Laws/Cases | | | Former Death Row Inmate's Suit Filed Too Late | | An appeals court has tossed a lawsuit filed by a former death row inmate against a former Oklahoma City police chemist and former police chief because the suit was filed "five months too late." The court said the two-year statute of limitations had passed since he was freed by an Oklahoma Criminal Court of Appeals. The man was released after it was discovered that the chemist "had intentionally destroyed evidence potentially favorable to [the plaintiff]." Robert Boczkiewicz, NewsOK.com 07/15/2011 | Read Article: NewsOK.com | Suit Over Fatal Boat Capsizing Can Proceed | | A New York appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit against the state over a capsized tour boat that killed 20 passengers in 2005 can proceed. The suit, filed by the survivors and family members of victims, claims that officials with the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation determined the boat could hold 48 people, when in fact is should not have held more than 14. The court ruled that the state could not seek sovereign immunity "because its employees showed no discretion during its annual inspections." Robert Gavin, Albany Times Union 07/15/2011 | Read Article: Albany Times Union | Tenn. District to Curb Religious Practices in Schools | | The Sumner County Board of Education in Tennessee has announced it will alter some of its policies after a group of students filed a lawsuit against the board accusing it of promoting Christianity in schools. The changes will include no longer allowing Bibles to be distributed by students and halting a teacher-lead prayer group during lunch that included students. Despite the changes, a jury trial for the lawsuit is still scheduled for some time in 2012. Jennifer Easton , Tennessean 07/15/2011 | Read Article: Tennessean | Class-Action Suit Against Union Bank to Proceed | | A U.S. District Judge in Florida has ruled that UnionBanCal Corp. customers may proceed in their class-action lawsuit against Union Bank over allegedly excessive overdraft fees. The ruling may affect hundreds of thousands of customers of the California-based bank. In all, 30 banks will be named as defendants in the class-action suit, Bloomberg reports. Laurence Viele Davidson and Susannah Nesmith, Bloomberg 07/14/2011 | Read Article: Bloomberg | Trial Begins in Florida Medical Malpractice Suit | | A Florida veteran was in court this week as the plaintiff in a $30 million medical malpractice lawsuit filed against the Miami Veterans Administration hospital. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff claims he contracted hepatits C from an unclean medical device used in a 2007 colonoscopy. The Miami Herald reported that this could be the first of a dozen trials filed by veterans with similar issues. Fred Tasker, Miami Herald 07/10/2011 | Read Article: Miami Herald | Issues | | | CPSC Lowers Lead Paint Limits in Children's Goods | | The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has lowered the limit for the amount of lead that may be present in children's goods. The 3-2 vote will lower the acceptable ceiling from 300 parts per million to 100 parts per million. The dissenters in the vote claimed that the new regulations will "add costs to businesses without a commensurate safety benefit." The change was prompted by a discovery of high levels of lead paint in toys from China. Staff Report, San Francisco Chronicle 07/15/2011 | Read Article: San Francisco Chronicle | Class Action | | | Class-Action Wage Suit Filed Against Starbucks | | A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Starbucks over violations of California wage laws. The suit contends that Starbucks "systematically failed to record and pay [Barista's] for minimum wages, wages for all hours worked and overtime wages." Specifically, the lawsuit points at training hours in which plaintiffs should have been compensated but were not. Staff Report, San Francisco Chronicle 07/14/2011 | Read Article: San Francisco Chronicle | | | | |