Monthly Archives: March 2020

Blog, Business Law, Civil Rights, Legal News, Supreme Court

Supreme Court Weighs Abortion Case; Schumer Remarks Draw Rebuke From Roberts

There were fierce clashes at the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday and a fierce critique from Chief Justice John Roberts afterward upon learning about statements made by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer outside while the arguments were taking place inside.

Addressing a crowd of abortion-rights demonstrators, Schumer, D-N.Y., referred to the court’s two Trump appointees, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, and said, “You have unleashed the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

Schumer’s statement was apparently a reference to Kavanaugh’s angry statement to Democratic senators at his 2018 confirmation hearing, “You sowed the wind. For decades to come, I fear the country will reap the whirlwind.”

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Blog, Business Law, Family, International, Legal News, Supreme Court

In an unprecedented move, the Trump administration suspended an 82-year-old road safety law for some truck drivers, showing how much coronavirus is pressuring retailers and hospitals to maintain cleaning and medical supplies

  • The hours-of-service laws, which mandate how many hours a truck driver may work and have been in place for truck drivers since 1938, are suspended at a federal level for the first time in history.
  • As of Friday evening, truck drivers who are moving medical supplies and consumer goods like masks and hand sanitizer do not have to follow HOS.
  • It’s common on a local or state level to lift these safety regulations amid natural disasters, like floods or hurricanes, that require stores and hospitals to stay stocked with necessary goods.
  • Truck drivers move 70% of the nation’s goods by weight. They’re responsible for replenishing stores and hospitals with necessary items.

The federal administration that oversees regulations for America’s six million professional drivers has temporarily suspended a trucking safety law that’s been in place since 1938.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said Friday evening that truck drivers who are moving goods “in support of emergency relief efforts related to the COVID-19 outbreaks” will temporarily not have to follow the hours-of-service laws, which mandate how many hours a truck driver may work.

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Blog, Criminal, International, Legal News, Organized Crime

UP IN SMOKE Wanted Mafia godfather busted after breaching Italy’s coronavirus lockdown to go for a smoke

A wanted Mafia Godfather was busted after breaching Italy’s tough Coronavirus lockdown to go for a smoke.

Cesare Antonio Cordi, 42, boss of the bloody Cordi clan who are behind several murders as well as controlling prostitution and drug rackets was nabbed by cops early yesterday.

Officers had spotted Cordi puffing on a cigarette in the early hours as he wandered along the street with shopping bags at Bruzzano Zeffirio near Locri.

The area is home to the infamous organised crime gang of the ‘ndrangheta who are more ruthless and bloodthirsty than their Sicilian counterparts.

Cops stopped him to ask why he was breaching the tough lockdown measures brought in to combat the killer bug outbreak and were stunned when they discovered who he was.

He had been on the run since last August after a judge issued an arrest warrant for him and he was thought to be hiding in a series of safe houses with underground bunkers.

Footage released by the police later showed armed cops trawling through a house he had been hiding in as they searched for accomplices and weapons.

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Blog, Business Law, Civil Rights, Legal News, Supreme Court

Use Amazon, Uber or Walmart.com? You’ve probably signed away your right to sue them

Tucked into the sign-up process for many popular e-commerce sites and apps are dense terms-of-service agreements that legal experts say are changing the nature of consumer transactions, creating a veil of secrecy around how these companies function.

The small print in these documents requires all signatories to agree to binding arbitration and to clauses that ban class actions. Just by signing up for these services, consumers give up their rights to sue companies like Amazon, Uber and Walmart before a jury of their peers, agreeing instead to undertake a private process overseen by a paid arbitrator.

Binding arbitration clauses have been common for decades, whether buying a car or joining a membership club like Costco, but the proliferation of apps and e-commerce means that such clauses now cover millions of everyday commercial transactions, from buying groceries to getting to the airport.

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Blog, Criminal, Legal News, Organized Crime

After unusual trial, Mexican Mafia member sentenced to life in prison

By MATTHEW ORMSETHSTAFF WRITER 
MARCH 2, 2020

For cutting short the life of a fellow Mexican Mafia member in a hail of bullets, a judge ruled Monday that Jose Luis Loza should spend the rest of his own in a federal prison.

Loza, from Whittier, was convicted of murder, racketeering and other crimes after an unusual trial in August, in which Loza himself testified for two days. It was an unprecedented departure, law enforcement officials say, from the Mexican Mafia’s historical refusal to acknowledge in the courtroom such an organization exists, let alone discuss its politics on the witness stand.

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