MD Legal Briefs: July 12, 2005

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jul 12, 2005 by Staff

Carved in stone

Vanderbilt University did not appeal a May 4 ruling by the Tennessee Court of Appeals that it must leave the name Confederate Memorial Hall chiseled in stone on a campus dormitory. The university and the United Daughters of the Confederacy had tangled in court for years over Vanderbilt's desire to remove the name from the building. University spokesman Mike Schoenfeld said Vanderbilt saw no reason to continue pressing the issue in court and let the deadline to appeal pass last week. In its unanimous ruling, the Tennessee Court of Appeals said Vanderbilt must either leave the name intact or pay the Daughters the present day value of the $50,000 gift given when the building was constructed in 1935.

N.C. lawyer indicted

Lawyer James Jay Ferguson III, the son of a prominent Charlotte civil rights lawyer, has been indicted on federal fraud and conspiracy charges. An indictment unsealed yesterday accuses Ferguson, 34, of helping clients promote a fraudulent real estate business by writing a letter that vouched for their business as a good investment. Federal prosecutors allege that Ferguson wrote the letter on stationary from Ferguson Stein Chambers Wallas Adkins Gresham & Sumter, a Charlotte law firm co-founded by Ferguson's father. Named with Jay Ferguson in the indictment are Maurice Bethea, Marcus L. Chamberlain and Duane Montgomery. Ferguson Stein, founded by James Ferguson II, Adam Stein and Julius Chambers, was North Carolina's first racially integrated law firm. It is known for winning the landmark 1971 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Swann vs. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education.

Threatened in Easton

Police are investigating a bomb-threat call Saturday that closed the Wal-Mart in Easton for about four hours. Officers responded to the store at 6:30 p.m. and searched the Wal-Mart with dogs trained to detect explosive devices. Police requested help from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's explosive team when a dog alerted on something in the women's restroom. But no explosive device was found. The Wal- Mart reopened about 10:30 p.m.