Judge

OxyContin maker to be replaced by new company aiming to combat opioid crisis as legal settlement takes effectOxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is set to be dissolved and replaced by a company focused on the public good by the week’s end, as a sweeping legal settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits takes effect.A federal judge on Tuesday delivered a criminal sentence to the company to resolve a US Department of Justice investigation – a last necessary step to clear the way for the settlement. Continue reading...

The court sided with a Canadian hiker who deliberately challenged the order imposed to curb spread of wildfiresAs wildfires raged across Nova Scotia last summer, the Canadian province made a simple plea to residents: stay away from the woods.As the situation deteriorated, authorities turned the request into a prohibition: anyone caught hiking under the shade of the forest canopy faced a C$25,000 fine – a figure more than half the average worker’s yearly salary. Continue reading...

Kendrick Guidry, alone among judges, initially ruled that the state supreme court’s decision to uphold a ‘lookback window’ for abuse claims did not set a binding precedentOnly one judge in Louisiana has ruled in favor of the Catholic church’s ongoing attempts to strike down a law there which allowed old abuse claims their day in court – even after a state supreme court decision upheld the constitutionality of that so-called “lookback window”.But now, that judge – Kendrick J Guidry of Lake Charles – is being forced to acknowledge that his ruling benefited a specific church on whose finance committee he sits, giving him a direct financial interest that required his recusal under the state’s judicial code. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Prominent figures risk arrest with message of support for proscribed group before next week’s appeal hearingUK politics live – latest updatesSally Rooney, Greta Thunberg, and Brian Eno have written to the court of appeal in support of Palestine Action before next week’s hearing to determine the lawfulness of the ban on the direct action protest group.The letter, composed of only six words – “We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action” – is signed by more than 130 people and is the first time that prominent scholars, writers and activists have come together to defy the ban. Continue reading...

The injunction pauses policy giving senior Trump official direct sign-off on federal clean energy projectsA federal judge in Massachusetts on Tuesday struck down several Trump administration actions slowing down development of clean energy, including a requirement that all solar and wind energy projects on federal lands and waters be personally approved by the interior secretary, Doug Burgum.Denise J Casper, chief judge of the US district court for Massachusetts, ruled that a coalition of plaintiffs representing wind and solar developers were likely to succeed on the merits of their claims that the administration’s actions violate federal statute and will cause irreparable harm if the court did not intervene. Continue reading...

The satirical website’s parent company will have to pay $81,000 a month to the misinformation platformSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxSatirical website the Onion plans to turn rightwing commentator Alex Jones’s misinformation site Infowars into a parody of itself under a leasing agreement provisionally approved by a Texas court.Under a proposed deal with court administrators, Infowars would be leased by Global Tetrahedron, a Chicago-based company that owns the Onion, for $81,000 a month for six months, with an option to renew for another six months. Continue reading...