Maine
State high court upholds $4.9 million award
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- Maine's highest court has upheld a $4.9 million award to a Bangor man who sued Central Maine Power Co. after suffering severe electrical injuries when a sailboat mast he was moving came in contact with a low-hanging power line.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court this week upheld a lower court judge's ruling that found CMP was negligent because the electrical line was more than 15 feet closer to the ground than it should have been.
Bryan Smith was lowering a mast from a sailboat in 2002 when it made contact with a power line at a boatyard where he worked in Penobscot. He was severely burned and suffered significant permanent injuries.
Smith received workers' compensation benefits from his employer, Devereaux Marine Inc., and sued CMP for negligence.
Mississippi
Attorney general drops alternative site for Billiot
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- The attorney general's office has withdrawn its suggestion to a federal judge that death row inmate James Billiot be transferred to a state prison in east Mississippi.
The proposal was suggested to U.S. District Judge Tom S. Lee in January. In court documents dated Feb. 5, Attorney General Jim Hood says the proposal was the result of a miscommunication with the Department of Corrections.
The state had argued Billiot could remain incarcerated and get treatment for mental disability.
"Counsel has now been informed that any transfer of petitioner (Billiot) to the East Mississippi Correctional Facility is not an acceptable remedy to the Department of Corrections. The commissioner's position is that the petitioner is being safely housed and adequately treated in the maximum security unit at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman," Hood said in court documents.
The issue is now back to square one.
The state is asking Lee to rescind his Nov. 3 order in which the judge found Billiot mentally disabled, suspended his death sentence and ordered him moved within 60 days to the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield.
"Based on the problems with security at the State Hospital at Whitfield and the clear probability that petitioner will receive no treatment for his mental condition at the State Hospital" then Billiot should remain at Parchman, Hood said in the new court filing.
Billiot's attorneys say the hospital has housed and treated felons since the 1950s -- and briefly held Billiot himself.
Lee has not ruled on the state's motion.
Billiot won't likely be moved until the legal wrangling is over.
Billiot was convicted of using an 8-pound sledgehammer to kill his mother, stepfather and 14-year-old stepsister. He was sentenced to death for killing the stepfather and robbing him of $60 at their home in Hancock County.
Billiot's attorney, John C. Henegan, in an earlier court filing said nothing in state law allows for Billiot to be moved to EMCF and the attorney general offered no evidence to support that any treatment Billiot might have gotten there would be superior to that at Whitfield.
Connecticut
Branford wins legal fight over land seizure
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The Connecticut Supreme Court has reversed a $12.8 million verdict against the town of Branford, which was sued after using eminent domain to seize land that a developer wanted to buy to build hundreds of condominiums.
The unanimous ruling released Monday says the developer, New England Estates LLC, lacked standing to claim damages because it only had an option to buy the 77 acres from the owners and didn't own the land.
New England Estates' attorney Timothy Hollister says the developer is considering asking the high court to reconsider the decision.
Branford seized the property in 2003, in part, for potentially building athletic fields, after town officials rejected New England Estates' plans for affordable housing on the land.
Missouri
Police-World Series tickets link stays under wraps
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Lawyers for the St. Louis police department have told a judge they can't reveal all that's known about officers' improper use of 2006 World Series tickets.
They told Circuit Judge Philip Heagney this week they can reveal details from one inquiry but not those of a separate investigation.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the judge now must reevaluate whether to force police to relinquish material to a civil rights activist in a 2007 lawsuit.
A 1960s U.S. Supreme Court ruling offers a way for police to be compelled to discuss their job performance, and possibly be fired, without incriminating themselves.
Internal affairs police interviews were sealed and not forwarded to Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce. She did review a separate criminal investigation and found no basis for criminal charges.
Missouri
Court throws out discrimination award of $2.1M
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- A Missouri appeals court has thrown out a $2.1 million award to a Kansas City lawyer who said she was unfairly bypassed for a municipal judgeship.
Melissa Howard won the award in 2008. She said she was bypassed for the appointment because the Kansas City Council wanted a racial minority candidate for the job.
The Kansas City Star reports that the Missouri's Western District Court of Appeals this week ruled that the state's Human Rights Act doesn't apply to the city's process for appointing municipal judges.
The Municipal Judicial Nominating Commission submitted Howard's name and two others in 2006 after reviewing 13 applications.
Those recommendations were rejected. A new council elected in May 2007 chose Katherine Emke as a municipal judge from a new group that didn't include Howard.
Illinois
Discrimination suit against college tossed
BENTON, Ill. (AP) -- A federal judge has tossed out a lawsuit against a southern Illinois college by an administrator who claimed he was passed over for the school's presidency because he's an Iraq native and Muslim.
U.S. District Judge David Herndon dismissed Salah Shakir's lawsuit against Rend Lake College this week in Benton.
Herndon ruled that Shakir lacks evidence supporting his contention that he was discriminated against. He was the college's vice president of information technology, but he wasn't hired to fill a vacancy in the college's presidency.
Shakir sued in 2008. He directed calls seeking comment to his attorney, Rima Kapitan, who hasn't returned messages. Messages also were left for the college's president and its attorney.
Published: Thu, Feb 11, 2010
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