Jeremy Rosenthal - Legal Wednesday

JEREMY ROSENTHAL takes a look at some of the legal stories making headlines in this weekly segment:

TOPIC 1- MENENDEZ BROTHERS RESENTENCING DELAYED FOR NEW DISTRICT ATTORNEY A Los Angeles judge pushed the Menendez brothers’ resentencing hearing to January to give the county’s new District Attorney time to weigh in on the case. California Superior Court, Los Angeles County Judge Michael Jesic’s Monday choice to push the mid-December hearing aligns with that of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). Newsom said last week that he too will defer to incoming D.A. Nathan Hochman before deciding on clemency for Erik and Lyle Menendez. Hochman has said he will revisit the case, rather than immediately adopting ousted D.A. George Gascón’s October recommendation to reduce their sentences. Prior to the election, Hochman blasted Gascón’s decision as a “political move.” TOPIC 2- SUPREME COURT REJECTS TOBACCO FIRMS' APPEAL OVER GRAPHIC WARNINGS The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to decide whether federally mandated warnings on cigarette packs that graphically illustrate the health risks of smoking violate the free speech rights of tobacco companies opposed to the labels. The justices turned away an appeal by RJ Reynolds and other tobacco companies of a lower court's ruling that found that a set of health warnings required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not violate the rights of the companies under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. The action by the justices means the lower court's ruling stands. TOPIC 3- DISNEY SETTLES SUIT OVER WOMEN'S PAY FOR 43 MILLION DOLLARS Walt Disney (DIS.N), opens new tab has agreed to pay $43.3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its female employees in California earned $150 million less than their male counterparts over an eight-year period, the plaintiffs' lawyers said in a statement on Monday. As part of the settlement, Disney has agreed to retain a labour economist for three years to analyse pay equity among full-time, non-union California employees below the vice president level, and address differences, the three law firms representing the plaintiffs said. The suit was originally filed by LaRonda Rasmussen in 2019, after she learned that six men with the same job title earned substantially more than her, including one man with several years less experience, who was earning $20,000 a year more than she did. Some 9,000 current and former female employees of the entertainment company eventually joined the suit. Disney attempted to stop the class action, but a judge ruled last December that it could proceed, Andrus Anderson, one of the law firms, said at the time.