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The United States is likely to succeed in shutting down the World Trade Organization’s supreme court because other WTO members are powerless to stop it, diplomats, lawyers and officials said at a conference in Geneva on Friday.

The United States has blocked appointments of judges to the Appellate Body, throwing the WTO into crisis as it runs out of legal muscle to rule on international trade disputes.

The European Union has made proposals to reform the way the judges work, but U.S. Ambassador Dennis Shea poured cold water on several of them on Thursday, saying appeals judges had “strayed” from what was agreed when the WTO was set up in 1995.

Continue reading “U.S. seen likely to win in effort to shut down WTO’s appeals court”

A suspect believed to have shot seven South Carolina law enforcement officers on Wednesday, killing one of them, is a disbarred lawyer.

The suspect has been identified as 74-year-old Frederick Hopkins, report the Associated Press and the Greenville News. He was hospitalized with a head injury, according to Fox Carolina. NBC News reports that the suspect wasn’t shot, although he was unconscious, possibly because of a heart attack or other condition during the shootout.

The slain officer was identified as Terrence Carraway, 52, who recently marked 30 years with the Florence Police Department, report SCNow and WMBF.

Continue reading “Disbarred lawyer suspected in shooting of 7 South Carolina law enforcement officers”

The top lenders of Toys ‘R’ Us have decided to cancel the bankruptcy auction of its brand name and other intellectual property assets and instead plan to revive the Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us brand names, a court filing on Monday showed.

The bankrupt retailer’s debtors aim to open a new Toys ‘R’ Us and Babies ‘R’ Us branding company that maintains existing global license agreements and can invest and develop new retail shops.

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The dissolved law firm Sedgwick has filed for bankruptcy.

Sedgwick filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition Tuesday in federal bankruptcy court in San Francisco, the American Lawyer reports.

The firm generally estimates its liabilities at up to $50 million and says in a declaration that there are about $32.6 million in claims from the termination of office leases as well as about $9.2 million owed in accounts payable.

The firm had assets of about $1.56 million in cash and recoverable accounts receivable of about $1.5 million, the declaration says.

Continue reading “Sedgwick declares bankruptcy in filing that traces the law firm’s downfall”

Federal Communications Commission chairman Ajit Pai rejected arguments Monday that states should be able to impose their own net neutrality protections after the Trump administration in December withdrew them.

The Trump administration late on Sunday filed suit seeking a preliminary injunction to block California’s state net neutrality law from taking effect in January. The court filing came soon after Governor Jerry Brown signed legislation.

Pai told reporters after an event in Washington the arguments made by states are “completely baseless” and said the internet is “inherently an interstate service… From a legal perspective we’re on very strong ground.”

Continue reading “Trump administration rejects states’ argument on net neutrality”