boutons_deux
05-13-2014, 03:21 PM
A federal court has scrapped a 2010 decision in an employment discrimination appeal and plans to reopen the case after The Center for Public Integrity uncovered a conflict of interest by one of its judges (https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/04/28/14630/federal-judges-plead-guilty).
Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Susan Black vacated the original opinion (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1156714-hull-brown-v-jacobsengineering-ordertovacate.html) in the case involving Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. last week and ordered it be reconsidered by a new panel of judges.
Black tossed the decision because 11th Circuit Judge Frank Hull bought up to $15,000 worth of stock in Jacobs several months before ruling in favor of the international construction giant (http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/unpub/ops/201010078.pdf), violating court rules.
The rehearing came as a surprise to Lee Winston, who represented Shirley Brown of Huntsville, Ala., more than three years ago in the complaint against the engineering firm. Brown, who is African-American, sued the firm alleging racial and sexual discrimination.
The April 28 story showed a lack of accountability in the federal court system.
Judges face no formal punishment for breaking these (http://www.uscourts.gov/RulesAndPolicies/CodesOfConduct/CodeConductUnitedStatesJudges.aspx) rules (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/455).
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/05/13/14748/case-reopened-after-center-reveals-judges-conflict-interest?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=watchdog&utm_medium=publici-email
Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Susan Black vacated the original opinion (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/1156714-hull-brown-v-jacobsengineering-ordertovacate.html) in the case involving Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. last week and ordered it be reconsidered by a new panel of judges.
Black tossed the decision because 11th Circuit Judge Frank Hull bought up to $15,000 worth of stock in Jacobs several months before ruling in favor of the international construction giant (http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/unpub/ops/201010078.pdf), violating court rules.
The rehearing came as a surprise to Lee Winston, who represented Shirley Brown of Huntsville, Ala., more than three years ago in the complaint against the engineering firm. Brown, who is African-American, sued the firm alleging racial and sexual discrimination.
The April 28 story showed a lack of accountability in the federal court system.
Judges face no formal punishment for breaking these (http://www.uscourts.gov/RulesAndPolicies/CodesOfConduct/CodeConductUnitedStatesJudges.aspx) rules (http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/455).
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/05/13/14748/case-reopened-after-center-reveals-judges-conflict-interest?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=watchdog&utm_medium=publici-email