2nd Circuit Court

Lawyer in Megabucks Chevron Enviro Case Must Turn Over Hard Drive Mirror Images, Judge Rules

After persuading a federal judge that a plaintiff’s lawyer waived privilege by operating as a “political operative” in conjunction with the making of a documentary film, a corporate defendant in a megabucks South American environmental case has scored a follow-up victory. Initially, based on the “political operative” finding, a federal…

Jan 27, 2011 9:18 PM CST

Woman Who Raised Infant Kidnapped from Hospital in 1987 Is Charged; FBI Says She Confessed

A woman who raised a baby kidnapped from a New York hospital in 1987 has been criminally charged and the FBI says she confessed, reports the Associated Press. Wanting a baby that she was unable to have herself, Ann Pettway admitted that she took 19-day-old Carlina White when she saw…

Jan 24, 2011 7:01 PM CST

Bank Worker Allegedly Stole $6M By Diverting Checks and Funneling Payments to Husbands’ Companies

It isn’t just law firm staffers who allegedly have been stealing from their employers through fraudulent schemes and bogus record-keeping. A former Connecticut bank employee is accused of masterminding a $6 million fraud through which two lending institutions were allegedly tricked into paying out $5 million to companies operated by…

Jan 21, 2011 5:14 PM CST

Doc Film That Cut A/C Privilege in $113B Enviro Case Also Pierced Filmmaker’s Shield, 2nd Cir. Says

Last year, a decision to cooperate with a filmmaker making a documentary about a $113 billion Ecuadorean environmental case cost plaintiffs’ counsel their attorney-client privilege. Now in the latest adverse ruling to the plaintiffs as a result of the Crude documentary, a federal appeals court has held that the film…

Jan 14, 2011 5:39 PM CST

Another NY Lawyer Goes Down in $23M Mortgage Fraud Case

A New York real estate lawyer pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan yesterday to bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud. Cheddi Goberdhan faces a prison term of up to 210 years when he is sentenced in April, reports Dow Jones Newswires, based on information from…

Jan 11, 2011 6:41 PM CST

Obama Renominates 42 Judicial Picks, But Not Judge Hit for Execution Delay

President Obama has renominated 42 out of 43 judicial nominees who didn’t win approval by the end of the 111th Congress in December. Left off the list was U.S. District Judge Robert Chatigny of Connecticut, who had been nominated for the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according…

Jan 6, 2011 2:32 PM CST

Finicky Felines Prefer Super Scoop Kitty Litter, Not Fresh Step, Federal Lawsuit Contends

Citing a competing—and, it says, superior—study of feline toileting preferences, one leading manufacturer of kitty litter has made a federal case out of another’s advertising claim that finicky cats prefer the Fresh Step brand manufactured by Clorox Co. In fact, contends Church & Dwight Co. in a lawsuit filed today…

Jan 6, 2011 1:00 AM CST

2nd Circuit Tosses FCC Fine for Female Nudity on ‘NYPD Blue’

ABC television stations won’t have to pay a combined $1.21 million penalty for broadcasting an NYPD Blue episode with a shot of a female character’s nude buttocks. A New York-based federal appeals court ruled (PDF) on Tuesday that the nudity policy created by the Federal Communications Commission is unconstitutionally vague,…

Jan 5, 2011 5:15 PM CST

Feds Join Criminal Probe of Claimed Snow-Removal Slowdown in NYC After Heavy Storm Last Week

Following news reports that New York City municipal workers may have intentionally slowed down snow removal efforts during a blizzard last week, as payback for layoffs, demotions and salary cuts, the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s office has opened a criminal probe. That action follows investigations begun earlier by district attorneys in…

Jan 5, 2011 12:36 AM CST

Federal Judge OKs RICO Conspiracy Class Action Against Law Firm in ‘Sewer Service’ Case

A federal judge in New York has given a green light to a racketeering conspiracy class action filed against a law firm. The suit contends that the firm and a client consumer debt purchaser, along with a process serving company, schemed to obtain thousands of default judgments in state court…

Jan 4, 2011 8:44 PM CST

Shell Gets a Pass on Nigerian Claims, But Tort Law’s Future Still Unclear

Federal appeals Judge Pierre N. Leval recognizes the perquisites that befall businesses when they incorporate—not the least of which is confining liability to the organization to protect shareholders’ personal assets. But as a member of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Leval was downright ticked in September when his…

Jan 1, 2011 9:00 AM CST

2 Former Jenkens & Gilchrist Partners on Track for Trial in Tax-Shelter Case

Rejecting an argument that the conduct of two former partners of the now-shuttered Jenkens & Gilchrist and three other non-law firm defendants lacked requisite willfulness, a federal judge has denied a motion to dismiss and put the case on track for a February trial. Charged with conspiring to defraud the…

Dec 29, 2010 6:58 PM CST

Convicted of Murder, High-School Dropout Researches Own Case for a Decade, Wins Release

Convicted at age 22 of a murder he says he didn’t commit, Jabbar Collins saw a bleak future ahead of him. Although he’d been working toward a general equivalency high-school diploma and trying to transfer to the John Jay College of Criminal Justice before his arrest, he was now facing…

Dec 28, 2010 7:33 PM CST

Doc Film Helped Chevron Subpoena Plaintiffs’ US Legal Files in $113B Ecuador Enviro Case

A documentary film encouraged by the lead plaintiff’s lawyer in a $113 billion case concerning alleged damage to a South American rain forest apparently didn’t achieve the result attorney Steve Donziger anticipated. Lawyers for Chevron Corp. used the documentary, Crude, to persuade a federal judge in New York both to…

Dec 23, 2010 9:09 PM CST

Celebrity Lawyer Put Lifestyle Before IRS, Gets 1 Year and 1 Day in Tax Case

Michael “Mickey” Sherman was making good money as a celebrity criminal defense lawyer. But not enough to pay for both the lavish lifestyle he and his family live as well as his income tax. So he put his living expenses first and let the unpaid taxes balloon to as much…

Dec 23, 2010 1:11 AM CST