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Court sides with teacher fired for sex with 18-year-old
Court Watch |
2017/09/12 12:53
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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has upheld a decision that would allow a teacher fired for having sex with an 18-year-old on her graduation night to return to teaching.
The Lebanon Daily News reports the court ruled against the Cornwall-Lebanon School District, which fired social studies teacher Luke "Todd" Scipioni in 2014 after learning details of the sexual relationship that occurred a decade earlier.
An arbitrator said there was no accusation of a sexual relationship prior to the student's graduation and Scipioni was not culpable for any relationship that occurred after that.
The arbitrator said Scipioni should be reinstated after a one-year suspension for not being truthful. A lower court reversed the arbitrator but was overruled by an appeals court. The supreme court upheld the appeals court's decision.
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Court: Apology expressing fault can't be used in lawsuits
Legal Focuses |
2017/09/11 12:54
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The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that an apology by a medical provider that includes an admission of liability can't be used in a later lawsuit against the provider.
At issue in the court's Tuesday decision was the state's "apology law," which already bars using apologies in lawsuits.
The new question before the court was whether an apology that includes an expression of fault can also be kept out of lawsuits.
Justice Sharon Kennedy wrote that under Ohio law the apology may include an acknowledgment that a patient's medical care fell below standards of care without it later being used as evidence.
The court looked at the case of a woman in Brown County in southern Ohio who died after trying to kill herself in a hospital.
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Ohio Supreme Court hears dispute on abortion clinic closure
Legal PR |
2017/09/10 12:54
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Government attorneys have asked the Ohio Supreme Court to uphold the state Health Department's order to shut down Toledo's last abortion clinic.
The case involves one of several restrictions Ohio lawmakers have placed on abortion clinics in recent years.
The court on Tuesday heard arguments over the Health Department's 2014 order to close Capital Care of Toledo.
The department says the clinic's lack of a patient-transfer agreement with a local hospital should force it to close.
Such agreements were mandated, and public hospitals barred from providing them, under restrictions passed in 2013.
Lower courts have ruled the restrictions unconstitutional.
The court's chief justice on Tuesday asked about an alternative for women in the city of 275,000 residents if the clinic closed. The closest clinic is an hour's drive away in Michigan.
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Court eyes Massachusetts church-state dispute
Legal News |
2017/09/07 12:52
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An attorney says a Massachusetts town should not be barred from giving public funds to support the restoration of a historic building just because it happens to be a church.
Nina Pickering-Cook told Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday that communities' ability to protect their historic resources shouldn't change because the structures are owned by a religious entity.
At issue is whether the town of Acton violated Massachusetts' constitution when it approved more than $100,000 in community preservation grants to restore stained-glass windows and identify other needs at a church.
Douglas Mishkin is an attorney for the taxpayers who brought the lawsuit. Mishkin told the court that active houses of worship are clearly prohibited from getting taxpayer dollars.
The Supreme Judicial Court is expected to rule in the coming months. |
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Trump nominates White House lawyer to important court seat
Court Line |
2017/09/06 12:52
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President Donald Trump has tapped one of his own White House attorneys for a judgeship on one of the most important federal appeals courts, opening the door for confirmation hearing questions about the legal controversies that dominated the first seven months of Trump's presidency.
Gregory Katsas was nominated Thursday to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Katsas, the deputy White House counsel, was a former Justice Department official under President George W. Bush. A biography on the White House's website says he has argued more than 75 appeals, including the constitutional challenge to President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act before the Supreme Court.
He would replace the libertarian-leaning Judge Janice Rogers Brown, who retired this summer. The court is influential, in part because of its role in adjudicating many of the orders and laws put forth by the administration. It is sometimes called America's second highest court because it can be a stepping stone to the Supreme Court just a few blocks away.
Katsas, once a law clerk to Justice Thomas, has served in high-ranking Justice Department roles, including as head of the civil division that has responsibility for defending the administration's policies against court challenges. He is part of the steady stream of Jones Day law firm partners who have flowed into the Trump administration, including White House counsel Don McGahn.
So many Jones Day attorneys work in the White House that the counsel's office issued a blanket ethics waiver for them so that they can maintain contact with their former colleagues without running afoul of ethics provisions. The firm's lawyers continue to represent members of the Trump campaign outside the White House. |
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