Washington: U.S. High Court will hear Oneida foreclosure case
VERONA, N.Y. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal by two New York counties trying to foreclose on land owned by the Oneida Indian Nation to settle a property tax dispute.
The nation’s highest court will hear the appeal in the spring.
In April, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals said U.S. District Judge David Hurd was right when he decided in 2005 that Madison and Oneida counties could impose taxes on tribal land, but couldn’t seize it for nonpayment.
That ruling reaffirmed that federal law forbids lawsuits against a tribe unless authorized by Congress or the tribe waives immunity.
The dispute involves about 17,000 acres, including 13,000 the federal government has agreed to put into trust. That would exempt most of the land from taxation, but the state, counties and local citizen groups have sued to block the 2008 trust agreement.
Missouri: Settlement reached in traffic accident death
JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — The parents of a southwest Missouri girl who died in a traffic accident have reached a settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit.
Andy and Debbie Smallwood of Carthage will receive $50,000 from American Family Insurance Group to settle their lawsuit against 20-year-old Jarub R. Baird.
Baird is serving a prison sentence for manslaughter and vehicular assault after a December 2008 accident near Carthage. The Joplin Globe reports that Baird, who was 17 at the time, was speeding and lost control of his car.
The Smallwood’s 15-year-old daughter, Hannah, died in the accident. Another passenger suffered a brain injury. Baird and another passenger suffered only minor injuries.
North Carolina: ACLU to argue for Amazon.com buyers in tax case
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union says it’s fighting for privacy and free speech rights in a lawsuit pitting North Carolina tax collectors against Amazon.com.
ACLU lawyers will be in federal court in Seattle on Wednesday. They’re making the case that the North Carolina Revenue Department’s effort to learn what customers bought from Amazon would violate their rights.
The hearing comes in a lawsuit filed by Amazon to stop the tax agency from collecting information about buyers.
The Revenue Department says it doesn’t want details about what kind of books people bought, just whether the purchases were books, CDs or something else.
The state says either Amazon or its customers owe North Carolina $50 million in sales and use taxes on Internet purchases.
California: LA County settles with teen alleging molestation
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles County supervisors have agreed to pay nearly $200,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a 17-year-old boy who alleged that an officer at a county probation camp molested him.
The Los Angeles Times says supervisors approved the $199,000 settlement at a meeting Tuesday.
The boy sued the county earlier this year, claiming a female probation officer forced him to touch her in a sexual manner at Camp Karl Holton in Sylmar in August, 2009.
The boy was at the camp because he had run away from a court-ordered placement.
The officer, Nadia Polynice, no longer works for the county.
The district attorney’s office has not decided whether to file criminal charges in the case.
California: Principal sues school district over prayer video
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — An elementary school principal in the Santa Barbara area filed a lawsuit against his school district Tuesday, saying he has been punished and threatened with firing for appearing in a video that promoted a prayer breakfast to praise teachers.
An attorney from the Alliance Defense Fund filed the lawsuit in federal court on behalf of Craig Richter, a principal at Foothill School in the Goleta Union School District.
The suit seeks an injunction preventing the district from firing him, and attorney’s fees.
The suit says Richter appeared for 30 seconds in a video promoting the event and identified himself as principal of Foothill School.
It says the district prevented Richter and teachers from taking part in the event for practical reasons because they would miss school time, but gave no indication that it objected on grounds of promoting religion.
The organization says a school board member saw the video on the Internet and complained that it was an illegal promotion of religion, and the district threatened to end Richter’s contract in March and placed him on a disciplinary “performance plan.”
“It’s ridiculous to punish and fire a Christian administrator simply because he wanted to honor teachers at an event that includes prayer,” Joseph Infranco, senior counsel for the ADF said in a statement.
“Principal Richter did absolutely nothing wrong by appearing in the ad, which welcomed all Santa Barbara community members.”
A phone message left with the district superintendent Tuesday night was not immediately returned.
The Alliance Defense Fund calls itself a group of “Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith.”
It has previously fought to uphold California’s Proposition 8 outlawing gay marriage and to oppose federal stem cell spending.
New York: Mario Batali, partners sued over tips at eatery
NEW YORK (AP) — Just days after being awarded a coveted fourth star by The New York Times, the Mario Batali-helmed restaurant Del Posto is contending with a lawsuit filed by 27 workers who say they weren’t paid a legal wage.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court by waiters, busboys and other staffers, claims managers at Del Posto improperly pooled workers’ tips in violation of state labor laws and illegally withheld a portion of some gratuities on wine and cheese sales.
Michael Weber, the lawyer for celebrity chef Batali and partners Joseph and Lidia Bastianich, didn’t immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
Tip-pooling has caused trouble for a number of New York restaurateurs in recent years, as employees have fought back in court against other celebrity chefs, including Bobby Flay, as well as their lesser known counterparts. Batali and his partners are already defending themselves against similar suits involving other restaurants.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday claims that all workers at Del Posto — praised a few weeks ago by New York Times food critic Sam Sifton as “a pleasure that lasts, offering memories of flavors that may return later in a dream” — were subjected to a point system that determined how much they got in gratuities.
Captains — the highest rung on the waitstaff ladder — were allotted six points. Bartenders came next with five points, “front waiters” and food “expediters” got four and the other staffers received smaller amounts, with stockers getting two.
The lawsuit also said staff who worked banquets weren’t getting their proper share of a 23 percent service charge billed to patrons that they probably assumed was a gratuity. Instead, the workers got a flat fee of $150 to $250 per shift, depending on their role.
The lawsuit seeks compensation including backpay, unspecified damages and attorney’s fees.
