Delaware

Inmates’ escape par for the course in private prison transport industry

The private prisoner transport company whose van was stolen by two inmates last week in Oklahoma — precipitating a national manhunt that remains underway — may be feeling a sense of deja vu. The company has suffered at least half a dozen other escapes in the last five years. Inmate…

Sep 1, 2017 7:00 AM CDT

Patent lawsuits drop 21 percent in the Eastern District of Texas as SCOTUS ruling brings new era

Patent lawsuits in the federal court for the Eastern District of Texas are on the decline as a result of a May ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Jul 19, 2017 7:45 AM CDT

ABA Announcements

NOTICE BY THE SECRETARY: Nominating committee meetings The Nominating Committee will meet during the 2017 Annual Meeting in New York City on Sunday, Aug. 13, beginning with the business session at 9 a.m. in the Trianon Ballroom, 3rd Floor, at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel. Immediately following that session,…

Jun 1, 2017 12:35 AM CDT

ABA scores wins on attorney-client privilege and independence of the legal profession

The ABA achieved some significant victories during the past year by advocating for revisions to key federal regulations that will protect the independence of the legal profession and preserve the confidential lawyer-client relationship.

Mar 1, 2017 1:05 AM CST

Lawyer sues over Delaware constitutional requirement for political balance on state courts

A Delaware lawyer filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday that challenges a state constitutional requirement limiting the number of judges from one political party on state courts. James Adams claims in his lawsuit (PDF) that the provision violates the First Amendment right to freedom of political association, the Associated Press reports.…

Feb 23, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Delaware death-penalty law violates right to jury, state supreme court rules

The Delaware Supreme Court has struck down the state’s death penalty law, ruling it gives judges too much decision-making power in violation of the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. The court ruled on Tuesday in the case of Benjamin Rauf, a Temple University law grad accused of killing…

Aug 3, 2016 9:43 AM CDT

Case of law grad accused in slaying tests Delaware’s death penalty law

Corrected: The Delaware Supreme Court is considering the constitutionality of the state’s death penalty statute in a case involving a law grad accused of killing a former classmate. An assistant public defender, Santino Ceccotti, argued last Wednesday that the law should be struck down because it allows judges to weigh…

Jun 20, 2016 8:00 AM CDT

Prosecutor’s gun prank leads to suspension

A Delaware prosecutor with an aversion to the smell of hard-boiled eggs has been suspended for 30 days as a result of a gun prank. The prosecutor, Deputy Attorney General Adam Gelof, decided to enlist the courthouse security chief to respond to ribbing about Gelof’s egg aversion, the News Journal…

Jun 14, 2016 7:16 AM CDT

Judge’s finding that Dell buyout was too cheap is ‘sending shudders all over Wall Street’

A Delaware chancery judge’s decision last week that a buyout group paid too little for Dell Inc. is drawing praise from shareholder advocates and creating alarm in corporate boardrooms. The judge, Travis Laster, ruled that the buyout group led by company founder Michael Dell underpaid shareholders by $6 billion, even…

Jun 7, 2016 11:59 AM CDT

Claims of corruption by Wal-Mart in Mexico fizzle; Delaware court nixes shareholder suit

What once appeared to be a significant, multi-pronged probe of claimed widespread corruption concerning Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Mexico operations has fizzled. A three-year federal probe, while still ongoing, has determined that evidence to support the claims is lacking, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reported last year, relying on information…

May 16, 2016 11:55 AM CDT

Corporate lawyer with ‘spotless record’ faces RICO case over client’s payday loan business

Wheeler K. Neff, 67, is a corporate and banking lawyer with “a spotless record with the Delaware bar” during his 40-year legal career, his lawyer tells a local newspaper. Yet he has been indicted, along with a client with similar upper-echelon credentials. They face a federal racketeering case that claims…

Apr 8, 2016 10:30 AM CDT

Delaware Chancery Court voids ‘unconscionable’ payday loan, awards borrower damages

Calling the terms of a $200 payday loan “unconscionable,” Delaware’s influential Court of Chancery voided it Monday and awarded the borrower $3,240 in damages, plus attorney fees. Since plaintiff Gloria James still owes $3 of the original $200 to National Financial LLC, that amount was offset against the damages she…

Mar 16, 2016 11:00 AM CDT

From loaded pistols to garden shears and Sharpie pens, court security officers have seen it all

Most people bring weapons and other contraband into Delaware courthouses by mistake, security officers say. “They truly do not remember the extra-large pair of gardening shears”—or loaded pistols or other possible weapons—“that are in the bottom of the purse,” chief John Horsman of the Delaware Capitol Police tells the Wilmington…

Mar 4, 2016 2:05 PM CST

Widow, son and daughter of courthouse shooter get life terms in cyberstalking case

The widow, son and daughter of a man who fatally shot two women at a Delaware courthouse in 2013 have been sentenced to life terms in a first-of-its-kind federal cyberstalking case. Lenore Matusiewicz, David Matusiewicz and Amy Gonzalez were convicted by a Wilmington jury last year of cyberstalking causing death.…

Feb 19, 2016 10:15 AM CST

Delaware puts capital cases on hold while death-penalty issues are mulled by state supreme court

After a U.S. Supreme Court decision in January that struck down a Florida death-penalty sentencing scheme similar to Delaware’s, the state’s top court has agreed to review questions about whether Delaware’s capital punishment structure is constitutional. That led to a Monday announcement by Delaware Superior Court President Judge Jan Jurden…

Feb 1, 2016 5:00 PM CST