Editor’s Note: Copies of EEOC lawsuits filed in Colorado and Nebraska are published below.
JBS USA, headquartered in Greeley, is being sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for allowing a hostile work environment to be created for its Somali and Muslim employees due to their race, nationality and religion at meatpacking plants in Greeley and Grand Island, Neb., according to the Northern Colorado Business Report.
Two lawsuits were filed Aug. 31 in U.S. District Court in Denver concerning alleged harassment of employees during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in September 2008. The lawsuits also allege that a pattern of discrimination continued in the two plants since that time.
The lawsuits claim supervisors and co-workers at the two JBS plants “threw blood, meat and bones at the Muslim employees and called them offensive names.” The suits also allege workers wrote derogatory comments about Somalis and Muslims on the walls of plant restrooms.
A teleconference company is off the hook, at least for now, from paying the legal fees of a former chief executive who was sent to prison in June for securities fraud, The National Law Journal reports.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that a trial judge erred in granting a preliminary injunction in favor of ClearOne Inc.’s former CEO, Frances Flood, who had an agreement with the Salt Lake City-based company to pay her legal fees.
The appeals panel found that the agreement did not create an unconditional obligation for ClearOne to cover her fees and instead permitted the company to assert its own financial problems as a way to avoid payment.
DENVER – The Denver office of national employment law firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart announced the addition of four immigration attorneys from regional law firm Holland & Hart on Wednesday.
Angelica Ochoa and Christopher Thomas joined the law firm as shareholders. Ochoa has a broad employment law practice with a specialization in obtaining non-immigrant work visas and employment-based immigrant visas for management, professionals and specialized skills employees. She is a 2001 graduate from the University of Michigan Law School. Thomas focuses his practice on employment immigration law. He also serves on the boards of the Latin American Research and Service Agency and the Denver chapter of religious conviction organization J. Reuben Clark Law Society. Thomas received his juris doctor from Tulane University in 1997.
John Combs, who joined as of counsel, has a number of years of experience in employment based permanent residency applications with a specialization in the initial labor certification process. He learned his law degree from the University of Idaho in 1983.
Jocelyn Campanaro, who worked in Holland & Hart’s Washington D.C. and Denver offices, is an associate with a practice focused on complex commercial litigation and labor and employment disputes. She’s also specialized in representing professional sports teams and athletes on immigration matters, including players in the National Hockey League, a leading team in the Central Hockey League, World Champion cutting horse riders and competitors in the equine industry.
DENVER – The Denver District Attorney’s office won’t prosecute an online identity theft case involving a 24-year-old Denver woman’s stolen Facebook photos that were used on several online dating websites, reports Dayle Cedars from 7NEWS.
Under Colorado statute, criminal impersonation is when one knowingly assumes a false or fictitious identity and acts with the intent to gain a benefit or to injure or defraud another. Likewise, criminal identity theft involves “the personal identifying information, financial identifying information, or financial device of another without permission or lawful authority to obtain cash, credit, property, services, or any other thing of value or to make a financial payment.” Personal and financial identifying information under the statute includes items such as birth certificates, social security numbers and credit card information, but does not cover photos posted online.
“There are cases that get presented to us and you look at it and you say, ‘This is wrong,’” Denver DA spokesperson Lynn Kimbrough told 7NEWS. “It just seems wrong, but it may still not rise to that level where we need to reach where we can file it criminally.”
The woman, whose identity has been withheld and is known only as “Stacy,” plans to file a civil lawsuit against the 46-year-old woman in Aurora accused of stealing the photos and using them on dating websites such as Plenty of Fish, Dallas Singles and Sugar Daddies.
DENVER — Each finalist for the upcoming vacancy on the Colorado Supreme Court had five letters of reference written on their behalf. The letters, along with the job applications and interviews, were considered by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission in picking the finalists and will also be reviewed by Gov. Bill Ritter before he chooses one of the finalists as the state’s next justice. Law Week asked the letter writers to share what they wrote, and 12 of 15 agreed.
Finalist Bob Russel, a judge on the Colorado Court of Appeals, had letters written on his behalf by retired appeals court Judge Sandra I. Rothenberg; 1st Judicial District Judge Jane Tidball; sole practitioner Forrest Lewis; Tom Kearns of Fairfield and Woods; and Monica Russel y Rodriguez, associate dean at Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Science, and Russel’s sister.
Monica Russel y Rodriguez, on Russel embracing the cultures of both his white father and Mexican-American mother:
“One solution to living in two worlds is to reject one of them. Bob has always simply refused to diminish either contribution and thereby defied assimilationist expectations. Cultural anthropologists will tell you that the urge to pick one identity or one world is strong and compelling in our society. Our own history of the Census reveals this ambivalence to race and ethnicity. Even closer to home, these dualities never put us in a stable place. Among our white working-class neighbors we were the Mexican-with-all-those-kids; among our Martinez and Rodriguez cousins we were the gringos.”
Jane Tidball:
“As a trial judge, I can attest to the superior quality of Bob’s work on the Court of Appeals. The opinions he authors are cogent, precise and understandable. He analyzes the issues presented on appeal and no more. He provides trial judges with a concise holding and a rule of law which can be applied at the trial court level.”
Sandra I. Rothenberg:
“Judge Russel has had considerable experience as an appellate lawyer and judge, and he is comfortable with the nature of appellate judging which is collegial, but can also be solitary and isolating. Finally, he is a superb writer whose opinions are clear and understandable, even when addressing complex issues.”
Forrest Lewis:
“In a short time, he has risen to the top of the court in respect and excellence. His opinions are some of the best work the court has put forth. He works very hard to make them so. He has rejected my invitation for weekend outings on many occasions because he was working on opinions he ‘needed to get out.’”
Tom Kearns:
“I have socialized with Bob for many years, within a group of individuals who are quite vocal with their political opinions. Although I have heard Bob speak quite eloquently within this group, I cannot identify a set political philosophy. Even in his casual discourse Bob examines issues and reaches conclusions specific to the discussion without burden of predetermined beliefs.”
DENVER — Each finalist for the upcoming vacancy on the Colorado Supreme Court had five letters of reference written on their behalf. The letters, along with the job applications and interviews, were considered by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission in picking the finalists and will also be reviewed by Gov. Bill Ritter before he chooses one of the finalists as the state’s next justice. Law Week asked the letter writers to share what they wrote, and 12 of 15 agreed.
Finalist Monica Marquez, a Colorado deputy attorney general, had letters written on her behalf by Attorney General John Suthers; Secretary of State Bernie Buescher; former state Supreme Court Justice Jean Dubofsky; Deputy Attorney General Maurie Knaizer; and Kathleen Nalty, director of the Colorado Campaign for Inclusive Excellence. All letters but Knaizer’s appear below.
Jean Dubofsky:
“[F]our of the justice’s law practices were primarily if not exclusively criminal law practices. Ms. Marquez would be replacing the chief justice who is known for her expertise in government law, and Ms. Marquez would bring to the court sophistication about the numerous cases that involve, for example, TABOR, ballot titles, election issues, voter-initiated constitutional amendments, property tax, public pensions, labor law, and regulations issued by a wide variety of state agencies.”
Kathleen Nalty, on Marquez’ keynote speech at the 2010 State High School Diversity Conference:
“She spoke for an hour to an audience of over 1000 diverse high school students from 80 high schools across the state. You could have heard a pin drop as the high school students listened to Monica’s incredibly inspiring story of courage — about leaving her family at age 16 to become an exchange student in Germany, being mugged while walking to work in Camden through a crime and drug infested neighborhood where she taught inner-city children during her years as a Jesuit Volunteer, telling her Catholic family that she is gay, and meeting a death row inmate one summer during law school and building a 13-year friendship with him until he was executed — a friendship the two maintained even after she became a prosecutor.”
John Suthers:
“I have managed three large public law offices over a period of eighteen years and have observed the work of approximately 700 lawyers who I’ve managed over that period of time. I rate Monica Marquez as one of the very best lawyers who’ve worked for me.”
Bernie Buescher:
“Monica’s efforts on behalf of the Department of State have been nothing short of exemplary. She is the ultimate public servant — a brilliant attorney who is knowledgeable, open-minded, decisive, and conscientious.”
DENVER — Each finalist for the upcoming vacancy on the Colorado Supreme Court had five letters of reference written on their behalf. The letters, along with the job applications and interviews, were considered by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission in picking the finalists and will also be reviewed by Gov. Bill Ritter before he chooses one of the finalists as the state’s next justice. Law Week asked the letter writers to share what they wrote, and 12 of 15 agreed.
Finalist David Prince, an El Paso County district judge, had letters written on his behalf by Mark Gruskin of Senn Visciano Canges Rosenstein; Joseph Halpern of Holland & Hart; public defender Rose Roy; Tim Schutz of Hanes & Schutz; and fellow 4th Judicial District Judge David Shakes. The letters written by Halpern, Schutz and Shakes can be viewed below.
Joseph Halpern:
“Judge Prince’s extensive trial and appellate experience in complex commercial litigation while he was in private practice also commend him for nomination to our state’s highest court. While we have a strong Supreme Court, it would be further strengthened by adding a Justice who would bring great depth and breadth of experience in sophisticated commercial transactions and disputes.”
David Shakes:
“I have worked with David in developing the Judicially Speaking program. Our goal in this program is to develop in high school students an appreciation for the role of the judiciary in our society through curriculum development and speaking. That might sound like a lofty goal for a few judges from Colorado Springs. However, David has made it happen.”
Tim Schutz:
“Soon after his appointment to the bench, he [led] the formation of a ‘commercial docket’ which was designed to provide an expedited process for resolving complex cases that have significant impact upon the community. In formulating this docket, Judge Prince was instrumental in drafting the appropriate procedures and gaining the necessary support of the local judges and lawyers.”
DENVER – A man suspected of running a $23 million multi-state Ponzi scheme in 2007 will be extradited from Buenos Aires, Argentina, to be prosecuted in Colorado, announced state Attorney General John Suthers and the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday.
According to the indictment, William Walters, 50, is suspected of collecting more than $23 million from victims between January 2001 and July 2006. Walters solicited day-trading investments with promises of high returns from victims in Colorado, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wyoming. Victims in Colorado resided in Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties.
“This extradition is the culmination of years of work and cooperation between my office and the FBI,” Suthers said in a press release. “In this case, justice delayed will not result in justice being denied. We look forward to presenting our case against Mr. Walters and securing justice for his victims.”
Douglas Bruce, the father of Colorado’s tax-limiting Taxpayer Bill of Rights, was awarded a second delay Wednesday in contempt-of-court charges against him.
