ORLANDO, Fla. — With every troubling new revelation about Florida A&M University’s Marching 100, the pending civil case against FAMU seems to grow stronger for the parents of Robert Champion, the drum major who died from being hazed on a charter bus in Orlando.
But the prospects of Robert and Pamela Champion collecting a large financial settlement or jury award is another matter. That’s because the university enjoys the legal protection of sovereign immunity, which could severely limit the amount of money the Champions ultimately collect if they win a lawsuit.
That does not deter the Champions’ attorney Christopher Chestnut. The evidence, he says, is overwhelming:
— Nearly a quarter of the 400-plus members of the high-stepping band were ineligible to perform at the annual Florida Classic football game in November, yet 60 of those made the trip to the Citrus Bowl.
— Two, and possibly three, of the 11 band members charged with taking part in Champion’s beating death Nov. 19 also were ineligible, meaning they shouldn’t have been there. Another was on probation for battery.
— Two music professors quit under pressure after police discovered they attended a party — hosted at one of their homes — at which band members were hazed.
— Champion’s death occurred despite years of repeated, impassioned appeals from frustrated band parents, who feared the worst for their children. Some claim that school officials seemed unwilling or unable to reverse a deep-seated culture of hazing in the band that has earned a reputation for brutal initiation rituals.
“I’ve never had a case with such overwhelming, incriminating evidence of negligence before taking the first deposition or (receiving) discovery. The facts are bad now for the university and only going to get worse,” said Chestnut. “The university’s negligence (supervising the band) was gross, systematic and historic, and it was just a matter of time (before) someone would lose their life.”
But no matter how negligent FAMU may be proved to be, sovereign immunity could limit the university from liability payouts greater than $200,000 per claim. That would be $200,000 for Robert and $200,000 for Pamela. In the Champions’ home state of Georgia, the claim cap is higher — $1 million per claim, Chestnut said.
Derived from a centuries-old common law that held “the king can do no wrong,” the immunity in Florida extends to county-run hospitals, police departments, schools and other public agencies, including the state’s tax-supported colleges and universities.
The law blunts efforts to collect damages for claims of wrongful death and police brutality.
“Because of the immunity, the (government’s) attitude often is, ‘Go ahead, sue us,’ ” said Leland Garvin, a personal-injury lawyer in Fort Lauderdale. “If they lose, what’s their risk? There’s no hammer, no punishment.”
He said the immunity dampens motivation to correct dangerous conditions.
Only last month, lawyers for the University of Central Florida Athletic Association, a nonprofit corporation that provides direct support to UCF’s sports teams, used the sovereign immunity statute in its appeal of a $10 million jury award to the parents of the late Ereck Plancher.
If granted, the athletic association’s claim, endorsed by trustees of Florida’s 11 state universities including FAMU, could protect it from paying the $10 million.
Plancher, 19, a football player with sickle-cell trait, died during off-season conditioning drills in March 2008 because UCF did not follow guidelines for protecting student-athletes, the parents’ lawyers argued at trial.
Source: www.bostonherald.com
Murphy's Law: Dufner blossoms post-Tiger - Yahoo! Eurosport
US golf expert Brian Murphy says Jason Dufner's recent successes prove that golf is blossoming in the post-Tiger era.
The beautiful thing about the Post-Tiger Era is, it flowers in so many different ways.
You have your Bubba Watson Moment, wearing the green jacket after a golf shot for the ages. You have Rory McIlroy settling in as the likely long-term new No. 1 in the world. You have Matt Kuchar winning big at Sawgrass, telling reporters to "suck it" if they doubt his closing ability. You have Rickie Fowler arriving for the "Ironic Moustache" generation. You have Hunter Mahan grabbing multiple wins and big checks, helping us all overcome the mental image of himin a fur vest, shirtless, in the "Golf Boys" video.
And now, we have Jason (The Walking Coma) Dufner getting his.
It's like a post-apocalyptic landscape, these years since Tiger's fall. Like Mad Max roaming the wreckage, golfers are grabbing what they can. And if it means we get to know Dufner better, good. I like the cut of this guy's jib.
Win at New Orleans for the first victory in career? Blas Dufner can't be bothered to emote. Back it up with a win two starts later at Byron Nelson, including a 25-foot birdie on 72nd hole for a one-shot victory? The mildest of reactions ensued. Compared to this guy, Clint Eastwoodlooks like a member of LMFAO.
In a "me-first" sports era of jersey-popping and touchdown dances, Dufner gives you nothing. And it's somehow very hip.
Between Dufner's two wins on April 29 and May 20, he squeezed in a wedding to his beautiful wife Amanda on May 5. That makes him the author of the greatest month on the PGA Tour since John Daly won at Crooked Stick and then partied for the next 29 days.
Here's the best part: All evidence points to Dufner – whose soul patch and ubiquitous lip of tobacco add to his hang-loose vibe – sticking around for a while. Naturally, two wins in three starts (he had a tie-68 at Sawgrass, excusable considering the nuptials the prior week) tells us something.
Look at his numbers, too. Dufner is tough off the tee. He's sixth on Tour in driving accuracy, fourth overall in total driving. And don't look for him missing greens. He's 13th on tour in greens in regulation. Granted, his putting numbers (122nd in strokes gained putting) aren't stellar, but when you score your golf ball the way Dufner does – 67-66-67-69 at the Nelson – and hit it close like he does, you don't need a molten putter as much as the next guy.
Add in some self-belief and all of a sudden Dufner arrives at the next few majors as a name on the short list of contenders, not to mention a Ryder Cup favourite this fall. He even told reporters at the Nelson his game sets up well for a U.S. Open. That doesn't count as woofing, because Dufner doesn't have a woofing gene in his DNA.
Plus, the guy's golf swing is fun to watch. His hands are dynamite, and he seems fully in control of his ability to strike the ball. Contact is pure, and even his pre-shot waggle carries a bit of style, made more stylish by the sound the club makes at impact. If there's such a thing as being "aggressively calm," that's how Dufner is when he stalks a golf hole. Totally chill – until he pures it. That much was shown when he roasted his drive on No. 18, oblivious to the pressure. He had sand wedge in.
A fun side note to his Nelson win is that Dufner, a tried and true Auburn University graduate, clipped diehard Alabama alum Dicky Pride by one shot with that 72nd-hole birdie. Iron Bowl on the links, don't you know. Pride was a hell of a story himself, trying to win for the first time since 1994. He gutted out a hat trick of birdies on 15-16-17, and then overcame a water ball on 18 to fight his way to a par that brought Peggy Nelson, Byron's widow, out of her chair with joy.
Pride was philosophical after the runner-up finish, happy with his play, then needled Dufner on CBS: "Jason got me by one, but we got the BCS National Championship, big man."
Dufner couldn't be bothered to needle back. He was probably getting congratulatory texts from Cam Newton and Bo Jackson. Or, more likely, he was too busy being Jason Dufner, which is the coolest thing to be these days.
Scorecard of the week
Azahara Munoz d. Morgan Pressel, 2 and 1, semifinals, LPGA Sybase Match Play, Hamilton Farm Golf Club, Gladstone, N.J.
I think we can all agree on this one, fellow duffers: When The Man tells you to play faster, play faster.
Sympathy is in short supply for the Go-Slo Flos and Slo-Play Fayes of the world, as World Golf Hall of Famer Dan Jenkins once dubbed fictional methodical players on the women's circuit.
This is not a gender issue, note. Kevin Na's travails last week at Sawgrass brought it into focus on the PGA Tour, and the same criticism applies: Get a move on, dude.
In case you missed it, the slow-play call on Morgan Pressel came at a critical time in her match with Munoz. Pressel just won the par-3 12th hole to move to 3-up. That is, until LPGA official Doug Brecht informed her on the 13th tee she'd taken 2:09 to play three golf shots, 39 seconds over the allotted 30 seconds per shot.
Worse, the pair had been warned for slow play after the ninth hole.
Pressel revs hot under normal circumstances, but after seeing her 3-up lead evaporate to 1-up, she wound up losing the match. The match had further controversy when Pressel accused Munoz of grounding her putter before the ball on No. 15, an accusation denied by rules officials who checked a TV replay.
While some might think it bush of Pressel to try and turn the mental tables on Munoz, as a lifelong baseball fan I appreciated her gamesmanship. That's straight out of the Billy Martin, "Hey, ump, does George Brett's bat have too much pine tar?" book of psychology.
Pressel reportedly blew off an interviewer after the round, uttering "Not a chance," according to eyewitnesses. If true, it's weak. Pressel needs to address the issue, as it's become a pressing one among those of us who watch golf. Pace of play counts toward enjoyment of the game. There is something rhythmic to golf played within time limits, and there is something distracting about golf played too slowly. This is entertainment, after all, and if you can't hit your golf shot in 30 seconds, you're not entertaining us.
Sorry, Morgan. Have to side with The Man on this one.
By the way, Munoz wound up winning the event and pocketing $375,000. Pressel hugged her and congratulated her after the victory. At least she was on time for that. Oh!
Mulligan of the week
So many choices this week. Dicky Pride nearly had a lock on M.O.W. by rinsing his tee shot on No. 18, tied for the lead, eyeing his first win in 18 years. But Pride made a laudable par on the hole and gave a good lights-out game face when he made the lengthy putt for "4" to stay tied for the lead.
And Marc Leishman, trying for his first win, missed a short putt on 17 to tumble from the lead. A candidate, yes.
But for a guy who will rue a golf shot the most, it was 70-hole leader J.J. Henry, trying to win for only the second time in his career on tour. A Connecticut Yankee schooled at Fort Worth's TCU, he was trying for the "Personal Slam," as his other win was in the Nutmeg State.
On No. 17 tee, however, Henry nuked his tee shot on the downhill par-3, clearly overcome with adrenaline. Situated in the worst possible swale behind the green, Henry had no chance to get it close. Predictably, he not only missed the long par putt, but also missed the short-ish comebacker to make double-bogey 5. Ouch! Bye-bye, "Personal J.J. Henry Slam;" hello, four-way tie for third place.
So, let's go back out to 17 tee, remind Henry to take a few breaths, think about hitting that green, remind him that Horned Frogs alums were watching and … give that man a mulligan!
Where do we go from here?
Not far, boys. The Tour goes across the Metroplex from the Byron Nelson to Fort Worth's Colonial Invitational, an old-school shot-maker's course that shares, along with Riviera in L.A.., the moniker "Hogan's Alley." Hogan was so good, he had two alleys.
No Tiger, Phil or Rory at Colonial, but who cares? Dufner, Fowler, Kuchar and Mahan – the new American golf mafia – are all signed up to play. Believe it or not, that makes it a good field. Everybody's getting theirs.
Source: uk.eurosport.yahoo.com
London Metal Exchange bidders said down to two - Marketwatch
By Andrea Hotter
-- LME bids have similar business continuity assurances, but differ on price, sources say
-- CME was given option to come up with improved bid after Friday LME board meeting
-- ICE, Hong Kong Exchanges still in running to buy the LME
(Adds comment from the LME.)
LONDON -(MarketWatch)- CME Group Inc. /quotes/zigman/107063/quotes/nls/cme CME -1.60% has been eliminated from the sale process to buy the London Metal Exchange after being given more time to come up with a higher priced offer, leaving just two bidders in the frame to acquire the 135-year-old exchange, people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday.
Rival exchanges IntercontinentalExchange Inc. /quotes/zigman/373487/quotes/nls/ice ICE +0.74% and Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. are the final candidates in the running to buy the world's biggest metals trading exchange, the people said. The LME eliminated NYSE Liffe, the London-based derivatives arm of NYSE Euronext /quotes/zigman/421745/quotes/nls/nyx NYX +0.16% , from the sale process May 11.
CME Group declined to comment.
The exchange's adviser, global investment bank Moelis & Co., had spent several days last week in talks with the remaining three parties. The LME board met late Friday to discuss the situation, and gave CME Group time to come back with an improved bid and put itself back in the auction process.
Discussions between Moelis and the bidders centered on the value of their bids, each of which remain unclear, although analysts have said offers could be around at least GBP1 billion. The three remaining bids were relatively similar in assurances related to continuity of the existing LME business but varied in terms of price, people familiar with the matter said, with Moelis seeking to narrow the spread between the offers.
In a statement Tuesday, the LME confirmed that only two parties remain in the bidding process. An update has been issued to shareholders, it said.
Moelis is being paid a GBP3.5 million fee on completion of the bidding process plus would earn between 0.5% and 0.7% of the final sale price if a deal goes ahead.
Firms bids were received for the LME May 7, with Moelis and the LME bid committee--Chairman Brian Bender, Chief Executive Martin Abbott and board directors David Rough and Nat le Roux--having first sight of the offers. The LME board had its first meeting to discuss the bids May 10.
The LME is central to the global trade of industrial metals, being the world's largest metals exchange and accounting for at least 80% of trade in nonferrous metals such as copper and aluminum.
A sale isn't guaranteed, however. A successful bidder would first need to allay concerns among holders of the LME's ordinary shares, who are also its members, about potential changes to exchange operations that could hurt their profitability. The deal would also need to be priced at a high enough level to entice members to part with their stakes.
The LME suspended its 2011 dividend payment while it awaits the outcome of the sale process. Any sale needs approval from 75% of shareholder votes and 50% of LME members.
The exchange reported net profit of GBP7.68 million in 2011, down 19% from GBP9.45 million in 2010.
Source: www.marketwatch.com
London seeks lead role as China's currency goes global - BBC News
Almost two years ago, a little-known Sheffield-based maker of garden spades and lawn rakes made financial history.
Neill Tools was the first UK company to make a cross-border payment in the Chinese currency, with the help of banking giant HSBC.
"The volume of yuan-denominated trade in the UK will inevitably increase," the HSBC banker in charge of the deal said at the time.
The transaction was an unlikely harbinger of a shift in the global financial system, and the prediction about the importance of the Chinese currency in trade proved prescient.
Today, UK banks hold 35 billion yuan ($5.5bn;£3.5bn) worth of deposits in the Chinese currency, also known as the renminbi.
Most comes from companies, like Neill Tools, that now pay their Chinese suppliers and business partners in the yuan rather than in dollars and pounds - something that was impossible less than three years ago.
"I receive phone calls on a daily basis from companies wanting to know about the process of using the renminbi," says Janet Ming, head of the Royal Bank of Scotland's London China desk.
Growing trade
How the City's banks and financial institutions capture this growing trade will be key to securing London's future as a global financial centre.
However, London's financial activity in the yuan is still relatively limited, especially when compared to Hong Kong, which has been the main winner in China's push to extend its currency's global reach.
This week UK banking executives, along with officials from the Treasury and the City of London, meet in Hong Kong to discuss what they can learn from their former colony.
According to an April report by the City Of London Corporation, London's banks already hold more than 109 billion yuan worth of deposits, with 35 billion yuan estimated to be held in customer accounts.
The remainder are made up of institutional and interbank deposits - held by one bank on behalf of another.
While this is much less than the 554 billion yuan held in Hong Kong bank accounts, the emergence of another pool of yuan outside Hong Kong is important, says Kelvin Lau, an economist at Standard Chartered.
"It not only illustrates London's inherent strength as an international financial centre and its geographical and time-zone advantages in serving Western customers; more importantly it reflects growing (yuan) demand on an international scale," he says.
London also accounts for a quarter of foreign exchange trading in the yuan and last month, HSBC became the first company to issue debt denominated in the Chinese currency in London.
"London's strength is its institutional investor base; it is anticipated that as corporate and institutional deposits grow, so too will the liquidity of the London market," the report said.
Clear rationaleLondon's rationale in seeking to develop its role as an offshore centre for trading in the yuan is easy to understand. It is keen to boost trade with China, and the City is angling for new avenues of business.
And unlike their counterparts in New York, UK government officials have been particularly active in promoting London's financial strengths to China.
"As the world's leading financial centre, London is uniquely well placed to assist China in its goal of further expanding the international use of the renminbi," UK Chancellor George Osborne said last month at the launch of a City initiative designed to strengthen London's position as a hub for renminbi business.
Beijing, meanwhile, wants the yuan to play a bigger role in the global financial system and reduce its reliance on the dollar. A push to make it internationalise its currency, which began in earnest in 2009, has taken on more urgency in recent months.
As such, "it makes sense to promote a new offshore centre, located in a different time zone to Hong Kong, which would appeal to businesses in Europe," says Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist at Credit Agricole.
Until the last decade, the renminbi was rarely seen beyond China's borders and Beijing still controls the flow of money in and out of the country.
ConstraintsLondon's bid to take its slice of international trade and investment in the yuan is constrained by two main factors.
Firstly, London lacks a natural customer base for many yuan financial products and services.
Retail investors or individual savers in the UK have less incentive to hold the yuan compared to their counterparts in Hong Kong, where the yuan is an accepted method of payment and mainland China a short bus or train ride away.
Appetite for yuan products is likely to be stronger among the London's army of institutional investors. However, waning expectations for appreciation in China's currency as its economy slows could diminish the market's appeal.
“Start Quote
End Quote Janet Ming Royal Bank of ScotlandSome companies are concerned because they are not sure how to get the currency converted”
And many European companies are still nervous about making and receiving payments in the yuan despite suppliers offering discounts of up to 10% for those willing to take the risk.
"Some companies are concerned because they are not sure how to hedge the transaction or how to get the currency converted," says Ms Ming.
"But Chinese suppliers are increasingly favouring payment in renminbi."
The second obstacle is London's lack of direct access to market infrastructure like settlement and clearing - only Hong Kong and Macau have clearing banks outside of mainland China.
This reinforces Hong Kong's position as the most obvious place to settle transactions and make deals in the yuan.
London is hoping to bridge this gap through an extension of the operating hours of Hong Kong's real time renminbi settlement system, which is expected to take effect at the end of June.
"The London market is still in its early stages and I think it will take some time, especially for individuals, to be comfortable holding the yuan," says Ms Ming.
"But it's not a matter of whether they should consider it, it's a matter of when."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: Louis Smith leads Britain's gymnastics charge - The Guardian
Four years ago few would have tipped British men's gymnastics to be among the best in the world and pushing for medals at the London Olympics. As little as two years ago Britain's men had never qualified for the team final at the European championships.
How things have changed. the men's European championships begin in Montpellier and even without Daniel Keatings, the injured world all-around silver medallist and European pommels champion, Great Britain is expected to impress. Five senior gymnasts will be hoping to make their mark on the competition that forms an important staging post on the journey to the Olympic Games. Germany and Russia are the favourites to take the team title, but after Great Britain's silver medal finish in 2010 the nation now expect to be in the running for a podium place.
What has been the transformative factor in their success? Team dynamics, says Louis Smith, who captained the team to Olympic qualification at the test event held in London this year. "We cry and bleed together, which is what you need in terms of a team," says Smith. "Well, some people cry – but pretty much all of us bleeds."
Smith, the first individual British gymnast to win an Olympic medal in 80 years when he took bronze on the pommel horse in Beijing, has witnessed the change over the past four years. In Beijing, the 23-year-old admits, the competition was a lonely experience with just two British men qualifying for the individual finals. "Even before that we'd go to a Europeans [as a team] and we knew we were going to come 10th, and we knew we weren't going to make any finals apart from me on pommels, so it was nerve-racking knowing a lot of it depended on me. Now it's very different. We've got everyone making finals and everyone doing very well. It's very positive, we're all taking steps in the right direction."
"The belief is there that we can do well. We now know that we're contestants on a world stage at the top level, with that belief everyone's improving and because everyone's improving it's harder to get into the team, the standard is so high now. It's made life a lot more difficult for people trying to qualify and get into the team but that's good. We want to have a selection of 10 guys instead of four."
There are at least seven world-class Britons in a squad of 12 competing for five places in the men's team, announced on 4 July, at the Olympics. One of those set to make a name for himself in London is 21-year-old Daniel Purvis who took bronze on the floor at the world championships in 2010. He was ranked No1 in the world last year after a series of impressive World Cup performances and finished fourth in the world championships last October.
"The main priority at the Europeans is the team," said Purvis. "We came second in Birmingham in 2010 so if we can do the same again or even get the gold that would be awesome. Individually it will be about apparatus finals – if I can make the floor and P-bar finals that would be great.
"This is the last big competition ahead of the Olympics so if we can do well it might help put the idea in the judges' minds where we could be placed. It is important."
"In terms of what it means for the Olympics, everyone's fighting for a place on the team. The Europeans are going to be a good benchmark to see who's in the team. There's a bit of pressure for everyone."
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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