Court to Hear Case Over Marcos-Era Funds

Court Alerts

[##_1L|1334356743.jpg|width="127" height="85" alt=""|_##]The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into a dispute over who owns money misappropriated by Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos, a case in which the United States supports the government of the Philippines. The Republic of the Philippines claims ownership of the $35 million at issue and asked the justices to take the case after two U.S. courts awarded the stolen funds to 10,000 victims of the Marcos regime.

The lawsuit stems from an account set up with a $2 million deposit by Marcos in 1972 at Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Inc. in New York. Merrill Lynch went to court in 2000 to determine who the money belonged to.

The Philippines government asserted sovereign immunity and said the case could not proceed in U.S. courts.

The willingness of lower U.S. courts to nonetheless get involved "raises significant concerns," the U.S. solicitor general said in a filing with the Supreme Court.

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco prejudices cases in the Philippines on the same issue, the solicitor general said in court papers.

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Grounds for Divorce in Ohio - Sylkatis Law, LLC

A divorce in Ohio is filed when there is typically “fault” by one of the parties and party not at “fault” seeks to end the marriage. A court in Ohio may grant a divorce for the following reasons:
• Willful absence of the adverse party for one year
• Adultery
• Extreme cruelty
• Fraudulent contract
• Any gross neglect of duty
• Habitual drunkenness
• Imprisonment in a correctional institution at the time of filing the complaint
• Procurement of a divorce outside this state by the other party

Additionally, there are two “no-fault” basis for which a court may grant a divorce:
• When the parties have, without interruption for one year, lived separate and apart without cohabitation
• Incompatibility, unless denied by either party

However, whether or not the the court grants the divorce for “fault” or not, in Ohio the party not at “fault” will not get a bigger slice of the marital property.

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New York & New Jersey Family Law Matters We represent our clients in all types of proceedings that include termination of parental rights. >> read