National Roundup

Massachusetts Boston law firm sues LA Dodgers owner McCourt BOSTON (AP) -- A Boston law firm is suing Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, asking a Massachusetts court to declare that the firm met its obligations and caused him no loss when it drafted a marital property agreement with his ex-wife. McCourt had tried to use the 2004 agreement to establish his sole ownership of the Dodgers. But a Los Angeles County Superior Court threw out the agreement in December, clearing the way for Jamie McCourt to seek half the team. Bingham McCutchen LLP says it has been the target of allegations by the McCourts and their counsel critical of its work. The firm filed the lawsuit Monday "seeking a declaration that the allegations are without merit." Frank McCourt's attorney, Sorrell Trope, did not immediately return an email seeking comment Monday night. Texas Judge affirms $350 million State Farm refund order AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A state judge in Austin ruled Monday that State Insurance Commissioner Mike Geeslin was within his authority when he ordered State Farm Insurance to refund about $350 million to ratepayers for excessive premiums charged as early as 2003. State District Judge Tim Sulak ruled after hearing two hours of arguments from attorneys for the state insurance department, the Office of Public Insurance Counsel and State Farm, according to The Dallas Morning News. "There is substantial evidence to support the commissioner's decision, and the decision is upheld," Sulak declared. State Farm spokesman Kevin Davis tells The Beaumont Enterprise that the company plans to appeal Sulak's decision. "We believe our rates are fair and competitive," he told the newspaper. Geeslin issued the order in November 2009 in what was then a 6-year-old case in which regulators ordered the company to cut its rates 12 percent. Public Insurance Counsel Deeia Beck, who represents consumers, has argued that State Farm should refund almost $1 billion, according to the Dallas newspaper. State Farm, however, contends it owes nothing. State Farm writes more homeowners policies in Texas than any other company, having 28.8 percent of the market. The next biggest is Allstate with 9.2 percent, Jerry Hagins, a Texas Department of Insurance spokesman, told Beaumont newspaper. The battle started in 2003 when the Legislature authorized the insurance department to regulate rates. The commissioner ordered 32 companies to cut rates, and all but State Farm have complied, Hagins told The Enterprise. Massachusetts Jurors weigh Obama-related church fire case SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) -- Jurors have begun deliberating the case of a white man charged with burning a predominantly black Massachusetts church in the hours after President Barack Obama's 2008 election. Michael Jacques (JAKES) and two friends were charged with setting fire to the Macedonia Church of God in Christ in Springfield. The other men pleaded guilty and implicated Jacques. He faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy against civil rights, damage to religious property and other charges. Jurors began begin deliberating Tuesday. Jacques' attorney said in her closing argument Monday that Jacques didn't set the fire and that incriminating statements he made in taped conversations were just bragging about something he didn't do. Prosecutors said Jacques told friends that Obama's election meant blacks and Puerto Ricans were taking over the country. Arkansas Suspect in soldier death says he killed before LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- A man charged in the killing of a soldier outside an Army recruiting center in Arkansas says he also killed a man in Tennessee. Abdulhakim Muhammad makes the claim in a letter to Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Herb Wright. The letter doesn't say who was killed in the 2006 incident, only that it was a man who robbed and terrorized Muslims. Police in Nashville told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that they don't know which killing he is talking about. Prosecutors and defense attorneys say they were not aware of the letter. Muhammad is charged with capital murder in the June 2009 shooting death of Pvt. William Long in Little Rock. He has said the shooting, which wounded another soldier, was in retaliation for U.S. military action in the Middle East. Ohio Convicted murderer priest to get hearing TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) -- An Ohio Roman Catholic priest convicted of murdering a nun has been granted a day in court to argue that his 2006 trial violated his constitutional rights. The Blade newspaper of Toledo reports a county judge ruled Monday to give the Rev. Gerald Robinson a hearing on April 29 on issues including police reports from the time of the killing that were misfiled and did not turn up until 2009. The 72-year-old Robinson is serving 15 years to life in prison for the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. She was found strangled and stabbed in a Toledo hospital chapel where she and Robinson both worked. A state appeals court has upheld Robinson's conviction. The Ohio Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court both declined to hear the case. Ohio Prosecutor says plea deal reach ed in 3 deaths BELLEFONTAINE, Ohio (AP) -- Prosecutors say an Ohio man has offered to plead guilty to killing his girlfriend's adult daughter and an elderly couple in exchange for a sentence of life in prison with no chance for parole. Logan County chief assistant prosecutor Eric Stewart tells the Bellefontaine (behl-FOWN'-tihn) Examiner prosecutors met Monday with families of the people who died, and that the relatives unanimously favored the plea deal. Stewart says some felt a death penalty would be "too easy" for Samuel K. Littleton II. Littleton is expected to enter the pleas Thursday before a judge in Logan County, in western Ohio. His attorney did not immediately return a message for comment on Tuesday. Littleton is held in West Virginia, where he was arrested and where police found the elderly couple's car. Published: Wed, Apr 13, 2011