5th Circuit Court

Judge grants disbarred lawyer Scruggs’ request to return to prison

Disbarred Mississippi lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs is, at his own request, returning to federal prison after losing his latest appeal in a judicial corruption case. Scruggs has been free on $2 million bond since late last year. He asked to resume serving his seven-year sentence after losing an appeal before…

Apr 18, 2013 6:47 PM CDT

Judge nixes attorney fees for lawyer in oil spill case, says client’s signature on doc was forged

Saying that he believes a plaintiff’s signature on a legal representation document concerning the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was forged, a federal judge in New Orleans nixed attorney fees for a Texas lawyer. Attorney Brent Coon had sought a 25 percent share of an undisclosed settlement his claimed client,…

Apr 5, 2013 5:25 PM CDT

Baker Botts gets another $5.2M in litgation over $142M fee award in $6B bankruptcy case

After years of litigation, Baker Botts was awarded another $5.2 million in legal fees on Tuesday for defending its earlier $142 million fee award for representing a copper mining operation in a bankruptcy case. The law firm’s representation of Asarco LLC was part of a long-running legal battle that began…

Mar 28, 2013 6:13 PM CDT

As trial looms for ex-DA accused in RICO enterprise case, feds make new accusations

Federally indicted on corruption charges while he was still the sitting district attorney in Cameron County, Texas, a now-former prosecutor faces new allegations in a case in which he is accused of running his office as a racketeering enterprise. The case is allegedly part of a wider cash-for-court-favors and graft…

Mar 27, 2013 5:15 PM CDT

LAPD to get tapes of defense lawyer talks with convicted ‘Charles Manson family’ killer

After months of litigation and two court rulings, it looks like the Los Angeles Police Department may be on the verge of getting hold of long-ago taped conversations between a now-deceased Texas defense lawyer and a member of the notorious Charles Manson “family” convicted in multiple 1969 murders that terrorized…

Mar 26, 2013 8:34 PM CDT

Lawyer’s suicide may void his judicial bribery case conviction

Convicted last year in a judicial bribery case and sentenced to three and a half years, a South Texas lawyer may have cleared his conviction by committing suicide Feb. 28 as he was due to report to federal prison. Because Ray R. Marchan, 56, had an appeal pending at the…

Mar 25, 2013 7:16 PM CDT

‘Casket cartel’ rules banning sales by monks are nixed by 5th Circuit

In the latest win for the Institute of Justice in a “rational basis” economic regulation case, a federal appeals court has agreed with a trial judge that the state of Louisiana overreached by preventing Benedictine monks from selling simple wooden caskets because they are not funeral directors. Finding that “mere…

Mar 21, 2013 3:41 PM CDT

Federal judge sides with whooping cranes in water rights case

A federal judge has ordered Texas officials to put the needs of an endangered flock of whooping cranes first when determining whether to grant water-use permits to new users. The Corpus Christi Caller-Times provides a link to Monday’s 124-page opinion (PDF) by Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack. She…

Mar 13, 2013 8:00 PM CDT

New indictment accuses jailed lawyer of defrauding utility of millions

Jailed since November, when federal prosecutors accused him of a role in a claimed conspiracy to launder $600 million in Mexican drug cartel money, a once-prominent South Texas lawyer is now facing a new indictment issued Wednesday by a federal grand jury in El Paso. Marco Delgado, 46, also known…

Mar 1, 2013 5:49 PM CST

With billions at issue, trial begins to apportion fault for oil spill among BP, its subcontractors

A federal judge in New Orleans began hearing opening statements Monday in a trial to determine how to apportion blame between BP Plc and its subcontractors for the massive oil spill that began April 20, 2010 with a blowout of an undersea well after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded…

Feb 25, 2013 6:16 PM CST

Defendant attorney takes stand in latest corruption trial linked to convicted judge

An Austin lawyer being tried in a criminal corruption case linked to a South Texas judge who has already been convicted of racketeering has taken the stand in his own defense in federal court in Corpus Christi. Marc G. Rosenthal, who is charged with conspiring to bribe then-404th District Judge…

Feb 22, 2013 6:59 PM CST

Racism complaint filed against federal judge by civil rights group

A long-time federal judge in Houston known for outspokenness has been called out by a Texas civil rights group for making allegedly racist statements, the Houston Chronicle reports. The Texas Civil Rights Project’s formal complaint to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals comes on the heels of a blog…

Feb 7, 2013 5:45 PM CST

Law firm ‘wine and dine’ event with client led to insider-trading case against partner’s husband

The husband of a partner at a well-known law firm is facing an insider-trading case, after allegedly using information he obtained in connection with a planned “wine and dine” event with a Silicon Valley client. James Balchan, an information technology specialist in Houston, is accused in a federal complaint filed…

Feb 7, 2013 3:20 PM CST

Ex-associate admits scheme to divert $453K in law firm funds, takes federal wire fraud plea

An ex-associate of a Louisiana law firm pleaded guilty to a wire fraud count Wednesday in federal court in Baton Rouge and admitted a scheme to get $453,123 of Crawford Lewis funds for his own use. James M. “Tres” Bernhard III, 36, settled last summer a civil lawsuit brought against…

Jan 31, 2013 4:49 PM CST

Testimony: Lawyers promised then-judge big bucks to ‘make sure things came out OK’

When some local lawyers in South Texas wanted to “make sure things came out OK,” they used to steer their personal injury cases to Abel Limas, the former judge testified in federal court in Brownsville on Thursday. Then a 404th state district court judge, he now admits he ran his…

Jan 18, 2013 7:09 PM CST