Under new regulations adopted by the Federal Trade Commission today, for-profit debt settlement companies will no longer be allowed to collect fees for their services until they have settled some or all of a consumer's debt.  The new regulations will help curb deceptive and abusive practices in debt relief services sold through telemarketing, according to Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. 

"Most debt settlement companies charge big fees up front even though most consumers don't get the help they expect," said Lauren Bowne, Staff Attorney for Consumers Union's Defend Your Dollars campaign (www.DefendYourDollars.org)  "These new rules will help protect consumers who are already drowning in debt from being ripped off by debt settlement companies that fail to provide any relief.  But more needs to be done to ensure that the amount of fees charged for debt settlement services are fair."  

Most debt settlement companies market their services through Internet, television, or radio advertising.  The advertisements typically promise to substantially reduce debt and urge consumers to call a toll-free number to find out more.  Once the consumer signs up, the debt settlement company takes its fees over the first half of the contract period.  The FTC reports that nearly two-thirds of consumers who enroll in debt relief services, most of which pay an advance fee, end up dropping out of the programs within the first three years without getting the help they paid to receive.    

Debt settlement companies usually advise consumers to stop paying their creditors and to instead set up a special account to build savings that will be used in the future to negotiate a settlement.  As the consumer deposits savings into the account, the debt settlement company withdraws money to cover its fees even though it hasn't reached a settlement with creditors.  By stopping payments to creditors, the consumer ends up with a worse credit score, additional penalty fees and more interest charges.  

While debt settlement companies claim they settle millions of dollars in debt for consumers, they have not revealed how much debt remains unsettled.  The Better Business Bureau announced that it would stop calling debt settlement services "inherently problematic" if a company could show that it met several conditions, key among them that at least one half of its customers saved as much money as was paid in fees.  The GAO reported in April 2010 that two debt settlement trade associations called that standard "unrealistic."

The FTC's new regulation banning advance fees will go into effect on October 27, 2010 and takes a key step forward by addressing the timing of the fees.  Under the new rules, a debt settlement company will earn fees when it reaches a settlement on at least one of the consumer's debts that the consumer agrees to in writing.  Fees cannot be collected until the consumer has made at least one payment to the creditor as a result of the negotiated agreement.  

Fees can be held in a dedicated account before that time but all unearned fees must be returned to the consumer if he or she decides that the debt settlement program is not working out or cancels the program.  Debt settlement firms can only require a dedicated account under certain conditions, including that the account must be set up and maintained by the consumer at an insured financial institution.  The consumer will be entitled to earn interest on the account and can withdraw the funds at any time without penalty.  

Beginning on September 27, 2010, the FTC rule requires that debt settlement companies make certain pre-contract disclosures, including how long it will take to get results and how much it will cost.  The new rules cover calls consumers make to debt settlement firms in response to advertising as well as telemarketing calls made by firms.  However, the FTC's new regulation does not apply to in-person sales or to Internet-only sales, so Congress or the states will have to act to apply the new rules to those debt settlement contracts.  

"The FTC regulations will ensure that debt settlement companies will only get paid if they help consumers but it doesn't stop them from charging outrageously high fees," said Bowne.  "Now it's up to state lawmakers or Congress to cap debt settlement fees to a reasonable percentage of the actual savings for consumers."  

Two federal bills (S. 3264 and HR 5387) have been introduced in Congress to limit debt settlement fees to a one-time $50 fee and five percent of the savings from each final settlement.

A former political fundraiser, Hassan Nemazee, was sentenced today in federal court in Manhattan to 144 months in prison for defrauding Bank of America, N.A. (BofA), Citibank, N.A., and HSBC Bank USA N.A. out of $292 million in loan proceeds, announced U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara and the FBI's New York Office Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein ordered Nemazee to pay restitution of more than $292 million to the defrauded banks; to forfeit various real properties, corporate entities, hedge funds, securities accounts and bank accounts; and to serve three years of supervised release.

According to the superseding information to which Nemazee pleaded guilty, documents filed in court, and statements made during the guilty plea and sentencing proceedings, from 1998 to 2009, Nemazee obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from BofA, Citibank, and HSBC. To obtain the loans, Nemazee misrepresented to the banks that he owned hundreds of millions of dollars in collateral, in the form of securities and other assets, which he did not own. In fact, Nemazee used fake documents, including bogus account statements, to show his supposed ownership of the collateral. The documents also contained forged signatures of persons associated with Westminster Securities Corporation, the brokerage firm at which Nemazee claimed to hold these assets, as well as Westminster's clearing firm, Pershing LLC.

The fake account statements and other documents that Nemazee provided also contained telephone numbers, supposedly for Westminster and Pershing, which were in fact assigned to "virtual offices" that Nemazee himself had established or to a cell phone that Nemazee himself had obtained. Nemazee created at least two "virtual offices" in Manhattan that held themselves out, at his direction, as being associated with Westminster and Pershing.

One of the loans from BofA, a $100 million line of credit, was guaranteed by Nemazee's longtime friend and business associate, who pledged a multi-million dollar home in Colorado as collateral on the loan, not knowing that the collateral that Nemazee was pledging did not exist. As of August 2009, Nemazee owed approximately $142 million to BofA and $74.9 million to Citibank.

In August 2009 - when Citibank began to ask questions in order to verify the existence of the purported collateral that Nemazee had pledged for the Citibank loan, and after special agents of the FBI had interviewed Nemazee about the Citibank loan - Nemazee drew down on a line of credit that he had fraudulently obtained from HSBC earlier in 2009 and used those funds to pay Citibank the $74.9 million that he owed.

Nemazee was able to continue the fraud for longer than a decade by, among other things, making partial repayments on his borrowings from BofA with proceeds of his fraud on Citibank and making partial repayments on his borrowings from Citibank with proceeds of his fraud on BofA.

Nemazee used the proceeds of his fraudulent schemes to, among other things: purchase an apartment and land in Italy; make monthly maintenance payments on a Park Avenue apartment; pay for the upkeep of a 12-acre property in Katonah, N.Y.; purchase partial interests in a private plane and a luxury yacht; make personal donations to the election campaigns of federal, state and local candidates, political action committees, and charities; and make various other investments.

Nemazee also used his political donations to enhance his reputation and standing in political circles. In 2009, Nemazee unsuccessfully attempted to capitalize on that standing by seeking nomination to a Cabinet-level position, all the while engaged in the fraud for which he was sentenced. Nemazee had previously been nominated as U.S. Ambassador to Argentina in 1999, but his nomination was withdrawn.

Nemazee, 60, of Manhattan, was ordered to surrender on Aug. 27, 2010.

Nemazee's brother-in-law, Shahin Kashanchi, 47, of Telluride, Colo., is separately charged in an indictment with aiding and abetting Nemazee's bank fraud by manufacturing the fake account statements and other documents that Nemazee used to defraud BofA, Citibank and HSBC. Kashanchi's case is pending in Manhattan federal court. The charge and allegations contained in the indictment charging Kashanchi are merely accusations, and Kashanchi is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

U.S. Attorney Bharara praised the investigative work of the FBI. U.S. Attorney Bharara also thanked BofA, Citibank, HSBC, and Pershing for their assistance in the investigation.

"For over a decade, Hassan Nemazee authored a fantastic fiction, stealing $292 million by acting the part of wealthy and influential power broker," said U.S. Attorney Bharara. "In the end, justice is blind to political affiliations and powerful connections, and today, like any other defendant, Nemazee faces the stark consequences of his decision to violate the law."

"Nemazee lived like a prince, with palatial properties on two continents," said FBI New York office Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge Venizelos. "But he financed this lavish lifestyle with hundreds of millions in fraudulently obtained loans, so his empire was really a house of cards. The FBI remains determined to stop those who steal from banks through deceit and trickery."

This case was brought in coordination with President Barack Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, on which U.S. Attorney Bharara serves as a Co-Chair of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Working Group. President Obama established the interagency Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force to wage an aggressive, coordinated, and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

The case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office's Complex Frauds and Asset Forfeiture Units.

The U.S. Golf Manufacturers Anti-Counterfeiting Working Group (the "Anti-Counterfeiting Group") reports that on June 10, 2010, the Beijing Hadian District Court found five individuals guilty of the crime of attempting to sell counterfeit golf equipment.  The court sentenced the five counterfeiters to jail terms of more than one year and ordered that they pay fines of approximately $54,000 (USD).

The Court found that the defendants operated warehouses containing large quantities of counterfeit golf equipment that was sold in golf stores, including the Beijing World Famous Golf Store and the Beijing Te Qi Qiao International Commerce Center.  After receiving complaints from the Anti-Counterfeiting Group, Chinese PSB officers raided these targets and seized more than 2,300 counterfeit golf clubs and a large number of counterfeit golf caps, bags and accessories.  The seized goods were illegal copies of authentic products made by all of the Group's members.

According to the Group, "the jail sentences demonstrate that counterfeiting is a serious crime.  Counterfeiters steal the trademarks and intellectual property rights of brand owners and defraud consumers who think that they are buying genuine products."

The Anti-Counterfeiting Group consists of the world's leading golf equipment manufacturers. Its members and brands include Acushnet Company - Titleist and FootJoy; Callaway Golf - Odyssey, Top-Flite and Ben Hogan; Cleveland Golf /Srixon and Never Compromise; Nike Golf; PING; and TaylorMade-adidas Golf and Ashworth.  The Anti-Counterfeiting Group was formed in 2004 to petition governments to enforce their country's laws against counterfeiters of golf equipment products.  As a result of the Anti-Counterfeiting Group's petitioning efforts, dozens of successful raids of manufacturing, warehouse, assembly and retail facilities have been executed by Chinese law enforcement and civil enforcement authorities over the past five years.  Many business operators have been arrested and have now been prosecuted and sentenced in the Chinese courts.

A federal jury in Orlando, Fla., found former Bureau of Prisons corrections officer Michael Kennedy guilty late yesterday on felony federal civil rights charges related to the fatal assault of an inmate in March 2005, the Justice Department announced today. Kennedy was convicted of conspiring with others to violate the federal civil rights of inmate Richard Delano and for violating Delano's civil rights by arranging for another inmate to assault Delano.

The evidence at trial showed that on Feb. 28, 2005, Kennedy and former Bureau of Prisons corrections officer Erin Sharma agreed to move Delano into the cell of inmate John McCullah at the Federal Correctional Complex Coleman in Coleman, Fla. The evidence also showed that Kennedy and Sharma knew that McCullah was likely to assault Delano, and that the move was in retaliation for a prior altercation between Delano and Sharma. Kennedy also conspired with McCullah by bribing him to assault Delano. Kennedy moved Delano into McCullah's cell on March 1, 2005, and three days later McCullah assaulted Delano. Delano later died from the injuries he suffered during that assault.

On July 29, 2009, following a trial in Orlando, Fla., a federal jury found Erin Sharma guilty of similar felony civil rights charges for her role in the offense. On Aug. 28, 2009, she was sentenced to life in prison.

"The vast majority of law enforcement officers bravely uphold the civil rights of arrestees and inmates, even under adverse conditions. However, as this case shows, when a law enforcement officer violates the civil rights of any person, the Justice Department will not hesitate to investigate and prosecute such an offender," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "This case reflects the kind of abuses that our nation's civil rights laws are intended to punish."

Kennedy faces a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 13, 2010.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Bruce Ambrose and Carolyn Adams from the U.S. Attorney's Office, and Senior Litigation Counsel Gerard Hogan and Trial Attorney Douglas Kern from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. FBI Special Agent Jim Raby was the lead investigator on the case.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

List Blocks People From Flying Without Explanation Or Due Process

The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a first-of-its-kind lawsuit on behalf of 10 U.S. citizens and lawful residents who are prohibited from flying to or from the United States or over U.S. airspace because they are on the government's "No Fly List." None of the individuals in the lawsuit, including a disabled U.S. Marine Corps veteran stranded in Egypt and a U.S. Army veteran stuck in Colombia, have been told why they are on the list or given a chance to clear their names.

"More and more Americans who have done nothing wrong find themselves unable to fly, and in some cases unable to return to the U.S., without any explanation whatsoever from the government," said Ben Wizner, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "A secret list that deprives people of the right to fly and places them into effective exile without any opportunity to object is both un-American and unconstitutional."

The ACLU, along with its affiliates in Oregon, Southern California, Northern California and New Mexico, filed the lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI and the Terrorist Screening Center in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon. The plaintiffs on the case are:

• Ayman Latif, a U.S. citizen and disabled Marine veteran living in Egypt who has been barred from flying to the United States and, as a result, cannot take a required Veterans' Administration disability evaluation;
• Raymond Earl Knaeble, a U.S. citizen and U.S. Army veteran who is stuck in Santa Marta, Colombia after being denied boarding on a flight to the United States;
• Steven Washburn, a U.S. citizen and U.S. Air Force veteran who was prevented from flying from Europe to the United States or Mexico; he eventually flew to Brazil, from there to Peru, and from there to Mexico, where he was detained and finally escorted across the border by U.S. and Mexican officials;
• Samir Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed, Abdullatif Muthanna, Nagib Ali Ghaleb and Saleh A. Omar, three American citizens and a lawful permanent resident of the United States who were prevented from flying home to the U.S. after visiting family members in Yemen;
• Mohamed Sheikh Abdirahman Kariye, a U.S. citizen and resident of Portland, Oregon who was prevented from flying to visit his daughter who is in high school in Dubai;
• Adama Bah, a citizen of Guinea who was granted political asylum in the United States, where she has lived since she was two, who was barred from flying from New York to Chicago for work; and
• Halime Sat, a German citizen and lawful permanent resident of the United States who lives in California with her U.S.-citizen husband who was barred from flying from Long Beach, California to Oakland to attend a conference and has since had to cancel plane travel to participate in educational programs and her family reunion in Germany.

According to the ACLU's legal complaint, thousands of people have been added to the "No Fly List" and barred from commercial air travel without any opportunity to learn about or refute the basis for their inclusion on the list. The result is a vast and growing list of individuals who, on the basis of error or innuendo, have been deemed too dangerous to fly but who are too harmless to arrest.

"Without a reasonable way for people to challenge their inclusion on the list, there's no way to keep innocent people off it," said Nusrat Choudhury, a staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "The government's decision to prevent people from flying without giving them a chance to defend themselves has a huge impact on people's lives - including their ability to perform their jobs, see their families and, in the case of U.S. citizens, to return home to the United States from abroad."

In addition to Wizner and Choudhury, attorneys on the case are Kevin Diaz and cooperating attorney Steven Wilker with the ACLU of Oregon; Ahilan Arulanantham, Jennie Pasquarella and cooperating attorney Reem Salahi with the ACLU of Southern California; Alan Schlosser and Julia Harumi Mass of the ACLU of Northern California; and Laura Ives of the ACLU of New Mexico. The Council on American-Islamic Relations consulted with Raymond Knaeble and directed him to the ACLU.

The ACLU's complaint is available online at: www.aclu.org/national-security/latif-et-al-v-holder-et-al-complaint.  More information about the ACLU's lawsuit is available online at: www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-challenges-government-no-fly-list-0.

A federal grand jury has returned an 11 count federal indictment charging three current and two former New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) officers in connection with the police-involved shooting of Henry Glover, a New Orleans resident shot and killed in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

Today's indictment was announced by Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division; Jim Letten, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana; and David Welker, Special Agent in Charge of the New Orleans Field Office of the FBI.

Former NOPD officer David Warren, former NOPD Lieutenant Robert Italiano, NOPD Lieutenants Dwayne Scheuermann and Travis McCabe, and officer Gregory McRae are charged with crimes in connection with the Sept. 2, 2005, shooting and killing of Glover, the subsequent burning of his body in a car, the assault of civilians who tried to help Glover, and various offenses related to a cover-up of the incident.

Warren is in federal custody, having been arrested by Special Agents of the FBI immediately following the return of the indictment earlier today.

Specifically, Warren is charged with unnecessarily shooting and killing Glover and thereby violating his federally-protected right not to be subjected to the use of unreasonable force by a police officer. Warren, also charged with unlawfully using a firearm to commit this crime, faces a possible sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Scheuermann and McRae are charged with obstructing justice and using fire in the commission of a federal offense, for burning Glover's body and the 2001 Chevrolet Malibu in which his body was located. Scheuermann and McRae are also accused of assaulting civilians who came to Glover's aid, thereby violating the rights of those civilians to be free from the use of unreasonable force. Scheuermann and McRae each face a possible maximum sentence of 60 years in prison, and fines of $1 million.

Italiano and McCabe are charged with obstruction of justice for their alleged roles in authoring and submitting a false and inaccurate incident report regarding the shooting and burning, and for other allegedly false statements they gave during the course of the federal investigation into this incident. Italiano faces a possible maximum sentence of 25 years in prison and a fine of $500,000. McCabe faces a possible maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of $750,000.

"In the wake of a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, law enforcement have a responsibility to do everything in their power to protect public safety and to protect the residents of their city. Any officers who abuse their power and violate the law will be brought to justice," said Assistant Attorney General Perez.

"Our deep gratitude goes to the team of federal investigators who continue to seek to defend the rights of victims of abuses following Hurricane Katrina," said U.S. Attorney Letten. "We are absolutely committed to bring those who have violated the sacred rights of our citizens to justice, in the hope that our pursuit will give the people of New Orleans confidence in the protection of honest and professional law enforcement."

"Behavior such as described in the indictment has no place in a free society, let alone law enforcement. Today's indictment should clearly demonstrate the commitment of the FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to aggressively and fairly investigate civil rights matters," said Special Agent in Charge David Welker.

This case is being investigated by the New Orleans Field Office of the FBI. It is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jared Fishman of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracey Knight for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

An indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

An Arlington, Texas, couple was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge John H. McBryde for forcing a Nigerian widow to perform domestic labor for them for more than eight years. Emmanuel Nnaji, 50, a naturalized citizen of the United States was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Ngozi Ihechere Nnaji, 40, a citizen of Nigeria, was sentenced to nine years in prison. The defendants were also ordered to pay $305,957.60 in restitution.

On Feb. 2, 2010, both defendants were convicted by a Ft. Worth, Texas, jury on all charges, including conspiracy to commit forced labor, forced labor, conspiracy to harbor an alien for financial gain, harboring an alien for financial gain, document servitude and false statements to an FBI agent.

According to evidence presented at trial, the victim, a widowed and mother of six children, including a chronically ill child, was recruited in Nigeria with promises that her children would be cared for in exchange for her work in the United States.

Upon arrival in the United States, the defendants confiscated the victim's passport and never returned it. For more than eight years, the victim cared for the defendants' children day and night, cooked and cleaned with no days off. The defendants did not allow the victim out unsupervised; prohibited her from speaking with her children on the phone unsupervised; and forbid her to make friends or converse with the defendants' friends. According to evidence at trial, the victim also testified that Emmanuel Nnaji also sexually assaulted her. Although the victim was promised that her family would be cared for, her family received a total of about $300 over the eight years. When the victim asked to return to Nigeria, the defendants refused. The victim was ultimately rescued with the assistance of a Catholic priest.

"The involuntary servitude and mistreatment that this victim endured is intolerable in a nation founded on freedom and individual rights," said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "The prosecution of this case demonstrates the Justice Department's commitment to punishing those who prey upon vulnerable victims and exploit them in modern day slavery."

"The FBI is committed to aggressively pursuing and bringing to justice the human traffickers who prey upon others who are only seeking to better their lives," said Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Casey Jr., FBI Dallas. "The sentencing in this case sends a strong message to those who are engaged in this heinous form of modern day slavery that this practice will not be tolerated in our community."

The case was investigated by the FBI. The case was prosecuted by Susan L. French and Michael J. Frank of the Civil Rights Division and its Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, with assistance of Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Michael Worley of the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Texas. Refugee Services of Texas provided assistance to the victim following her rescue.

Hosam Maher Husein Smadi pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Barbara M. G. Lynn to a felony offense related to his attempted bombing of a downtown Dallas skyscraper in September 2009, announced David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas, and Robert E. Casey Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Dallas Field Division.

Smadi, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He faces a maximum statutory sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Under the terms of the plea agreement, however, Smadi faces a sentence of 30 years in prison, if the court accepts the plea. Judge Lynn has set a sentencing date of Aug. 20, 2010.

"Today's guilty plea underscores the continuing threat we face from lone actors who, although not members of any international terrorist organization, are willing to carry out acts of violence in this country to further the terrorist cause. I applaud the many agents, analysts and prosecutors responsible for this successful investigation and prosecution," said Assistant Attorney General Kris.

"I commend the FBI, the lawyers and support staff in the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the Counterterrorism section at the Department of Justice for their excellent work in bringing this case closer to a successful conclusion," said U.S. Attorney Jacks.

"The facts disclosed today and Smadi's plea make it clear his intention was to kill American citizens. I want to commend the work of the FBI's North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force investigators and the prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas, who worked countless hours to bring this investigation closer to its conclusion and to protect the community in their execution of the FBI's Counterterrorism strategy to detect, penetrate, and disrupt acts of terrorism in the United States," said FBI Special Agent in Charge Casey.

According to documents filed, on Sept. 24, 2009, Smadi knowingly took possession of a truck that contained a weapon of mass destruction, specifically a destructive device or bomb. The truck with the bomb inside was a vehicle borne improvised explosive device. Smadi believed that this was an active weapon of mass destruction, and while it was inert when Smadi took possession of it, it was a readily-convertible weapon of mass destruction.

Smadi knowingly drove the truck containing the bomb to Fountain Place, a 60-story public office building located at 1445 Ross Avenue in Dallas, and parked it in the public parking garage under the building. After parking the truck, Smadi activated a timer connected to the device, locked the truck and walked away. Smadi walked out of the parking garage, crossed the street and got into a car with an undercover law enforcement agent. They drove a safe distance away and prepared to watch the explosion. Smadi, who believed the bomb would explode and cause extensive damage, used a cell phone to remotely activate the device.

The case is being investigated by the FBI in conjunction with members of the FBI-sponsored North Texas Joint Terrorism Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson and Deputy Criminal Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerri Sims are prosecuting.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

The April 20, 2010 oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and injured more than 100 after suffering a catastrophic blowout. The owner of the rig, Transocean Ltd, is already attempting to limit its liability for the blast by filing a petition in the Southern District of Texas seeking to limit its overall liability to just over $26 million.

"There are limited circumstances when vessel owners are able to limit liability under the Act.  We don't expect that any of those circumstances will apply here," said Ryan Zehl, who is currently representing several workers who were injured in the Transocean explosion.

For the limitation to work, Transocean must prove that it did not have prior knowledge of the explosion's cause and, as a result, could not have prevented it.  If they show this, Transocean's total liability could be limited to the value of the Deepwater Horizon after it exploded and sunk to the bottom of the ocean, which--according to its filings with the court--is $26,764,083.00, well below its pre-accident value of $650 million.

"The Act was passed before insurance covered against disasters, said Zehl. Because vessels, like the Deepwater Horizon, are now insured, the vessel's owner can--and in this case would if the limitation applies--collect more in insurance proceeds than it has to pay out in damages.  Today, it's just an antiquated remedy that gives companies like Transocean a way to escape responsibility."

Transocean deliberately waited to file the limitation until after the Congressional hearings to avoid criticism for taking such insensitive actions in response to a terrible tragedy," said Zehl. "It appears that the company is more concerned about its bottom line than the lives of its employees and their families."

Fitts Zehl LLP is a national maritime and personal injury law firm that focuses on representing workers who were injured or lost their lives in offshore and other work place explosions.  The firm is currently representing several workers who were injured during the Transocean Deepwater Horizon explosion, and has recovered millions in damages on behalf of injured offshore and refinery workers in connection with 3 of the largest work place explosions since 2005: the BP Texas City explosion, and both the Imperial Sugar refinery explosion and the International Paper explosion in 2008.

In a ground-breaking decision that altered US copyright law, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today overturned a lower court ruling that had barred publication of 60 Years Later -- Coming Through the Rye. The case will now return to Judge Deborah A. Batts of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Judge Batts, who had barred the book on July 1, 2009, must now apply a new legal standard to the case.

Attorneys for the author, Fredrik Colting, and his US distributor, SCB Distributors Inc., had argued that publication of 60 Years Later -- a thoughtful literary critique on The Catcher in the Rye and J.D. Salinger - would not harm J.D. Salinger's copyright in Catcher. But the lower court did not require Mr. Salinger to show that he would be irreparably harmed if the book is published. Under the appeals court decision today, the lower court must now require Mr. Salinger's representatives to prove actual harm to his copyright in Catcher before a book ban can issue. The lower court also must consider the interests of the public in having the book published.

"We are pleased that the injunction barring the publication of 60 Years Later has been vacated," said Edward H. Rosenthal of Frankfurt Kurnit. "We are confident that when the district court applies the new analysis required by the appeals court, the book will not be enjoined."

For a copy of the decision, visit http://www.fkks.com/jdsalinger.asp.

SOURCE Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz