Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Recent rulings by Hug

* LABOR: He sided with union workers arrested while distributing handbills on the sidewalk in front of the MGM Grand hotel-casino in Las Vegas. The decision, which overturned the ruling of U.S. District Judge David Hagen of Reno, gave the workers, who were never prosecuted, the right to pursue their claim that their First Amendment rights were abridged.

* ABORTION: He ruled against an abortion clinic in Everett, Wash., which sought triple damages under the federal racketeering law from those who set the business on fire after numerous anti-abortion demonstrations. Hug held that the clinic owners should have sought damages while a suit in state court was being processed.

* SHOOTING: He held that survivors of Glenn Chiquito could sue the Union Pacific Railroad for alleged negligence of its workers. In overturning part of the decision of U.S. District Judge Edward Reed of Reno, he said Chiquito's family should have a chance to prove his death could have been prevented. Chiquito was a Union Pacific worker who was shot to death by a disgruntled employee in the Black Rock Desert in Washoe County.

* WAGES: He ruled that the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors in California overstepped its authority with an ordinance that required contractors to pay prevailing wages to workers on private industrial construction projects of more than $500,000. The court sided with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in holding that this was an undue government interference in the collective bargaining process and was pre-empted by the National Labor Relations Act.

* IRS: He ruled that the Internal Revenue Service did not have the right to the names of clients of an attorney during an audit of the lawyer's business. It upheld a District Court ruling that the names of the individuals were not relevant to the IRS audit.

* AGE: He held that a woman working for the senior employment program in the Environmental Protection Agency could not bring an age discrimination suit. The woman complained she did the same work as regular employees of the federal agency but was paid less. The court held that the woman was not an employee of the agency but working in a program that was financed by grants.

Chief Judge Procter Hug Jr.

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