MLM Counties News. Notices. Need-to-know Information.

A federal judge struck down parts of the USA Patriot Act that let the FBI demand customer records from telephone and Internet companies while requiring that the inquiries be kept secret. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in New York ruled ...

Merck & Co. doesn’t have to defend a national class-action lawsuit seeking as much as $9 billion over claims it misled health insurers about the safety of its painkiller Vioxx, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled. Insurers, health-maintenance organizations and ...

Former commissioner receives prison time for undisclosed loan A former Clay County Family Court commissioner received a prison sentence Thursday for taking a loan from an attorney that appeared before him. Patrick D. Beeman, who pleaded guilty in April to ...

A private investigator who dug up dirt on Ray Vinson during his 2006 divorce is suing the mortgage man for allegedly libeling her on his personal Web site. Rhonda Cidlik of Pacific, Mo., has done surveillance work for more than ...

The lawyer for a man convicted of killing an 81-year-old woman 16 years ago argued before the Missouri Supreme Court on Thursday that her client’s conviction should be set aside on grounds of double jeopardy. Attorney Elizabeth Unger Carlyle asked ...

Merck & Co. doesn’t have to defend a national class-action lawsuit seeking as much as $9 billion over claims it misled health insurers about the safety of its painkiller Vioxx, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Insurers, health-maintenance organizations ...

AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp. should be free to charge for priority Internet access, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday, dealing a blow to Google Inc.’s bid to block Web traffic fees. The so-called net neutrality rules sought by Google ...

DaimlerChrysler Corp., Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and more than a dozen other automotive companies won an appeal Thursday over a New Jersey company that accused them of violating a patent covering side air-bag sensors. A federal appeals court ...

BP Plc’s former Texas refinery manager testified he was shocked to discover that 22 workers died at the plant in the 30 years before a 2005 explosion claimed 15 lives and injured hundreds. “It was shocking that all the employees ...

Phil Spector had no motive to kill former actress Lana Clarkson, whom he’d met only hours before her death, a lawyer for the music producer said Thursday at the end of a four-month murder trial. Scientific evidence, including the absence ...

Charles W. Burson has joined Bryan Cave as of counsel in the firm’s St. Louis office. He will practice with Bryan Cave’s corporate compliance group and its defense and regulatory affairs, public policy and legislation groups. Burson most recently served ...