Week in review - Legal edition

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 22, 2009

FTC settles scareware action

The alleged technical expert behind a "scareware" scheme has agreed to a $1.8 million judgment and to refrain from deceptive online marketing activities to settle a Federal Trade Commission action. ByteHosting Internet Services LLC and CEO James M. Reno, who allegedly supported a multimillion-dollar scam carried out by Innovative Marketing Inc., also agreed to reporting requirements and to cooperate with the government's case. In its complaint, the FTC claimed the companies "dupe" consumers into buying computer security software by scaring them, via pop-up ads, saying that their machine is infected with viruses or spyware. The "ruse" usually involves a scan of the person's computer that invariably finds problems -- such as "illegal porn" -- along with a pitch to buy the software to fix the problems. More than a million consumers bought the fake fix, which cost at least $39.95, the suit states. Reno has not admitted liability under the settlement agreement, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

Harford County on the hot seat

A Jarrettsville man is suing Harford County, alleging his developmentally disabled son was mocked and discriminated against during his years as a trash collector, which ended when he died of antifreeze poisoning two days after an office picnic. Though the lawsuit implies one of Matthew P. Rutherford's hostile co-workers put ethylene glycol in his drink at Swan Harbor Farm, the suit does not include a wrongful death count, and there are no individual defendants. But "numerous" former co-workers have been interviewed about the September 2006 death, the suit states, and a criminal investigation into the incident is pending, the Harford County Sheriff's Office confirmed. Neither the Harford County attorney nor the senior assistant county attorney who has handled the case returned calls for comment.

High court rules for borrowers

In a victory for borrowers, the state's highest court has held the statute of limitations for suing mortgage lenders over allegedly excessive closing costs is 12 years, not the three-year limit argued by lending companies. The Court of Appeals' 7-0 decision permits 19 lawsuits, including nine class actions, to proceed against more than a dozen banks the borrowers allege overcharged them in violation of Maryland's Secondary Mortgage Loan Law. The court said the longer statute of limitations applies because the borrowers' action for recovery is an "other specialty" under state law, meaning it is available only by statute, specifically the SMLL. The three-year statute of limitations applies to common-law claims, the court added.

Sotomayor defends club membership

Defending her membership in an elite all-women's club, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor told senators that the group doesn't discriminate unfairly by gender and includes men in many of its activities. Republican senators have questioned Sotomayor's membership in Belizean Grove, a group of prominent professional women, because federal judges are bound by a code that says they shouldn't join any organization that discriminates by race, sex, religion or nationality. "I do not believe that my membership in the Belizean Grove violates the Code of Judicial Conduct," Sotomayor wrote in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. She told senators that the group involves men in events and that she was unaware of any man who had tried to become a member.