News from September 2007
Lynch unveils lead paint plan
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - With lead paint suits falling all around him, Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch recently went through with the filing of a $2.4 billion lead paint-removal plan.
Drug company's warning unsettling for Blumenthal
Blumenthal HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal says his worries over a drug company's products have been substantiated, and his investigation will continue.
Settlement money goes to orchestras
Dann COLUMBUS, Ohio - A federal court has ordered the spending of leftover funds from a settlement with several CD retailers, and Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has given his state's share to seven orchestras.
Car-makers get one down, two to go in triple-suit Cal. GHG attack
Theodore Boutrous SACRAMENTO -- A departing federal judge has booted California Attorney General Jerry Brown's public-nuisance lawsuit against the Big Six automakers over greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
CALA starts radio campaign against McGraw's OxyContin settlement
Cohen CHARLESTON, W. Va. - Radio stations across the state today are airing advertisements purchased by the state's legal watchdog group that criticize Attorney General Darrell McGraw's spending of the 2004 OxyContin settlement.
W. Va. notifies feds of intent to appeal in McGraw controversy
McGraw CHARLESTON, W. Va. - There are seven reasons the federal government is overmatched in its $4.1 million dispute with the State of West Virginia, the state's Department of Health and Human Resources recently said.
AG candidate offered to lobby federal officials for campaign cash
E-mail messages from July show that a Republican candidate for Louisiana attorney general offered to lobby federal officials to oppose proposed cuts in Medicaid and Medicare payments in exchange for campaign contributions, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
ATRA urges AGs to seek bids for outside counsel
ATRA President Sherman Joyce When state attorneys general hire outside counsel to pursue legal actions on behalf of their state, those contracts should be awarded through competitive bidding and every aspect of the contract should be available for public viewing on the Internet, according to a proposal announced today by the American Tort Reform Association.
Vermont ruling readies Cal. to sue Feds over GHG tailpipe limits
Jerry Brown SACRAMENTO -- California Attorney General Jerry Brown celebrated an out-of-state win for the Golden State's tough new vehicle-emissions standards by repeating a threat to sue the federal government.
Dann wants underperforming schools shut down
Dann COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann wants public funds to go to a better destination than the two charter schools he recently sued.
Troubled company loses appeal, could face flood of suits
RICHMOND - BlueHippo Funding, a company that has garnered attention from several state attorneys generals, lost its appeal in an appellate federal court Monday in a case brought on by a class of unhappy customers.
City can inspect property without prior approval, Wash. SC rules
Justice Richard B. Sanders OLYMPIA -- City officials trumped landlords in a split ruling today by the Washington Supreme Court that sparked both a concurrence and a dissent over privacy concerns.
McGraw wins case, starts drunk driving campaign
McGraw CHARLESTON, W. Va. - It took less than two months for West Virginia Attorney General Darrell McGraw's case against a heating and cooling company to end in his favor.
AGs ask for extension of Microsoft settlement
Blumenthal WASHINGTON, D.C. - Even though a group of state attorneys general recently alleged a 2002 settlement has done nothing to fix Microsoft's monopoly, six of them on Tuesday requested an extra five years be tacked on to the agreement.
Sorrell's office defends Califorinia emissions law against automakers' challenge
BURLINGTON, Vt. - A federal judge in Vermont on Wednesday ruled the State of Vermont did not preempt federal law when it adopted restrictions on greenhouse gases emitted by automobiles.
Four named finalists for Idaho Supreme Court
Justice Linda Copple Trout BOISE -- Two women are among the final four candidates to take the seat on the Idaho Supreme Court left vacant by the August retirement of Linda Copple-Trout, who was the first woman on the state's highest court when she was appointed by former Gov. Cecil Andrus in 1992.
Cal. refiner goes tree-planting to expand in AG Brown's backyard
Jerry Brown (center) SACRAMENTO -- Houston-based energy company ConocoPhilips yesterday became the country's first oil refiner to purchase carbon-offsets to help fund growth.
Abramson sworn in to Kentucky court
Abramson is sworn in FRANKFORT, Ky. - Gov. Ernie Fletcher recently appointed Kentucky's newest Supreme Court justice, former Court of Appeals judge Lisabeth Hughes Abramson.
Dann, for better or worse, making headlines
Dann COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann fashions himself a newsmaker, but it's unlikely this is what he had in mind.
Cuomo wants energy company's case thrown out
Cuomo NEW YORK - An energy company hoping to construct a power line through upstate New York is arguing that it has been harmed by state law, and state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wants the lawsuit dismissed.