-
Romania Says UNESCO Designation Won’t Affect Gold Mine
Romania insists that UNESCO’s recognition of an ancient gold mine in Transylvania as a World Heritage Site will not affect a Canadian company’s open-pit mining project, defending the measure as a boon to local communities that suffered as the controversial project stalled — and not part of some scheme to appropriate the company’s assets. In…
-
Tribal Hospital Sues Gov’t For Cutting Funding By 90%
A tribal hospital is suing the Indian Health Service in New Mexico federal court for suddenly reducing its funding by $16 million during a pandemic, a decision that has sent shock waves through Indian Country. Attorneys for the Fort Defiance Indian Hospital Board told Law360 on Monday that the $16 million cut represents the first…
-
Ukraine Says Russian Co. ‘Weaponized’ US Courts For Intel
Ukrainian officials urged the D.C. Circuit on Thursday to rehear a decision they say has allowed Russian oil company Tatneft to “weaponize” U.S. courts and conduct a massive foreign intelligence operation through the discovery process. “Such conduct, by a company whose board includes six Russian government officials, has prompted Ukraine’s U.S. ambassador to warn that…
-
Prosecutor’s Bid To Tap Pipeline-Funded Account Questioned
As hundreds of Enbridge Line 3 pipeline protesters fight criminal charges in Minnesota state courts, at least one county prosecutor has attempted to seek reimbursement for his efforts from a controversial public safety fund bankrolled by the pipeline company itself, an advocacy group found. The Center for Protest Law and Litigation obtained Hubbard County Attorney…
-
Ohio Investment Firm Can’t Rush $246M PDVSA Win
A New York federal judge found no reason to rush enforcement of two judgments against Venezuela’s state-owned oil company worth $246 million, citing numerous obstacles still impeding the sale of Petroleos de Venezuela’s U.S. asset Citgo. U.S. District Judge Peter Kevin Castel entered the money judgments Thursday in two cases involving private debts acquired by…
-
Texas Says Justices Must Weigh In On Its Challenge To ICWA
The state of Texas again has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Indian Child Welfare Act, calling the law an unconstitutional “race based child custody scheme” that requires states to treat Native children “as resources to be managed for the benefit of their race, rather than in accordance with their best interests.” In…
-
Plaintiffs Attys in Limbo, With Jury Trials ‘Impossible’ in NY
Two years into the pandemic, Justice Doris Gonzalez made a phone call from her chambers in the Bronx County Supreme Court to an attorney who had a case pending — and again reached a nonworking number. As the administrative judge for a borough of 1.4 million people, Justice Gonzalez says she has worked throughout the COVID-19 shutdown, showing…
-
Tribes, Minorities Ask FCC To Address Broadband Delays
A coalition of national minority groups asked the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday to schedule an auction for more than 8,000 educational broadband service licenses, saying continued delay will be harmful to those on the wrong side of the nation’s digital divide. “We have all seen rural communities across the country huddled together around school…
-
PDVSA, US Co. Locked In Post-Trial Fight Over $150M Debt
U.S. manufacturer Dresser-Rand and Venezuela’s state-owned oil company have both submitted post-trial briefs and replies following a September bench trial over a defaulted $150 million promissory note, leaving the court to decide whether U.S. sanctions made it impossible for Petróleos de Venezuela SA to pay its debt. In a reply filed Friday in New York…
-
NY Judge Says Time’s Up For Venezuela Over $40M Bond
The Venezuelan opposition government that’s aiming to oust President Nicolás Maduro will not get another chance to argue that U.S. sanctions make it impossible to repay $40 million owed to a Portuguese pipeline company over defaulted private notes. In an order filed Monday in New York federal court, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels said…
-
Oil Magnate Drops Bid To Seize Property In $506M Award Fight
A Moldovan gas and oil magnate has withdrawn his bid to seize a D.C. property in pursuit of his $506 million arbitral award against the government of Kazakhstan. In a motion filed Thursday in D.C. federal court, Anatolie Stati sought to withdraw July motions in which he’d argued the property was not immune from seizure…
-
Swedish Trucking Co. Moves To Arbitrate Fundraiser’s Claims
Swedish sustainable trucking startup Einride says a California investor must arbitrate claims that he was never paid for his work in rescuing the company from the jaws of failure with a successful $110 million fundraising campaign. In a reply brief filed Thursday in California federal court, Einride said that the consultancy contract between “sophisticated venture…
-
Ojibwe Tribe Wants Study Of Enbridge Environmental Damage
The White Earth Band of Ojibwe urged a tribal appeals court to prevent the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources from issuing additional Enbridge Pipeline water permits before independent investigators can assess the ongoing damage created after pipeline crews ruptured an aquifer and repeatedly allowed drilling chemicals to leach into surrounding waters. In a motion filed…
-
New RICO Suit Targets Fla. Attys Behind Debt Relief ‘Scam’
Four student loan recipients have filed a racketeering complaint against Florida attorneys they hired to settle their debts, accusing the lawyers of running an “illegal nationwide, advanced-fee, student loan debt elimination telemarketing scam” that ultimately led to two of the students being sued by creditors. Lindsey Crits, Evan Wendt and two others said they were…
-
Self-Styled ‘Bad Guy,’ Partner Bank $8.5M Despite SEC Action
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission officials have asked a New Jersey federal judge for a restraining order to stop two men from offering worthless digital tokens while facing multiple federal actions over a $22.8 million securities fraud. In their motion for an injunction Wednesday, SEC lawyers said that since the FBI seized Ronald Shane Flynn’s…
-
Ojibwe Tribe Fights for Jurisdiction Over Pipeline Case
An Ojibwe tribe has asked a federal judge to reject Minnesota’s “meritless” resistance to an Enbridge Pipeline-related lawsuit in tribal court, saying the state is trying to dodge tribal court jurisdiction. In a letter filed in Minnesota federal court on Wednesday, the White Earth Band of Ojibwe told U.S. District Judge Wilhelmina Wright that there…
-
Sonic Won’t Escape Trial In Data Breach Class Action
A federal judge has denied fast-food chain Sonic’s bid for an early judgment in a class action over a massive data breach in which hackers gained access to cash registers at 762 franchise restaurants. In an order filed Tuesday in Ohio federal court, U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin agreed with three credit unions suing…
-
US Says $380M Award In 1MDB Fraud Case Is Fair Game
U.S. government officials say they have shown a clear connection between the perpetrator of a $1 billion 1MDB fraud, his companies, and the proceeds of a Venezuelan drilling project, warranting the seizure of a $380 million arbitral award. In an opposition brief filed Tuesday in California federal court, the U.S. government said its fourth complaint…
-
NCAI Says Cop Violence Over DAPL Protests Threatens Tribes
The National Congress of American Indians has filed a brief in support of injured Dakota Access pipeline protesters suing North Dakota police, saying excessive use of force poses a threat to all tribes struggling for recognition of treaty rights. In a proposed amicus brief filed Friday, the NCAI urged a federal judge in North Dakota…
-
Twitter Beats Hunter Biden Laptop Leaker’s Defamation Suit
A federal judge has tossed a defamation suit against Twitter for allegedly portraying the owner of a computer repair shop as a “hacker,” saying the court could not consider evidence such as a New York Post story that identified the man’s business as the source of files leaked from President Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s laptop…
-
Ojibwe Pipeline Protesters Win Order Against Minn.Sheriff
Two Ojibwe women won a temporary restraining order Friday against a Minnesota sheriff after his department allegedly barricaded the driveway of a private camp where Enbridge pipeline protesters were gathered as guests. The order prevents the Hubbard County sheriff’s office from blocking access to and from the property, which is owned by the nonprofit Switchboard…
-
Ojibwe Pipeline Protestors Sue Minn. Sheriff Over ‘Blockade’
Two Ojibwe women have sued a Minnesota sheriff for allegedly blocking access to private property where Native protesters of the Enbridge pipeline gathered, in what they call the “most militarized response to an easement dispute in history.” In a complaint filed against the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office on Friday, Ojibwe activists Winona LaDuke and Tara…
-
Venezuelan Mining Co. Beats $188M Award Due to Service Error
A Miami federal court reversed its confirmation of a $188 million award against Venezuelan state-owned mining company Ferrominera Orinoco CA over a fatal service error. In an order filed Thursday, U.S. District Judge Darrin P. Gayles wrote that, on second thought, the Venezuelan company should have been served in accordance with the Foreign Sovereign Immunities…
-
Venezuela’s State Oil Co. Fights $1.9B Bond Order
Venezuela’s state-owned oil company told the Second Circuit that holders of $1.9 billion in defaulted bonds do not have a legitimate claim over its asset Citgo Holding, because the underlying deal was an illegal “Maduro-orchestrated transaction” condemned by the U.S.-recognized opposition government. According to an ad hoc board of Petróleos de Venezuela SA appointed by…
-
SEC Fines Firm For Alleged Cyber Disclosure Failures
The SEC has reached a roughly $500,000 deal with a real estate settlement services company over its alleged disclosure failures regarding a cybersecurity defect that exposed personal financial information on over 800 million mortgage title insurance records dating back to 2003. In its order Monday, the SEC said First American Financial Corp.’s information security personnel…
-
SD Gov. Undaunted After Judge Snuffs FireworksCrusade
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem vowed to continue the fight after a federal judge denied her plea for fireworks-by-injunction at Mount Rushmore this July Fourth — and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe remains hunkered down for a long-haul fight for recognition of its constitutionally protected treaty rights to the Black Hills. In an order Wednesday,…
-
Vale Says Steinmetz’s Real Estate Co. Is Stonewalling
Brazilian mining company Vale SA is seeking to compel discovery from a Manhattan real estate corporation in a long-running effort to recover funds from an alleged billion-dollar fraud perpetrated by BSG Resources and its owner, Beny Steinmetz. In the motion filed Wednesday in New York federal court, Vale suggested that Perfectus — a real estate…
-
In Small Alaska City, Native Women Say Police Ignored Rapes
NOME, Alaska (AP) — There’s not much that scares Susie. As an Alaska Native woman, she thrives amid sub-zero winters in her village near the Arctic Circle, and camps with her family each summer at the Bering Sea, catching, drying and smoking salmon to put away for winter. But Susie is afraid to return to…
-
Are cellphones really to blame for spike in S.C. prison violence?
BISHOPVILLE, S.C. — The deadly, seven-hour riot that broke out in a South Carolina prison last weekend occurred amid a rising tide of violence within the state’s prison system. State corrections officials were quick Monday to blame contraband cellphones as major contributing factors in the bloodshed, but observers say there are other reasons for the alarming spike in…
-
The Psychological Violence of Mexico’s War on Drugs
Violence committed by Mexican police and military forces during the country’s prolonged drug war has wreaked a psychological toll at least as debilitating as the deadly acts of the drug cartels themselves, according to a study from the Mexican Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) The study, published in the International Journal on Drug Policy, entitled “Mourning our…