Lawsuit against Jay-Z gets dismissed

TrendPK.com: It looks like Jay-Z has one less problem to deal with as he has had a lawsuit over a private jet matter dismissed by the jet company.

The rapper was being sued for about $137,000 for allegedly not paying up in 2010 for 55 hours of flying time on a private jet while he did pay for 37 hours, states TMZ.

Now, the case has been dismissed by the jet company although it is unclear why.

It is believed that a private settlement might have been reached in this case.

Do you think they settled privately?

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Saudi king gives women right to vote

He also announced that women would have the right to join the all-appointed Shura (consultative) Council, in an address opening a new term of the council.

“Starting with the next term, women will have the right to run in municipal elections and to choose candidates, according to Islamic principles,” he said.

This means that women will be able to take part in the elections that will be held in four years, as the next vote is due to take place on Thursday and nominations for those are already in.

“We have decided that women will participate in the Shura Council as members starting the next term,” the king also said in an unexpected move to enfranchise women in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

“The Muslim woman… must not be marginalised in opinion or advice,” said King Abdullah.

More than 5,000 men will compete in Thursday s municipal elections, only the second in Saudi Arabia s history, to fill half the seats in the kingdom s 285 municipal councils. The other half are appointed by the government.

The first elections were held in 2005, but the government extended the existing councils  term for two years.

More than 60 intellectuals and activists called in May for a boycott of the ballot because “municipal councils lack the authority to effectively carry out their role” and “half of their members are appointed,” as well as because they exclude women.

Saudi Arabia s Shura Council had recommended allowing women to vote in the next local polls, officials have said.

In April, Samar Badawi said she was suing the municipal affairs ministry for upholding the ban on women taking part in the local poll.

Badawi filed a lawsuit at the administrative court in Mecca against the ministry for denying women the right to register as voters.

Also in April, a group of women defied the ban on women in elections by turning up at a voter registration office in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, in a rare public demonstration against the male-only electoral system.

But they were turned back by the head of the centre who told them women were still banned from voting.

Women s rights activists have long fought to gain the right to vote in the kingdom that applies a strict version of Sunni Islam and bans women from driving or travelling without the consent of a male guardian

A group of defiant Saudi women got behind the steering wheels of their cars on June 17 in response to calls for nationwide action against the ban.

Apple sues Samsung

Apple Inc. sued Samsung Electronics claiming the South Korean firm s Galaxy line of mobile phones and tablets copies the iPhone and iPad. Apple s claims against Samsung focus on Galaxy s design features, such as the look of its screen icons, the lawsuit said.

“This kind of blatant copying is wrong,” Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet said.

Samsung is one of the fastest growing smartphone makers and has emerged as Apple s strongest competitor in the booming tablet market with models in three sizes but it remains a distant second in the space. Samsung said it would respond to the legal action “through appropriate legal measures to protect our intellectual property.”

Nokia and Apple have sued each other in numerous courts and as recently as last month Nokia filed a complaint with the U.S. trade panel alleging that Apple infringes its patents in iPhones, iPads and other products.

Apple is bringing 16 claims against Samsung, including unjust enrichment, trademark infringement and 10 patent claims.

Nicolas Cage Sues Business Mismanagement For Financial Ruin

Nicolas Cage is not in denial about being broke. The actor is having a real estate liquidation sale and selling properties he owns across the world. In addition, Nicolas Cage is suing a business manager that allegedly sent him “down a path toward financial ruin” for a minimum of $20 million. Americans, Nicolas Cage is broke. Even though Nicolas Cage made millions during his career, he is now broke and bankrupt. So just how is it that one actor who has made millions during.

The business manager that Nicolas Cage is suing is Samuel J. Levin and his firm Levin & Co. Management, Inc. Nicolas Cage claims that Levin gave him bad advice and mismanaged his funds. Levin was Cage’s business manager from 2001 to 2008, and has collected millions of dollars in management fees from the former wealthy actor. Cage put his trust in Levin, and claims he didn’t know what kind of trouble he was in until he hired new management.

Nicolas Cage may have fallen on hard financial times, sure, but even the celebrity gossip media may have underestimated how bad his money problems are. The guy taking the blame for leaving Nicolas Cage broke claims by the time he was hired in 2001, “Coppola had already squandered tens of millions.” Moreover, he owed millions in taxes “with no funds available to pay them.”

Nicolas Cage was bilked out of millions by his business manager, and he has a lawsuit to prove it. As a result of his manager, Samuel J. Levin, and his actions, Nicolas Cage ended up owing the government $6 million in back taxes. This amount is the result of a combination of federal income taxes and property taxes.

“Instead of protecting and preserving Cage’s wealth during one of the greatest economic periods in the country’s history, Levin placed Cage in numerous highly speculative and risky real estate investments, resulting in Cage suffering catastrophic losses,” the lawsuit states.

elena kagan

With the announced retirement of liberal lion John Paul Stevens from the bench of the U.S. Supreme Court, Democrats will be looking to fill a huge void as they search to find a candidate capable of matching Stevens viability as a jurist and perhaps his perspective as a progressive. No easy task with a Republican minority thirsting for political retribution after the bruising “Health Care Reform” struggle and the coming fight over unemployment benefits.

The happy medium for President Obama and the Democrats may just be a familiar face already adept at the rocky trail of Senate confirmation in the form of Solicitor General Elena Kagan.

A Clinton administration appointee for the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1999 Ms. Kagan’s nomination was blocked by the then majority GOP and no hearing was held. Though a more satisfactory result came to Ms. Kagan when she was confirmed by the Senate 61-39 allowing her to become the nations first female Solicitor General she did have to endure her share of criticism over her lack of courtroom experience.

Already a trail blazer as both the first female Dean of Harvard Law and Solicitor General, Ms. Kagan would be just the 8th Jewish Supreme Court Judge and only the fourth woman to grace the court. A born and bred New Yorker blessed with the “New York Toughness” that helped build up previous Obama appointee Sonia Sotomayor’s reputation, Ms. Kagan possesses all of the qualities appealing to the left, and though a confirmation would be a struggle with Democrats having lost their super majority it is still, even in this climate customary for the opposing party to scratch and swat at Supreme Court nominees but not defeat them without cause.

And “cause” may be the holy grail in this fight for Republicans, a search made harder by a potential nominee such as Elena Kagan. With a high profile confirmation already behind her and no judicial record for Republicans to sift through in search of ample evidence to support their claims of judicial or even ideological liberal activism. In short, Ms. Kagan may be the perfect candidate to weather confirmation and replace Judge Stevens.

ambac

Ambac Shares Soar on Surprise Profit

Shares in credit-crisis poster child Ambac Financial (ABK) rallied as much as 86% at one point Friday after the beleaguered bond insurer reported a surprise quarterly profit. Reeling from losses incurred on mortgage-backed securities and other dodgy assets, the company has raised the specter of bankruptcy protection repeatedly, something that’s kept its stock below a buck for nearly five months.

So it came as something of a shock late Thursday when Ambac reported a fourth-quarter profit of $558.1 million, or $1.93 a share, versus a whopping year-ago loss of $2.34 billion, or $8.14 a share. The surprise profit came from a nearly half-billion-dollar tax benefit — and there’s no Street estimate for the company, according to Thomson Reuters data — but results still sparked a flurry of speculative buying.

Ambac, which once fetched as much as $95 a share back in 2007, has seen shares trade in a range of 51 cents to $2.09 over the last 52 weeks.

But Morningstar analyst Jim Ryan warned clients that the results weren’t quite as strong as the numbers suggest. Ryan wrote Friday: “With little improvement in the housing market (Ambac’s primary source of claims) and the potential for a double dip in housing prices on the horizon, which could contribute to the growing inventory of potential foreclosures, we think the future remains opaque, to say the least.”

See full article from DailyFinance: http://srph.it/9r0QTD

modern warfare

Activision has filed a countersuit against former Infinity Ward executives Jason West and Vince Zampella, alleging the duo “morphed from valued, responsible executives into insubordinate and self-serving schemers.”

In a complaint sent to USA TODAY by Sitrick and Company, a PR firm representing the publisher in legal matters, Activision is countersuing for breach of contract. The suit was filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

In a separate statement, Activision says the lawsuit shows justification for their decision to fire West and Zampella in early March.

“Activision’s cross-complaint filed today against Jason West and Vince Zampella makes clear that the company did not arrive at its decision to fire them lightly or without good reason. It further shows Activision was forced to sever the relationship when it became apparent that long-standing attempts failed to convince West and Zampella to conform their conduct to what was required of them by their contracts, company policies and as fiduciaries,” reads the publisher’s full statement.

In the complaint, Activision accuses West and Zampella of taking a secret trip by private jet to Northern California to “meet with the most senior executives of Activision’s closest competitor.”

Although Activision does not specifically name the competitor, the largest publisher based in Northern California is Electronic Arts in Redwood City. EA works on rival military game franchises Battlefield and Medal of Honor.

The countersuit also claims West and Zampella tried to stop Activision from giving additional compensation to Infinity Ward employees in order to make them “easier to poach” in the event the duo left the publisher to start their own company.

Activision is seeking to cease future payments to West and Zampella as well as recoup some of the money already distributed. The publisher also wants to prohibit the pair from soliciting Activision employees.

“West and Zampella’s misdeeds formed an unlawful pattern and practice of conduct that was designed to steal the (Infinity Ward) studio, which is one of Activision’s most valuable assets, at the expense of Activision and its shareholders and for their own personal financial gain,” reads the Activision complaint.

In March, West and Zampella sued Activision for $36 million and the rights to all games bearing the Modern Warfare brand. The pair’s lawsuit accuses Activision of firing them to avoid dishing out royalty payments linked to the sales of Modern Warfare 2.

Prior to that lawsuit, Activision revealed West and Zampella had been removed from the studio, and a new business unit would be created to oversee the Call of Duty brand.

The Call of Duty franchise has been one of Activision’s most successful brands, with Modern Warfare 2 generating $1 billion in sales during its first months at retail.

Hustler & Benoit Pics

Nancy Benoit’s estate can proceed with their lawsuit against Hustler Magazine for publishing nude photos of Benoit after she was murdered by her husband, WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, in a murder suicide that also claimed the life of their 7-year-old son, Daniel, according to a ruling by the United States Supreme Court Monday.

Hustler published 20-year-old nude photographs of Nancy Benoit in March 2008 after the deaths gained international attention.

That decision was reversed by the Atlanta based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2009.

“The photographs published by [Flynt] neither relate to the incident of public concern conceptually [the murders] nor correspond with the time period during which Benoit was rendered, against her will, the subject of public scrutiny,” the state court wrote. “Were we to hold otherwise, [Flynt] would be free to publish any nude photograph of almost anyone without their permission, simply because the fact they were caught nude on camera strikes someone as ‘newsworthy.’ Surely that debases the very concept of a right to privacy.”

The magazine, backed by journalists’ groups, said it had a First Amendment right to publish the pictures.

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Hustler & Benoit Pics was first posted on March 2, 2010 at 8:56 pm.

Nancy Benoit Hustler Pics,Nancy Benoit Pictures

TrendPK.com Nancy Benoit Hustler Pics,Nancy Benoit Pictures:Nancy Benoit’s estate can proceed with their lawsuit against Hustler Magazine for publishing nude photos of Benoit after she was murdered by her husband, WWE wrestler Chris Benoit, in a murder suicide that also claimed the life of their 7-year-old son, Daniel, according to a [...]

Chris Golightly

Chris Golightly, “American Idol” contestant Chris Golightly has been disqualified from the Top 24 only to be replaced by Tim Urban at the last minute. Some may remember him from the audition round in Los Angeles as the guy who has been in 25 foster homes since he was 18 months old.

Ryan Seacrest made it official with his tweet on Wednesday, February 17 after the revelation of Top 24 went on air. He wrote, “been determined that Chris Golightly is ineligible to continue on IDOL, contestant Tim Urban has replaced Golightly as part of the Top 24″. He however, remained shady on the reason of the disqualification, writing “must have broken a rule or maybe had previous deal”.

Fellow contestant of season 9 Samantha Musa who has also been cut, provided more insight to the situation, saying “Just got off the phone with Chris GoLightly. He was disqualified yesterday, after already being told he was in the top 24, over some bogus old contract. The contract expired, but they disqualified him for not telling them. He is talking to lawyers, but doubt they can do anything.”

Chris’ disqualification becomes a big issue since Michael Lynche is allowed to stay although he also broke a rule when his father told local paper that Michael is in the Top 24 before the show went on air. “He is upset cause he says it was a misunderstanding, yet they let Michael Lynch stay in the top 24 even though he broke contract when his family spilled the news about idol to the papers,” Samantha said. “So really, it’s pretty messed up that they pick and choose which ‘Breach’ to ignore and which to use as grounds for disqualification!”

The latest report said Chris had a management contract that expired in June last year. Producers kicked him out simply because he did not tell them about the contract.

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Chris Golightly was first posted on February 18, 2010 at 5:40 pm.

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