Custody cases need human touch, rules SC Aug 13, 2008
The Bench, which also comprised Justice D K Jain, noted that in selecting a guardian, the court exercises parens patriae and is expected, and indeed bound to give due weight to a childs comfort, contentment, health, education, intellectual development and favourable surroundings. The Bench even asked courts to consider moral and ethical values which, it felt, cannot be ignored while deciding as to who should get the custody rights. (Indian Express)
Attorney General's Role in Tobacco Settlement Precludes Punitive Damages Suit, Panel Rules Jul 23, 2008
He held that the Fabianos' punitive damages claims were not barred by res judicata and noted that "[p]laintiffs in this action are pursuing a private claim which by definition cannot be encompassed within the parens patriae umbrella." ... "While it is undoubtedly true that plaintiffs' private claims seeking compensation for personal injury could not have been prosecuted by the Attorney General ... the claim asserted by them for punitive damages is not similarly disqualified, for punitive damages... (Law.com)
N.Y. High Court Upholds Dismissal of Claims Against Grasso Jun 26, 2008
The four claims dismissed Wednesday were premised on the Not-for-Profit Corporation Law, but "clothed" in the attorney general's common-law parens patriae powers, the court noted. Parens patriae allows the attorney general to step in to defend the rights of those unable to protect themselves without explicit statutory authorization ... He said the decision damages the attorney general's parens patriae authority and his power to bring nonstatutory claims against not-for-profits. (Law.com)
N.Y. High Court Questions AG's Involvement in Suit Over Grasso's Pay Jun 4, 2008
Barbara D. Underwood argued before the seven members of the Court of Appeals that Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo's common law power of parens patriae allows him to act as the protector of the rights of those who are unable to protect themselves ... At another point in Tuesday's 40-minute arguments, Judge Victoria A. Graffeo suggested that stock exchange inactivity when Grasso's pay package was revealed in 2003 may have created a situation for the attorney general to step in and exercise his... (Law.com)
Grasso Pay Case Tests Attorney General's Power May 28, 2008
Former New York Stock Exchange Chairman Richard A. Grasso's struggle to retain his $185 million pay package will test the dimensions of the state attorney general's power of parens patriae when the case is heard June 3 in the new session of the Court of Appeals ... Solicitor General Barbara Underwood will argue in People of the State of New York by Spitzer v. Grasso, 120, that the attorney general's parens patriae powers -- a common law authority to act as the protector of the rights of those... (Law.com)
States may restrict lice treatments Jan 31, 2008
"There's a conflict between a 200-year-old concept of parens patriae, where states act as a parent for its citizens on health and safety matters, and a pharmaceutical product which the federal government has said is safe and effective," attorney Peter Barton Hutt says. "It's about as big a conflict as you can imagine.". (USA Today -- News)
Judge Finds Tobacco Settlement Bars Claims for Punitive Damages Jul 31, 2007
As a result, Brieant, who sits in White Plains, concluded that the Mulhollands and Philip Morris were "in privity" with the parties to the earlier action, which had been brought by the state on a parens patriae theory. In granting summary judgment dismissing the Mulhollands' punitive damages claims, Brieant wrote that to allow them to claim "a private interest in punitive damages" would violate a strong New York public policy. (Law.com)
N.Y. Court Narrows AG's Suit Against Grasso Over $187M Pay Package May 9, 2007
In a March 15 ruling, Ramos said, "The Attorney General predicates his claim of standing on the proposition that the four causes of action may be brought under the parens patriae doctrine, a common law power to sue in the public interest." ... "It is my view that the Attorney General has standing, under its broad parens patriae power, to protect the State, by protecting the NYSE, from a loss of public confidence because of allegations of serious mismanagement," Mazzarelli wrote. (Law.com)
Texas' $117 Million Insurance Settlement Goes Back to Appellate Court May 5, 2007
In its 7-1 decision in Farmers Group Inc., et al. v. Lubin, et al., the Supreme Court rejected the state's argument that the doctrine of parens patriae -- which a state can invoke to create its standing to sue on the people's behalf -- exempts the attorney general from meeting prerequisites set out in Texas Insurance Code 541 ... The Supreme Court majority agreed with Austin's 3rd Court of Appeals that the parens patriae doctrine does not give the attorney general carte blanche to bring a class... (Law.com)
The Sphinx of Sacramento: Apr 29, 2007
In Roe, the court protected medical privacy; in Casey, it guaranteed autonomy; in Gonzales, it speaks as what lawyers call parens patriae, the protector of children and the incompetent. In trying to reconcile Kennedy's dual visions of privacy, two possibilities emerge: Either he simultaneously holds two vastly different constitutional notions of privacy and autonomyone for gay men and one for pregnant womenor all this has nothing to do with the Constitution. (Slate)
Inside the courts: Overview of the juvenile court system Mar 25, 2007
Although the early juvenile courts were well intentioned, absolute adherence to the doctrine of parens patriae (state as parent) led the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966 to question whether the actual performance of the juvenile courts measured up to their theoretical purpose or only gave delinquent children the worst of both worlds: neither the protections accorded to adults nor the solicitous care and regenerative treatment postulated for children. Kent v. United States, 383 U.S. 541, 555-56 (1966). (Sierra Vista Herald, AZ)
Canadian Court in Ontario Gives Lesbian Mom's Partner Legal-Parent Status Jan 3, 2007
The appeals panel, in a decision posted on its Web site today, said courts can fill in gaps in statutory law under ``parens patriae,'' its common law power as guardian for those without full legal rights, such as juveniles. The ruling gives both partners in a same-sex relationship the right to obtain government health insurance, airline tickets or passports for the child, and to consent to adoption of the child by another party, Judge Marc Rosenberg said on behalf of the three-member panel. (Bloomberg -- Canada)
State Participation in $246 Billion Tobacco Settlement Bars Punitive Damages Mar 15, 2006
"Because punitive damages serve a public interest and are intended to protect the general public, as opposed to benefiting or rewarding particular private parties," Hunstein wrote, "we find the State, in seeking punitive damages in the suit against B so as parens patriae and in this capacity represented the interests of all Georgia citizens, including plaintiffs here." Brown amson Tobacco Corp. v. Gault, S05Q1465 (Ga. Sup. (Law.com)
