Injunction

In an attempt to remove any confusion between the Indianapolis Colts and his Baltimore CFL Colts, owner Jim Speros said yesterday he has asked the Canadian Football League to black out televised games on ESPN2 in Indiana this season."

WASHINGTON - In a blow to Missouri River commercial interests, a federal appellate court turned down yesterday the Army Corps of Engineers' request to delay lowering water levels in the river while it appeals another court's injunction. The corps, meanwhile, continued to defy the injunction, issued by a federal judge in Washington a week ago, ordering less water in the lower reaches of the Missouri to protect endangered species. Corps spokesman Blain Rethmeier said his agency planned to stick to its guns and operate the dammed river under terms of an earlier court injunction in Nebraska stipulating higher flows for barge navigation.

The state law that requires insurance companies to offer greater coverage for mental illnesses has been suspended again, less than 24 hours after a Baltimore Circuit Court judge lifted an injunction that had kept it from going into effect.Yesterday, Chief Judge Alan M. Wilner of the Court of Special Appeals granted a new injunction against the law, pending a hearing Monday in his court.The law requiring insurers to offer mental illness benefits comparable to those for other illnesses was to have become effective Jan. 1. Lawyers for insurers and a policyholder filed suit Dec. 28, claiming the law was vague.

The losing candidate in last month's race for the Long Reach village seat on the Columbia Council has hit several hurdles in her efforts to unseat the winner.On Thursday, Howard County Circuit Judge Raymond J. Kane Jr. thwarted Deborah Tolson's attempt to remove incumbent Cecilia Januszkiewicz from the Columbia Council. He denied her an ex parte injunction -- or refused to remove Januszkiewicz without hearing the defendant's side of the story -- because of "insufficient evidence."Tolson had also requested a preliminary and permanent injunction, but Thomas M. Meachum, lawyer for the Long Reach Community Association, said Friday that she made errors that rendered her complaint invalid.

A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's injunction that bars a retired Navy hospital ship decaying in Baltimore's harbor from being moved overseas. M/V Sanctuary was rotting in the Patapsco River for 18 years until it was sold at a court-ordered auction in October to Potomac Navigation Inc. The Delaware-registered company planned to tow the ship to Greece in December, but the move was delayed by costly legal wrangling with the U.S. government. In November, the U.S. District Court in Baltimore granted the Environmental Protection Agency an injunction to prevent Sanctuary from leaving U.S. waters.

We suppose we should be thankful that President Bush paused long enough between golf shots on Wednesday to let it be known that he sure hoped the anti-abortion extremists who had shut down two medical clinics in Wichita would "try to live within the law of the land."It appears that the unruly throng is "living within the law" at the moment, thanks to the injunction of federal Judge Patrick Kelly, who made it clear that any lawbreakers who wound up in his court could expect to be dealt with firmly, not given the kid-glove treatment they had been getting from sympathetic Kansas authorities.

Seven months after a jury awarded it more than $12 million in a patent infringement lawsuit, Annapolis-based TeleCommunication Systems Inc. has filed a similar suit - this time against the makers of the addictive BlackBerry. The suit, which TeleCommunication said it filed yesterday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges that BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. is infringing upon a patent that governs the way wireless users access e-mail applications. It asks the court to award damages and issue an injunction to prevent RIM from further infringement.

A last effort to save the life of a killer who doesn't want to be saved failed yesterday when Maryland's highest court refused to stop the execution of John Frederick Thanos.The American Civil Liberties Union had sought an injunction from the Court of Appeals so that it could present evidence to prove that the lethal injection planned by Maryland officials is cruel and unusual punishment, but the court denied the request."We're disappointed," said Michael J. Gentile, a Towson attorney working on behalf of the ACLU.

The city of Annapolis could lose $32 million, nearly all of its current operating budget, if it files an injunction and sues the state to block construction of the controversial Severn River replacement bridge, says Alderman Carl O. Snowden.After consulting with several attorneys well-versed in federal law, Snowden said yesterday that he will ask his fellow members of the Annapolis City Council to reconsider filing the injunction as well as a suit against the state."I've talked to several attorneys and they've convinced me that we [the council]

The legal wrangling over Adult Video & Books on U.S. 1 in Elkridge continued yesterday in court, and the fate of the business remains up in the air.A Howard County circuit judge denied the business' request yesterday to block a county effort to shut down the operation. The judge made his decision after a county attorney assured him that his office would not enforce an injunctive order until the court rules on Adult Video's pending appeal.Deputy County Solicitor Paul Johnson told Circuit Judge James B. Dudley that the county reserves the right to file a motion for an injunction but would not enforce an injunction until after the court reviews an Aug. 27 Board of Appeals decision ordering the business to close.