Craig Neilson: Legal Issues

Government Agency Spotlight: Utah Sentencing Commission

Mon, 29 Sep 2003 22:45:38 GMT

The Utah Sentencing Commission is a body created by the legislature and charged with establishing sentence guidelines and developing policy recommendations regarding sentencing and release of adult and juvenile offenders.
The commission has 27 members representing the legal community, law enforcement, treatment specialists, ethnic minorities, correction officials, and parole authorities.
Recent topics of interest to the Commission have been the recently passed initiative to revise the Forfeiture law, and the elimination of the firing squad in Utah.

Sentencing Frequently Asked Questions

New Federal Law Spurs Creation of Funds for Defrauded Investors

Thu, 12 Jun 2003 20:05:50 GMT

A new federal securities law has resulted in the creation of numerous funds designed to repay defrauded investors. Victims will be visiting Utahs Securities site for information on recent Utah settlements with Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Bear, Stearns.

Guns in Schools OK, But Who's Liable?

Thu, 12 Jun 2003 20:01:53 GMT

The Granite and Jordan School districts in Salt Lake County are wrestling with a dilemma. Teachers can now carry concealed weapons into the classroom, but the state insurance provider probably won't cover the consequences of their use. This past year, the Utah Legislature passed a law that allows the weapons in school.
[Wyoming News]

Utah Medicine and Medicare

Wed, 04 Jun 2003 19:35:50 GMT

The organization Public Citizen will hold a news conference tomorrow to discuss a new study showiing that most Medicare doctors in Utah do not participate with the private managed care plans that are envisioned in the Bush Administration's Medicare reform proposal.
Meanwhile a look at the Public Citizen website has some interesting information about Utah doctors. The Public Citizen site compiles information on disciplined doctors and reveals these facts:
Utah ranks 10th in the nation in number of serious disciplinary actions per 1,000 MDs in 2001.
Utah's access to disciplinary information was rated B for content and C for user-friendliness.
The largest single offense for which doctors were disciplined from 1992 to 2001 was disciplinary action by another state or agency (24%) and overprescribing or misprescribing drugs (11%).
[Public Citizen / Questionable Doctors]
[Utah Disciplinary Actions]

Federalized National Guard Worrisome to States

Fri, 23 May 2003 18:14:53 GMT

The Nation highlights a tension between Federal deployment of troops on the domestic front and state governments. According to Commision of Public Safety Bob Flowers, Utah officials fought to keep the state's National Guard under state control but the White House authorized deployment of regular armed forces to utah. Flowers says the issue goes to the essence of our constitution. The National Governors Association has issued a policy paper stating its preference that the Guard be kept under state control.
[National Governors Association]

Utah Constitution moving to gender neutrality

Thu, 22 May 2003 16:07:40 GMT

Utah is among several states moving to gender neutrality in their constitutions. Michigan is considering a resolution which would immediately take out the male pronouns. Utah is doing a gradual overhaul as it updates sections. Legal experts say the changes are more cosmetic than legally necessary.
[New York Times - registration required]

Halliburton, Asbestos

Wed, 21 May 2003 15:42:31 GMT

Texas corporate giant Halliburton, recently awarded a no-bid contract to do reconstruction work on postwar Iraq is also being watched carefully by investors because of the impending settlement and limits to asbestos litigation, a problem dogging its subsidiary, Dresser Industries. Sen. Orrin Hatch is prepared to introduce legislation in Congress calling for the creation of a universal asbestos trust fund of $108 billion dollars, to be financed by insurers and companies facing asbestos claims, that would be the sole source for future liability claims. The bill would move thousands of pending asbestos-related claims out of state courts and into a five-judge federal court. The AFL-CIO has denounced the proposal as a corporate bailout.
[Business Week]

Utah Spam Law spawning host of class action lawsuits,

Tue, 06 May 2003 16:30:14 GMT

According to E-mail Marketing Association General Counsel Steven Richter, Utah's anti-spam law has resulted in nearly 1600 class action lawsuits. Richter says Half the plaintiffs are employees or family of the law firms. utah might have to call a special legislative session to repeal the law.
[Class Action against Sprint]
[Utah Code 13-36-103]

Utah leads Goldman Sachs investigation

Tue, 29 Apr 2003 15:40:11 GMT

Utah securities regulators have proven pivotal in the investigation into conflict of interest by a number of companies, including Goldman, Sachs. The company is accused of compromising investment advice by skewing it in favor of investment banks.
[Division of Securities]

Utah's Share of DOJ Funding Totals Over 59 million for 2002

Tue, 22 Apr 2003 15:39:19 GMT

Utah received $59,486,370 in Justice Department grants in 2002. This included funds for substance abuse prevention, juvenile justice, counter-terrorism, and community policing.
[Office of Justice Programs Press Release]
[Community Policing Funding Breakdown for Utah (and other states) PDF]

Utah Mortgage Company facing Federal / State Investigation

Mon, 21 Apr 2003 15:41:59 GMT

Fairbanks Capital Corp. is being investigated by Federal agencies Housing & Urban Development and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as the states of Maryland and Utah. The mortgage company, based in Salt Lake City, is the subject of 12 consumer complaints. Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski asked HUD to get involved after a series of high-profile homeowners' complaints in that state which became the focus of a series of television news stories. The company denies any criminal wrongdoing.
[National Mortgage News]
[WBAL-TV]
[Fairbanks Capital Corporation]

Utah Law Permits Walmart Bank Ownership

Thu, 17 Apr 2003 15:23:24 GMT

Community banks across the country join small Main Street merchants in seeing doom and gloom in the arrival of a Wal Mart in the area. Wal Mart has been attempting to purchase financial institutions, particularly industrial loan companies, with an eye to offering financial and checking services. So far they have been rebuffed, because only four states do not have laws against such purchases: Colorado, Minnesota, Nevada, and Utah. Utah is the home of 23 of the nation's 50 industrial loan companies.
[American Banker] Reg / $$

BLM Lands in Utah to lose wilderness status

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 16:06:45 GMT

The US Interior Department indicated Friday that it intends to halt all current reviews of Western land holdings for wilderness protection, and will withdraw protected status from about 3 million acres in Utah. The decision comes after Utah sued the Interior department 7 years ago over a reinventory of the lands conducted by then Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. That lawsuit was mostly dismissed, but the state quietly submitted an amended complaint which prompted the current decision. The decision means that Babbit's inventory will be disregarded. Sen. Hatch: Secretary Norton's actions will bring resolution to the illegal activities of the past administration.
[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]

Utah Court OKs Non-Religious Prayers in Government Functions

Mon, 14 Apr 2003 15:58:44 GMT

The Utah Supreme Court reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit filted in 1999 over the Murray City Council's refusal to allow an unconventional non-religious prayer prior to a city council meeting. Murray City responded by indicating they may eliminate prayers prior to future meetings.
[Utah Supreme Court Opinion]

State Farm Case Reverberates

Fri, 11 Apr 2003 15:33:17 GMT

The Recent Supreme Court decision overturning the huge punitive-damage award by a Utah court is expected to have a major impact on the future of such awards. The Court ruled that a defendant should be punished for the conduct in the case, not for some pattern of unsavory business practices, nor should they be subject to excessive fines simply because they have deep pockets. In addition the Court said it would look askance at awards that exceed a single digit ratio between punitive and compensatory damages. The Utah court has been ordered to reduced the punitive damages by $144 million dollars.[Economist] (fee-based)