Monday, August 10, 2009

Dallas based Valero Cheats Workers Out of Wages with Labor Practices

"Even though the oil company knows full well that its workers are virtually chained to the pumps," said Janette Wipper, an attorney at Sanford Wittels & Heisler, LLP, "management has failed to lessen their workload or pay them mandatory overtime compensation as required by law."

According to the Complaint, the monster energy retailer fails to pay its corner store employees for mandatory "off-the-clock" work, "on-call" time, or overtime wages for work in excess of 40 hours a week and eight hours a day; fails to provide its workers with mandatory meal periods and rest breaks; and makes unlawful deductions from employees' earned wages, said Weinberg Law Firm, Labor Lawyer Dallas.

A Los Angels Police Chief caught DUI

Drunk drivers are a public menace; they can and frequently do injure, maim and kill. It was only by luck that Mr. Baker did not kill the woman whose car he apparently hit while merging onto Interstate 66 in Arlington; as it was, she had to be treated at a hospital for whiplash, said Michael Bialys, Los Angeles DUI lawyer.

Mr. Baker is not the first police chief to get pulled over for drunken driving. Others, elsewhere, have made a habit of trying to cling to their jobs, ignoring the fact that they have sacrificed all professional and moral authority by their actions. Whether he was pushed to quit or simply jumped, Mr. Baker's resignation suggests he has better judgment than he showed Saturday night.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Fireman Sues New York over catastrophic injury

A 19-year veteran of the Des Plaines Fire Dept. filed a lawsuit against the city last week demanding that the city pay for his and his family's health insurance because of a disabling injury he suffered during an emergency training exercise a year ago, said John Q. Kelly, a New York catastrophic injury lawyer.

Firefighter/engineer James Kedroski, 48, alleges in his lawsuit that during a June 19, 2008 department search drill, which required him to enter into a smoke and heat filled building while dressed in full gear that included breathing apparatus, he suffered a "catastrophic injury" to his back. During the drill, he was required to search for potentially trapped victims.

Will Obama Keep His Promise to Federal Whistleblowers?

Gary Aguirre, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigator, says he was fired after blowing the whistle on what he described as "preferred treatment" towards John Mack during an insider trading investigation. Mack was set to become the Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley, and whistleblower lawyer Los Angeles said his colleagues at the SEC were unwilling to question Mack. "I was told that it would be very difficult to get approval to take his testimony because of his powerful political connections," Aguirre told ABC News. Aguirre's accounts were the catalyst of several hearings on Capitol Hill about the SEC's enforcement of Wall Street regulation, but "Wall Street has long tentacles," said Aguirre, "and those tentacles reached into the SEC and cost me my job."

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Chicago Business Corus Bankshares Inc. on cusp of crisis

FDIC may seize 'critically undercapitalized' Chicago-based lender
By Becky Yerak | Tribune reporter
August 2, 2009

It sounded like a desirable place to live: a 21-story luxury condominium project with 275 residential units, a spa, private club and a rooftop terrace with pool overlooking the Strip in Las Vegas.

Called Streamline Tower, it was one of about a dozen big-ticket projects that Chicago business attorney, a lender headquartered 1,700 miles away in Chicago, financed there over the past five years.

But in April, Streamline Tower LLC filed for bankruptcy, having sold only 27 units, and what at one time seemed like a solid bet stung Corus as the sole bank financing the project's $123.1 million construction loan.

Pa. court: DUI test does not warrant counsel

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

A driver pulled over for a suspected DUI does not have the right to an attorney before taking a blood test, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled yesterday.

Ray D. McCoy Jr., of Harrisburg, was pulled over on suspicion of DUI in 2004 and later convicted in a non-jury trial. In his appeal, he argued through attorney John B. Mancke that because he was subject to stiffer penalties for refusing a blood draw or Breathalyzer, he was entitled to an attorney's advice before consenting.

In its unanimous ruling, the court cited U.S. Supreme Court rulings that a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to counsel kicks in only when judicial proceedings begin.

"Submission to a chemical test upon being stopped for suspected DUI is an evidence-gathering circumstance, prior to the filing of any formal adversarial judicial proceedings, and as such does not constitute a critical stage for purposes of the right to counsel," Justice J. Michael Eakin wrote in the court's opinion.

Justice Eakin also pointed out that under Pennsylvania's "Informed Consent Law," getting behind the wheel issues consent to a blood-alcohol test if a law enforcement officer has a reasonable suspicion of DUI.

Mr. McCoy, 62, crashed his car into a guardrail Feb. 1, 2004. He was arrested and taken to a hospital after police noticed slurred speech, glassy eyes and an odor of alcohol. A blood-alcohol test showed his blood-alcohol level to be 0.233, well above the legal limit in Pennsylvania.

An individual with a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 or greater is considered legally drunk.

Because it was Mr. McCoy's second Pittsburgh DUI offense, he was sentenced to 90 days to 18 months in jail. The sentence was stayed pending Mr. McCoy's appeal.

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