Appeals court moves BP forward in settlement dispute

The April 2010 blowout of BP's Macondo well off the Louisiana coast triggered an explosion that killed 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and led to millions of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf. Shortly after the disaster, BP agreed to create a $20 billion compensation fund that was administered at first by the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, led by attorney Kenneth Feinberg.

BP argued that Barbier and court-appointed claims administrator Patrick Juneau misinterpreted terms of the settlement. Plaintiffs' lawyers countered that BP undervalued the settlement and underestimated how many claimants would qualify for payments.

In the panel's majority opinion, Judge Edith Brown Clement said BP has consistently argued that the settlement's complex formula for compensating businesses was intended to cover "real economic losses, not artificial losses that appear only from the timing of cash flows."

"The interests of individuals who may be reaping windfall recoveries because of an inappropriate interpretation of the Settlement Agreement and those who could never have recovered in individual suits for failure to show causation are not outweighed by the potential loss to a company and its public shareholders of hundreds of millions of dollars of unrecoverable awards," Clement wrote.

Judge Leslie Southwick wrote a concurring opinion. Judge James Dennis wrote a partial dissent, largely disagreeing with the other two.

"Because BP has not satisfied its heavy burden of showing that a change in circumstances or law warranted the modifications it sought, the district court correctly affirmed the Administrator's decision rejecting BP's argument and actions to modify the agreement," Dennis wrote.

Appeals court allows capital retrial of Wolfe

A federal appeals court will allow a capital murder case to proceed against an accused drug kingpin from northern Virginia.
In a 2-1 ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned a federal judge in Norfolk who had ordered a halt to the prosecution of Justin Wolfe and his immediate release.
That judge said misconduct by prosecutors in Prince William County made it impossible for Wolfe to get a fair trial.
But a majority on the appellate court disagreed. The judges ruled that a new trial can be done fairly. A dissenting judge said the misconduct was so bad that freeing Wolfe was the only proper outcome.
Wolfe was sent to death row in 2002 for a drug-related murder, but his original conviction and sentence were overturned.

Military court reverses suicide attempt conviction

The U.S. military's highest court has reversed a Marine's conviction for a suicide attempt.

The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces issued the 3-2 split opinion late Monday.

It says a military judge shouldn't have accepted Pvt. Lazzaric Caldwell's guilty plea in 2010 to a charge of wrongful self-injury without intent to avoid service.

Caldwell slit his wrists at Camp Schwab in Okinawa, Japan, after learning of a friend's death back home in California. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail and received a bad conduct discharge for that offense and convictions for larceny and violating orders.

The court found Caldwell's guilty plea for the suicide attempt technically insufficient. The majority opinion doesn't address the larger question of whether military suicide attempts should be prosecuted as crimes or considered noncriminal matters requiring treatment.

Court shoots down Yakama tobacco company lawsuit

A federal judge has ruled that a tobacco manufacturer owned by a Yakama Nation tribal member must pay into an escrow account established under a 1998 settlement with big tobacco companies.
The 1998 settlement required big tobacco companies to pay money to 46 states each year to offset public health costs from their products. Smaller companies are required to pay into an escrow account, but that money could be returned eventually if no health claims are made.
King Mountain Tobacco claims it should be exempt from paying into the escrow accounts under the Yakama Nation's 1855 treaty with the federal government. King Mountain is owned by Yakama tribal member Delbert Wheeler.
U.S District Judge Lonny Suko ruled against the company on Friday.

Employment Lawyer's Group - Wrongful Termination

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Court to hear 2 days of arguments on gay marriage

The Supreme Court says it will hear two days' worth of arguments over laws affecting gay marriage during the last week of March.

Justices on Monday announced they will hear arguments in Hollingsworth v. Perry on March 26 and United States v. Windsor on March 27.

The first case involves California's constitutional amendment that forbids same-sex marriage. The second concerns a federal law that denies gay couples who legally marry the right to obtain federal benefits available to heterosexual married couples. The court scheduled one hour's worth of arguments on each day. Justices can still extend the amount of time given to arguments in each case, however.

Nine states — Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, and Washington— and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage.

Court refuses to block Okla. execution

The Supreme Court has refused to halt the execution of an Oklahoma inmate who claims he is mentally incompetent and ineligible for the death penalty.

The justices said in an order Tuesday that they will not grant a stay of execution to 56-year-old Garry Thomas Allen, who is set to die by lethal injection Tuesday evening at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester.

Allen was convicted in the shooting death of his fiancée outside a children's day care in Oklahoma City in 1986.

Allen's attorneys had argued that he was incompetent when he entered a guilty plea in the case and that his mental condition has continued to deteriorate. Appellate courts have rejected those claims.