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Man pleads guilty to sea cucumber smuggling charge
Court Line |
2014/03/10 20:39
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Federal prosecutors in San Diego say a man has pleaded guilty to charges he smuggled 100 pounds of dried sea cucumber into the United States from Mexico.
Sea cucumbers are leathery-skinned marine animals used in some folk medicine practices.
United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy says Cheng Zhuo Liu (chuhng joo-oh lee-oo), a resident of Chula Vista, admitted to tucking the sea cucumbers into the spare tire area of his car before crossing the border last October.
According to the US attorney's office, their market value was between $5,000 and $10,000.
The particular species Liu had is protected under international trade rules, and requires a permit for import.
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Driver pleads guilty in deadly bus stop crash
Attorney News |
2014/03/10 20:38
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A driver who plowed into a Riverside bus stop, killing a woman and a 7-year-old girl, has pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
The Press-Enterprise reports 46-year-old Joe Williams was ordered Thursday to serve six months in custody of the Sheriff's Department, but his sentence could include a work-release program in lieu of jail time.
Williams was indicted after prosecutors told a grand jury that he had a history of blackouts seizures and should not have been driving.
Authorities say Williams, a parking enforcement agent, blacked out at a red light on Dec. 28.
When motorists behind him honked their horns, Williams accelerated, veered up onto the shoulder of the road and crashed into a bus bench.
Twenty-eight-year-old Melissa Bernal and 7-year-old Aniya Mitchell were killed. |
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Two men found guilty for selling U.S. company’s technology
Legal Focuses |
2014/03/07 22:55
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A federal jury found two men guilty Wednesday of economic espionage involving the theft and sale of a U.S. company’s technology to a competitor controlled by the Chinese government.
The jury returned the verdicts against Robert Maegerle and Walter Liew.
They were accused of stealing Delaware-based DuPont Co.’s method for making titanium oxide, a chemical that fetches $17 billion a year in sales worldwide and is used to whiten everything from cars to the middle of Oreo cookies.
A federal jury found two men guilty Wednesday of economic espionage involving the theft and sale of a U.S. company’s technology to a competitor controlled by the Chinese government.
Prosecutors said DuPont was unwilling to sell its method to China, so it was stolen and sent to a company called Pangang Group Co. Ltd., according to testimony during the diplomatically dicey proceedings. The jury heard six weeks of testimony.
Prosecutors alleged that Pangang’s factory is the only facility inside China known to be producing titanium oxide the DuPont way, which uses chlorination. |
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Court upholds $185 million award against Argentina
Legal Focuses |
2014/03/07 22:54
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The Supreme Court has upheld a British natural gas company's multimillion dollar award against the government of Argentina.
BG Group won $185 million through arbitration of a dispute with Argentina over investment in natural gas development. An arbitration tribunal said the company did not have to first submit the dispute to Argentine courts before arbitration could begin.
Argentina asked a U.S. court to throw out the award. The federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., sided with Argentina because it found that judges, not arbitrators, should decide where attempts to resolve the dispute should begin.
But the Supreme Court said Wednesday the arbitrators get to make that call and that they were correct to rule in favor of BG Group in this case. |
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S.C. high court hearing Certificate of Need case
Legal News |
2014/03/05 21:08
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South Carolina's highest court is gearing up for a debate over whether the state's health agency can end a program that regulates the building or expansion of medical facilities.
On Thursday, the state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments over the Certificate of Need program, an approvals process administered by the Department of Health and Environmental Control and required under state law for any medical facilities seeking to build or expand.
The program has been on hold since June, when Gov. Nikki Haley vetoed the $1.7 million needed to run it, saying she thinks it's an impediment to the free market and isn't needed. The House sustained Haley's veto after Ways and Means Chairman Brian White took the floor and said the veto was just about the money, not whether the program should continue.
Since that vote, some House Republicans have said they didn't intend to nix the program entirely, pointing out last summer that an executive decision to discontinue the program "may be contrary to law but is certainly contrary to the will and intent of the House of Representatives."
Three dozen states have similar programs, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
State law still requires medical facilities to acquire a Certificate of Need from DHEC before building, expanding, offering a new service or buying medical equipment costing more than $600,000. When Haley vetoed the funding, about three dozen projects worth about $100 million were being reviewed by DHEC.
Groups including the South Carolina Hospital Association sued over the issue, saying the state law requiring the review is still on the books and can't be suspended just because DHEC didn't set aside money to pay for it. Supporters also have argued that the Certificate of Need program is needed to keep costly medical services or hospital beds from going unused and that it ensures that rural communities keep access to health care. |
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