Supreme Court rejects tribal appeals

Headline News

[##_1L|1386051430.jpg|width="130" height="98" alt=""|_##]The Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals by American Indians to step into a decade-old lawsuit accusing the government of mismanaging more than $100 billion in oil, gas, timber and other royalties from their lands. The justices declined to disturb an appeals court ruling that removed U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth from the case.

The appeals court said Lamberth, who held successive Democratic and Republican Interior Department secretaries in contempt of court, had lost his objectivity in the case.

The court also refused to review another appeals court ruling that reversed Lamberth’s order that the Interior Department disconnect its computers from the Internet for failing to provide adequate security for the Indians’ trust records.

The class-action suit, filed in 1996 by Elouise Cobell of the Blackfeet Tribe in Montana, deals with individual Indians’ lands. Several tribes have also sued, claiming mismanagement of their lands.

Earlier this month the government proposed paying $7 billion to settle the lawsuits, but only roughly half of that would go to the plaintiffs.

Lawmakers have said they plan hearings on the proposal. The Indians have said they would accept $27.5 billion to end the litigation.

Related listings

  • Jackson Law Firm Sues Scruggs In Dispute Over Fees

    Jackson Law Firm Sues Scruggs In Dispute Over Fees

    Headline News 03/27/2007

    A Jackson law firm has sued millionaire trial attorney Richard Scruggs for allegedly withholding money it claims it was owed for working on Hurricane Katrina insurance-related litigation. The lawsuit was filed March 15 in Lafayette County Circuit Cou...

  • Lakin firm plans to stay put despite eviction notice

    Lakin firm plans to stay put despite eviction notice

    Headline News 03/26/2007

    BP America, landlord of the Lakin Law Firm, intends to evict the firm from its office in Wood River in about 90 days.The Lakin firm intends to stay. The firm filed a complaint in Madison County circuit court March 21, seeking to extend its lease at 3...

  • Biovail fires law firm hedge-fund case

    Biovail fires law firm hedge-fund case

    Headline News 03/24/2007

    Canadian drug company Biovail Corp. has fired Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP, the law firm that engineered the company's high-profile lawsuit that claimed hedge funds and research analysts colluded to depress its stock price.Kasowitz Benso...

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.

Business News

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