5th Circuit Court

Judge who dismissed racial slur claim as ‘surprising to Colonel Sanders’ gets sensitivity lesson

A federal appeals court has a message for U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes of Texas: A remark about President Barack Obama and fried chicken does indeed have a racial component. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals criticized Hughes in an opinion (PDF) that nonetheless upholds his decision…

Jan 15, 2013 1:14 PM CST

Inmate Has Been in Prison Awaiting Court-Ordered Retrial Since 1980

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned Jerry Hartfield’s murder conviction in 1980. He is still in prison waiting for his retrial. The state court twice refused state requests to reconsider the ruling, the last one in 1983, the Associated Press reports. Eleven days later, the governor commuted Hartfield’s sentence…

Jan 4, 2013 1:23 PM CST

Transocean to Pay $1.4B to Resolve DOJ Criminal Probe, Other Federal Claims re Gulf Oil Spill

The company that owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and safety equipment involved in the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill nearly three years ago has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle federal claims over the fatal environmental disaster. Transocean Ltd. will plead guilty to violating the Clean Water…

Jan 3, 2013 10:52 PM CST

Texas Lawyer Sues the State over His Blog’s Name and Wins

Lubbock, Texas, lawyer John Gibson had a simple idea: Create a blog about the state’s workers’ compensation law. Luckily, “texasworkerscomplaw.com” was available, so he grabbed it. Gibson then was hit with a cease-and-desist order from the Texas Department of Insurance, which informed him that his blog violated a state law…

Jan 1, 2013 9:49 AM CST

Texas Lawyer Gets 46 Months re $2.3M Scam of 46 Disabled Veterans

Rejecting an argument by prosecutors that a Texas lawyer should get harsher punishment than his wife for scamming disabled veterans of $2.3 million, because he had fiduciary responsibilities as their guardian, a federal judge on Wednesday gave Joe B. Phillips, 73, exactly the same sentence: 46 months. His 72-year-old wife,…

Dec 21, 2012 6:18 PM CST

Federal Judge Gives La. Woman TRO re Home Rooftop Light Display Featuring Hand with Extended Finger

A federal judge in Louisiana has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting a municipality from interfering with a resident’s holiday light display. It reportedly features at least one hand, with its middle finger extended. The court order follows two separate incidents in which Denham Springs police allegedly ordered Sarah Childs…

Dec 20, 2012 10:17 PM CST

31 Ex-Clients Sue O’Quinn Law Firm, Say ‘Silicosis Litigation Machine’ Took Excess Expenses

A federal lawsuit has been filed by 31 former clients of the John O’Quinn law firm in Texas, contending that what they describe as a “silicosis litigation machine” took unauthorized and excessive expenses from their settlement money. Quinn died in a sports-utility vehicle accident in 2009, but his estate is…

Dec 19, 2012 10:21 PM CST

Ex-Crime Lab Supervisors Sue Texas DA, Claim Pointing to Booze Breath-Test Issues Led to Retaliation

Two former supervisors at a troubled police crime laboratory in Houston, Texas, have sued the local district attorney, contending that they suffered retaliation after blowing the whistle about problems with portable breath-alcohol testing stations. The Houston Chronicle reports that the plaintiffs, Amanda Culbertson and Jorge Wong, name three defendants in…

Dec 18, 2012 7:21 PM CST

Student’s Lawsuit Tests High School’s Microchip ID Policy; Will Religion Trump Need to Count Heads?

Many adults have essentially thrown up their hands over the ubiquitous electronic tracking—via cellphones, computers and cameras strategically placed along the roadside and retail shelves—that has eliminated the concept of privacy as we knew it only a decade or so ago. But a 15-year-old is making a federal-court fight out…

Dec 10, 2012 10:21 PM CST

New Orleans US Attorney Resigns Amidst Ethics Probe re Top Assistants’ Internet Postings

The nation’s longest-serving U.S. attorney announced his resignation Thursday at a press conference, effective in less than a week, but said he will stay on in a supporting role to help with the transition. Citing unidentified sources, the Times-Picayune said U.S. Attorney Jim Letten of New Orleans is in discussions…

Dec 6, 2012 10:54 PM CST

Latest Lawyer Sentenced in Judicial Bribery Case Gets 3.5 Years in Federal Prison

A lawyer convicted earlier this year of bribing a South Texas judge was sentenced Thursday in Brownsville to 3½ years in federal prison. Ray R. Marchan was convicted after a jury trial of seven counts in June, including racketeering, but subsequently had one mail fraud conviction reversed, the San Antonio…

Dec 6, 2012 8:49 PM CST

Ex-Associate of Law Firm Charged With Wire Fraud, Accused of Obtaining $453K from Trust Account

An ex-associate of a Baton Rouge, La., law firm has been federally charged with wire fraud for allegedly using fraudulent misrepresentations to persuade his former firm to send $93,750 to a bank account under his control. The charging document, a bill of information, also contends, however, that James M. “Tres”…

Nov 28, 2012 6:08 PM CST

Stanford Receiver Sues Greenberg and Hunton Firms, Says Lawyer’s Work Helped $7B Ponzi Scheme

A court-appointed receiver representing victims of a $7 billion Ponzi scheme for which former billionaire R. Allen Stanford is now serving a 110-year prison term has sued two well-known law firms. In a federal suit filed Thursday in Dallas that seeks class action status, receiver Ralph Janvey and several individual…

Nov 16, 2012 5:37 PM CST

Lawyer Charged with Laundering Drug Cartel Money Is Denied Bail; Feds Call Him a Flight Risk

A jailed Texas lawyer who has been federally indicted concerning his role in a claimed conspiracy to launder some $600 million for a Mexican drug cartel has been denied bail at a Wednesday hearing. Prosecutors contended, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Norbert Garney apparently agreed, that Marco Antonio Delgado is a…

Nov 14, 2012 8:37 PM CST

Texas Lawyer Indicted and Jailed re Claimed Role in Alleged Mexican Drug Money-Laundering Conspiracy

An El Paso, Texas, lawyer was arrested Friday at a local restaurant and jailed, pending a Thursday detention hearing, on a sealed federal indictment that federal officials say charges him with a role in a claimed conspiracy to launder $600 million in Mexican drug cartel money. Federal officials say Marco…

Nov 6, 2012 10:11 PM CST