Here's yet another state AG handed his head for under-thinking and over-politicizing the office. Long may they fail.

NY drops claims against Grasso after court defeat

Unknown News Service

Posted: 2008-07-01

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The four-year legal battle over former NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso's $187.5 million compensation package ended Tuesday when a New York appeals court dismissed claims against him of excessive pay and the state's top prosecutor said the case was closed.

"We have reviewed the court's opinion and determined that an appeal would not be warranted," Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's spokesman Alex Detrick said. "Thus, for all intents and purposes, the Grasso case is over."

Cuomo's announcement came soon after the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court ruled the attorney general's authority to pursue two remaining claims against Grasso lapsed when the New York Stock Exchange changed in 2005 from a nonprofit to a for-profit corporation. Last week, the Court of Appeals, New York's highest court, dismissed four common law claims against the 2003 compensation package.

The midlevel court concluded Tuesday that seeking to recover money for two remaining claims under New York's Not-For-Profit Corporation Law would simply benefit the NYSE's private owners. The court also dismissed a claim against Home Depot founder Kenneth Langone, who was chairman of the exchange's compensation committee and was accused of misleading other NYSE board members about Grasso's pay.

Justice James McGuire wrote that based on case law and the "evident purpose" of the not-for-profit law, the attorney general's authority to pursue the claims "lapsed" when the NYSE became a for-profit corporation. He wrote for the court majority.

R.I. high court overturns lead paint verdict

RI was suing for billions based on winning a Public Nuisance suit. Phhhooony hhhoooyy. This is socialism. When you can't gain on merit, inflate a traffic ticket into a grand felony. YYYeeeeAAAa RI Supremes by 4 - 0. (Dunno how that works.) Two Supreme Court decisions for common sense in one week. Perhaps common sense will become a movement.

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Unidentified News Service

Posted: 2008-07-01

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Rhode Island's Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a first-in-the-nation jury verdict that found three former lead paint companies responsible for creating a public nuisance, rejecting a closely watched case that had been seen as a bellwether for potential suits across the country.

The 4-0 decision ends the nearly decade-long court fight and spares the companies from potentially billions in cleanup costs for hundreds of thousands of contaminated homes.

The court, however, said the state's lawsuit should have been dismissed at the outset. It said that while lead paint may be a public health problem, it was not the companies' responsibility to clean it up because they, unlike landlords and homeowners, had no control over how the paint was used or if it was used in properties where children were poisoned.