Administrative Law

Associate Faces Legal Ethics Case re Claimed Ex Parte Emails with Worker’s Comp Arbitrator

An associate with a St. Louis law firm is facing a legal ethics case over her alleged ex parte emails with an arbitrator concerning the merits of a client’s Illinois worker’s compensation case. Kerry O’Sullivan, 36, who is licensed in both Missouri and Illinois, cooperated with the Illinois Attorney Registration…

Jul 12, 2011 11:03 PM CDT

Proposed Change in Labor Law ‘Advice’ Rule Calls for Law Firms to Reveal Client and Fee Info

A proposed change in the way the U.S. Department of Labor interprets a 1959 statute could restrict the role of legal counsel, if it is approved. Under the proposal, the department would change the way it interprets the “advice” exemption for the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. That would potentially…

Jul 12, 2011 8:13 PM CDT

UCLA to Pay Feds $865K to Settle Celebrity Medical Records Snooping Probe

The UCLA Health System has agreed to pay $856,500 to federal regulators as part of a settlement of a probe of snooping into celebrities’ medical records by hospital employees between 2005 and 2009. Employees at all three of its hospitals allegedly accessed celebrities’ medical records, in violation of their privacy,…

Jul 8, 2011 1:29 PM CDT

Verizon to Pay Record $20M, Change Attendance Policy to Settle ADA Case With EEOC

After several years of negotiation, Verizon Communications Inc. has agreed to pay a record $20 million to resolve a complaint that it violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by applying the same “no fault” cookie-cutter attendance policy to all workers, regardless of whether they had disabilities that might affect their…

Jul 7, 2011 6:53 PM CDT

Lawyer Suspended After 4th DWI, a Felony; Repeat Offenses Showed He Acted ‘Knowingly’

Imposing a more severe sanction than sought by the Missouri Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel, the state supreme court has indefinitely suspended a lawyer convicted of his fourth drunken-driving offense in 11 years. While OCDC had suggested that a suspension be stayed, the court said in an en banc opinion…

Jul 6, 2011 11:20 PM CDT

Can an Undocumented Immigrant Be Admitted to Practice? California Supreme Court Must Decide

Corrected: In what could be the first such case in the United States, a California State Bar panel is set to decide whether to deny an applicant a law license solely on the basis of his undocumented immigration status. Sergio Garcia was brought to this country from Mexico when he…

Jul 6, 2011 10:56 PM CDT

DOJ’s Fair Housing Suit Says Mortgage Insurer Discriminates Against Home Buyers on Maternity Leave

The Department of Justice has filed a federal fair housing suit in Pittsburgh against the nation’s largest mortgage insurer, contending that it has discriminated against homeowners who are on paid maternity leave. Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. violated the federal Fair Housing Act by discriminating, based on sex and familial status,…

Jul 6, 2011 6:09 PM CDT

Wis. Teachers Union Challenges Law Giving Governor Veto Power

The Wisconsin Education Association Council today sued to block a law that gives the governor veto powers over rules written by other elected officials and state agencies, including the Department of Public Instruction, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. It’s the latest of many battles between Wisconsin state employees and Gov.…

Jun 30, 2011 9:29 PM CDT

Ethics Complaint Against Newly Retired Ala. Judge Seeks to Rescind Her Benefits, a First

A blistering 74-count ethics complaint accuses a newly retired Alabama judge of multiple violations of conduct rules for jurists. Among them, former Family Court Judge Patricia Warner allegedly accepted nearly $21,000 in campaign contributions from gambling-related entities, then refused to step down from a child custody case involving a casino…

Jun 22, 2011 6:33 PM CDT

Judge Who Gave Lawyer Gag Sex Book Gets Reprimand for Delayed Recusal

Corrected: A New Mexico judge who was open to the possibility of romantic relationship with an assistant public defender to whom he gave a gag sex-book gift during a take-out lunch one Friday in a local park should have immediately recused himself from hearing her cases. Because Bernalillo County District…

Jun 20, 2011 8:44 PM CDT

Disciplined for Rudeness, Judge Says He Can’t Afford Probation, Will Retire and Return to Practice

Disciplined for repeated rudeness to lawyers, court staff and others, a South Dakota judge says he can’t afford the nearly $175,000 that a six-month suspension and subsequent probation could cost him. So Circuit Judge A.P. “Pete” Fuller of Rapid City will retire and return to law practice, reports the Associated…

Jun 20, 2011 5:54 PM CDT

Along With 4 Lawyers, Judge Who Oversaw Fen-Phen Settlement Could Be Disbarred

In 2006, a Kentucky judge retired rather than face potential discipline for his role in overseeing a $200 million settlement in controversial diet drug litigation that sent two of the lawyers involved to prison and resulted in the disbarment, or recommended disbarment, of two others. But now the board of…

Jun 16, 2011 7:04 PM CDT

Thousands Who Lost Money on CDs from Stanford’s Offshore Bank Are Likely to Be Repaid by SIPC

Investors who purchased worthless certificates of deposit from a brokerage unit of alleged Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford’s offshore bank are likely to have at least some of their losses covered by the Securities Investor Protection Corp. Although the SIPC earlier denied such claims, contending that the CDs are still…

Jun 15, 2011 9:58 PM CDT

Lawyer Threatens Suit After NY Bars Burial of Human Ashes in Pet Cemeteries

A state agency in New York has thwarted some pet owners’ burial plans after issuing an order barring pet cemeteries from accepting human ashes. More people are requesting burials next to their pets, but New York’s Division of Cemeteries has a problem with that practice, the Associated Press reports. The…

Jun 14, 2011 10:30 AM CDT

Retired In-House Counsel is Suspended for a Year Due to Second Domestic Violence Incident

A New Jersey lawyer has been suspended from practice for a year by the state supreme court an incident of domestic violence that also resulted in a 12-month jail term for him, according to the Legal Profession Blog. The incident, which resulted in Peter Jacoby’s guilty plea to the felony…

Jun 10, 2011 10:40 AM CDT