NO SYMPATHY FOR SMOKERS?
If Tuesday’s reception is any indication, the federal appeals court panel that must decide whether to let stand last year’s ruling by a Brooklyn judge that granted class action status to a $200 billion lawsuit against cigarette manufacturers is having early doubts, Forbes reports. Some 60 million members of the class action suit say cigarette manufacturers promoted the lower risk of light cigarettes even though internal documents showed they were as dangerous as normal cigarettes. During Tuesday’s oral arguments to decide whether U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein was correct in allowing the suit to go forward, two of three judges on a panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit openly questioned aspects of the class action status. Judge John Walker thought it problematic that each smoker would have a different idea of how the tobacco companies marketed the cigarettes, and doubted that smokers were primarily concerned with their health since they smoked anyway. Meanwhile, Judge Ralph Winter said he doubted that tobacco companies could convince smokers that light cigarettes were healthier cigarettes with less tar and nicotine because each box still contained a health warning. In 2005, the Second Circuit reversed Weinstein’s 2002 decision that certified the first ever nationwide class action against tobacco companies. The panel said he had stretched the boundaries of the law by allowing the plaintiffs to seek only punitive damages.

 
SHOULDA THROWN AWAY THE KEY 
The New York Sun has an interesting piece questioning the state’s parole laws. The story comes in the wake of accounts that three of the suspects in Monday’s shooting of two New York police officers in Brooklyn had served prison terms of at least seven years for previous crimes — two for violent sexual assault and one for a shooting — and yet once released returned to their old ways. "In this case, we once again see the tragic results of a court system which did not punish thugs as they should have been punished," said Peter Vallone, Jr., a City Council member and former Manhattan prosecutor. Convicted rapist Dexter Bostic, the alleged triggerman who is still at large, was actively monitored by his parole officer, while sex offender Robert Ellis had a warrant put out on him two weeks ago after failing to appear for a court date to explain a change of address.

PARTY LIKE IT'S 1984
Westchester.com runs an opinion piece by Democratic State Assemblyman George Latimer arguing why cameras should once again be permitted in New York courtrooms. (In 1997, cameras were outlawed in New York courts after being allowed for the previous 10 years.) Although Assembly Speaker and former trial lawyer Sheldon Silver is a vocal proponent of the ban, in June Republican Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman John DeFrancisco introduced a bill to rescind it. Writes Latimer: "When we read the Orwell novel 1984 at whatever point in time we were in high school or college, the actual year 1984 seemed a long way off. Now it is nearly 25 years in the rear-view mirror. Just like the Prince song, "1999", date-specific information can seem archaic because dates come and go. But the fear of a government that curtails civil liberties and becomes all-intrusive on individual behavior still remains a real fear for many Americans."

 
OF FRAUD AND ANTIFREEZE
Joseph Houghtaling, who drank a potentially fatal dose of antifreeze previous to being acquitted of the most serious charges in his auto insurance scam case, has been sentenced to two-to-four years in prison for falsifying business records. (His wife, Renee, is slated to get one-and-a-half-to-three years in prison when she is sentenced next month.) As reported in The Albany Times Union, members of the Houghtaling family were arrested in 2006 on charges they staged more than 20 phony crashes dating back 15 years. Houghtaling’s attorney, John Kelleher, has said his client later told his wife he didn't expect to get a fair shake in the longest criminal trial in Albany County history, and drank the antifreeze to spare her and his three young sons.

 
ARE YOU TAPING THIS?
And from The Utica Observer-Dispatch, the story of a settlement between the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Central School District and a former student who accused a teacher of wrapping tape around his head because he was talking too much. On Monday, Onieda Supreme Court Justice John W. Grow approved a settlement of $33,250 to Loree Larkin and her son, Adam Roser, 16. "The school district did not do enough in response to what occurred; however, the settlement is sufficient to deter teachers and school districts from treating these incidents lightly," said Roser’s attorney, Mark Wolber.