Appellate Practice

Convicted rapist faces new case in courthouse attack on appellate attorney

A convicted rapist accused of breaking free from his restraints in a Cincinnati courthouse meeting room and repeatedly punching his appellate lawyer in the face earlier this month is now facing a new case over the alleged attack. Tony Pippin, 42, has been indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury…

Nov 13, 2015 3:59 PM CST

Appeals court didn’t have power to reinstate $10.1B award in cigarette case, top state court says

The Illinois Supreme Court has once again rejected a $10.1 billion verdict against Altria’s Philip Morris USA unit, but didn’t completely shut the door on plaintiffs. The supreme court ruled Wednesday that an Illinois appeals court did not have the authority to reinstate the award, report the Wall Street Journal…

Nov 6, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Divided Mississippi Supreme Court OKs same-sex divorce case

In a 5-4 ruling, the Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday said a same-sex couple who married in California before moving there must be allowed to pursue a divorce case. The majority relied on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, the Associated…

Nov 5, 2015 5:00 PM CST

2nd lawyer avoids conviction in case related to developer’s bankruptcy

Initially convicted by a federal jury in a bankruptcy fraud case related to a client real estate developer’s financial collapse, an Arkansas attorney is now in the clear. After the trial, the district court reversed attorney Kenneth Vaughn Knight’s conviction on a false statement count and granted him a new…

Nov 4, 2015 11:35 AM CST

$75K fine for fatal train trestle accident during movie filming is upheld on review

A $74,600 fine imposed on the producers of the movie Midnight Rider over a fatal train accident that occurred during filming of the movie has been effectively upheld on appeal. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission last week declined to hear an administrative appeal, which frees the producers to…

Nov 3, 2015 4:35 PM CST

Lawyer accused judges of ‘incompetence and ignorance’ in pleading, ethics complaint alleges

A North Carolina lawyer is facing disciplinary charges in part over some off-color remarks he made in his pleadings about opposing counsel and a panel of state appeals court judges. Michael J. Anderson of Wilson is accused in the complaint (PDF) of engaging in discourteous conduct that is degrading to…

Nov 3, 2015 4:26 PM CST

Jones Day hires 10 US Supreme Court clerks, ‘a stunningly large number,’ law prof says

Ten individuals who clerked for U.S. Supreme Court justices in the court’s last term have joined Jones Day. They represent nearly one-quarter of the clerks who worked for current and former justices during that period, and are expected to be paid hiring bonuses of at least $300,000 each, the National…

Nov 2, 2015 3:00 PM CST

Mayer Brown associate prepares to make SCOTUS debut in politically charged redistricting case

Mayer Brown associate Michael Kimberly says he isn’t that nervous about making his debut oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court next week. After all, he’s been preparing for the moment ever since law school. “I was a student in the very first class of the Yale Law School Supreme…

Nov 2, 2015 1:35 PM CST

Appeals court OKs suit against school district over a student who knocked down others on field trip

A divided New York appellate court has OK’d a lawsuit filed against a school district by the parents of two girls knocked to the ground by an 11-year-old boy during a field trip to the Bronx Zoo. At issue is whether those in charge properly supervised the children during the…

Oct 26, 2015 3:45 PM CDT

9th Circuit OKs doubling of prison term for defendant who laughed at sentencing

Laughter after he was sentenced to a year in federal prison for a probation violation cost a California defendant another year behind bars. When U.S. District Judge Lawrence O’Neill challenged Ramon Ochoa’s demeanor he insisted he hadn’t been laughing at the sentence and apologized. But the Fresno judge, who’d just…

Oct 23, 2015 7:00 AM CDT

Death-row inmate seeking ‘spiritual freedom’ opts for statutory right to electric chair

Wayne Doty was already serving a life prison term for a 1996 murder when he and another man incarcerated at Florida State Prison in Raiford murdered a fellow inmate. That second murder, of a man accused of stealing a package of cigarettes, put Doty, now 42, on death row. After…

Oct 22, 2015 3:10 PM CDT

Husband’s tears weren’t protected by spousal privilege, appellate court rules

A husband’s tears during a private drive with his wife could be used as evidence to help convict him in a rape case, a North Carolina appeals court ruled Tuesday. It rejected a defense lawyer’s argument that the man’s crying was essentially an admission by silence and hence a privileged…

Oct 20, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Appeals court nixes 10-year plea deal in claimed contract hit attempt on family lawyer

An appeals court has nixed a plea deal by one of the men allegedly involved in performing a claimed contract hit attempt on a New Jersey divorce lawyer in 2002. However, that means that all the original charges will be reinstated against defendant Vancleve Ashley, who had gotten a 10-year…

Oct 15, 2015 12:10 PM CDT

Lawyer convicted of murder, then granted new trial, has conviction reinstated

In 2013, a Calfornia divorce lawyer was convicted of second-degree murder in the Arizona slaying of his stepdaughter’s husband. Then, only a few months later, Robert Fischer had the rare experience of seeing his jury conviction reversed by the trial judge due to insufficient evidence. Now Fischer has suffered another…

Oct 13, 2015 1:20 PM CDT

Chemerinsky: New term’s most important cases—so far

At 10 a.m. Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court began its October term for 2015, and many of the cases before it present issues that court has dealt with in recent years. The court granted certiorari in 34 cases for the term before it went on its summer recess and granted…

Oct 8, 2015 8:30 AM CDT