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The huge fees that Weiss and Scruggs were able to pocket stemmed from their technique of gathering very large groups of plaintiffs to sue corporations for damages. Weiss's genius was getting in the door first as lead counsel, using a ready-made stable of clients who, it turned out, were receiving kickbacks in what a federal judge described this week as a "nationwide conspiracy that continued for decades." Scruggs was also adept at enrolling long lists of plaintiffs -- whose damage claims were so sizable that corporations often settled rather than run the risk of multibillion-dollar payouts and possible bankruptcy. Scruggs's...

With the price tag of providing care for more than 400 children seized last month from a polygamist ranch in West Texas expected to reach the tens of millions of dollars, a legislative panel suggested Tuesday that the state explore garnisheeing the religious organization's assets to recoup the costs. "That compound didn't grow out of fairy dust," Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, said after a Senate Finance Committee hearing in which he urged state health officials to determine whether members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or even the sect as a whole, should be held...

May 24, 2008 -- Did the Rev. Al Sharpton try to extort $500,000 from a leading rapper by threatening him with protest marches unless he paid up? Sharpton calls the accusation "absurd," but that's exactly what Bruce Williams, former right-hand man to Dr. Dre, reportedly charges in a new book. Who's telling the truth? Sharpton's record in that regard isn't reassuring; the allegation has a familiar ring to it - and it comes amid new questions about the rev's personal finances. Williams says the demand for the half-mil involved what was termed Sharpton's displeasure with vulgar rap lyrics as well...

LONDON (AFP) — The head of the United Nations's scientific panel on climate change said in an interview published Monday that developing countries were unwilling to sign up to a global deal on cutting carbon emissions because rich countries were not leading the way. "Looking at the politics of the situation, I doubt whether any of the developing countries will make any commitments before they have seen the developed countries take a specific stand," Rajendra Pachauri of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change told The Guardian. Pachauri said that while Germany was setting a positive example and Britain...

A senior executive at TNK-BP told us a few months ago that the oil company was "a poster child" for foreign investment in Russia. So it is turning out to be, only not in the way that he intended. Blessed by Vladimir Putin at its creation in 2003, BP's Russian joint venture is now getting the standard Kremlin treatment. Yesterday a "bureaucratic" visa problem forced the British company to send home 148 expatriate workers. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry launched a "tax evasion" probe into a TNK-BP unit. And last week, the (renamed) KGB raided the oil company's Moscow offices and...

The World Food Programme has launched an “extraordinary emergency appeal” to governments to donate at least $500m in the next four weeks to avoid rationing food aid in response to the spiralling cost of food. The WFP, the United Nations agency responsible for relieving hunger, said in a letter to donor countries that if fresh money did not arrive by May 1, it might cut “the rations for those who rely on the world to stand by them during times of abject need”. The letter, a copy of which has been obtained by the Financial Times, was sent to donor...

The racial dimension of Barack Obama's electability problem is now apparent, but no prominent Democrat dares discuss it openly. Similarly expect no discussion of the subject in the major media. The white working class vote I am not referring to the ongoing and intense discussion of The Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Wright is a separate problem for Obama. Whether Obama has been, or will be, permanently weakened by his long and close association with Wright, or has soared above it with his Philadelphia speech, is not the subject of these thoughts. Something much simpler than the answer to that question has...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Negotiations on a new treaty to fight global warming will fail if rich nations are not treated as "culprits" and developing countries as "victims," China's top climate envoy said. The whole world must take action to confront climate change, but developed countries have a "historical responsibility" to do much more because their unrestrained emissions in the past century are responsible for global warming, said Ambassador Yu Qingtai. "The United States and the developed states as a whole are the countries that created the problem, caused the problem of climate change in the first place. In my...

aving climate campaigner Al Gore round to your house is to open yourself to a self-flagellating guilt trip, Irish rock star Bono confessed Thursday. Sharing a stage with the former US vice president at the annual gathering of world movers and shakers in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, the U2 frontman joked that their friendship was a source of pressure on the domestic front. "He's been round my house and it's like... here's the recycler Al, you know... I've got a posh car, but it runs on ethanol Al," Bono said. Acknowledging that a career in rock music was...

The Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. today demanded City Council hearings and a Dec.10 march on La Salle Street to shine the light on a mortgage foreclosure epidemic he warned could trigger a "sustained depression" as early as next year. Jackson accused "unscrupulous lenders" of targeting minorities for high-cost loans in a "form of redlining and racial profiling." He pointed to a study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition that shows African-Americans of all income levels in the Chicago area were more than twice as likely as whites to receive the subprime and ballooning adjustable interest rate mortgages that can be...

Nooses Found Hanging Inside N.J. Home Depot Hate Speech Inexplicably Takes Over Tri-State Area Reporting Sean Hennessey PASSAIC, N.J. (CBS) ― A spree of disturbing crimes is spreading hatred and fear around the region. Many people are wondering when it will end. The latest act of hate took place in a busy home improvement store. Three nooses were captured on a cell phone hanging in the aisle of the hardware department inside a Home Depot on Thursday. Terrance Baker is a Home Depot vendor who was helping a customer when he looked up and couldn't believe his eyes. "I look...

SYLACAUGA, Ala. -- Sylacauga community leaders are preparing to boycott the city's school system. During a community meeting Sunday night, area pastors asked parents to pull their kids out of school this week. Organizers are protesting what they consider inequality in the teaching ranks. They said fewer than 10 percent of the city's teachers are black while black students make up 38 percent of the district's enrollment. The boycott is expected to start this morning with organizers hoping to keep more than 200 students out of the classroom for the rest of the week.

Driving 11 miles over the speed limit cost one driver more than a quarter-million dollars this weekend — at least for now. .... The 35-year-old from British Columbia, who had a valid driver's license, struggled to tell the trooper where he was going and how long he had been in Washington, prompting the trooper to search his car, Merrill said. The trooper found two suitcases in the trunk — one filled with $276,640 in cash. The driver claimed he won the stacks of dollar bills at 23 casinos in Washington, California and Nevada, but he was unable to produce any...

When California Attorney General Bill Lockyer sued the six major auto manufacturers a year ago, claiming that they were liable for adverse consequences of global warming, it was widely seen as an election year stunt. Lockyer, who was being forced out of the attorney generalship by term limits and running for state treasurer, filed the suit just 48 days before the election but insisted that it was a serious effort to make automakers pay for producing cars that generated greenhouse gases that could damage California. Many others, however, questioned whether there was any legal basis in federal law for the...

WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) — Nearly 100 drunken-driving suspects in this southern Ohio town avoided convictions or jail time last year after making voluntary $1,000 donations to the police department, county records show. More than a third of the drunken-driving cases filed by Waverly police in Pike County Court last year were dismissed, according to a report published Sunday in The Columbus Dispatch.

News Release California, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire Restrict the Most Jobs Hair braider, fortune teller, florist and interior designer are some of the jobs for which states require licenses Los Angeles (August 24, 2007) – Do you want to be a fortune teller in Maryland? Your future better include a license from the state. How about being a hair braider in Mississippi? You'll need 300 to 1,500 hours of training and government permission. Want to sell flowers in Louisiana? Only licensed florists can do that. And almost every state requires certification if you want to move furniture and hang art...

After bullying London's mayor into apologizing for his city's role in the transatlantic slave trade more than two centuries ago, Jesse Jackson did what he does best - demand money. At Thursday's memorial commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of England's slave trade, Mayor Ken Livingstone was literally brought to tears as he apologized "on behalf of London and its institutions" for their role in ferrying human cargo to the New World. If you've been paying attention to this charlatan's game, you won't be surprised to hear that the Guardian reported that "Jackson walked over and placed his arm...

Last Updated: Wednesday, 22 August 2007, 07:07 GMT 08:07 UK Jackson calls for slavery apology Jesse Jackson is on a week-long tour of the UK US civil rights activist Jesse Jackson has called on Britain to apologise and make reparations for its role in the slave trade. During a visit to Bristol, the Rev Jackson, 65, said he was disappointed that British cities had not apologised. Speaking at the Empire and Commonwealth Museum, the Rev Jackson said: "There must be some place to apologise for the wrong in a moral sense." Bristol has never formally apologised for its links to...

Republican lawmakers charged yesterday that Sen. Charles Schumer is sabotaging a new effort to raise taxes on wealthy hedge-fund managers in an effort to shake down Wall Street for millions of dollars in campaign cash. The criticism came after Schumer slammed legislation during a Senate Finance Committee hearing that would more than double the tax rates paid by managers of equity funds, hedge funds and other partnerships to make them pay the same rates as ordinary Americans. The managers are able to avoid millions worth of taxes by "carrying over" profit on the sale of companies and treating their earnings...

You now have the opportunity to print and carry your very own "'SiCKO' Health Care Card." Playing the 'SiCKO' card has worked for a family in DeBary, Florida, whose daughter suffered profound hearing loss and was denied a cochlear implant. Her father sent a letter to Cigna asking, "has your CEO ever been in a film before?" Before he knew it, his daughter's denial was overturned. It also worked for a family in Flint, Michigan who was stuck with a $66,000 medical bill until they posted their healthcare horror story on YouTube. Click here to see what happened next. Download...

“It began as a favor to a friend, and ended as a labor of love.” So said public television host and veteran journalist Llewellyn King about reading the novel "Point of Entry," by author Peter Schecter, whom King knew and liked very much. King began the novel (about political intrigue between Columbia and the U.S. in the near future) as a favor to his friend and completed it as an true fan. That’s about where I am after reading "Foundations of Betrayal: How the Super-Rich Undermine America," by Phil Kent. A veteran public relations man and former editor of the...

Milwaukee Ald. Michael McGee was shaking down business owners in his district as recently as April 18 of this year, according to a nine-count federal indictment released Wednesday. The indictment, handed down Tuesday by a grand jury, includes three extortion counts, five bribery counts and one charge related to a financial transaction at a local bank. All are felonies. In theory, McGee would face up to 115 years in prison if convicted of all charges, but under federal sentencing guidelines the actual sentence would be much lower. The document provides few details of the allegations facing McGee. But based on...

A federal grand jury issued a nine-count indictment Tuesday against Milwaukee Ald. Michael McGee, who a judge ruled must remain behind bars until a trial on allegations that he shook down business owners in his district. The court actions were a double blow to McGee, who 24 hours earlier was on the verge of being released on bail. But prosecutors quickly moved to block the release, and Chief Judge Rudolph T. Randa ruled that McGee would remain in federal custody. Randa cited concerns that if allowed home, even under severe restrictions, McGee would attempt to intimidate witnesses and sway their...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two black shoppers have sued Toys "R" Us saying they were subjected to racial discrimination and unjustified scrutiny at a store in New York.

DOVER, N.H. - A man with a penchant for speedy driving has come up with an unusual tactic for beating speeding tickets — raise the limit. So far this year, Larry Lemay has been ticketed four times for speeding. Rather than slow down, Lemay is suing the state Department of Transportation to study traffic and speed limits across New Hampshire, to see whether limits could be raised. Lemay's lawsuit, filed in Strafford County Superior Court, also asks a judge to order the Transportation Department to pay for his legal fees and the cost of the study, an estimated $1,853. Lemay...

According to this web site, the couple, who decided to remain anonymous, has threatened not to have their baby if they are not able to raise at least $50,000 in 90 days. They believe this is the minimum amount needed to give their future newborn the life they think the baby should have. Although they know that this is not the total amount need it to raise the child into adulthood, they truly believe that with $50000 they will be able to start their newborn in the right path for a good life.

One definition of injustice is grossly disproportionate punishment. You don't put people into prison for a year because they jaywalked. So what do we make of Virginia's new "civil remedial fines" that slam ordinary motorists with thousand-dollar fines (payable in "three easy installments") for relatively minor traffic violations? Beginning July 1, a driver caught doing 20 mph over the posted limit is subject to just such a fine. That means 76 mph in a 55 zone -- and a rude awakening for hapless motorists pinched in a radar trap. You may feel a driver doing 20 over the limit deserves...

Virginia motorists convicted of minor traffic violations will face a new, multi-year tax beginning July 1. Led by state Delegate David B. Albo (R-Springfield), lawmakers slipped a driver responsibility tax into a larger transportation funding bill signed by Governor Tim Kaine (D) in April. Albo, a senior partner in the Albo & Oblon, LLP traffic law firm, can expect to see a significant increase in business as motorists seek to protect their wallet from traffic tickets that come with assessments of up to $3000 in addition to an annual point tax that tops out at $700 a year for as...

OAKLAND Managers of Yoshi's, one of the Bay Area's best-known jazz venues, said they will pull the club's first-ever CD off the market after community leaders complained the recording featured no black musicians. Club managers apologized Friday for what they called "a huge mistake" and "a major oversight." They said they plan to create a new recording that better reflects the musicians who play the 340-seat venue at Oakland's Jack London Square. "We really messed up on the CD," said Yoshi's owner Kaz Kajimura. "We apologize to anyone who feels slighted by this omission, as that was never our intention."...

U.S. activist Rev. Jesse Jackson on Tuesday said his organization will target top energy companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and ConocoPhillips in a push to create more jobs for women and minorities in the industry. Jackson said members of his Rainbow PUSH Coalition plan to buy stock in 20 of the world's largest energy companies. As investors, the group will seek change by attending annual meetings, calling for talks with the companies' chief executives and pressing for fairness hearings at the state level. "We intend to inject ourselves into the struggle for fair access to energy," Jackson told a news...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Despite being held in a cool, climate-controlled conference room, some early discussions at a Vatican-sponsored seminar on global warming and climate change got pretty heated. The rifts and tensions still dividing the global debate on the causes of and remedies for drastic climatic shifts were gently simmering in the small microcosm of the two-day Vatican meeting. The seminar, sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, gathered some 80 experts representing the scientific, political, economic and spiritual sides of the climate-change debate at the Vatican April 26-27 to discuss "Climate Change and Development." "I have...

Corporate Ethics Group to Make Issue of Support of Jesse Jackson at Citigroup Annual Meeting in Wake of Duke Rape Case and Imus Controversy Date: April 16, 2007 Contact: Peter Flaherty 703-237-1970 Website: www.nlpc.org Peter Flaherty, President of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), will speak on Tuesday in support of the group’s shareholder proposal asking Citigroup to disclose its charitable giving. Citigroup’s annual meeting will take place Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at 9 a.m. in Carnegie Hall in New York City. Flaherty’s statement reads, in part: “Let’s consider what Citigroup is subsidizing through Jesse Jackson’s organizations. Last April,...

Consumers snapping up carbon credits to allay their guilt over greenhouse gases -- When Cal Broomhead drove to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone last summer on vacation, he felt pretty bad about the carbon dioxide emissions from his Volvo station wagon. [[Podcast: How Earth Day became the "most popular secular holiday"]] So he paid $100 to a company that then subsidized a wind energy project that generates electricity without producing greenhouses gases. Broomhead was told his contribution made up for a year of driving about 12,000 miles as well as his household's annual use of electricity and natural gas. In...

Leave it to a liberal to claim that Americans are "cheapskates" because our government does not spend enough money on foreign aid. In the L.A.Times for April 13th, that is just what we are treated to with Rosa Brooks' screed titled, "To the rest of the world, we're cheapskates" and subtitled, "The U.S. international affairs budget -- which helps fight AIDS, poverty and more -- is just 1% of total spending." But, by attacking our country over its record on charity and foreign aid spending, Brooks proves that she neither understands the nature of American generosity, nor the American character....

EATONTON - Since Sheriff Howard Sills first took on Malachi York and the United Nuwaubian Nation of Moors in 1998, he has been at the center of a storm. It all started when he filed suit to force York's group, to close down a nightclub at the group's Putnam County village. Since then, the Nuwaubians, in fliers distributed across Middle Georgia, have called Sills a racist, accused him of beating his ex-wife, and said he was responsible for murder. Prominent black leaders - the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and state Rep. Tyrone Brooks among them - have accused...

Imus isn’t the real bad guy Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem. You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality. You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor. Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April,...

A disabled access attorney who has sued entire towns over alleged access violations has been rebuked by a San Diego federal court judge for his conduct in a recent case, told to pay legal fees and take ethics classes.San Diego attorney Theodore Pinnock, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, was ordered to pay more than $15,000 in legal fees incurred by a business owner who was sued over alleged access violations at a convenience store that wasn't even open for business. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller also imposed sanctions against Pinnock, ordering the attorney to complete four...

3/22/2007 Florida: City to Seize Homes Over a $5 Parking Ticket Brooksville, Florida proposes to foreclose homes and seize cars over less than $20 in parking tickets. The city council in Brooksville, Florida voted this week to advance a proposal granting city officials the authority to place liens and foreclose on the homes of motorists accused of failing to pay a single $5 parking ticket. Non-homeowners face having their vehicles seized if accused of not paying three parking offenses. According to the proposed ordinance, a vehicle owner must pay a parking fine within 72 hours if a meter maid claims...

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Saying it will level the playing field between in-state and out-of-state businesses, Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a measure Thursday that encourages Internet and catalog companies to collect and send the state sales taxes on purchases made by Washington residents. "This is absolutely about tax fairness to the businesses of the state of Washington," Gregoire said. Washington will join 21 other states that have passed legislation to become members of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project. More than 1,000 companies that sell products in multiple states have voluntarily agreed to begin collecting and distributing sales taxes to any...

Moscow, March 19, Interfax - Russia cannot afford to quarrel with the countries of the Islamic world, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. "Russia has no right to quarrel with the Islamic world, not to mention to allow anybody to make it quarrel with the Islamic world," Lavrov said at a Foreign and Defense Policy Council session on Saturday. "I am sure that the choice that Russia and other leading countries, including the civilization-forming ones, like China and India, have made in favor of the consolidation policy should become the key factor and guarantee against a civilizational rift in...

Jesse Jackson: Hollywood Needs 'Diversity' Newsmax.com Feb. 22, 2007 As seemingly half of Hollywood converged on a fundraiser for Democratic presidential aspirant Sen. Barack Obama, the Rev. Jesse Jackson was huddled elsewhere with Universal Studios president Ron Meyer over his own campaign - to increase industry diversity. "We must go to each of the companies and agencies and urge them to make the industry open up and expand the market and the opportunities," Jackson said Wednesday during an hour-plus interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "After all, we once did not know how big baseball could be until everyone could play....

Just in time for the Academy Awards, Jesse Jackson's renewing a push for greater inclusion of minorities in showbiz. The civil rights leader asserts that the timing's right to raise the issue, at a time when there's been widespread recognition received by such actors as Forest Whitaker, Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson - all front-runners for Oscars. "While I feel joy for those outstanding performances, my concern is that people will take these as a substitute for progress," Jackson said in an interview Wednesday with Daily Variety. "We want to keep the light on unfinished business." Jackson - who protested...

OLYMPIA, Wash. State officials say the Yakama Indian Nation has failed to adhere to an agreement on cigarette taxes, so the they intend to terminate the compact. The state Department of Revenue alleges cigarettes are being sold to non-Indians on the tribe's eastern Washington reservation without valid tribal tax stamps. Revenue Director Cindi Holmstrom says that violates terms of the agreement in effect since November 2004. Tribal officials were in meetings today and did not immediately return calls for comment. Holmstrom says that once the Yakama compact is terminated, sales of cigarettes without state stamps to non-Indians will again be...

This morning I ran across something that we see almost every day in the news — the “poor hardest hit” headline, or “Duh!” as they’re known among followers of current events. The story quotes U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (at least the U.N. finally got it right and hired a buy with the word “Ban” right there in his name), who says, in essence, that if we don’t curb global warming by capping industrialized nations – and faster than a Reuters writer can apply “poor hardest hit” to any situation – that Africa is in danger of being miserable. Does this...

Turner Broadcasting Corp. will pay back Massachusetts $2 million for the Cartoon Network guerrilla marketing campaign that prompted a rash of bomb scares across the city last week. Attorney General Martha Coakley announced the agreement this morning, which absolves the entertainment giant of any civil or criminal claims with the state and local agencies who were a part of the settlement. The press conference was attended by Coakley, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone and Cambridge Mayor Ken Reeves. Each of the officials gave an opening statement in which they defended the response to the bomb scare. Menino...

Someday, this era may simply be known as The Google Years. California, whose budget revenue slides up and down like a yo-yo with changes in capital gains and stock options, is once again counting on outsized income tax filings from a handful of tech executives to help balance its budget. For this wave, California can largely thank Google Inc. After cashing in more than 9 million shares valued at $3.7 billion last year, 16 Google insiders will owe the Golden State as much as $380 million in taxes — enough to cover the salaries of more than 3,000 state workers....

A proposed order in a file-sharing lawsuit would force the recording industry to divulge closely-held details of their wholesale pricing arrangements. UMG v. Lindor is one of the highest-profile file-sharing cases in the news today, due in no small part to the efforts of Marie Lindor's attorney Ray Beckerman, who maintains the Recording Industry vs The People Blog along with Ty Rogers.Lindor, like hundreds of others, was sued by the RIAA after a John Doe lawsuit resulted in her ISP turning over information to the record labels tying an IP address allegedly used for illegal downloading to her. Lindor has...

WASHINGTON - In some legal and government circles the case of Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman is shaping up as the trial of the century. In May, a federal grand jury in Los Angeles indicted the king of class-action law firms in an alleged conspiracy scheme of staggering proportions. The 20-count indictment included charges of obstruction of justice, perjury, bribery and fraud. The government claims that the firm itself, as well as senior partners David Bershad and Steven Schulman, participated in a decades-long conspiracy that distributed more than $11 million in “secret kickback payments” to people to serve as plaintiffs...

A fine is just the start of what you'll pay for a drunken-driving conviction. Insurance-rate increases, legal bills, alcohol treatment and licensing fees can push the cost into five figures. If you need any more reasons not to drink and drive, consider this: A driving-under-the-influence conviction is a financial wrecking ball. A typical DUI costs about $10,000 by the time you pay bail, fines, fees and insurance, even if you didn't hit anything or hurt anybody. The penalties are intended to be discouraging. Alcohol played a role in nearly 40% of U.S. automobile fatalities in 2005. That's 16,885 deaths, a...

Washington has no shortage of bullies, but even we can't quite believe an October 27 letter that Senators Jay Rockefeller and Olympia Snowe sent to ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson. Its message: Start toeing the Senators' line on climate change, or else. We reprint the full text of the letter here, so readers can see for themselves. But its essential point is that the two Senators believe global warming is a fact, and therefore all debate about the issue must stop and ExxonMobil should "end its dangerous support of the [global warming] 'deniers.' " Not only that, the company "should repudiate...