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Court gives fertilizer dealers a reprieve from policy change
Press Release |
2016/09/26 22:36
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A court ruling has given farm fertilizer dealers a reprieve from a federal policy change that some say would unfairly burden the industry.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration policy change announced last year would regulate retail dealers of farm fertilizer such as anhydrous ammonia under the same standards as manufacturers. It came after a deadly explosion at a Texas plant in 2013.
The Agricultural Retailers Association and The Fertilizer Institute say the change would affect 3,800 fertilizer retailers nationwide, costing them more than $100 million. The two organizations sued a year ago.
The change was to take effect this coming Saturday. But a federal appeals court has ruled that OSHA can't implement it without going through a formal rule-making process. |
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German court ends fight over estate of Iran shah's 2nd wife
Press Release |
2016/02/14 11:05
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A German court has ruled that the estate of the former shah of Iran's second wife, Soraya Esfandiari-Bakhtiari, belongs to her late brother's ex-chauffeur.
The ruling announced Tuesday by the Cologne state court comes nearly 15 years after Soraya's death. She named as heir her brother, Bijan Esfandiari, who lived in Cologne and died days after her. The court ruled that a short will the brother wrote in a notebook, naming his former chauffeur and private secretary as his heir, is valid.
The man had spent several years disputing part of the inheritance with relatives of Soraya. The court didn't specify its value.
Soraya married Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1951. Seven years later, the shah repudiated her in an Islamic divorce after they failed to have children.
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Silicon Valley company starts to take court disputes online
Press Release |
2015/07/15 23:11
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Imagine working out a divorce without hiring an attorney or stepping into court or disputing the tax assessment on your home completely online.
A Silicon Valley company is starting to make both possibilities a reality with software that experts say represents the next wave of technology in which the law is turned into computer code that can solve legal battles without the need for a judge or attorney.
"We're not quite at the Google car stage in law, but there are no conceptual or technical barriers to what we're talking about," said Oliver Goodenough, director of the Center for Legal Innovation at Vermont Law School, referring to Google's self-driving car.
The computer programs, at least initially, have the ability to relieve overburdened courts of small claims cases, traffic fines and some family law matters. But Goodenough and other experts envision a future in which even more complicated disputes are resolved online, and they say San Jose, California-based Modria has gone far in developing software to realize that.
"There is a version of the future when computers get so good that we trust them to play this role in our society, and it lets us get justice to more people because it's cheaper and more transparent," said Colin Rule, Modria's co-founder.
Officials in Ohio are using Modria's software to resolve disputes over tax assessments and keep them out of court, and a New York-based arbitration association has deployed it to settle medical claims arising from certain types of car crashes.
In the Netherlands, Modria software is being used to guide people through their divorces.
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New Jersey, leagues renew court tussle over sports gambling
Press Release |
2015/03/20 13:53
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The fight over legalized sports gambling in New Jersey returned to a federal appeals court Tuesday, where attorneys for the state and the country's major sports leagues spent nearly an hour parsing language in a decades-old federal statute and in recent court rulings.
At issue: Whether a 2014 New Jersey law repealing prohibitions against sports gambling violates the 1992 federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which says states cannot "sponsor, operate, advertise, promote, license or authorize" sports betting.
A good portion of Tuesday's oral arguments before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals focused on the meaning of the word "authorize," and whether New Jersey did that when Gov. Chris Christie signed the law striking the betting prohibitions.
Attorneys from both sides endured sharp questioning from the court, which heard a previous incarnation of the case in 2013. In the ruling that followed that argument, the court said New Jersey couldn't be prevented from repealing its sports gambling laws. The state seized on that language to write its 2014 law. |
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Egyptian court sentences 188 people to death
Press Release |
2014/12/04 15:45
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An Egyptian court sentenced 188 people to death Tuesday pending the opinion of the country's top religious authority, the latest mass death sentence handed down by the country's judicial system despite widespread international criticism.
The 188 were charged over the killing of 11 policemen last year in Kerdasa, a restive town west of Cairo considered a militant stronghold. The attack, which saw the policemen's bodies mutilated, is considered one of the country's grisliest assaults on security forces.
The defendants also were accused of attempting to kill 10 more policemen, damaging a police station, setting police cars on fire and possessing heavy weapons.
The attack happened on the same day that security forces brutally cleared two protest camps of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's supporters, killing hundreds. Protesters were demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood group.
Some 22,000 people have been arrested since Morsi's ouster, including most of the Brotherhood's top leaders, as well as large numbers of others swept up by police during pro-Morsi protests. |
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Insurance Litigation Law Firm Clark & Fox Launches New Website
Press Release |
2014/08/01 13:59
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John M. Clark, Michael Fox, Georgia S. Foerstner and Erin Nulty are pleased to announce the formation and opening of Clark & Fox (www.clarkfoxlaw.com) , a law firm solely serving and representing the insurance industry. Patrick J Reilly, III and Megan Foster join them as associates, and Scott Patterson as Of Counsel. Clark & Fox brings over 80 years of collective experience in representing and servicing the insurance industry, including doing so in complex liability defense matters, reinsurance/coverage cases and investigating and prosecuting insurance fraud for state and local law enforcement. All of the attorneys also have its extensive and intimate knowledge of the London insurance market. Founders John M. Clark and Michael Fox both participated in the Secondee Counsel Program with Lloyd’s of London syndicates serving as in-house counsel.
"I am thrilled to start a company with these attorneys and staff,” says co-founder, President and CEO John M. Clark. "The strong insurance background of attorneys and staff demonstrate a penchant for helping insurance companies of all sizes both domestically and internationally with all of their needs. We truly appreciate and understand through all of our experience the insurance industry’s unique needs and we can assist and partner with them to achieve their goals in an efficient and cost effective manner."
Although its main offices will be based in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the firm will have a national presence with offices also located in New York City, Cleveland Ohio and Maryland\Washington DC. The firm will be solely focused on representing and servicing the insurance industry. The firm provides practical and efficient solutions to the legal issues faced by insurance carriers of all sizes in today's complex and fast-paced litigation friendly environment.
Whether the need is for Clark & Fox team to represent an insured in a complex liability manner or provide counseling and advice on a complicated reinsurance or insurance coverage issue, our experience and expertise in insurance leveraged with our state of the art technology allows us to be flexible to meet our clients needs. We partner with our clients and leverage our industry knowledge, contacts and technology to provide effective and business oriented counseling in ways that often go beyond traditional legal advice. In addition, we are also there if our clients need us to vigorously defend and represent their interests in complex and contentious litigation.
Its co-founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, John M. Clark, will lead the firm. Georgia S. Foerstner, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the firm's attorneys and staff.
For more information about Clark & Fox please visit www.clarkfoxlaw.com. Also, you may contact any of the partners as follows:
John M. Clark jclark@clarkfoxlaw.com or 856-288-2403
Michael Fox at mfox@clarkfoxlaw.com or 856-345-0374
Georgia S. Foerstner at gfoerstner@clarkfoxlaw.com or 856-345-0377
Erin Nulty enulty@clarkfoxlaw.com or 856-432-1570
  
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