A Spanish judge is poised to make law-technology history by agreeing to hear testimony via webcam in an upcoming trial of a gang of robbers. Members of the Romanian gang posed as police officers to trick and rob tourists in Barcelona. The 24 (mostly elderly) victims identified the perpetrators by video, and will testify over the internet in the upcoming trial. While the court must tackle different time zones and video quality, the use of the internet may help to speed up this and other trials in Spain, where the judicial system has been overwhelmed by an unusually high volume of cases.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it could not hear the appeal of American Isuzu Motors v. Ntsebeza from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, with 4 judges recusing themselves due to a conflict of interest. The case involves a variety of companies which did business in South Africa during apartheid, and with whom the 4 justices had either stock or personal connections. The plaintiffs, representing over 36,000 claimants, are suing the companies for violating the 1789 Alien Tort Claims Act by “aiding and abetting the system of apartheid imposed by the former government of South Africa.” The act states:

The court’s inability to hear the case assures that it will drag on in the courts; the defendants had hoped the Supreme Court would echo the decision of the Second Circuit, which threw out the case, arguing that the human rights decision could adversely affect international trade. Both the Bush administration and the current South African government support the defendant corporations, calling for cooperation and continued free trade.

Discuss this post in our forum.

The U.S. Court of Claims has begun hearing arguments on behalf of 4,900 families with autistic children who claim that a chemical found in many children’s vaccines is a trigger for the disease. The court will hear the stories of two ten year old boys, whose families claim that they were developing normally until exposed to thimerosal, a mercury based compound that may cause brain inflammation, through vaccines. Despite a 2004 report by the Institute of Medicine denying a connection between vaccines and autism, should the court decide in favor of the families, claimaints could expect to enjoy compensation for wages lost and “pain and suffering.” Some medical professionals worry that such an outcome could discourage the public from seeking necessary vaccinations.

Discuss this post in our forum.