Information Roundup
Weekly Briefs: SCOTUS requested to listen to highschool admissions case over race; utility firm faces go well with after Hawaii wildfires
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Supreme Court docket might hear highschool admissions case involving race
The U.S. Supreme Court docket on Monday was requested to listen to a Virginia highschool admissions case over race. The Coalition for TJ, a bunch of oldsters and college students, filed the petition for writ of certiorari in response to the Fairfax County College Board’s overhauling of its admissions coverage on the Thomas Jefferson Excessive College for Science and Expertise. In keeping with the coalition, the adopted modifications are racially discriminatory to Asian American college students and violate the equal safety clause of the U.S. Structure’s 14th Modification. In June, the Supreme Court docket cited the equal safety clause when striking down race-conscious admissions applications at Harvard College and the College of North Carolina. (The Washington Post, the New York Times, Reuters, Bloomberg Law)
Maui County sues Hawaiian Electrical over lethal wildfires
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Maui County, Hawaii, alleges that the Hawaiian Electrical Firm contributed to the catastrophic wildfires in historic Lahaina and different elements of West Maui that precipitated the deaths of at the least 100 folks in early August. In keeping with Maui County’s go well with, Hawaiian Electrical and its subsidiaries allegedly didn’t shut off its energy traces, regardless of dry circumstances and excessive winds brought on by passing Hurricane Dora. The utility firm acknowledged that prime winds “would topple energy poles, knock down energy traces and ignite vegetation,” the lawsuit mentioned, based on the Associated Press. “Defendants additionally knew that if their overhead electrical gear ignited a fireplace, it will unfold at a critically speedy price.” (CNN, NPR, Courthouse News Service)
Covington & Burling associate will head FTC’s Bureau of Competitors
Henry Liu, a associate at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., will grow to be the brand new director of the U.S. Federal Commerce Fee’s Bureau of Competitors, the federal company announced Tuesday. Lina M. Khan, chair of the FTC, famous that Liu’s “expertise and experience will equip the fee to proceed tackling unfair strategies of competitors and defending the American public from illegal enterprise practices.” Liu, a graduate of Yale Regulation College, practiced litigation and antitrust at Covington & Burling and has litigated complicated antitrust instances for greater than 14 years. (Bloomberg, Reuters)
AstraZeneca hit with lawsuits over COVID-19 vaccines
World pharmaceutical and biotechnology firm AstraZeneca is going through two lawsuits over its COVID-19 vaccines in England, the primary nation to roll out these vaccines in early 2021. Reuters experiences that Anish Tailor, whose spouse died in March 2021 after receiving her first dose, filed a product legal responsibility go well with towards the corporate Aug. 4. Jamie Scott, who was identified with thrombotic thrombocytopenia after receiving AstraZeneca’s vaccine, filed a second product legal responsibility go well with Monday. Tailor’s lawyer Peter Todd reportedly instructed Reuters that almost 50 different shoppers are also making ready to sue AstraZeneca. (Reuters)
Actress Susan Sarandon sues development firm over litany of house’s points
Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon is suing a development firm for allegedly inflicting “in depth issues” at her $2 million house in Vermont. Within the Aug. 17 complaint, filed within the U.S. District Court docket for the District of Massachusetts, Sarandon mentioned DeGrenier Contracting and Property Administration and proprietor Chad DeGrenier have been accountable for 47 points, together with buckled siding, cracked basis and uncovered outside pipes. “Any of those development defects are because of Mr. DeGrenier’s constant failure to pick and handle certified, impartial contractors and his apply of choosing family and friends members to assemble or set up particular parts of the house,” the lawsuit says. (Reuters)
Gibson Dunn visiting lawyer faces insider buying and selling allegations
Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged a Brazilian lawyer who was working at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C., with insider buying and selling. In keeping with the U.S. lawyer’s workplace of the District of Columbia, Romero Cabral Da Costa Neto had been working as a global visiting lawyer on the legislation agency on a one-year J-1 Visa. He allegedly accessed inner agency recordsdata and traded on details about drugmaker Swedish Orphan Biovitrum’s acquisition of CTI BioPharma in Might. He faces as much as 20 years in jail if convicted. (Bloomberg Law, Reuters, Law.com)
