Australian court rules ANZ Bank late fees too high

Legal Business 2014/02/06 15:49   Bookmark and Share
One of Australia's largest banks faces a multimillion dollar payout to thousands of customers after a judge ruled on Wednesday that late payment fees it charged on credit cards were exorbitant.

ANZ Banking Group Ltd. partially lost a class action law suit in the Australian Federal Court brought by more than 43,000 customers who claimed they had been charged excessive fees for years. In some cases the fees were 70 times the cost to the bank of administering late payments.

Justice Michelle Gordon ruled that the bank had been illegally imposing penalties for late payments on credit cards.

She agreed with lead plaintiff Lucio Paciocco's argument that the fees were "extravagant, exorbitant and unconscionable," and represented a breach of contract.

But she also ruled in ANZ's favor by dismissing claims that other types of bank fees were illegal penalties.

It was not clear how much the bank would have to pay back customers who had been charged too much over six years. Lawyers for the bank and customers have until next week to agree on a proposal for repaying customers that the court can rule on.
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Judge finds Citgo guilty of Clean Air Act felonies

Lawyer Blog Post 2014/02/06 15:47   Bookmark and Share
A South Texas judge has fined Citgo Petroleum more than $2 million after finding it guilty of felony violations of the U.S. Clean Air Act by its Corpus Christi refinery.

U.S. District Judge John Rainey handed down his verdict and punishment Wednesday in Corpus Christi.

Dozens of residents near Citgo's Corpus Christi refinery testified that they were sickened by pollution from the refinery. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times reports prosecutors accused the Venezuelan-owned company of not installing roofs on two oil-water separator tanks the company operated between 1994 and 2003.

Dick DeGuerin of Houston, who represented Citgo, said the company will appeal the conviction.

Melissa Jarrell, a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi associate criminal justice professor, predicted the verdict could prompt other air pollution victims to seek similar prosecutions elsewhere.
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Pakistan court dismisses Musharraf medical request

Topics in Legal News 2014/02/03 15:20   Bookmark and Share
A Pakistani court hearing the case against former military ruler Pervez Musharraf on charges of high treason rejected Friday a request that he be allowed to go abroad for treatment, his lawyer and a court official said.

Instead, they said, it issued an arrest warrant for the retired general. But the warrant is "bailable" — meaning he can avoid jail by applying for bail and depositing a bond of 2.5 million rupees (about $20,000). The court said it didn't have the authority to remove his name from the exit control list which restricts him from going abroad.

While Musharraf can't leave the country, it's unlikely he would actually end up in handcuffs immediately and still unclear whether he will ever appear in court — a scene that could be humiliating not just to Musharraf, but to the country's politically powerful military.

The judges' decision is the latest in the legal battles that Musharraf has faced ever since returning to his homeland in March 2013 to take part in the country's elections. Instead of returning to a hero's welcome, he was almost immediately hit with a barrage of cases, threats from the Pakistani Taliban and was disbarred from running in the election.

A lawyer for Musharraf, Mohammed Ali Saif, said the judges ruled that Musharraf must appear in court on Feb. 7.

"We are of the view that no reasonable excuse has been offered to justify the failure of the accused to appear before the court, there is no alternate except to issue a bailable warrant of arrest for the accused," said the court registrar Abdul Ghani Soomro, reading from the court's decision.

Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup, but became deeply unpopular and was forced to step down in 2008. He later left the country. The high treason case stems from his 2007 decision to impose a state of emergency and detain judges.
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Not guilty plea in Oakland attack on 'agender' boy

Press Release 2014/02/03 15:20   Bookmark and Share
A 16-year-old San Francisco Bay Area boy has pleaded not guilty to charges that he set a male teen's skirt on fire on a public bus.

Richard Thomas is facing aggravated mayhem and assault charges with hate crime allegations in connection with the Nov. 4 attack.

Authorities say Thomas told investigators he attacked 18-year-old on Luke Fleischman on a bus in Oakland because he was homophobic. Relatives and friends have said Fleischman identifies as "agender," a designation sometimes adopted by people who see themselves as neither male nor female.

Fleischman was sleeping when he was attacked and suffered second and third-degree burns.

The Oakland Tribune reports that Thomas, who has been charged as an adult, entered the plea on Thursday.

His attorney, William Du Bois, says Thomas was playing a prank that went wrong.
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