliated institutions, wondered whether the fatigue, distraction, nausea and other annoyances that accompany pregnancy might make women more vulnerable behind the wheel. They were particularly curious about the second trimester, a time when pregnant women often feel like their normal selves. As a result, they don’t change their behavior to account for the significant physiological changes happening in their bodies.
The researchers identified more than 500,000 women who gave birth in Ontario during a five-year period from 2006 to 2011. They combed through data from Ontario hospitals to see how often they got into serious car crashes during the three years before they became pregnant; during each trimester of their pregnancy; and for the first year after their babies were born.
The women in the study were not paragons of perfect driving during the baseline period. The researchers counted up a total of 6,922 crashes, which worked out to about 4.55 crashes per 1,000 women per year. That was more than double the population-wide average of roughly 2 crashes per 1,000 people per year. However, the researchers noted that the women in the study were relatively young, which helps explain their higher crash rate.
During the first month of the first trimester of pregnancy, the crash rate fell slightly to 4.33 crashes per 1,000 women, the researchers found. However, that difference was too small for the drop to be considered statistically significant. A Chicago Car Accident Attorney thought that women are often over cautious during this time, especially during first pregnancies.
But something had definitely changed by the first month of the second trimester. During that month, the women’s crash rate soared to 7.66 collisions per 1,000 women per year, according to the study. That was the most dangerous month for pregnant women behind the wheel. For the entire second trimester, the crash rate was 6.47 collisions per 1,000 women per year, which was 42% higher than during the baseline period.
Women from all walks of life became more vulnerable during this period, the researchers found. The increased crash risk was seen in all women regardless of age, socioeconomic status, whether their babies were born early, the gender of their babies and most other factors. Time of day, week and year also had no effect. The only characteristic that seemed to influence the crash rate in the second trimester was whether the women lived in urban or rural areas (it was higher for city drivers).
The safest month for all women turned out to be the last month of pregnancy. In those final weeks, the women tracked in the study had only 2.74 crashes per 1,000 women per year. And in the year after giving birth, the accident rate dropped even more, to 2.35 crashes per 1,000 women per year, the researchers reported.
The women saw no increase in car accident injuries when they were passengers in other people’s cars, or as pedestrians, according to the study.
Health experts have previously identified auto accidents as the leading cause of fetal death related to a trauma. However, the study did not include data on crashes that caused injuries serious enough to kill a fetus because women in those cases didn’t go on to give birth. As a result, the statistics probably underestimate the true risk of driving while pregnant, the study authors wrote. A Minneapolis Car Accident Lawyer would like to know this data.
“The message here is not to stop driving,” Redelmeier said in a video released by the Sunnybrook Research Institute, which is affiliated with the University of Toronto and the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (where Redelmeier is a staff physician). “The message is to start driving more carefully.”
He added that the pregnant women he cares for ask about the risks of flying planes, soaking in hot tubs and skating on Rollerblades. However, he said, “not once has a woman asked me about road safety despite it being the much larger, greater risk.” A Nashville Car Accident Lawyer thought that this information should be shared with all women especially those who are pregnant.
Redelmeier’s previous research on automobile accidents has found that American drivers are more likely to crash on days when presidential elections are held.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Legal Alliance Gains Host of Court Victories for Conservative Christian Movement
Original Story: NYTimes.com
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Alan Sears, who has run the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom since its founding 20 years ago, turned to a picture of Abraham Lincoln in his office here and noted the decades of blood and tears it took to abolish slavery.
“I think there is no question that one day, this country will again recognize that marriage is between a man and a woman,” said Mr. Sears, a former top official in the Reagan Justice Department.
The comparison may or may not prove apt, but these are heady days for Alliance Defending Freedom, which, with its $40 million annual budget, 40-plus staff lawyers and hundreds of affiliated lawyers, has emerged as the largest legal force of the religious right, arguing hundreds of pro bono cases across the country. It has helped shift the emphasis of religious freedom enshrined in the Constitution. For decades, courts leaned toward keeping religion out of public spaces. Today, thanks to cases won by the alliance and other legal teams focused on Christian causes, the momentum has tilted toward allowing religious practices with fewer restrictions.
The group last Monday celebrated a major victory in the Supreme Court, where a client, the Town of Greece, N.Y., won the right to open council meetings with mainly Christian prayers.
The alliance awaits the decision in another case that could redefine the boundaries of religious freedom — the challenge by its client Conestoga Wood Specialties, along with Hobby Lobby, to the provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring companies to cover birth control in employee-funded health plans.
Things have gone less well in the fight against same-sex marriage, but the group is in the fray, arguing before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday in defense of Virginia’s marriage restrictions. This case, like that of Oklahoma, which the group also argued in a federal appeals court, may end up in a climactic Supreme Court battle in the year ahead.
Alliance Defending Freedom was created by Christian leaders including Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and James C. Dobson Jr., the founder of Focus on the Family. In the early 1990s the groups had watched with growing dismay as secular groups like the American Civil Liberties Union used the courts to ban school prayer and advance abortion rights even as an emerging gay-rights movement threatened, in their view, to upend the country’s social values.
“People of faith were being outgunned in court,” said Mr. Sears, 62, a Roman Catholic in an organization populated with evangelical Protestants. So the group — then called the Alliance Defense Fund — was founded to foster Christian legal firepower.
The new Christian lawyers have proved to be sophisticated litigants in court, wielding constitutional arguments without invoking religion. But outside the courtroom, the group has provoked the enmity of gay-rights advocates, in particular, by expressing harsh views such as those in a book Mr. Sears co-wrote in 2003, “The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today.” It describes gay people as “trapped” and gay-rights advocates as bent on creating a nation of “broken families and broken lives.”
One lesson Christian conservatives learned, Mr. Sears said, is that lower court decisions that violate what he considers to be original constitutional principles can lead to more dangerous assaults. Griswold v. Connecticut, for example, the 1965 Supreme Court ruling that Connecticut could not ban the use of contraceptives by married couples, was a travesty, he said, because it established a new right of privacy, used in 1973 to justify legalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade.
In 2003, the alliance worked against what became another landmark ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which declared laws against “homosexual sodomy” unconstitutional. Its lawyers feared that the decision would help open a legal path to same-sex marriage.
The group originally focused on channeling donations to other lawyers as well as training more Christian lawyers in issue-oriented litigation, which remains a major part of its work. Its summer fellowship program has drawn 1,300 law students, and some 1,700 practicing lawyers have attended training sessions.
But the alliance soon expanded its own legal team, joining a cluster of like-minded, nonprofit law firms including Liberty Institute, which is devoted entirely to “religious liberty” issues; the American Center for Law and Justice; the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; Liberty Counsel; and the Pacific Justice Institute. Alliance Defending Freedom, which changed its name in 2012, relies on private donors, whom it does not disclose.
“A.D.F. and the other groups wanted to counter more liberal legal forces, and they have largely achieved that goal,” said Douglas Laycock, an expert on law and religion at the University of Virginia Law School. “On the whole, they work at pretty high levels, and they’ve got a lot of boots on the ground.”
Along the way, the alliance has sometimes ruffled the feathers of sister organizations. When California state officials declined to defend Proposition 8, the amendment banning same-sex marriage, the alliance took up the cudgel. But when it lost in federal court in 2010 in the case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, Liberty Counsel complained publicly that Alliance Defending Freedom had excluded it and had performed poorly.
Many of the alliance’s legal victories (it says it has an 80 percent success rate) have involved defense of religious activities and symbols at universities and in public spaces.
But the alliance has gained a reputation as a hard-line opponent of gay rights, and critics say the principles in its legal briefs mask prejudice, a contention that Mr. Sears denies.
Fred Sainz, a vice president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group, said, “They are easily the most active antigay legal group.”
On same-sex marriage, the group did secure a temporary win in California in 2004 when it forced Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco to stop granting same-sex marriage licenses. But more recently, this group, like others seeking to preserve marriage restrictions, has suffered a chain of defeats.
Beyond its lawsuits and training of legal allies, the alliance is often involved behind the scenes, helping state officials prepare briefs justifying marriage restrictions or, in an example uncovered by RH Reality Check, a reproductive-rights website, mobilizing states to sign friend-of-the-court briefs in the contraceptive-mandate case.
The legal group has a growing international program, working primarily in Europe, where it has helped defend religious displays before the European Court of Human Rights and Ireland’s ban on abortion.
In perhaps its most aggressive effort, the alliance organizes an annual Pulpit Freedom Sunday, enlisting pastors, who under federal rules may not endorse politicians or bills, to link “biblical principles” to politics in their sermons. In June, more than 1,000 pastors signed up to preach “the truth about marriage.”
Asked to evaluate the success of the Christian legal movement Mr. Sears said, “We’re much better off in terms of our ability to respond in court, but we’re still a long way from catching up with the other side. The A.C.L.U. had a 74-year head start and set a lot of precedents. Who knows what would have been the outcome if there had been more faith-based lawyers all along?”
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Alan Sears, who has run the Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom since its founding 20 years ago, turned to a picture of Abraham Lincoln in his office here and noted the decades of blood and tears it took to abolish slavery.
“I think there is no question that one day, this country will again recognize that marriage is between a man and a woman,” said Mr. Sears, a former top official in the Reagan Justice Department.
The comparison may or may not prove apt, but these are heady days for Alliance Defending Freedom, which, with its $40 million annual budget, 40-plus staff lawyers and hundreds of affiliated lawyers, has emerged as the largest legal force of the religious right, arguing hundreds of pro bono cases across the country. It has helped shift the emphasis of religious freedom enshrined in the Constitution. For decades, courts leaned toward keeping religion out of public spaces. Today, thanks to cases won by the alliance and other legal teams focused on Christian causes, the momentum has tilted toward allowing religious practices with fewer restrictions.
The group last Monday celebrated a major victory in the Supreme Court, where a client, the Town of Greece, N.Y., won the right to open council meetings with mainly Christian prayers.
The alliance awaits the decision in another case that could redefine the boundaries of religious freedom — the challenge by its client Conestoga Wood Specialties, along with Hobby Lobby, to the provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring companies to cover birth control in employee-funded health plans.
Things have gone less well in the fight against same-sex marriage, but the group is in the fray, arguing before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, Va., on Tuesday in defense of Virginia’s marriage restrictions. This case, like that of Oklahoma, which the group also argued in a federal appeals court, may end up in a climactic Supreme Court battle in the year ahead.
Alliance Defending Freedom was created by Christian leaders including Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and James C. Dobson Jr., the founder of Focus on the Family. In the early 1990s the groups had watched with growing dismay as secular groups like the American Civil Liberties Union used the courts to ban school prayer and advance abortion rights even as an emerging gay-rights movement threatened, in their view, to upend the country’s social values.
“People of faith were being outgunned in court,” said Mr. Sears, 62, a Roman Catholic in an organization populated with evangelical Protestants. So the group — then called the Alliance Defense Fund — was founded to foster Christian legal firepower.
The new Christian lawyers have proved to be sophisticated litigants in court, wielding constitutional arguments without invoking religion. But outside the courtroom, the group has provoked the enmity of gay-rights advocates, in particular, by expressing harsh views such as those in a book Mr. Sears co-wrote in 2003, “The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today.” It describes gay people as “trapped” and gay-rights advocates as bent on creating a nation of “broken families and broken lives.”
One lesson Christian conservatives learned, Mr. Sears said, is that lower court decisions that violate what he considers to be original constitutional principles can lead to more dangerous assaults. Griswold v. Connecticut, for example, the 1965 Supreme Court ruling that Connecticut could not ban the use of contraceptives by married couples, was a travesty, he said, because it established a new right of privacy, used in 1973 to justify legalizing abortion in Roe v. Wade.
In 2003, the alliance worked against what became another landmark ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which declared laws against “homosexual sodomy” unconstitutional. Its lawyers feared that the decision would help open a legal path to same-sex marriage.
The group originally focused on channeling donations to other lawyers as well as training more Christian lawyers in issue-oriented litigation, which remains a major part of its work. Its summer fellowship program has drawn 1,300 law students, and some 1,700 practicing lawyers have attended training sessions.
But the alliance soon expanded its own legal team, joining a cluster of like-minded, nonprofit law firms including Liberty Institute, which is devoted entirely to “religious liberty” issues; the American Center for Law and Justice; the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; Liberty Counsel; and the Pacific Justice Institute. Alliance Defending Freedom, which changed its name in 2012, relies on private donors, whom it does not disclose.
“A.D.F. and the other groups wanted to counter more liberal legal forces, and they have largely achieved that goal,” said Douglas Laycock, an expert on law and religion at the University of Virginia Law School. “On the whole, they work at pretty high levels, and they’ve got a lot of boots on the ground.”
Along the way, the alliance has sometimes ruffled the feathers of sister organizations. When California state officials declined to defend Proposition 8, the amendment banning same-sex marriage, the alliance took up the cudgel. But when it lost in federal court in 2010 in the case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, Liberty Counsel complained publicly that Alliance Defending Freedom had excluded it and had performed poorly.
Many of the alliance’s legal victories (it says it has an 80 percent success rate) have involved defense of religious activities and symbols at universities and in public spaces.
But the alliance has gained a reputation as a hard-line opponent of gay rights, and critics say the principles in its legal briefs mask prejudice, a contention that Mr. Sears denies.
Fred Sainz, a vice president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-rights group, said, “They are easily the most active antigay legal group.”
On same-sex marriage, the group did secure a temporary win in California in 2004 when it forced Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco to stop granting same-sex marriage licenses. But more recently, this group, like others seeking to preserve marriage restrictions, has suffered a chain of defeats.
Beyond its lawsuits and training of legal allies, the alliance is often involved behind the scenes, helping state officials prepare briefs justifying marriage restrictions or, in an example uncovered by RH Reality Check, a reproductive-rights website, mobilizing states to sign friend-of-the-court briefs in the contraceptive-mandate case.
The legal group has a growing international program, working primarily in Europe, where it has helped defend religious displays before the European Court of Human Rights and Ireland’s ban on abortion.
In perhaps its most aggressive effort, the alliance organizes an annual Pulpit Freedom Sunday, enlisting pastors, who under federal rules may not endorse politicians or bills, to link “biblical principles” to politics in their sermons. In June, more than 1,000 pastors signed up to preach “the truth about marriage.”
Asked to evaluate the success of the Christian legal movement Mr. Sears said, “We’re much better off in terms of our ability to respond in court, but we’re still a long way from catching up with the other side. The A.C.L.U. had a 74-year head start and set a lot of precedents. Who knows what would have been the outcome if there had been more faith-based lawyers all along?”
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
MAJOR OIL, GAS FIRM TO LIST FRACKING CHEMICALS
Original story: USAToday.com
A major supplier to the oil and gas industry says it will begin disclosing 100% of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluid, with no exemptions for trade secrets. The move by Baker Hughes of Houston is a shift for a major firm; it's unclear if others will follow suit.
The oil and gas industry has said the fracking chemicals are disclosed at tens of thousands of wells, but environmental and health groups and government regulators say a loophole that allows companies to hide chemical "trade secrets" has been a major problem. A Tulsa Oil and Gas Lawyer agreed.
A statement on the Baker Hughes website said the company believes it's possible to disclose 100% "of the chemical ingredients we use in hydraulic fracturing fluids without compromising our formulations," to increase public trust.
"This really good news. It's a step in the right direction," said Dr. Bernard Goldstein, the former dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. "One hopes that the entire industry goes along with it."
But Goldstein noted one "major hedge" in the Baker Hughes position, since the company said it will provide complete lists of the products and chemical ingredients used in frack fluids "where accepted by our customers and relevant governmental authorities."
Still, Goldstein said the Baker Hughes language sets a new standard for transparency and "clearly distinguishes them from Halliburton," another major industry supplier. Similar comments were made by a Texas Oil and Gas Lawyer.
Baker Hughes spokeswoman Melanie Kania wrote in an email that it will take "several months" for the new policy to take effect. She said the end result will be a "single list" that provides "all the chemical constituents" for frack fluids, with no trade secrets. This could be a good thing, according to a Dallas Oil and Gas Lawyer.
Amy Mall, a policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the Baker Hughes move is a positive step, and that "if one company can do it, it's very clear all companies can do it." Mall said NRDC doesn't believe companies should use the trade secret argument to hide drilling chemicals. The same was stated by a Pittsburgh Energy Lawyer.
A spokeswoman for Houston-based Halliburton, another major oil and gas supplier, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Salt Lake City Energy Lawyer said this could be potentially damaging to the company.
A boom in drilling has led to tens of thousands of new wells being drilled in recent years using the fracking process. A mix of water, sand and chemicals is forced into deep underground formations to break rock apart and free oil and gas. That's led to major economic benefits but also fears that the chemicals used in the process could spread to water supplies.
The mix of chemicals varies by company and region — and some of the chemicals are toxic and could cause health problems in significant doses — so the lack of full transparency has worried landowners and public health experts.
Many companies voluntarily disclose the contents of their fracking fluids through FracFocus.org, a website partially funded by the oil and gas industry that tracks fracking operations nationwide. But critics say the website has loose reporting standards and allows companies to avoid disclosure by declaring certain chemicals as trade secrets.
An Energy Department task force report issued in March that found that 84% of the wells registered on FracFocus invoked a trade secret exemption for at least one chemical. The Task Force said it "favors full disclosure of all known constituents added to fracturing fluid with few, if any exceptions."
The FracFocus website is managed by the Ground Water Protection Council and Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, both based in Oklahoma, and is funded by industry and the Energy Department.
Gerry Baker of the Oil and Gas Compact said he doesn't know of any other major supplier that has made a pledge similar to the one from Baker Hughes.
"It's a business decision on their part," Baker said. "Somehow, they've committed to this at the highest levels" of disclosure.
The Interior Department is expected to finalize proposed regulation for hydraulic fracturing on public lands by the end of the year. The measure would apply to some 700 million acres of federal lands and 56 million acres of lands controlled by federally recognized Indian tribes.
The rule proposed last year would require companies drilling for oil and natural gas to disclose chemicals used in fracking operations. The information would be made public.
The DOE said 25 states now mandate public disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, including 15 that use FracFocus as a reporting tool.
Industry groups oppose the disclosure rule, saying it would be costly for businesses, with little environmental or safety benefit. The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry's top lobbying group, has praised the efforts of states to adopt the FracFocus database for disclosing chemicals, but has said additional federal regulations could jeopardize economic growth.
Asked about the Baker Hughes plan, API spokesman Zachary Cikanek said in an email that they "also welcome additional efforts by individual companies to increase public engagement and transparency."
A major supplier to the oil and gas industry says it will begin disclosing 100% of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluid, with no exemptions for trade secrets. The move by Baker Hughes of Houston is a shift for a major firm; it's unclear if others will follow suit.
The oil and gas industry has said the fracking chemicals are disclosed at tens of thousands of wells, but environmental and health groups and government regulators say a loophole that allows companies to hide chemical "trade secrets" has been a major problem. A Tulsa Oil and Gas Lawyer agreed.
A statement on the Baker Hughes website said the company believes it's possible to disclose 100% "of the chemical ingredients we use in hydraulic fracturing fluids without compromising our formulations," to increase public trust.
"This really good news. It's a step in the right direction," said Dr. Bernard Goldstein, the former dean of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. "One hopes that the entire industry goes along with it."
But Goldstein noted one "major hedge" in the Baker Hughes position, since the company said it will provide complete lists of the products and chemical ingredients used in frack fluids "where accepted by our customers and relevant governmental authorities."
Still, Goldstein said the Baker Hughes language sets a new standard for transparency and "clearly distinguishes them from Halliburton," another major industry supplier. Similar comments were made by a Texas Oil and Gas Lawyer.
Baker Hughes spokeswoman Melanie Kania wrote in an email that it will take "several months" for the new policy to take effect. She said the end result will be a "single list" that provides "all the chemical constituents" for frack fluids, with no trade secrets. This could be a good thing, according to a Dallas Oil and Gas Lawyer.
Amy Mall, a policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said the Baker Hughes move is a positive step, and that "if one company can do it, it's very clear all companies can do it." Mall said NRDC doesn't believe companies should use the trade secret argument to hide drilling chemicals. The same was stated by a Pittsburgh Energy Lawyer.
A spokeswoman for Houston-based Halliburton, another major oil and gas supplier, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Salt Lake City Energy Lawyer said this could be potentially damaging to the company.
A boom in drilling has led to tens of thousands of new wells being drilled in recent years using the fracking process. A mix of water, sand and chemicals is forced into deep underground formations to break rock apart and free oil and gas. That's led to major economic benefits but also fears that the chemicals used in the process could spread to water supplies.
The mix of chemicals varies by company and region — and some of the chemicals are toxic and could cause health problems in significant doses — so the lack of full transparency has worried landowners and public health experts.
Many companies voluntarily disclose the contents of their fracking fluids through FracFocus.org, a website partially funded by the oil and gas industry that tracks fracking operations nationwide. But critics say the website has loose reporting standards and allows companies to avoid disclosure by declaring certain chemicals as trade secrets.
An Energy Department task force report issued in March that found that 84% of the wells registered on FracFocus invoked a trade secret exemption for at least one chemical. The Task Force said it "favors full disclosure of all known constituents added to fracturing fluid with few, if any exceptions."
The FracFocus website is managed by the Ground Water Protection Council and Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, both based in Oklahoma, and is funded by industry and the Energy Department.
Gerry Baker of the Oil and Gas Compact said he doesn't know of any other major supplier that has made a pledge similar to the one from Baker Hughes.
"It's a business decision on their part," Baker said. "Somehow, they've committed to this at the highest levels" of disclosure.
The Interior Department is expected to finalize proposed regulation for hydraulic fracturing on public lands by the end of the year. The measure would apply to some 700 million acres of federal lands and 56 million acres of lands controlled by federally recognized Indian tribes.
The rule proposed last year would require companies drilling for oil and natural gas to disclose chemicals used in fracking operations. The information would be made public.
The DOE said 25 states now mandate public disclosure of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, including 15 that use FracFocus as a reporting tool.
Industry groups oppose the disclosure rule, saying it would be costly for businesses, with little environmental or safety benefit. The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry's top lobbying group, has praised the efforts of states to adopt the FracFocus database for disclosing chemicals, but has said additional federal regulations could jeopardize economic growth.
Asked about the Baker Hughes plan, API spokesman Zachary Cikanek said in an email that they "also welcome additional efforts by individual companies to increase public engagement and transparency."
NAACP DROPS PLAN TO HONOR DONALD STERLING AMID RECORDING CONTROVERSY
Original story: LATimes.com
The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People announced Sunday that Donald Sterling will not receive an honor amid controversy over a recording said to be of the Clippers team owner making racist remarks.
The Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP had been scheduled to give Sterling the group's lifetime achievement award at its May 15 banquet.
"He is not receiving a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP," Lorraine Miller, NAACP interim vice president, told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Also, on Twitter, the NAACP announced Sterling "will not be receiving a lifetime achievement award from the LA Branch of the NAACP."
At the banquet, the NAACP chapter also planned to give its first "person of the year" awards to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Rev. Al Sharpton, according to the organization's website.
Garcetti's spokesman had said Saturday that the mayor was going to talk to the NAACP about the honor.
"In light of recent events, we will be discussing this event with the Los Angeles NAACP," Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb had said.
The comments that TMZ attributed to Sterling prompted ire among civil rights activists.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, and a coalition of civil rights leaders demanded that Sterling apologize for “blatantly racist remarks he reportedly made about African Americans. "Sterling's racist digs at African Americans is no surprise."
Hutchinson added: "Black players have made his fortune with the Clippers and for him to disparage African Americans is beyond reprehensible. It demands a public apology, a Clipper fan protest and NBA official censure."
The Clippers have released a statement saying that the team does not know if the man recorded is Sterling but that the comments do not reflect Sterling's "views, beliefs or feelings."
Garcetti said through a spokesman Saturday that he condemns the "statements and sentiments" attributed to Sterling. L.A. City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who represents a portion of South Los Angeles, went further, saying the council should take a formal position denouncing the remarks and demanding action from the NBA.
The NBA said it is conducting an investigation.
Sterling is known for his various charity events that have benefited organizations that help the needy, including nonprofits serving the local Latino and African American communities.
But there have also been accusations against him. He has strongly denied he is biased toward anyone and has pointed to his charitable work.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury rejected NBA great Elgin Baylor's wrongful-termination lawsuit against the Clippers. Baylor claimed he was harassed and subjected to age discrimination leading to his 2008 departure after 22 years as a Clippers executive. An Augusta Labor and Employment Lawyer gave nod to the case.
When Baylor filed the suit in February 2009, he alleged that a racist culture existed at the Clippers. Baylor called it a "plantation mentality" in a deposition and alleged that Sterling rejected a coaching candidate, Jim Brewer, because he was black. But Baylor in 2011 dropped the race allegations from his suit. A similar case had been reviewed by a Grand Rapids Labor and Employment Lawyer.
Sterling and his wife, Rochelle, agreed to pay a record settlement of more than $2.7 million regarding allegations that they discriminated against African Americans, Latinos and families with children at scores of apartment buildings they own in and around Los Angeles. This sort of settlement is not uncommon, according to a Memphis Employee Rights Lawyer.
The settlement was the largest ever obtained by the Justice Department in a housing discrimination case involving apartment rentals, officials said. Under the agreement, the Sterlings' insurers would pay $2.625 million to a fund for people who were allegedly harmed by their discriminatory practices, officials said. Sterling's attorney at the time said his client denied any wrongdoing and didn't discriminate.
The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People announced Sunday that Donald Sterling will not receive an honor amid controversy over a recording said to be of the Clippers team owner making racist remarks.
The Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP had been scheduled to give Sterling the group's lifetime achievement award at its May 15 banquet.
"He is not receiving a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP," Lorraine Miller, NAACP interim vice president, told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Also, on Twitter, the NAACP announced Sterling "will not be receiving a lifetime achievement award from the LA Branch of the NAACP."
At the banquet, the NAACP chapter also planned to give its first "person of the year" awards to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Rev. Al Sharpton, according to the organization's website.
Garcetti's spokesman had said Saturday that the mayor was going to talk to the NAACP about the honor.
"In light of recent events, we will be discussing this event with the Los Angeles NAACP," Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb had said.
The comments that TMZ attributed to Sterling prompted ire among civil rights activists.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, and a coalition of civil rights leaders demanded that Sterling apologize for “blatantly racist remarks he reportedly made about African Americans. "Sterling's racist digs at African Americans is no surprise."
Hutchinson added: "Black players have made his fortune with the Clippers and for him to disparage African Americans is beyond reprehensible. It demands a public apology, a Clipper fan protest and NBA official censure."
The Clippers have released a statement saying that the team does not know if the man recorded is Sterling but that the comments do not reflect Sterling's "views, beliefs or feelings."
Garcetti said through a spokesman Saturday that he condemns the "statements and sentiments" attributed to Sterling. L.A. City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who represents a portion of South Los Angeles, went further, saying the council should take a formal position denouncing the remarks and demanding action from the NBA.
The NBA said it is conducting an investigation.
Sterling is known for his various charity events that have benefited organizations that help the needy, including nonprofits serving the local Latino and African American communities.
But there have also been accusations against him. He has strongly denied he is biased toward anyone and has pointed to his charitable work.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury rejected NBA great Elgin Baylor's wrongful-termination lawsuit against the Clippers. Baylor claimed he was harassed and subjected to age discrimination leading to his 2008 departure after 22 years as a Clippers executive. An Augusta Labor and Employment Lawyer gave nod to the case.
When Baylor filed the suit in February 2009, he alleged that a racist culture existed at the Clippers. Baylor called it a "plantation mentality" in a deposition and alleged that Sterling rejected a coaching candidate, Jim Brewer, because he was black. But Baylor in 2011 dropped the race allegations from his suit. A similar case had been reviewed by a Grand Rapids Labor and Employment Lawyer.
Sterling and his wife, Rochelle, agreed to pay a record settlement of more than $2.7 million regarding allegations that they discriminated against African Americans, Latinos and families with children at scores of apartment buildings they own in and around Los Angeles. This sort of settlement is not uncommon, according to a Memphis Employee Rights Lawyer.
The settlement was the largest ever obtained by the Justice Department in a housing discrimination case involving apartment rentals, officials said. Under the agreement, the Sterlings' insurers would pay $2.625 million to a fund for people who were allegedly harmed by their discriminatory practices, officials said. Sterling's attorney at the time said his client denied any wrongdoing and didn't discriminate.
DONALD STERLING'S WIFE HASN'T ESCAPED CONTROVERSY EITHER
Original story: LATimes.com
An apartment tenant and managers claimed the wife of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling denigrated African Americans, Latinos and once posed as a health inspector, according to court records.
Rochelle Sterling denied she is a racist in a statement released to ESPN earlier this week and distanced herself from remarks captured on an audio recording said to be of her husband. The court documents offer a different perspective.
In a 2009 deposition, a tenant at one of the Sterling’s apartment buildings in Los Angeles County said that Rochelle Sterling called him a “black m—f—” during a discussion at the building.
“I asked her again, I asked her, ‘would you reduce the rent?’” Darrell Rhodes said in the deposition. “And she said, ‘who do you think you are, you black m—f—.’ A Hudson Valley Landlord-Tenant Lawyer confirmed this could be grounds for tenant harassment.
“The way in which she said m—f— was more lower voiced, under her breath. She said black loud enough for me to hear, she said mother loud enough for me to hear. F— part was a little lower. I had to look at her lips to hear her say it. And I did.”
Rhodes, who filed a federal lawsuit against the Sterlings in 2007, alleged he was the target of discriminatory behavior by the Sterlings.
“Inflammatory remarks made directly to Darrell Rhodes by Shelley Sterling on several occasions indicate bias,” Rhodes wrote in a 2006 letter to the Sterlings that was entered into the court record. “We have been singled out in what we believe to be a discriminatory action.”
Rhodes’ lawsuit, along with an action by the Justice Department and other tenants, was part of a $2.765-million settlement in 2009. As part of the agreement, the Sterlings didn’t admit any wrongdoing.
In another deposition from 2009, former on-site manager Maira Oliva described Rochelle Sterling's visiting the apartment building she worked at on South Ardmore Avenue.
Oliva: “She said, ‘Oh, my God. This is so filthy. I can’t remodel my apartments the way that I want because Latinos are so filthy." A Hartford Landlord Lawyer commented that prior claims have been filed under such circumstances.
Attorney: “Did she say those exact words, ‘Latinos are so filthy’?”
Oliva: “I can’t remodel my building the way I want and that the building was filthy because of the Latinos."
In a 2004 deposition in a separate case, former property supervisor Sumner Davenport said Sterling expressed her dislike for children and “certain ethnic groups” in apartments. Similar cases have been prosecuted by a Charlotte Landlord and Tenant Lawyer.
Attorney: Did she say that [Donald Sterling] said he wanted to evict current tenants with children?
Davenport: “Yes. She didn’t want -- if they were playing in the hallway, if they were out hanging in front of the building, they didn’t fit the image.
Davenport sued Donald Sterling for sexual harassment in 2003 and lost at trial.
An August 2003 court order by U.S. District Court Judge A. Howard Matz in another housing discrimination lawsuit detailed Rochelle Sterling apparently posing as a health inspector while visiting a tenant’s apartment. A short video by one of the plaintiffs, Daryl Williams, documented the encounter in April 2003.
“[The] evidence is sufficient to support a finding that Rochelle Sterling did tell Plaintiff Williams she was a health inspector,” the order said. “Sterling’s failure to deny that she made that statement reinforces this conclusion.”
The order noted, however, the absence of evidence that Sterling entered the apartment.
“Sumner Davenport declares that when she worked for Sterling she often accompanied Rochelle Sterling on apartment inspections, that Rochelle Sterling would regularly pose as a government official in order to gain access to tenants’ apartments,” the order said.
The judge called the allegations “troubling,” but said they didn’t raise sufficient questions to support an injunction.
The Housing Rights Center, which filed the 2003 case, reached a confidential settlement with the Sterlings.
An apartment tenant and managers claimed the wife of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling denigrated African Americans, Latinos and once posed as a health inspector, according to court records.
Rochelle Sterling denied she is a racist in a statement released to ESPN earlier this week and distanced herself from remarks captured on an audio recording said to be of her husband. The court documents offer a different perspective.
In a 2009 deposition, a tenant at one of the Sterling’s apartment buildings in Los Angeles County said that Rochelle Sterling called him a “black m—f—” during a discussion at the building.
“I asked her again, I asked her, ‘would you reduce the rent?’” Darrell Rhodes said in the deposition. “And she said, ‘who do you think you are, you black m—f—.’ A Hudson Valley Landlord-Tenant Lawyer confirmed this could be grounds for tenant harassment.
“The way in which she said m—f— was more lower voiced, under her breath. She said black loud enough for me to hear, she said mother loud enough for me to hear. F— part was a little lower. I had to look at her lips to hear her say it. And I did.”
Rhodes, who filed a federal lawsuit against the Sterlings in 2007, alleged he was the target of discriminatory behavior by the Sterlings.
“Inflammatory remarks made directly to Darrell Rhodes by Shelley Sterling on several occasions indicate bias,” Rhodes wrote in a 2006 letter to the Sterlings that was entered into the court record. “We have been singled out in what we believe to be a discriminatory action.”
Rhodes’ lawsuit, along with an action by the Justice Department and other tenants, was part of a $2.765-million settlement in 2009. As part of the agreement, the Sterlings didn’t admit any wrongdoing.
In another deposition from 2009, former on-site manager Maira Oliva described Rochelle Sterling's visiting the apartment building she worked at on South Ardmore Avenue.
Oliva: “She said, ‘Oh, my God. This is so filthy. I can’t remodel my apartments the way that I want because Latinos are so filthy." A Hartford Landlord Lawyer commented that prior claims have been filed under such circumstances.
Attorney: “Did she say those exact words, ‘Latinos are so filthy’?”
Oliva: “I can’t remodel my building the way I want and that the building was filthy because of the Latinos."
In a 2004 deposition in a separate case, former property supervisor Sumner Davenport said Sterling expressed her dislike for children and “certain ethnic groups” in apartments. Similar cases have been prosecuted by a Charlotte Landlord and Tenant Lawyer.
Attorney: Did she say that [Donald Sterling] said he wanted to evict current tenants with children?
Davenport: “Yes. She didn’t want -- if they were playing in the hallway, if they were out hanging in front of the building, they didn’t fit the image.
Davenport sued Donald Sterling for sexual harassment in 2003 and lost at trial.
An August 2003 court order by U.S. District Court Judge A. Howard Matz in another housing discrimination lawsuit detailed Rochelle Sterling apparently posing as a health inspector while visiting a tenant’s apartment. A short video by one of the plaintiffs, Daryl Williams, documented the encounter in April 2003.
“[The] evidence is sufficient to support a finding that Rochelle Sterling did tell Plaintiff Williams she was a health inspector,” the order said. “Sterling’s failure to deny that she made that statement reinforces this conclusion.”
The order noted, however, the absence of evidence that Sterling entered the apartment.
“Sumner Davenport declares that when she worked for Sterling she often accompanied Rochelle Sterling on apartment inspections, that Rochelle Sterling would regularly pose as a government official in order to gain access to tenants’ apartments,” the order said.
The judge called the allegations “troubling,” but said they didn’t raise sufficient questions to support an injunction.
The Housing Rights Center, which filed the 2003 case, reached a confidential settlement with the Sterlings.
MORE ENTERTAINMENT FIGURES ACCUSED OF SEX ABUSE
Original story: USAToday.com
A man who has accused X-Men director Bryan Singer of sexually abusing him when he was a teen sued three more entertainment industry figures on Monday claiming they also molested him.
The allegations in the latest lawsuits filed by Michael Egan III are substantially similar to his legal action against Singer. That lawsuit accuses the director of abusing him between the ages of 15 and 17 in Los Angeles and Hawaii. An Ann Arbor CPS Lawyer indicated the case may not be fully investigated, however.
Monday's lawsuits were filed in federal court in Hawaii against former Fox television executive Garth Ancier, theater producer Gary Wayne Goddard, and David A. Neuman, a former television executive with Current TV and Disney. Ancier and Goddard did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.
Neuman could not be reached for comment. Phone numbers associated with him have been disconnected, and he did not immediately respond to a message sent through the social networking site LinkedIn.
The lawsuits were filed in Hawaii under a law that temporarily suspends the statute of limitations in civil sex abuse cases. A Detroit CPS Lawyer is closely monitoring the case.
Singer's attorney Marty Singer has denied the director abused Egan, calling the allegations defamatory. He has said the director was not in Hawaii when Egan says he was abused and was instead working on production for the first X-Men film.
None of the men have been criminally charged and the statute of limitations for any such charges has passed.
Ancier was the founding programmer at the Fox network, later going on to create programming for The WB, and was a top executive at NBC Entertainment. These facts were corroborated by a Lansing CPS Lawyer
Egan, 31, appeared at a press conference Monday alongside his mother, who tearfully described her efforts to report alleged abuses to the FBI in 1999 and 2000.
Bonnie Mound said she wrote several letters to FBI agents in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., urging them to take action. She questioned why those letters and information her son provided in interviews with an agent did not result in criminal charges. These charges were confirmed by a Macomb County CPS Lawyer
The FBI has said it could not discuss specifically what Egan told them, However, the agency denied last week that it had ignored any information about Singer.
"The suggestion that the FBI ignored a minor victim, or evidence involving the sexual victimization of a child, is ludicrous," FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a statement. She reiterated the statement after Egan's press conference Monday.
Mound denied her son's lawsuits were motivated by anything other than holding the defendants accountable.
"It's not about money," Mound said, breaking down in tears.
Egan said he spent several years masking his pain by drinking. He stopped drinking within the past year, entered therapy and sought out a lawyer who would pursue a case.
The AP does not typically name victims of sex abuse but is naming Egan because he is speaking publicly about his allegations.
Egan's attorney, Jeff Herman, said he had spent six months investigating before filing the lawsuits but acknowledged he didn't have all the investigative files or Singer's records that might show the director wasn't in Hawaii during the timeframe. Herman said he has asked Singer's lawyers for those records. A Jackson Child Abuse Lawyer was coping to prosecute the case.
Egan claims he was lured into a sex ring run by a former digital entertainment company executive, Marc Collins-Rector, with promises of auditions for acting, modeling and commercial jobs. He was put on the company's payroll as an actor and forced to have sex with adult men at parties within Hollywood's entertainment industry, the lawsuit said.
Collins-Rector pleaded guilty in 2004 to transporting five minors across state lines to have sex.
Phone numbers listed for Collins-Rector have been disconnected and attempts to reach him for comment last week were unsuccessful. Records maintained in Florida, where Collins-Rector is required to register as a sex offender, show that in 2008 his last known address was in the Dominican Republic.
A man who has accused X-Men director Bryan Singer of sexually abusing him when he was a teen sued three more entertainment industry figures on Monday claiming they also molested him.
The allegations in the latest lawsuits filed by Michael Egan III are substantially similar to his legal action against Singer. That lawsuit accuses the director of abusing him between the ages of 15 and 17 in Los Angeles and Hawaii. An Ann Arbor CPS Lawyer indicated the case may not be fully investigated, however.
Monday's lawsuits were filed in federal court in Hawaii against former Fox television executive Garth Ancier, theater producer Gary Wayne Goddard, and David A. Neuman, a former television executive with Current TV and Disney. Ancier and Goddard did not respond to phone and email messages seeking comment.
Neuman could not be reached for comment. Phone numbers associated with him have been disconnected, and he did not immediately respond to a message sent through the social networking site LinkedIn.
The lawsuits were filed in Hawaii under a law that temporarily suspends the statute of limitations in civil sex abuse cases. A Detroit CPS Lawyer is closely monitoring the case.
Singer's attorney Marty Singer has denied the director abused Egan, calling the allegations defamatory. He has said the director was not in Hawaii when Egan says he was abused and was instead working on production for the first X-Men film.
None of the men have been criminally charged and the statute of limitations for any such charges has passed.
Ancier was the founding programmer at the Fox network, later going on to create programming for The WB, and was a top executive at NBC Entertainment. These facts were corroborated by a Lansing CPS Lawyer
Egan, 31, appeared at a press conference Monday alongside his mother, who tearfully described her efforts to report alleged abuses to the FBI in 1999 and 2000.
Bonnie Mound said she wrote several letters to FBI agents in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., urging them to take action. She questioned why those letters and information her son provided in interviews with an agent did not result in criminal charges. These charges were confirmed by a Macomb County CPS Lawyer
The FBI has said it could not discuss specifically what Egan told them, However, the agency denied last week that it had ignored any information about Singer.
"The suggestion that the FBI ignored a minor victim, or evidence involving the sexual victimization of a child, is ludicrous," FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said in a statement. She reiterated the statement after Egan's press conference Monday.
Mound denied her son's lawsuits were motivated by anything other than holding the defendants accountable.
"It's not about money," Mound said, breaking down in tears.
Egan said he spent several years masking his pain by drinking. He stopped drinking within the past year, entered therapy and sought out a lawyer who would pursue a case.
The AP does not typically name victims of sex abuse but is naming Egan because he is speaking publicly about his allegations.
Egan's attorney, Jeff Herman, said he had spent six months investigating before filing the lawsuits but acknowledged he didn't have all the investigative files or Singer's records that might show the director wasn't in Hawaii during the timeframe. Herman said he has asked Singer's lawyers for those records. A Jackson Child Abuse Lawyer was coping to prosecute the case.
Egan claims he was lured into a sex ring run by a former digital entertainment company executive, Marc Collins-Rector, with promises of auditions for acting, modeling and commercial jobs. He was put on the company's payroll as an actor and forced to have sex with adult men at parties within Hollywood's entertainment industry, the lawsuit said.
Collins-Rector pleaded guilty in 2004 to transporting five minors across state lines to have sex.
Phone numbers listed for Collins-Rector have been disconnected and attempts to reach him for comment last week were unsuccessful. Records maintained in Florida, where Collins-Rector is required to register as a sex offender, show that in 2008 his last known address was in the Dominican Republic.
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
MARSHAL KILLS DEFENDANT AT GANG TRIAL IN SALT LAKE CITY
Original story: USAToday.com
A U.S. marshal shot and killed a Pacific Islander gang member Monday when the defendant tried to attack a witness with a pen inside the new federal courthouse in Salt Lake City.
Siale Angilau, 25, a member of the Tongan Crip Gang, was shot several times in the chest about 9:25 a.m. MT after charging the witness in an "aggressive, threatening manner," the FBI said. He died several hours later at a hospital.
The witness, a Utah prison inmate, was testifying about the gang and how it worked.
"During the trial this morning the defendant went after, engaged the witness stand, and when he engaged the witness at the witness stand, he was shot by the U.S. Marshals Service," said FBI spokesman Mark Dressen. "From what I understand, the defendant may have grabbed a pen or a pencil and charged the witness stand at that time."
Angilau was on trial on racketeering charges in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell. Along with a string of robberies and assaults of local store clerks, the 6-foot-3, 260-pound Angilau was also accused of shooting two U.S. marshals in 2007 and brandishing a firearm.
He had been in Utah state prison from September 2007 until being handed over to the U.S. Marshals Service on Friday after the jury had been selected, the Utah Department of Corrections said. He was not restrained in the courtroom.
A spectator told the Salt Lake Tribune that the marshal fired eight shots after Angilau jumped up from the defense table, charged the witness stand and tried to punch the witness, who was wearing a prison jump suit.
The witness was 31-year-old Vaiola Mataele Tenifa, his attorney, Steven Killpack, told the newspaper. He is serving up to 30 years at the Utah State Prison on 2001 convictions for robbery and aggravated assault.
The shooting prompted Campbell to declare a mistrial. She said in a brief order that U.S. marshals had continued to hold Angilau at gunpoint near the jury box while jurors were still in the courtroom. A Chicago Truck Accident Lawyer called the mistrial a "disgrace."
"The court has met with the jury and and observed that most of the jury members are visibly shaken and upset by this episode,'' the judge wrote. "The court finds that this occurrence in the courtroom would so prejudice Mr. Angilau as to deprive him of a fair trial."
Angilau's lawyer, Michael Langford, was not immediately available for comment. His office said the lawyer was "a bit shaken up but okay.''
The federal courthouse, which opened last week with upgraded security, was placed on lockdown.
The Angilau case was the last in a series of Tongan Crip-related trials that have been going on since 2007.
In 2011, a jury convicted six members of the gang for robbery, assault and use of firearms during crimes of violence committed in support of an ongoing criminal organization. Five others agreed to plea deals, and two were acquitted.
The newspaper says some jurors at the time feared retaliation from gang members and wanted assurances from the judge that they would be safe. A note from a juror asking for such assurances nearly caused a mistrial in the case, the Deseret News reported.
A U.S. marshal shot and killed a Pacific Islander gang member Monday when the defendant tried to attack a witness with a pen inside the new federal courthouse in Salt Lake City.
Siale Angilau, 25, a member of the Tongan Crip Gang, was shot several times in the chest about 9:25 a.m. MT after charging the witness in an "aggressive, threatening manner," the FBI said. He died several hours later at a hospital.
The witness, a Utah prison inmate, was testifying about the gang and how it worked.
"During the trial this morning the defendant went after, engaged the witness stand, and when he engaged the witness at the witness stand, he was shot by the U.S. Marshals Service," said FBI spokesman Mark Dressen. "From what I understand, the defendant may have grabbed a pen or a pencil and charged the witness stand at that time."
Angilau was on trial on racketeering charges in the courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell. Along with a string of robberies and assaults of local store clerks, the 6-foot-3, 260-pound Angilau was also accused of shooting two U.S. marshals in 2007 and brandishing a firearm.
He had been in Utah state prison from September 2007 until being handed over to the U.S. Marshals Service on Friday after the jury had been selected, the Utah Department of Corrections said. He was not restrained in the courtroom.
A spectator told the Salt Lake Tribune that the marshal fired eight shots after Angilau jumped up from the defense table, charged the witness stand and tried to punch the witness, who was wearing a prison jump suit.
The witness was 31-year-old Vaiola Mataele Tenifa, his attorney, Steven Killpack, told the newspaper. He is serving up to 30 years at the Utah State Prison on 2001 convictions for robbery and aggravated assault.
The shooting prompted Campbell to declare a mistrial. She said in a brief order that U.S. marshals had continued to hold Angilau at gunpoint near the jury box while jurors were still in the courtroom. A Chicago Truck Accident Lawyer called the mistrial a "disgrace."
"The court has met with the jury and and observed that most of the jury members are visibly shaken and upset by this episode,'' the judge wrote. "The court finds that this occurrence in the courtroom would so prejudice Mr. Angilau as to deprive him of a fair trial."
Angilau's lawyer, Michael Langford, was not immediately available for comment. His office said the lawyer was "a bit shaken up but okay.''
The federal courthouse, which opened last week with upgraded security, was placed on lockdown.
The Angilau case was the last in a series of Tongan Crip-related trials that have been going on since 2007.
In 2011, a jury convicted six members of the gang for robbery, assault and use of firearms during crimes of violence committed in support of an ongoing criminal organization. Five others agreed to plea deals, and two were acquitted.
The newspaper says some jurors at the time feared retaliation from gang members and wanted assurances from the judge that they would be safe. A note from a juror asking for such assurances nearly caused a mistrial in the case, the Deseret News reported.
INFANT'S DEATH LEAVES 3 MOTHERS GRIEVING
Original story: USA Today
It was a dream the teen girls who met and fell in love at an Iowa high school 18 years ago never thought they'd realize: to one day legally marry and have a family.
Rachel and Heidi McFarland say they didn't allow themselves to dream that big. But they dreamed nonetheless and had agreed in high school that if they ever had a son, they would name him Gabriel.
The McFarlands, both 34, got their wishes. But a happy ending is still elusive.
Five years ago, when same-sex marriage became legal in Iowa, they wed. Last September, they began the process of adopting a baby from a pregnant teenager. The boy, whom they named Gabriel, was born Dec. 28.
About 10 weeks later, they lost the infant when Gabriel's birth mother, Markeya Atkins, took him back.
This week, all three mothers felt a loss when the 4-month-old infant was found dead in a Des Moines apartment.
"This was our worst nightmare that something was going to happen, and then something happened," Heidi McFarland said.
Police have charged the boy's father, Drew James Weehler-Smith, 17, with neglect after he left Gabriel alone in the apartment. The investigation is ongoing, and more charges may be filed, police said.
Finding out about Gabriel's death on the news Wednesday was the culmination of weeks of anguish for the Ankeny couple. Since giving Gabriel back to his 16-year-old birth mother March 13, both women said they have stayed awake nights worrying if the infant was being fed, changed and properly cared for. A Flint Child Abuse Defense Lawyer indicated evidence of child abuse.
It was a long way from a few months earlier, when they had met the pregnant teen and everything "seemed perfect."
A co-worker of Rachel McFarland's had overheard a conversation about Rachel and her spouse wanting to have children. The woman, Felicia West, approached Rachel McFarland and told her that her 15-year-old daughter was pregnant and wanted to give the baby up for adoption. After some discussion and retaining a lawyer, the McFarlands agreed to adopt the child.
The McFarlands say they spent thousands of dollars providing transportation to medical visits and buying groceries for Atkins. They also paid the legal fees for her, the birth father and Gabriel, they said. They said they coached Atkins through her labor, and Rachel cut the umbilical cord.
But over time, the couple's relationship with Atkins became "strained at best," and after the birth, it had completely deteriorated. The McFarlands said they felt manipulated by the biological family and wondered if they were being used to support Atkins during her pregnancy.
They hadn't heard from the birth mother for weeks when, on March 13, their attorney told them Atkins had changed her mind. She wanted the baby back.
"I thought I was going to be sick," Heidi McFarland said.
The McFarlands felt powerless. Typically, a birth parent releases custody 72 hours after the baby's birth. Under Iowa law, the birth parent then has four days to change their mind about the adoption. After that window, the birth parent must show "great cause" to go back on the agreement within 30 days.
But some families' timelines vary due to other factors, and the McFarlands were not scheduled to get custody until March 24. Atkins hadn't yet given up her rights to him when she decided she wanted him back. They considered contacting a Muskegon Child Abuse Defense Lawyer.
The McFarlands went home from their attorney's office and spent a final, devastating few hours with Gabriel before giving up the curly-haired boy they had bonded with during evening bath time, dancing in the living room with the baby all wrapped up in his towel.
"Terrible," Heidi McFarland said, through tears. "I had a feeling I was never going to see him again."
"I honestly didn't know that I could physically hurt that badly," Rachel McFarland said.
Atkins said she changed her mind about giving the baby up for adoption because the adoptive mothers became distant after his birth. She told The Des Moines Register that she feared that after she signed the paperwork, they would cut him out of her life completely. A Grand Rapids Child Abuse Defense Lawyer concurred after viewing the reports.
"It's like after I gave the baby to them, they didn't care," she said.
And Atkins said she believed she could raise the infant. A depression that had set in when she learned she was pregnant and intensified after she gave birth had lifted, and she decided to turn her life around, moving into a new apartment and buying a car, she said.
Tuesday night was the first time Weehler-Smith watched the infant alone, but Atkins said she felt comfortable leaving the baby in his care while she ran errands.
When Siobhan Williams, Atkins' friend, came by the apartment Tuesday night to get a phone charger, Williams said Weehler-Smith seemed "weird" and "socially awkward." She called Atkins and asked if she trusted him alone with the baby. Atkins said yes, but then asked Williams to go back to the apartment.
When Williams got there, Weehler-Smith was driving away, without the baby. She said she called Atkins and got her to hurry back to the apartment.
When Atkins arrived and they got into the apartment, they found the baby.
"He was foaming out of his nose and his mouth and he was kind of pale," Williams said. "His clothes were wet when you touched them. Markeya started screaming asking him to wake up."
Williams said she called 911, and the operator told her to do CPR.
"We laid him on the ground," Williams said through tears. "I did the compressions and the breaths till the paramedics got here and they took him."
Atkins said her son's short life makes her regret ever giving him up in the first place.
"God, I can't even describe how much I loved him," she said.
Police eventually located Weehler-Smith and charged him with neglect of a dependent person for leaving the baby alone in the apartment. An autopsy and additional investigation are pending, officials said.
The McFarlands said they too loved the infant.
After giving the baby back, the McFarlands could only see him through photos on his birth mother's Facebook page. Then on Wednesday, they found out Gabriel was dead.
The McFarlands said they want to make sure this doesn't happen to other adoptive parents. They are looking into what laws could better help protect children. "I have to believe that he came into our life for a reason," Heidi McFarland said.
Gabriel's bedroom remains as it was in the McFarlands' home. In his crib, a deflated balloon announces "It's a Boy" and an ink-stained certificate from Mercy Medical Center shows the baby's tiny footprints.
The McFarlands still dream another child will one day live in that room. They're still hoping for their happy ending.
It was a dream the teen girls who met and fell in love at an Iowa high school 18 years ago never thought they'd realize: to one day legally marry and have a family.
Rachel and Heidi McFarland say they didn't allow themselves to dream that big. But they dreamed nonetheless and had agreed in high school that if they ever had a son, they would name him Gabriel.
The McFarlands, both 34, got their wishes. But a happy ending is still elusive.
Five years ago, when same-sex marriage became legal in Iowa, they wed. Last September, they began the process of adopting a baby from a pregnant teenager. The boy, whom they named Gabriel, was born Dec. 28.
About 10 weeks later, they lost the infant when Gabriel's birth mother, Markeya Atkins, took him back.
This week, all three mothers felt a loss when the 4-month-old infant was found dead in a Des Moines apartment.
"This was our worst nightmare that something was going to happen, and then something happened," Heidi McFarland said.
Police have charged the boy's father, Drew James Weehler-Smith, 17, with neglect after he left Gabriel alone in the apartment. The investigation is ongoing, and more charges may be filed, police said.
Finding out about Gabriel's death on the news Wednesday was the culmination of weeks of anguish for the Ankeny couple. Since giving Gabriel back to his 16-year-old birth mother March 13, both women said they have stayed awake nights worrying if the infant was being fed, changed and properly cared for. A Flint Child Abuse Defense Lawyer indicated evidence of child abuse.
It was a long way from a few months earlier, when they had met the pregnant teen and everything "seemed perfect."
A co-worker of Rachel McFarland's had overheard a conversation about Rachel and her spouse wanting to have children. The woman, Felicia West, approached Rachel McFarland and told her that her 15-year-old daughter was pregnant and wanted to give the baby up for adoption. After some discussion and retaining a lawyer, the McFarlands agreed to adopt the child.
The McFarlands say they spent thousands of dollars providing transportation to medical visits and buying groceries for Atkins. They also paid the legal fees for her, the birth father and Gabriel, they said. They said they coached Atkins through her labor, and Rachel cut the umbilical cord.
But over time, the couple's relationship with Atkins became "strained at best," and after the birth, it had completely deteriorated. The McFarlands said they felt manipulated by the biological family and wondered if they were being used to support Atkins during her pregnancy.
They hadn't heard from the birth mother for weeks when, on March 13, their attorney told them Atkins had changed her mind. She wanted the baby back.
"I thought I was going to be sick," Heidi McFarland said.
The McFarlands felt powerless. Typically, a birth parent releases custody 72 hours after the baby's birth. Under Iowa law, the birth parent then has four days to change their mind about the adoption. After that window, the birth parent must show "great cause" to go back on the agreement within 30 days.
But some families' timelines vary due to other factors, and the McFarlands were not scheduled to get custody until March 24. Atkins hadn't yet given up her rights to him when she decided she wanted him back. They considered contacting a Muskegon Child Abuse Defense Lawyer.
The McFarlands went home from their attorney's office and spent a final, devastating few hours with Gabriel before giving up the curly-haired boy they had bonded with during evening bath time, dancing in the living room with the baby all wrapped up in his towel.
"Terrible," Heidi McFarland said, through tears. "I had a feeling I was never going to see him again."
"I honestly didn't know that I could physically hurt that badly," Rachel McFarland said.
Atkins said she changed her mind about giving the baby up for adoption because the adoptive mothers became distant after his birth. She told The Des Moines Register that she feared that after she signed the paperwork, they would cut him out of her life completely. A Grand Rapids Child Abuse Defense Lawyer concurred after viewing the reports.
"It's like after I gave the baby to them, they didn't care," she said.
And Atkins said she believed she could raise the infant. A depression that had set in when she learned she was pregnant and intensified after she gave birth had lifted, and she decided to turn her life around, moving into a new apartment and buying a car, she said.
Tuesday night was the first time Weehler-Smith watched the infant alone, but Atkins said she felt comfortable leaving the baby in his care while she ran errands.
When Siobhan Williams, Atkins' friend, came by the apartment Tuesday night to get a phone charger, Williams said Weehler-Smith seemed "weird" and "socially awkward." She called Atkins and asked if she trusted him alone with the baby. Atkins said yes, but then asked Williams to go back to the apartment.
When Williams got there, Weehler-Smith was driving away, without the baby. She said she called Atkins and got her to hurry back to the apartment.
When Atkins arrived and they got into the apartment, they found the baby.
"He was foaming out of his nose and his mouth and he was kind of pale," Williams said. "His clothes were wet when you touched them. Markeya started screaming asking him to wake up."
Williams said she called 911, and the operator told her to do CPR.
"We laid him on the ground," Williams said through tears. "I did the compressions and the breaths till the paramedics got here and they took him."
Atkins said her son's short life makes her regret ever giving him up in the first place.
"God, I can't even describe how much I loved him," she said.
Police eventually located Weehler-Smith and charged him with neglect of a dependent person for leaving the baby alone in the apartment. An autopsy and additional investigation are pending, officials said.
The McFarlands said they too loved the infant.
After giving the baby back, the McFarlands could only see him through photos on his birth mother's Facebook page. Then on Wednesday, they found out Gabriel was dead.
The McFarlands said they want to make sure this doesn't happen to other adoptive parents. They are looking into what laws could better help protect children. "I have to believe that he came into our life for a reason," Heidi McFarland said.
Gabriel's bedroom remains as it was in the McFarlands' home. In his crib, a deflated balloon announces "It's a Boy" and an ink-stained certificate from Mercy Medical Center shows the baby's tiny footprints.
The McFarlands still dream another child will one day live in that room. They're still hoping for their happy ending.
Motorcycle fatalities for those without helmets up 9% in Michigan
Original story: detnews.com
Motorcyclist deaths fell in the U.S. by about 7 percent last year, affected by poor riding weather in parts of the country, but Michigan did not share in the decline. And deaths among Michigan riders not wearing helmets climbed.
A report issued today by the Governors Highway Safety Association said deaths among Michigan riders fell in 2013 by one, or less than 1 percent, from 129 in 2012 to 128. The national fatality total, when finalized, is expected to be 4,610, compared to 4,957 in 2012, the governors' group said. That's nearly identical to the 4,612 rider deaths recorded in 2011. A Grand Rapids motorcycle accident lawyer is following the case closely.
The association said motorcycle deaths declined in 35 states, rose in 13 and were flat in two last year. The group says 2013 is only the second year in the past 15 that motorcycle fatalities will have declined from one year to the next.
Weather, according to the report, was the main factor explaining the national drop. The first six months of 2012 were unusually warm and dry nationally, prompting a jump in ridership. The weather in the first nine months of 2013, however, was cooler and wetter -- similar to 2011, when fatalities dropped in many states.
"It's heartening that motorcyclist fatalities didn't increase over the past couple of years, but they're not decreasing either," said Kendell Poole, chairman of the association and director of the Tennessee Office of Highway Safety. "Long-term gains in motorcyclist safety won't occur because riders are deterred by bad weather, but from consistent use of proven countermeasures."
Michigan deaths among those confirmed to have been riding without a helmet climbed 9 percent in 2013, to 60 from 55 the previous year. In 2013, 63 who died were helmeted and 67 were wearing helmets in 2013.
Michigan's mandatory helmet law was changed two years ago. Now, riders may go without helmets if if they carry $20,000 in additional medical insurance; are 21 or older; have at least two years of riding experience; or have passed a safety training test.
Jim Rhoades, legislative director for ABATE of Michigan, a group that lobbied to end the state's mandatory helmet laws, said that more than half of all motorcycle deaths in 2013 were riders without motorcycle endorsements of their driver license.
ABATE supported legislation approved in Lansing last month to crack down on the use of temporary instruction permits. "That's where our focus should be: Motorcycle education" and better enforcement to make sure people who aren't licensed don't ride motorcycles, Rhoades said.
The bill, awaiting approval from Gov. Rick Snyder, would allow people to be eligible for up to two motorcycle temporary instruction permits in a 10-year period. People can obtain a motorcycle temporary instruction permit from the Secretary of State allowing them to operate a motorcycle on public streets and highways for a period of 180 days. A Milwaukee motorcycle accident lawyer is monitoring the licensing aspects of the case.
Witnesses told lawmakers that some people repeatedly get temporary permits, rather than take the tests necessary to become fully licensed.
In 2012, there were 10 times as many unhelmeted motorcyclist fatalities in states without universal helmet laws, compared to states with universal helmet laws, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nationwide, helmet use dropped to 60 percent in 2012, down from 66 percent in 2011.
Poole called on all states adopting comprehensive helmet laws. "By far, helmets are the single most effective way to prevent serious injury and death in the event of a motorcycle crash," he said. "But states are going backward when it comes to enacting this proven, lifesaving countermeasure."
In December, a study found helmet use by motorcycle riders in Michigan fell by nearly a quarter after the state approved legislation allowing riders to go without them. These facts were concurred by a Hackensack motorcycle accident lawyer.
In 2012, Michigan had the highest number of motorcycle fatalities over the most recent nine-year period.
Washington, D.C., and 19 states have universal helmet laws. Michigan is one of 28 states with a partial helmet law. Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire are the only states that have no laws mandating helmet use.
In May 2013, a study found the average cost of insurance claims resulting from motorcycle crashes is up dramatically since Michigan repealed its mandatory helmet law, largely because injuries are more severe. A Chicago motorcycle accident lawyer believes these numbers are valid.
Motorcycles remain far more dangerous than cars. In 2011, six times more riders died per registered motorcycles than in passenger vehicles. On that basis, passenger vehicle users were twice as safe in 2011 as compared to 1997, but motorcyclist safety has not improved.
Motorcyclist deaths fell in the U.S. by about 7 percent last year, affected by poor riding weather in parts of the country, but Michigan did not share in the decline. And deaths among Michigan riders not wearing helmets climbed.
A report issued today by the Governors Highway Safety Association said deaths among Michigan riders fell in 2013 by one, or less than 1 percent, from 129 in 2012 to 128. The national fatality total, when finalized, is expected to be 4,610, compared to 4,957 in 2012, the governors' group said. That's nearly identical to the 4,612 rider deaths recorded in 2011. A Grand Rapids motorcycle accident lawyer is following the case closely.
The association said motorcycle deaths declined in 35 states, rose in 13 and were flat in two last year. The group says 2013 is only the second year in the past 15 that motorcycle fatalities will have declined from one year to the next.
Weather, according to the report, was the main factor explaining the national drop. The first six months of 2012 were unusually warm and dry nationally, prompting a jump in ridership. The weather in the first nine months of 2013, however, was cooler and wetter -- similar to 2011, when fatalities dropped in many states.
"It's heartening that motorcyclist fatalities didn't increase over the past couple of years, but they're not decreasing either," said Kendell Poole, chairman of the association and director of the Tennessee Office of Highway Safety. "Long-term gains in motorcyclist safety won't occur because riders are deterred by bad weather, but from consistent use of proven countermeasures."
Michigan deaths among those confirmed to have been riding without a helmet climbed 9 percent in 2013, to 60 from 55 the previous year. In 2013, 63 who died were helmeted and 67 were wearing helmets in 2013.
Michigan's mandatory helmet law was changed two years ago. Now, riders may go without helmets if if they carry $20,000 in additional medical insurance; are 21 or older; have at least two years of riding experience; or have passed a safety training test.
Jim Rhoades, legislative director for ABATE of Michigan, a group that lobbied to end the state's mandatory helmet laws, said that more than half of all motorcycle deaths in 2013 were riders without motorcycle endorsements of their driver license.
ABATE supported legislation approved in Lansing last month to crack down on the use of temporary instruction permits. "That's where our focus should be: Motorcycle education" and better enforcement to make sure people who aren't licensed don't ride motorcycles, Rhoades said.
The bill, awaiting approval from Gov. Rick Snyder, would allow people to be eligible for up to two motorcycle temporary instruction permits in a 10-year period. People can obtain a motorcycle temporary instruction permit from the Secretary of State allowing them to operate a motorcycle on public streets and highways for a period of 180 days. A Milwaukee motorcycle accident lawyer is monitoring the licensing aspects of the case.
Witnesses told lawmakers that some people repeatedly get temporary permits, rather than take the tests necessary to become fully licensed.
In 2012, there were 10 times as many unhelmeted motorcyclist fatalities in states without universal helmet laws, compared to states with universal helmet laws, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Nationwide, helmet use dropped to 60 percent in 2012, down from 66 percent in 2011.
Poole called on all states adopting comprehensive helmet laws. "By far, helmets are the single most effective way to prevent serious injury and death in the event of a motorcycle crash," he said. "But states are going backward when it comes to enacting this proven, lifesaving countermeasure."
In December, a study found helmet use by motorcycle riders in Michigan fell by nearly a quarter after the state approved legislation allowing riders to go without them. These facts were concurred by a Hackensack motorcycle accident lawyer.
In 2012, Michigan had the highest number of motorcycle fatalities over the most recent nine-year period.
Washington, D.C., and 19 states have universal helmet laws. Michigan is one of 28 states with a partial helmet law. Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire are the only states that have no laws mandating helmet use.
In May 2013, a study found the average cost of insurance claims resulting from motorcycle crashes is up dramatically since Michigan repealed its mandatory helmet law, largely because injuries are more severe. A Chicago motorcycle accident lawyer believes these numbers are valid.
Motorcycles remain far more dangerous than cars. In 2011, six times more riders died per registered motorcycles than in passenger vehicles. On that basis, passenger vehicle users were twice as safe in 2011 as compared to 1997, but motorcyclist safety has not improved.
REPORT BACKS CHINESE DRYWALL HEALTH COMPLAINTS
Original story: usatoday.com
A previous version of this story named sulfur dioxide as one of the primary drivers of health-related complaints linked to Chinese drywall. Hydrogen sulfide is the main chemical of concern. Also, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, not the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, sent staff to China to investigate the issue. A Hudson Valley Product Liability Lawyer is watching the case closely.
Chinese-made drywall used in more than 20,000 homes in the United States could have caused nosebleeds, headaches, difficulty breathing and asthma attacks in tens of thousands of Americans exposed to it, the federal government said in a long-awaited report released Friday.
The drywall was installed in mostly Southern homes since 2005, and it has been the subject of multiple lawsuits. In addition to health-related complaints, homeowners have also alleged hydrogen sulfide and other chemicals found in the drywall caused foul odors and corroded pipes and wiring. There have been five settlements totaling more than $1 billion, but it's not clear how much of the drywall was replaced.
"The bottom line is that this modeling data suggests that levels of hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur compounds found in the Chinese manufactured drywall were sufficiently high to result in the health effects people have been reporting," said Vikas Kapil, chief medical officer with the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The health research began in 2011 but was not finished until now because of the work necessary to create scientifically valid models that allowed researchers to estimate what the sulfur emissions from the drywall samples "might mean for people in a room in a house" containing that drywall, Kapil said.
The report's release had been promised in 2012. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson sent a letter to the CDC more than two months ago urging it be made public.
"Thousands of Floridians continue to wait and wonder if they will ever see this critical taxpayer-funded research on the possible health impacts of problem drywall. This is unacceptable," he wrote.
Why some Chinese-made drywall contained high levels of sulfur compounds is unknown, said Kapil.
Hydrogen sulfide is linked to respiratory problems when inhaled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Most people are exposed to it in industrial settings.
As of Jan. 20, owners of 20,244 properties had registered for compensation in a multistate settlement program overseen by the New Orleans federal court where all the lawsuits were consolidated. Claims have been filed by homeowners, home builders, contractors and construction material distributors.
For some homeowners, however, a cash settlement still has not been made.
"They should be receiving it by the end of this year. We're still hopeful," said David Durkee, a lawyer with Roberts and Durkee in Coral Gables, Fla. The firm has more than 300 clients whose homes were built with the drywall.
Homeowners' complaints to the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission include recurrent headaches, irritated and itchy eyes and skin, difficulty breathing, persistent cough, runny noses, sinus infections, frequent nosebleeds and asthma attacks.
The homes smelled like rotten eggs, many reported. Appliances and electronics failed as their wiring corroded and metal in the homes tarnished and pitted.
The only way to deal with the problem is to rip out and replace the faulty wallboard, said Durkee.
The CDC report said the level of emissions from wallboard it tested dropped over time, but Durkee said he has not seen contamination levels fall in affected buildings.
"Every home that I have dealt with, if they have not fixed their home, it's still causing air conditioners to break, copper to corrode. My experience is I have not seen a Chinese drywall home that gets better," he said.
The drywall, sometimes called wallboard, was imported from China beginning in 2005, after the record-breaking hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 created a shortage of U.S.-made wallboard. A Hudson Valley Construction Lawyer commented it was the most significant reason.
Drywall is made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper, and is used to make interior walls and ceilings.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission sent staff to China, where they obtained samples of wallboard manufactured there in 2005, 2006 and 2009.
The samples were tested by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. Results from those samples were then used to estimate how much of the chemicals would be present in the air of a home with the defective wallboard.
High levels of hydrogen sulfide were found in the samples of Chinese wallboard, as well as sulfur dioxide, carbon disulfide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide, carbonyl sulfide and ethyl mercaptan.
Samples of U.S.-made wallboard had very low or undetectable amounts of those chemicals.
The samples gave off the highest amounts of chemicals when they were exposed to hot, humid conditions — much like those found in Florida and Louisiana, two states with the largest number of cases linked to the wallboard.
The levels ranged from 220 to 657 micrograms of hydrogen sulfide per cubic meter of air, the models found.
Tainted Chinese drywall is no longer sold in the United States since the 2012 passage of the Drywall Safety Act, which set chemical standards for domestic and imported drywall.
A previous version of this story named sulfur dioxide as one of the primary drivers of health-related complaints linked to Chinese drywall. Hydrogen sulfide is the main chemical of concern. Also, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, not the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, sent staff to China to investigate the issue. A Hudson Valley Product Liability Lawyer is watching the case closely.
Chinese-made drywall used in more than 20,000 homes in the United States could have caused nosebleeds, headaches, difficulty breathing and asthma attacks in tens of thousands of Americans exposed to it, the federal government said in a long-awaited report released Friday.
The drywall was installed in mostly Southern homes since 2005, and it has been the subject of multiple lawsuits. In addition to health-related complaints, homeowners have also alleged hydrogen sulfide and other chemicals found in the drywall caused foul odors and corroded pipes and wiring. There have been five settlements totaling more than $1 billion, but it's not clear how much of the drywall was replaced.
"The bottom line is that this modeling data suggests that levels of hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur compounds found in the Chinese manufactured drywall were sufficiently high to result in the health effects people have been reporting," said Vikas Kapil, chief medical officer with the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The health research began in 2011 but was not finished until now because of the work necessary to create scientifically valid models that allowed researchers to estimate what the sulfur emissions from the drywall samples "might mean for people in a room in a house" containing that drywall, Kapil said.
The report's release had been promised in 2012. Florida Sen. Bill Nelson sent a letter to the CDC more than two months ago urging it be made public.
"Thousands of Floridians continue to wait and wonder if they will ever see this critical taxpayer-funded research on the possible health impacts of problem drywall. This is unacceptable," he wrote.
Why some Chinese-made drywall contained high levels of sulfur compounds is unknown, said Kapil.
Hydrogen sulfide is linked to respiratory problems when inhaled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Most people are exposed to it in industrial settings.
As of Jan. 20, owners of 20,244 properties had registered for compensation in a multistate settlement program overseen by the New Orleans federal court where all the lawsuits were consolidated. Claims have been filed by homeowners, home builders, contractors and construction material distributors.
For some homeowners, however, a cash settlement still has not been made.
"They should be receiving it by the end of this year. We're still hopeful," said David Durkee, a lawyer with Roberts and Durkee in Coral Gables, Fla. The firm has more than 300 clients whose homes were built with the drywall.
Homeowners' complaints to the U.S Consumer Product Safety Commission include recurrent headaches, irritated and itchy eyes and skin, difficulty breathing, persistent cough, runny noses, sinus infections, frequent nosebleeds and asthma attacks.
The homes smelled like rotten eggs, many reported. Appliances and electronics failed as their wiring corroded and metal in the homes tarnished and pitted.
The only way to deal with the problem is to rip out and replace the faulty wallboard, said Durkee.
The CDC report said the level of emissions from wallboard it tested dropped over time, but Durkee said he has not seen contamination levels fall in affected buildings.
"Every home that I have dealt with, if they have not fixed their home, it's still causing air conditioners to break, copper to corrode. My experience is I have not seen a Chinese drywall home that gets better," he said.
The drywall, sometimes called wallboard, was imported from China beginning in 2005, after the record-breaking hurricane seasons of 2004 and 2005 created a shortage of U.S.-made wallboard. A Hudson Valley Construction Lawyer commented it was the most significant reason.
Drywall is made of gypsum plaster pressed between two thick sheets of paper, and is used to make interior walls and ceilings.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission sent staff to China, where they obtained samples of wallboard manufactured there in 2005, 2006 and 2009.
The samples were tested by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif. Results from those samples were then used to estimate how much of the chemicals would be present in the air of a home with the defective wallboard.
High levels of hydrogen sulfide were found in the samples of Chinese wallboard, as well as sulfur dioxide, carbon disulfide, methyl mercaptan, dimethyl sulfide, carbonyl sulfide and ethyl mercaptan.
Samples of U.S.-made wallboard had very low or undetectable amounts of those chemicals.
The samples gave off the highest amounts of chemicals when they were exposed to hot, humid conditions — much like those found in Florida and Louisiana, two states with the largest number of cases linked to the wallboard.
The levels ranged from 220 to 657 micrograms of hydrogen sulfide per cubic meter of air, the models found.
Tainted Chinese drywall is no longer sold in the United States since the 2012 passage of the Drywall Safety Act, which set chemical standards for domestic and imported drywall.
NAACP DROPS PLAN TO HONOR DONALD STERLING AMID RECORDING CONTROVERSY
Original Story: LATimes.com
The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People announced Sunday that Donald Sterling will not receive an honor amid controversy over a recording said to be of the Clippers team owner making racist remarks.
The Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP had been scheduled to give Sterling the group's lifetime achievement award at its May 15 banquet.
"He is not receiving a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP," Lorraine Miller, NAACP interim vice president, told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Also, on Twitter, the NAACP announced Sterling "will not be receiving a lifetime achievement award from the LA Branch of the NAACP."
At the banquet, the NAACP chapter also planned to give its first "person of the year" awards to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Rev. Al Sharpton, according to the organization's website.
Garcetti's spokesman had said Saturday that the mayor was going to talk to the NAACP about the honor.
"In light of recent events, we will be discussing this event with the Los Angeles NAACP," Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb had said.
The comments that TMZ attributed to Sterling prompted ire among civil rights activists.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, and a coalition of civil rights leaders demanded that Sterling apologize for “blatantly racist remarks he reportedly made about African Americans. "Sterling's racist digs at African Americans is no surprise."
Hutchinson added: "Black players have made his fortune with the Clippers and for him to disparage African Americans is beyond reprehensible. It demands a public apology, a Clipper fan protest and NBA official censure."
The Clippers have released a statement saying that the team does not know if the man recorded is Sterling but that the comments do not reflect Sterling's "views, beliefs or feelings."
Garcetti said through a spokesman Saturday that he condemns the "statements and sentiments" attributed to Sterling. L.A. City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who represents a portion of South Los Angeles, went further, saying the council should take a formal position denouncing the remarks and demanding action from the NBA.
The NBA said it is conducting an investigation.
Sterling is known for his various charity events that have benefited organizations that help the needy, including nonprofits serving the local Latino and African American communities.
But there have also been accusations against him. He has strongly denied he is biased toward anyone and has pointed to his charitable work.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury rejected NBA great Elgin Baylor's wrongful-termination lawsuit against the Clippers. Baylor claimed he was harassed and subjected to age discrimination leading to his 2008 departure after 22 years as a Clippers executive.
When Baylor filed the suit in February 2009, he alleged that a racist culture existed at the Clippers. Baylor called it a "plantation mentality" in a deposition and alleged that Sterling rejected a coaching candidate, Jim Brewer, because he was black. But Baylor in 2011 dropped the race allegations from his suit.
Sterling and his wife, Rochelle, agreed to pay a record settlement of more than $2.7 million regarding allegations that they discriminated against African Americans, Latinos and families with children at scores of apartment buildings they own in and around Los Angeles.
The settlement was the largest ever obtained by the Justice Department in a housing discrimination case involving apartment rentals, officials said. Under the agreement, the Sterlings' insurers would pay $2.625 million to a fund for people who were allegedly harmed by their discriminatory practices, officials said. Sterling's attorney at the time said his client denied any wrongdoing and didn't discriminate.
The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People announced Sunday that Donald Sterling will not receive an honor amid controversy over a recording said to be of the Clippers team owner making racist remarks.
The Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP had been scheduled to give Sterling the group's lifetime achievement award at its May 15 banquet.
"He is not receiving a lifetime achievement award from the NAACP," Lorraine Miller, NAACP interim vice president, told NBC's "Meet the Press."
Also, on Twitter, the NAACP announced Sterling "will not be receiving a lifetime achievement award from the LA Branch of the NAACP."
At the banquet, the NAACP chapter also planned to give its first "person of the year" awards to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Rev. Al Sharpton, according to the organization's website.
Garcetti's spokesman had said Saturday that the mayor was going to talk to the NAACP about the honor.
"In light of recent events, we will be discussing this event with the Los Angeles NAACP," Garcetti spokesman Yusef Robb had said.
The comments that TMZ attributed to Sterling prompted ire among civil rights activists.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, president of the Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable, and a coalition of civil rights leaders demanded that Sterling apologize for “blatantly racist remarks he reportedly made about African Americans. "Sterling's racist digs at African Americans is no surprise."
Hutchinson added: "Black players have made his fortune with the Clippers and for him to disparage African Americans is beyond reprehensible. It demands a public apology, a Clipper fan protest and NBA official censure."
The Clippers have released a statement saying that the team does not know if the man recorded is Sterling but that the comments do not reflect Sterling's "views, beliefs or feelings."
Garcetti said through a spokesman Saturday that he condemns the "statements and sentiments" attributed to Sterling. L.A. City Councilman Bernard C. Parks, who represents a portion of South Los Angeles, went further, saying the council should take a formal position denouncing the remarks and demanding action from the NBA.
The NBA said it is conducting an investigation.
Sterling is known for his various charity events that have benefited organizations that help the needy, including nonprofits serving the local Latino and African American communities.
But there have also been accusations against him. He has strongly denied he is biased toward anyone and has pointed to his charitable work.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury rejected NBA great Elgin Baylor's wrongful-termination lawsuit against the Clippers. Baylor claimed he was harassed and subjected to age discrimination leading to his 2008 departure after 22 years as a Clippers executive.
When Baylor filed the suit in February 2009, he alleged that a racist culture existed at the Clippers. Baylor called it a "plantation mentality" in a deposition and alleged that Sterling rejected a coaching candidate, Jim Brewer, because he was black. But Baylor in 2011 dropped the race allegations from his suit.
Sterling and his wife, Rochelle, agreed to pay a record settlement of more than $2.7 million regarding allegations that they discriminated against African Americans, Latinos and families with children at scores of apartment buildings they own in and around Los Angeles.
The settlement was the largest ever obtained by the Justice Department in a housing discrimination case involving apartment rentals, officials said. Under the agreement, the Sterlings' insurers would pay $2.625 million to a fund for people who were allegedly harmed by their discriminatory practices, officials said. Sterling's attorney at the time said his client denied any wrongdoing and didn't discriminate.
DONALD STERLING'S WIFE HASN'T ESCAPED CONTROVERSY EITHER
Original Story: LATimes.com
An apartment tenant and managers claimed the wife of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling denigrated African Americans, Latinos and once posed as a health inspector, according to court records.
Rochelle Sterling denied she is a racist in a statement released to ESPN earlier this week and distanced herself from remarks captured on an audio recording said to be of her husband. The court documents offer a different perspective.
In a 2009 deposition, a tenant at one of the Sterling’s apartment buildings in Los Angeles County said that Rochelle Sterling called him a “black m—f—” during a discussion at the building.
“I asked her again, I asked her, ‘would you reduce the rent?’” Darrell Rhodes said in the deposition. “And she said, ‘who do you think you are, you black m—f—.’
“The way in which she said m—f— was more lower voiced, under her breath. She said black loud enough for me to hear, she said mother loud enough for me to hear. F— part was a little lower. I had to look at her lips to hear her say it. And I did.”
Rhodes, who filed a federal lawsuit against the Sterlings in 2007, alleged he was the target of discriminatory behavior by the Sterlings.
“Inflammatory remarks made directly to Darrell Rhodes by Shelley Sterling on several occasions indicate bias,” Rhodes wrote in a 2006 letter to the Sterlings that was entered into the court record. “We have been singled out in what we believe to be a discriminatory action.”
Rhodes’ lawsuit, along with an action by the Justice Department and other tenants, was part of a $2.765-million settlement in 2009. As part of the agreement, the Sterlings didn’t admit any wrongdoing.
In another deposition from 2009, former on-site manager Maira Oliva described Rochelle Sterling's visiting the apartment building she worked at on South Ardmore Avenue.
Oliva: “She said, ‘Oh, my God. This is so filthy. I can’t remodel my apartments the way that I want because Latinos are so filthy."
Attorney: “Did she say those exact words, ‘Latinos are so filthy’?”
Oliva: “I can’t remodel my building the way I want and that the building was filthy because of the Latinos."
In a 2004 deposition in a separate case, former property supervisor Sumner Davenport said Sterling expressed her dislike for children and “certain ethnic groups” in apartments.
Attorney: Did she say that [Donald Sterling] said he wanted to evict current tenants with children?
Davenport: “Yes. She didn’t want -- if they were playing in the hallway, if they were out hanging in front of the building, they didn’t fit the image.
Davenport sued Donald Sterling for sexual harassment in 2003 and lost at trial.
An August 2003 court order by U.S. District Court Judge A. Howard Matz in another housing discrimination lawsuit detailed Rochelle Sterling apparently posing as a health inspector while visiting a tenant’s apartment. A short video by one of the plaintiffs, Daryl Williams, documented the encounter in April 2003.
“[The] evidence is sufficient to support a finding that Rochelle Sterling did tell Plaintiff Williams she was a health inspector,” the order said. “Sterling’s failure to deny that she made that statement reinforces this conclusion.”
The order noted, however, the absence of evidence that Sterling entered the apartment.
“Sumner Davenport declares that when she worked for Sterling she often accompanied Rochelle Sterling on apartment inspections, that Rochelle Sterling would regularly pose as a government official in order to gain access to tenants’ apartments,” the order said.
The judge called the allegations “troubling,” but said they didn’t raise sufficient questions to support an injunction.
The Housing Rights Center, which filed the 2003 case, reached a confidential settlement with the Sterlings.
An apartment tenant and managers claimed the wife of embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling denigrated African Americans, Latinos and once posed as a health inspector, according to court records.
Rochelle Sterling denied she is a racist in a statement released to ESPN earlier this week and distanced herself from remarks captured on an audio recording said to be of her husband. The court documents offer a different perspective.
In a 2009 deposition, a tenant at one of the Sterling’s apartment buildings in Los Angeles County said that Rochelle Sterling called him a “black m—f—” during a discussion at the building.
“I asked her again, I asked her, ‘would you reduce the rent?’” Darrell Rhodes said in the deposition. “And she said, ‘who do you think you are, you black m—f—.’
“The way in which she said m—f— was more lower voiced, under her breath. She said black loud enough for me to hear, she said mother loud enough for me to hear. F— part was a little lower. I had to look at her lips to hear her say it. And I did.”
Rhodes, who filed a federal lawsuit against the Sterlings in 2007, alleged he was the target of discriminatory behavior by the Sterlings.
“Inflammatory remarks made directly to Darrell Rhodes by Shelley Sterling on several occasions indicate bias,” Rhodes wrote in a 2006 letter to the Sterlings that was entered into the court record. “We have been singled out in what we believe to be a discriminatory action.”
Rhodes’ lawsuit, along with an action by the Justice Department and other tenants, was part of a $2.765-million settlement in 2009. As part of the agreement, the Sterlings didn’t admit any wrongdoing.
In another deposition from 2009, former on-site manager Maira Oliva described Rochelle Sterling's visiting the apartment building she worked at on South Ardmore Avenue.
Oliva: “She said, ‘Oh, my God. This is so filthy. I can’t remodel my apartments the way that I want because Latinos are so filthy."
Attorney: “Did she say those exact words, ‘Latinos are so filthy’?”
Oliva: “I can’t remodel my building the way I want and that the building was filthy because of the Latinos."
In a 2004 deposition in a separate case, former property supervisor Sumner Davenport said Sterling expressed her dislike for children and “certain ethnic groups” in apartments.
Attorney: Did she say that [Donald Sterling] said he wanted to evict current tenants with children?
Davenport: “Yes. She didn’t want -- if they were playing in the hallway, if they were out hanging in front of the building, they didn’t fit the image.
Davenport sued Donald Sterling for sexual harassment in 2003 and lost at trial.
An August 2003 court order by U.S. District Court Judge A. Howard Matz in another housing discrimination lawsuit detailed Rochelle Sterling apparently posing as a health inspector while visiting a tenant’s apartment. A short video by one of the plaintiffs, Daryl Williams, documented the encounter in April 2003.
“[The] evidence is sufficient to support a finding that Rochelle Sterling did tell Plaintiff Williams she was a health inspector,” the order said. “Sterling’s failure to deny that she made that statement reinforces this conclusion.”
The order noted, however, the absence of evidence that Sterling entered the apartment.
“Sumner Davenport declares that when she worked for Sterling she often accompanied Rochelle Sterling on apartment inspections, that Rochelle Sterling would regularly pose as a government official in order to gain access to tenants’ apartments,” the order said.
The judge called the allegations “troubling,” but said they didn’t raise sufficient questions to support an injunction.
The Housing Rights Center, which filed the 2003 case, reached a confidential settlement with the Sterlings.
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