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The article reports on the preliminary approval given by Judge James V. Selna of U.S. District Court on the settlement deal worth $1 billion between Toyota Motor and plaintiffs, after the recall of various cars from Toyota.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Monday struck down new regulations governing union elections, saying the National Labor Relations Board did not follow proper voting procedures when it approved the rules last year. Judge James E. Boasberg of United States District Court said the board had lacked a quorum when it voted on the rules that expedite union representation elections. He did not address the merits of the rules and said the board could simply vote again. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A federal judge's ruling Monday in Manhattan will determine the fate of the Mets' owners in their protracted legal fight against the trustee for the victims of Bernard L. Madoff. He can dismiss the case or let it go to a trial March 19. He can remove an enormous financial cloud that has hung over the Mets for more than a year by not making them pay up to $386 million -- or let a jury decide. Whichever way he rules, United States District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff will not give his reasoning, at least not on Monday. He is to issue a ''bottom line ruling'' that will say if he has granted or denied each side's motions for summary judgment. He will write a lengthier ruling later. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A federal judge ruled Friday that the National Labor Relations Board can require most private businesses to put up posters telling workers they have a legal right to form a union. But the judge, Amy Berman Jackson of United State District Court, limited how the board can enforce the requirement. She said simply failing to display the new N.L.R.B. poster is not automatically a legal violation. The ruling pleased labor groups but disappointed business groups, which argued that the new poster is too one-sided and seems to encourage workers to join unions. The posters are to be displayed effective April 30. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds, baseball's home run champion, avoided a prison term Friday when a federal judge sentenced him to 30 days of house arrest, 2 years of probation, 250 hours of community service with youth groups and a $4,000 fine for providing evasive testimony to a federal grand jury eight years ago. Bonds's lawyers stated their intention to appeal the guilty verdict, and the judge, Susan Illston of United States District Court, agreed to stay the sentence through the appeal process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

WASHINGTON -- Taking a broad swipe at the Securities and Exchange Commission's practice of allowing companies to settle cases without admitting that they had done anything wrong, a federal judge on Monday rejected a $285 million settlement between Citigroup and the agency. The judge, Jed S. Rakoff of United States District Court in Manhattan, said that he could not determine whether the agency's settlement with Citigroup was ''fair, reasonable, adequate and in the public interest,'' as required by law, because the agency had claimed, but had not proved, that Citigroup committed fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A federal judge in Montgomery has stopped state officials from using Alabama's tough new immigration law to prevent immigrants from renewing required permits on manufactured homes. The judge, Myron H. Thompson of United States District Court, issued a temporary restraining order Wednesday evening that allows Alabama residents to renew registration of manufactured homes without requiring that they prove that they are in the country legally. The deadline for renewing the registration without being fined is Nov. 30. Lawyers for a coalition of civil rights groups said earlier that by refusing to renew the permits, state officials could force people to abandon their homes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A federal judge on Monday blocked a Food and Drug Administration requirement that tobacco companies put big new graphic warning labels on cigarette packages by next September. In a preliminary injunction, Judge Richard J. Leon of United States District Court in Washington ruled that cigarette makers were likely to win a free speech challenge against the proposed labels, which include staged photos of a corpse and of a man breathing smoke out of a tracheotomy hole in his neck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]