Hard time: A federal appeals court has thrown out a jury’s award of more than $650,000 to two Ohio tourists who were arrested in New Orleans on public drunkenness charges two days before Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in August 2005 and jailed for more than a month after the storm. A three-judge panel from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that Orleans Parish Sheriff Marlin Gusman didn’t falsely imprison Robie Waganfeald and Paul Kunkel Jr., both of Toledo. The men’s lawyers argued they were entitled by law to be released within 48 hours unless probable cause was found to keep them in custody. But the 5th Circuit judges concluded the 48-hour rule was suspended because of the 2005 storm. The panel said the men’s claims should have been dismissed.
Lost time: March Madness starts this week and there’s a lot of money at stake, including more than $1 billion in wages paid to distracted workers and $2.5 billion in illegal bets, The Los Angeles Times reports. The NCAA basketball tournament will suck 90 minutes out of each workday for 2.5 million workers, according to a new report from employment consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. If last year is any indication, employers will pay out $175 million in wages to workers who are sneaking peeks at games online, checking scores or managing office pool brackets during the first two days of the tournament. The surreptitious sports-watching could even slow down companies’ Internet connections, lead to lagging email response times, and cause workers to take longer lunch breaks. Get more statistics and the full story here.
