[JURIST] Leading Thursday's corporations and securities law news, US Department of Justice lawyers have accused Bayou Management of fabricating wildly inaccurate financial results for the past seven years. Filing civil charges to freeze the hedge fund's assets, US Attorney David Kelly [official website] said that the company's auditing firm, Richmond-Fairfield Associates, was phony and that the fund had not been audited. The troubled Connecticut hedge fund is accused of losing $440 million in investments [JURIST report] while lying about the firm's assets. Bloomberg has more.

In other corporations and securities law news...

• A federal Judge has dismissed the Securities and Exchange Commission [official website]'s civil case against Siebel Systems [corporate website]. The SEC had charged the company with violating Regulation FD [text] by disclosing corporate information on a selective, non-public basis. The SEC said that two of the company's executives made positive statements to a small group of investors that contradicted earlier, public statements. In a press release, Siebel quoted the judge as writing that the SEC's interpretation of the regulation "places an unreasonable burden on a company's management and spokespersons to become linguistic experts." Reuters has more.
  
  
• As reported earlier on JURIST's Paper Chase, the Shell Group [corporate website] has agreed to pay $9.2 million to settle shareholder lawsuits. The lawsuits stemmed from an oil reserve-overbooking scandal [BusinessWeek report] that rocked the world's third-largest oil company lat year. In a press release, Shell said that the settlement covers the plaintiff's legal fees and that--in return for Shell's implementation of internal reforms--the plaintiff's dismissed their remaining claims against the company. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] The Chief of the US Army National Guard Bureau [official website] said Thursday in Washington that the National Guard was deploying over 4000 military police to support civilian law enforcement officers around New Orleans and elsewhere in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. "This is not martial law," said Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum [official profile], referring to some erroneous media reports. "This is helping a police force that is overstretched with the extraordinary challenge that it’s facing." Despite its use by local officials, most recently the mayor of New Orleans [JURIST report] on Wednesday, "martial law" - technically, emergency government by military authorities - is not recognized in Louisiana state law [JURIST report], according to a clarifying statement issued Tuesday by the Louisiana Attorney General's office. Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul McHale similarly insisted that all law enforcement would be on the National Guard side operating under control of state governors; some 7000 active duty federal troops would also be involved in rescue and recovery operations, but federal law in the form of the Posse Comitatus Act [Wikipedia backgrounder] prohibits them from conducting domestic law enforcement. The American Forces Press Service has more; the New Orleans Times-Picayune provides additional coverage.

National Guard Bureau historian Renee Hylton meanwhile told the Navy Times Thursday, "The Guard has been sent in many times to maintain law and order. But just to maintain law and order is not automatically martial law.” "'Ruled by military’ is not part of the British-American tradition", she explained. Actual impositions of martial law within the United States are rare; in recent times, the governor of Indiana declared martial law during a labor strike in the 1950s and Phenix City, Alabama was made subject to a similar declaration around the same time as part of an effort to tackle organized crime. The Navy Times has more.

8:50 PM ET - The security and law enforcement situation in New Orleans continues to deteriorate. The current headline on the New Orleans WWL-TV website is a a single word: "Anarchy".

9:55 PM ET - In a late Baton Rouge press conference Thursday, Governor Kathleen Blanco said she was sending 300 heavily-armed Arkansas National Guard troops just back from Iraq into New Orleans to help restore order: "They have M-16s and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot to kill...and I expect they will."

[JURIST] Leading Thursday's states brief, the California Senate [official website] by a 21-15 vote approved legislation today that would legalize same-sex marriages. Bill sponsor Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, plans to bring the bill up in the state Assembly on Tuesday. Last June the Assembly narrowly rejected a same-sex marriage bill [text]. Commenting on the bill's passage, Senator Liz Figueroa, D-Sunol, said, "When I leave this Legislature, I want to be able to tell my grandchildren I stood up for dignity and rights for all." Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger [official profile] would not comment on whether he will sign the legislation if it passes the Assembly. State opponents of same-sex marriages are trying to qualify initiatives for the 2006 ballot that would place a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages [JURIST report]. AP has more.

In other state legal news ...

• A Wisconsin court of appeals Thursday upheld [ruling text] a jury's award of $24 million to a construction worker seriously injured in a building collapse by finding that the award was reasonable. The jury awarded the worker $8.8 million in compensatory damages, $15 million in punitive damages and his wife received $500,000 after finding Symons Corp. [corporate website] of Des Plaines, Ill., responsible for the accident. Symons argued that the punitive damages were excessive and that the compensatory damages should be reduced to $1.3 million. The appeals court disagreed, saying the awards were reasonable based on Symons's egregious conduct. AP has more.
  
  
• The North Carolina House has failed to repeal a section of a new law [text] which requires court clerks to give domestic violence victims information about applying for a concealed weapons permit. Governor Mike Easley [official website] signed the law a few days ago, but urged the repeal of the section of the law requiring court clerks to give such information and worked with House leaders to have it repealed. Beth Froehling of the Coalition Against Domestic Violence said, "It appears the court might be encouraging them to do that [carry weapons]. That puts them in more danger." Rep. Mark Hilton, law sponsor, said, "Simple educational information is all we are asking for." The News and Observer has local coverage.

[JURIST] Speaking at a press conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has said she has asked for "no less than 40,000 troops" from the federal government to help restore order and assist civil authorities in the New Orleans area and elsewhere in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and will ask for more if needed. She said that over 12,000 National Guard personnel will be in the state by Friday, coming from as far afield as Arkansas, Texas and Kentucky. In the meantime Blanco stressed she had ordered Louisiana law enforcement officers to "strictly enforce Lousiana law" and "use necessary force" to stop lawlessness. Earlier in the day Blanco issued an executive order [text] authorizing the taking of public school buses for the purpose of transporting evacuees. The press conference is ongoing.

3:18 PM ET - A Louisiana state police spokesman at the press conference says that looters "will not take control" of New Orleans, and that a temporary detention facility for arrested persons is being set up. He called for people not to spread rumors.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase:

• President Bush: "zero tolerance" for Katrina lawbreakers
• UPDATE ~ New Orleans mayor declares "martial law", pulls police from rescues to halt looting
• Louisiana officials struggle to contain looting in Katrina's wake

[JURIST] Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility [Aljazeera report] for the July 7 London bombings [JURIST news archive], according to a video broadcast Thursday afternoon on Arab television channel Al-Jazeera. The video included statements from al Qaeda second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Mohammad Sidique Khan, one of the suicide bombers in the attack. Khan said that the attacks were in response to the "crimes against humanity" carried out by Western governments and al-Zawahiri said that the terror attack was meant to be a "slap" to UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's policies. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Service [official website] said it will consider the tape as part of the ongoing investigation. AP has more.

[JURIST] The UK government put forth a proposal [press release; PDF report] Thursday that would give relatives of homicide victims the opportunity to have their voices heard at murder and manslaughter trials. Much like the current system in the US, family members of a victim will be able to speak out directly or through a lawyer prior to the sentencing phase following a murder conviction. Constitutional Affairs Minister Harriet Harman [official profile] said the plan would allow relatives to make heartfelt statements directly to judges rather than through the current written reports taken from police interviews. Victims groups and some lawyers have given mixed responses to the plan that will cost millions to put into practice at a time when legal aid budgets are tight. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] The EU on Thursday pushed Tehran to resume negotiations on the country's nuclear activities and threatened to bring Iran before the UN Security Council [official website] for possible sanctions if it did not. The threat comes as a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [official website], set to be released Saturday, is expected to confirm Iran's resumption of nuclear activities [JURIST report] and outline unresolved questions about Iran's nuclear ambitions. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner [official website] insisted that the EU still seeks "a negotiated solution to the nuclear issue," but she also warned Iran not to underestimate the strength of Europe. Iran has recently expressed an interest in negotiating with countries other than Great Britain, France and Germany [JURIST report] about its nuclear activities. The US, meanwhile, is pushing for a referral to the Security Council [AP report]. The US has repeatedly said that Iran is misleading the IAEA about its nuclear goals, and Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns has said that "Iran must (face the) judgment of the international community." AP has more.

[JURIST] The European Commission [official website] on Thursday proposed new rules [press release] for the 25 European Union nations to set up common standards on immigration and asylum. Franco Frattini [official website], vice-president of the Commission, said the goal was to have a uniform and transparent policy for returning people to their countries of origin. In the wake of the London bombings [JURIST report], British authorities have been retooling their deportation policies [JURIST report] and Britain's Home Office has said the new rules will only apply to the UK if they decide to opt in. Some of the proposals include a six-month limit to the temporary custody of illegal immigrants and barring the return of anyone, including terrorists, who may face torture in their home countries. BBC News has more.

[JURIST] The investigator leading the UN inquiry [JURIST report] into the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri [official website] said Thursday that there may be more suspects involved in the assassination, in addition to the five pro-Syrian men already arrested [JURIST report; UN News report]. On Tuesday, the investigation took a dramatic turn with the arrests of three former heads of Lebanese security agencies who allegedly were involved in orchestrating the car bombing that killed Hariri and 20 others. In addition to the arrests, a former legislator turned himself in to authorities but was released yesterday [JURIST report]. Head of the Future Bloc in Parliament MP Saad Rafic Hariri welcomed [press release] the investigation's recent arrests and said they were a "significant step towards serving justice." AP has more.

2:45 PM ET - A Lebanese prosecutor has announced the indictments of four pro-Syrian generals in the Hariri murder investigation. The men, who were among those detained earlier this week, have been charged with murder, attempted murder and carrying out a terrorist act. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Carla del Ponte [UN profile], chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website], on Thursday called for the EU to pressure Croatia and Serbia to take action on arresting suspects wanted by the UN tribunal and said the EU should not build closer ties with the countries until they do so. Del Ponte said it was "shameful" that the two most wanted fugitives, former Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder; Wikipedia profile] and his military commander Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; Wikipedia profile], were still at large. The men are wanted in connection with the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC timeline], which involved the genocide of 8,000 Muslims, as well as the 43-month siege of Sarajevo that killed 10,000. Del Ponte said that the EU should postpone talks with Belgrade, which is hoping to join the EU, until Mladic has been handed over, and should also not advance talks with Croatia until the country turns over Ante Gotovina, another wanted fugitive. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] A US judge Wednesday denied Sami Al-Arian's request for a mistrial after suggestions emerged that the jury was tainted in the ongoing trial against the ex-professor [JURIST report]. Sami Al-Arian [Wikipedia profile, advocacy website] and three other defendants are on trial in Florida related to charges [official charge sheet] that they used money from a local school and think tank to fund violent attacks by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) [Wikipedia backgrounder] in Israel. Earlier this week, two jurors came forward with information that another juror said the Islamic Academy of Florida school and Islamic think tank World and Islam Studies Enterprise were fronts for the PIJ. Despite US District Court Judge James Moody's original denial of Al-Arian's mistrial request, he did commit to studying the transcript to determine what the juror said and also to taking suggestions from attorneys on how to continue questioning the three jurors. From Florida, the St. Petersburg Times has local coverage and continuing trial coverage.

[JURIST] After legislators quashed the impeachment [JURIST report] of Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo [official website, Wikipedia backgrounder], opposition lawmakers said Thursday that they are attempting to collect enough votes to continue the impeachment process. In proceedings boycotted by the opposition, Arroyo's congressional allies in the House Committee on Justice [official website] voted Wednesday to dismiss the three impeachment complaints, which included rigging last year's elections and betraying the public's trust. If the opposition can muster 79 lawmakers, or one-third of the House, to vote against the committee's decision, then the decision must be overturned. After one House legislator withdrew his support of the opposition Thursday, they appeared to be seven votes short of the 79 needed. AP has more. The Manila Times has local coverage.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Arroyo impeachment hearings on verge of collapse
• Arroyo denies witness claim of bribery, threatens lawsuit
• Opposition lawmakers file impeachment complaint against Arroyo
• At least 50 Filipino lawmakers support Arroyo impeachment
• Opposition announces plans for criminal charges ahead of impeachment for Arroyo
• Philippines president "welcomes" impeachment motion to clear vote fraud

[JURIST] Among many other things, Hurricane Katrina has devastated the legal system [AP report] in New Orleans, causing major disruption of legal services across the state of Louisiana and beyond. The storm has interrupted business in local courts [US District Court bulletin], including the state Supreme Court, although the extent of damage to its building on Royal St. in the French Quarter is unclear. Speaking Tuesday, Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti said that a temporary courthouse and detention facility [FT report] would be set up outside New Orleans to enforce law and order against looters. Also ravaged by the storm, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is currently making plans to relocate [Texas Lawyer report] to a city close to New Orleans so business can continue. Its website contains instructions [PDF text] for attorneys and litigants to follow during the emergency.

New Orleans lawyers - approximately one-third of all the lawyers in Louisiana - have lost all their files and are unable to access their offices. The American Bar Association [group website] has offered the help of the ABA Young Lawyers Division and lawyers from several other ABA sections to assist Katrina victims [ABA press release] with insurance claims, home repair contracts, wills, and similar issues. Additionally, the Louisiana Committee of Bar Admissions is flooded and it is possible that the July state bar exams, scheduled to be reviewed in two weeks, have been destroyed.

In other law-related news, the two law schools in New Orleans have been severely disrupted and are struggling to maintain contact between students and faculty at what was to have been the start of their fall terms. Tulane Law School has set up a temporary emergency website under the auspices of Atlanta's Emory Law School to share information over the upcoming weeks. Read an official announcement from Dean Larry Ponoroff. Ponoroff has already authorized other US law school deans to accept any Tulane 3Ls who contact them as transient students for the semester. A post-hurricane blog has been established for the Loyola-New Orleans Law School community.

12:49 PM ET - A spokesman for the federal judiciary [US Courts official website] said Thursday that Congress must pass emergency legislation next week to allow federal courts based in New Orleans to move to a different location, perhaps Baton Rouge or Shreveport. The federal Speedy Trial Act of 1974 [US DOJ Criminal Resource Manual summary] currently does not allow district courts to operate outside of their set geographic area, despite recent judicial efforts to have the rules modified in emergencies [PDF proposal]. AP has more. Among the major federal cases being disrupted by Hurricane Katrina are the numerous Vioxx lawsuits [JURIST news archive] filed in federal courts across the country that were being consolidated in New Orleans [JURIST report] by Judge Eldon E. Fallon.

11:15 PM - The Association of American Law Schools has posted a list of law schools across the US ready to accept Tulane and Loyola-New Orleans law students and their relevant admissions policies.

Are you a Louisiana lawyer, judge, or law student affected by Hurricane Katrina? Tell us your story. E-mail JURIST@law.pitt.edu

• I'm a New Orleans area attorney presently in Dallas with relatives, waiting for the time when I can go back.
  
  The statement that New Orleans lawyers have lost all of their files is utterly idiotic. As far as I can tell, that absurd remark and a lot of other hysterical drivel started with some Southern University law professor's email, and is irresponsibly being spread like wildfire. As far as I know, I haven't lost ANY of my files, and as soon as electricity is restored I'm going to be able to access everything in my office by a remote internet connection. My paper files are safe and I have redundant backup, with one copy of my entire server going home daily with my paralegal for offsite storage. Do your homework, please, instead of being an accessory after the fact to first-degree misinformation.
  
  Bill Cherbonnier
  

[JURIST] A federal appeals court ruled [opinion, PDF] Wednesday that Hawaii taxpayers may sue to halt state funding of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs [official website] for purported discrimination against non-native residents [OHA press release]. A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] unanimously overturned a lower court ruling and affirmed standing for any non-Hawaiian who may want to sue the state for discriminatory issues in Hawaiians-only programs. This is the second time in recent weeks the appeals court ruled against Hawaiian programs. In a ruling earlier this month [JURIST report], the court struck down a Kamehameha Schools [education website] preference for Hawaiian students, even though the school receives no federal money. AP has more.

[JURIST] US Supreme Court nominee Judge John Roberts [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] has completed the last of ten practice sessions held to prepare him for his confirmation hearings, set to begin next week. The grueling sessions, which have been dubbed "murder boards," involved Roberts answering questions from over a dozen administration lawyers and officials who played the parts of Senate Judiciary Committee [official website] members, including US Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA). Questions were pulled from senators' public statements and included topics such as the right to privacy, the Ten Commandments, civil rights, and the Supreme Court's reasoning in Planned Parenthood v. Casey [opinion], which upheld the landmark abortion decision in Roe v. Wade. Administration officials have refused to release information on how Roberts performed, but former associate White House counsel H. Christopher Bartolomucci said, "He's not beaten down and ready to go." Read US Senator Charles Schumer's [D-NY] list of questions [text] for Roberts' nomination hearings. Thursday's New York Times has more.

[JURIST] Four Navy SEALs who filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] against the Associated Press (AP) [media website] for publishing pictures of the men posing with Iraqi detainees agreed Thursday to drop all claims and not appeal the July dismissal of the lawsuit [JURIST report]. The lawsuit claimed that the AP and reporter Seth Hettena violated privacy and copyright laws when they distributed the pictures on Smugmug.com, a commercial photo-sharing website, and later in a December 2004 story [text] published by Hettena. In the agreement, which should be approved by a judge later this week, both sides agreed to fund their own legal costs. AP has more.

[JURIST] The Shell Group [corporate website] agreed Thursday to pay $9.2 million to settle lawsuits brought last year by shareholders when the oil company admitted to overstating its oil and gas reserves [JURIST report] by 20 percent in 2004. The lawsuits led to an overhaul of Shell's top management and the settlement requires the company to create policies and standards in areas including the board's composition and qualifications, director and senior management compensation, and financial reporting. The $9.2 million will cover plaintiffs' legal fees and the plaintiffs have agreed to drop their current claims against the company and release directors from future claims. The Guardian has more.

[JURIST] A Cuban-born anti-Castro former CIA operative withdrew his petition for asylum in the US Wednesday, stating that if he continued to testify, he was afraid he may have to reveal state secrets. Luis Posada Carriles [Wikipedia profile] entered the US illegally through Mexico [JURIST report] earlier this year. Venezuelan officials have requested the extradition of Carriles [JURIST report], where he is wanted on charges in connection to a 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner, but Carriles has said he fears torture and imprisonment if returned to Cuba or Venezuela. Carriles' deportation hearing began Monday [JURIST report] before an immigration judge, but after withdrawing his petition for asylum, Carriles says he plans to instead apply for US citizenship under a law which allows illegal aliens who have served honorably in the US military to do so. Carriles was a CIA operative for one year in the 1960s. Reuters has more.

[JURIST] Detainees at the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] have started another hunger strike in an effort to "receive a fair hearing and humane treatment," according to human rights lawyers with the Center for Constitutional Rights [advocacy website]. The detainees ended an earlier strike on June 28 after the military promised that facility officers would comply [JURIST report] with the Geneva Conventions [ICRC materials], but the protestors claim that nothing has changed. Many of the prisoners have been held for over three years without being charged or having access to lawyers. US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced changes in Guantanamo terrorism trials [JURIST report] yesterday, saying that 12 detainees are currently eligible for trial with four already charged. But Amnesty International [advocacy website] remains critical of the new changes [press release] saying they give "no real rights to the accused." Read a statement by one of the Guantanamo detainees participating in the hunger strike. AP has more.

[JURIST] US President George Bush told ABC's Good Morning America Thursday that there should be "zero tolerance" for the looters who have ransacked New Orleans' stores in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, one day after New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared "martial law" to deal with the looting situation [JURIST report]. In the Thursday interview [ABC report; recorded video], Bush said "I think there ought to be zero tolerance of people breaking the law during an emergency such as this, whether it be looting, or price-gouging at the gasoline pump or taking advantage of charitable giving, or insurance fraud. And I've made that clear to our attorney general." In a speech [text] from the White House Wednesday, Bush said he had plans to send an emergency budget appeal to Congress requesting funds for the rebuilding of New Orleans and also said he was not requesting aid from foreign countries. Reuters has more.

Meanwhile Thursday, the evacuation of people from the Superdome arena was delayed after shots were fired at military helicopters in the early morning. There are increasing reports of individuals carrying guns and the Superdome has also been plagued by fires set outside the facility, preventing buses from getting close enough to evacuate people. The National Guard is planning to send 100 military police officers to restore order to the area. AP has more. From New Orleans, the Times-Picayune has continuing updates on the emergency.

2:01 PM ET - US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday that the federal government will send 1,400 National Guard troops per day to New Orleans to help shut down looting and lawlessness. AP has more on the continued unrest outside the Superdome.

2:49 PM ET - CNN is reporting that the evacuation of patients from a New Orleans hospital has been halted after rescue workers came under sniper fire.

4:07 PM ET - At a press conference Thursday afternoon, US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said that the Justice Department is working to ensure that law and order remain in the areas affected by the hurricane. Gonzales also warned that the DOJ will work aggressively to combat fraud and price gouging. Watch recorded video (via C-SPAN) of Gonzales' press conference with Secretary Chertoff and other administration officials.

[JURIST] Three convicted murders were executed in Iraq Thursday, marking the first time the death penalty has been used since Saddam Hussein [Wikipedia profile; JURIST news archive] lost power in 2003. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani [Wikipedia profile] opposes the death penalty and refused to sign the men's death sentences after they were convicted of murder, rape and kidnapping, but Talabani's deputy signed on behalf of the presidency [JURIST report]. Many Iraqis had hoped for the death penalty to be outlawed after the fall of the Baath party [Aljazeera backgrounder] but Iraqi government spokesman Laith Kubba has said, "This is not an easy thing to do. Despite all the condemnation from states who want us to abolish capital punishment, I think capital punishment will help us deter some criminals." Reuters has more.

Previously in JURIST's Paper Chase...

• Iraq defends reinstatement of death penalty
• UN calls for Iraq to abandon reinstatement of death penalty

[JURIST] Martha Stewart [JURIST news archive] will hand over her electronic ankle bracelet to federal authorities Thursday, ending the five-month house arrest portion of her sentence [JURIST report]. Stewart was convicted [JURIST report] in 2004 for conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of justice. She has already served five months in jail and will be on probation until March 2007. Newsday has more.