A financial review that turned up "excessive and questionable spending" at the Kentucky League of Cities has been turned over to state and federal law enforcement agencies.

State Auditor Crit Luallen said Thursday she forwarded the report to law enforcement "because of the nature and complexity of the exam's findings."

Those findings included high pay for executives of the quasi-governmental organization that is primarily funded by public money, conflicts of interest in spending, undocumented credit card expenses and gifts from vendors, including admission to a Las Vegas strip club for three League staff members.

The audit team of state financial experts found 19 positions in the organization paid more than $100,000 — some far more, thanks to raises over the past seven years.

Auditors noted that the executive director's salary had risen since 2002 from $170,000 to $331,000, and that the deputy executive director's pay rose over the same period from $141,00 to $255,000. They also noted a raise that took the chief insurance services officer salary from $124,000 to nearly $239,000.

Lyondell Chemical Co. settled a lawsuit brought by its unsecured creditors against bank lenders to help the chemical company reorganize in bankruptcy. The creditors don't support the agreement.

The settlement, which still needs court approval, resolves a lawsuit brought by the creditors on behalf of Lyondell against the company's bank lenders related a 2007 buyout, Lyondell spokesman David Harpole said in a phone interview.

Creditors' lawyer Steven Pohl said while his clients don't support the deal, under bankruptcy law Lyondell owns the creditors' claims and has the right to settle.

“Its especially unusual on the eve of a trial for the debtor to come in and settle when the parties have spent four months getting ready for trial,” said Pohl in a phone interview.

The proposed settlement would give the creditors a cash payment of $300 million when Lyondell exits bankruptcy, and establish a litigation trust to fund lawsuits against third parties. The accord was reached after a mediator, whose appointment was announced Nov. 9, failed to resolve the dispute, Harpole said.

“This clears the path for us to move forward with filing an amended disclosure statement and exiting bankruptcy,” Harpole said.

Lyondell's creditors and lenders accepted the appointment of mediator Myron Trepper “for the purpose of facilitating settlement discussions,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Gerber said in court papers filed Nov. 9. The lawsuit, filed July 22, sought a trial to determine damages.

The lawsuit claimed Lyondell's 2007 buyout, financed with $22 billion in borrowings, left the company with too much debt and caused it to fail a year later. The suit names Lyondell's parent, Netherlands-based LyondellBasell Industries AF, and banks including ABN Amro Bank NV, Citibank NA, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and UBS AG.

La Salle University will pay $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of a football player who was cleared to play after sustaining a concussion at practice and later suffered a severe brain injury in a game, the attorney for the player's family said Monday.

Preston Plevretes, who was 19 at the time, was rendered severely brain damaged in 2005 because an initial concussion had not fully resolved, thereby worsening the injury from the second impact.

Plevretes, a linebacker, was covering a punt during a 56-14 loss to Duquesne in November 2005 when he sustained a hit that prompted emergency surgery at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh to relieve pressure on his brain. The injury halted the game with 2:24 left in the fourth quarter.

Following surgery, Plevretes was limited to movement of his eyes and some movement of his hands and fingers.

In its lawsuit, Plevretes' family claimed that substandard testing and medical attention by La Salle personnel were responsible for allowing Plevretes to play despite his earlier concussion.

A trial was to have begun Monday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. The settlement was announced in a statement released by attorney Shannin Specter.

NORWALK, Conn. — Xerox Corp. said Monday that a pension fund hasdropped a lawsuit over provisions in the copier company's purchase ofAffiliated Computer Services Inc. that would have made it tough for abetter buyout offer to succeed.

Xerox said the plaintiffs, Cityof St. Clair Shores Police and Fire Retirement System in Michigan,ended the litigation after the copier company agreed to removeroadblocks to a superior offer for ACS.

Xerox agreed that if theACS board receives a better offer to its $5.6 billion cash-and-stockbid for ACS, the copier company will not require ACS Chairman DarwinDeason to vote his shares in favor of Xerox.

The previousagreement would have forced Deason to give half of his votes to supportthe Xerox bid. He controls a 44 percent of the votes at ACS.

Xerox also won't force ACS to hold a shareholders meeting to vote on the Xerox bid but instead end the merger if requested.

The lawsuit was filed in October in Dallas County, Texas. A separate shareholder class action lawsuit is pending in Delaware.

Max Mizejewski (pronounced Majeski) received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993. In 1997, Max graduated from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College and went on to work in the public sector before entering private practice. As Manager of the Oregon Department of Transportation Environmental Unit, Max gained valuable experience negotiating, problem solving and working through confrontational issues with emotionally charged individuals. Max brings this experience to his private practice which focuses on criminal defense and family law.

Max believes in taking the time to understand each clients unique situation and specific needs. Max represents clients in criminal prosecutions, administrative hearings, dissolution of marriage, custody matters and appeals.

Education
J.D., Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR
International Law Program, Udayana University, Bali, Indonesia
B.A., University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Clerkships
United States Department of the Interior, Solicitors Office
Energy Trust of Oregon, General Counsel

Public Sector Experience
Oregon Department of Transportation, Environmental Section
City of Portland, City Nature West

Professional Memberships
Oregon State Bar
Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
American Association for Justice
Multnomah Bar Association
Lane County Bar Association

For more information about Oregon criminal law, Oregon criminal courts, the criminal process, or to discuss your criminal charges with an experienced criminal defense attorney, please call 541-505-9872 or visit http://www.mjmlawoffice.com

A law firm active in Henderson and Las Vegas is suing the state over rules requiring licensing of non-attorney employees working on mortgage loan modifications.

Cogburn Law Offices LLC filed suit last week in Clark County District Court against the Department of Business and Industry, Division of Mortgage Lending.

Court records indicate the law firm won a temporary restraining order against the division on Friday. District Judge Valorie Vega also set a Friday hearing on Cogburn's request for a preliminary injunction, which would extend the restraining order while the issue is litigated.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Terry Coffing of the firm Marquis & Aurbach.

Coffing said Monday that Cogburn Law Offices has not received any notification of enforcement action against it by the Mortgage Lending Division and that the restraining order should preserve the status quo until Friday's hearing.

Coffing said the State Bar of Nevada, which regulates the legal industry, has expressed concern over the rules and he hopes the bar intervenes in the case on Cogburn's side.

He said Jamie Cogburn, co-founder of the law firm, supports regulation of the loan modification industry to ensure consumers are not harmed by scam artists.

But the division's rules are too broad, including provisions attempting to regulate the practice of law, Coffing said.