Court Rulings

Did a sheriff's deputy violate the constitutional rights -- and derail the professional golf career -- of a Rancho Palos Verdes man when she raided his home in search of evidence to convict his parents of pimping and prostitution? A U.S. District Court jury thought so two years ago when it ordered Los Angeles County Sheriff's Sgt. Angela Walton to pay $80,000 in damages to Kim L. Johnson and $100 to his aunt, Sun Min Lee, who was subjected to what the court then deemed an unreasonable intrusion.

MGA Entertainment Inc.'s Bratz dolls, which were found to infringe Mattel Inc.'s copyrights, can be sold this year, a federal judge ruled, modifying a decision that could have resulted in an earlier ban. U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson in Riverside ruled Wednesday that retailers would be allowed to buy the spring and fall lines of the pouty, multiethnic dolls from MGA until Dec. 31, or from either Mattel or a court-appointed receiver if he awards them rights to the infringing Bratz products.

A federal appeals court dealt a blow to cigarette makers Friday by upholding a landmark 2006 legal ruling that the companies lied for decades about the dangers of smoking. In a 93-page opinion, a three-judge panel cleared the way for new restrictions on how cigarette companies market and sell their products.

Southwest Airlines Co., AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and 20 other U.S. carriers will see the fees they pay the government for screening passengers reduced after an appeals court ruled that a regulator overstepped its authority. The court in Washington found Tuesday that although the fees were proper, the Transportation Security Administration erred when it included the cost of screening nonpassengers in implementing the Aviation and Transportation Security Act.

Brad Levenson and Tony Sears spent Thursday fielding congratulatory calls from gay rights supporters around the nation for their success in getting a federal judge to call into question the legality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S.

The Supreme Court on Monday dealt a setback to women who took pregnancy leaves from work before 1979. The year before, Congress changed the law and said pregnancy must be treated like other temporary disabilities. In a 7-2 decision, the court agreed with AT&T Corp. and refused to award pension credits to those who took a pregnancy leave before the change. The ruling in AT&T vs. Hulteen reversed a decision of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The Honduran president said Thursday that he would ignore a high court ruling ordering him to reinstate the military chief he had fired, escalating a showdown that has threatened the leftist leader's hold on power. President Manuel Zelaya's plan to hold a referendum Sunday on changing the constitution has pitted him against the country's top courts, the attorney general, military leaders and even his own party, all of whom say the vote is illegal.

The government does not need a search warrant when it taps the phones or checks the e-mails of suspected terrorists who are outside the U.S., even if Americans may be overheard on the calls, a special intelligence court ruled in an opinion released Thursday. The decision confirms what Bush administration officials and some legal experts have long argued. Although the Constitution protects the privacy rights of Americans against "unreasonable searches and seizures," this principle does not bar U.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that states could enforce some of their consumer protection laws against national banks, a move that could lead to tougher oversight than federal regulators have provided in recent years. The 5-4 decision in a case involving attempts by New York's attorney general to enforce fair-lending laws was praised by consumer and civil rights groups, which have accused federal regulators of being lax in policing banks chartered by the federal government.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko's conviction on money-laundering and conspiracy charges was upheld by a federal appeals court Friday, a judgment that will keep the long-incarcerated politician in U.S. prisons for at least several more years. Lazarenko, 56, was head of the Ukrainian government from May 1996 to June 1997, during which, prosecutors said, he siphoned at least $200 million from the nation's coffers through elaborate schemes of extortion, cronyism and kickbacks.