In this story:

• Armed drug traffickers
• Plane crash pain and suffering
• Spouse's health coverage
• Pollution cleanup
• Privacy
• Mississippi land dispute
• Death penalty
• Other rulings
• Related stories and sites

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed down a number of decisions, ranging from penalties for armed drug traffickers to whether the relatives of plane crash victims can be compensated for the victims' pain and suffering. The justices also ruled on other cases involving such issues as health benefits, privacy and pollution.

The court broadened the scope of a federal law that adds five years to the prison sentence of anyone who "carries" a gun while selling or buying illegal drugs.

By a 5-4 vote, the justices ruled that the sentence-stiffening law still applies even if the guns are locked away in a car's glove compartment or trunk.

Ruling in a pair of cases from rural Louisiana and Boston, the court said drug traffickers arrested while in or near their cars can be convicted of carrying a gun even if it is not immediately assessable.

The court said relatives of people who die in plane crashes over international water cannot win damages for the victims' pain and suffering. The decision comes in a lawsuit over the 1983 downing of a Korean airliner by the former Soviet Union.

The unanimous ruling said federal law does not allow damage awards for such non-financial losses.

A federal law assuring continued health coverage for fired or laid-off workers applies to people also covered by their spouse's health insurance plan, the court ruled.

The unanimous decision in a dispute from St. Louis resolved conflicting federal appeals court rulings on the scope of the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

COBRA, as it is known, allows for the continuation of health benefits as long as the former employee pays the full premium.

The ruling is a victory for the family of James Geissal, who in 1993 was fired from his job at the Moore Medical Corp. An employee for seven years, Geissal had participated in Moore's group health plan.

Geissal, who had cancer, also was a beneficiary of the health plan provided by his wife's employer, Trans World Airlines. The deductibles under the TWA plan were greater, however, so Geissal elected to continue his coverage under his former employer's plan.

Six months later, he was told he was ineligible for COBRA benefits because he was covered under his wife's group policy.

Geissal sued in federal court, but died before two courts ruled against him. In its decision on Monday, the Supreme Court said the two lower courts were wrong.

The court said a parent company generally cannot be forced to pay to clean up pollution at a facility owned by a subsidiary, unless there is proof of wrongdoing.

The case involves cleanups carried out under the federal Superfund and the government's efforts to recover hundreds of millions of dollars from companies considered responsible for hazardous waste.

Despite their unanimous ruling in a Michigan case, the justices still gave the government a chance to recover cleanup costs. They said companies can be held responsible when they controlled operations of the hazardous waste facility itself.

The justices, without comment, rejected an appeal by an employee of the Smithsonian Institution who said her privacy rights were violated in a disciplinary matter.

The court let stand a ruling that says the Smithsonian, which operates the government's museums in the nation's capital, is not a federal agency and therefore need not comply with a privacy-protecting law.

A ruling in a land dispute case means the government will not have to pay more money to retain possession of 729 disputed acres on Horn Island, Mississippi.

The land has been used for, among other things, a wildlife refuge, a Coast Guard target range and a chemical warfare station.

In its decision overturning a lower court ruling, the Supreme Court said Clark Beggerly Sr. and his family had been properly compensated for the land and that federal courts should not have become involved in the case in the first place.

In death-penalty cases, jurors sometimes have the option of convicting a person of a lesser offense. But, the court said Monday, giving jurors such an option is not automatic.

Ruling 8-1 in a Nebraska case, the justices said the lesser penalty option does not apply in states with a felony murder law that does not include a lesser offense.

The decision reverses a lower court which said convicted double-killer Randolph Reeves must be granted a new trial or be resentenced to life in prison.

• The justices agreed to decide whether people accused in multi-state crime sprees can be charged in any of those states with using a gun even if they used it in only one state. The federal government argues that it should be allowed to prosecute such people in any state where the underlying crimes were committed.

• In an unsigned decision, the Supreme Court told New Mexico's highest court it was wrong in blocking the extradition to Ohio of an American Indian activist who faces charges of violating parole. The justices overturned a New Mexico Supreme Court ruling that had called Timothy "Little Rock" Reed a "refugee from injustice" and had blocked his return to Ohio.

• The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether eight Chippewa Indian tribes may continue hunting and fishing on 13 million acres of public land in Minnesota without state regulation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Supreme Court:
1997-1998 Session

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