Delaware

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

Shareholder suit asks why Viacom chair Sumner Redstone was paid millions, questions his competency

Board members of CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. should have put their duty to the companies and shareholders ahead of loyalty to 92-year-old chairman and controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone. But they didn’t, contends a shareholder derivative lawsuit filed Tuesday in the Delaware Court of Chancery. It says billionaire Sumner Redstone…

Jan 19, 2016 4:35 PM CST

Authorities say paralegal stole nearly $440K, created fake real estate parties to cover up

A paralegal at an unidentified southern Delaware law firm stole nearly $440,000 from her employer’s trust account over a period of five years or more, authorities say. Penni Enama, 50, pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to wire fraud and tax evasion concerning the $439,824.40 theft. Prosecutors said she…

Dec 10, 2015 4:10 PM CST

More than 30 lawyers exit as law firm splits

Due to differing “strategic visions” and “philosophical beliefs,” a Mississippi law firm has undergone what at least one exiting partner describes as an amicable split. More than 30 attorneys have left the firm that was until recently known as Forman Perry Watkins Krutz & Tardy for Delaware-based Maron Marvel Bradley…

Oct 16, 2015 11:40 AM CDT

Kramer Levin is sanctioned $135K for deposition conduct

A Delaware judge has ordered Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel to pay $135,000 for a deposition in which its lawyer repeatedly instructed a witness not to answer questions. Chancellor Andre Bouchard set the amount of the sanction in a Sept. 17 order, the New York Law Journal reports. The money…

Sep 30, 2015 9:10 AM CDT

Temple law grad is charged with fatally shooting classmate during claimed drug deal

A Temple University law graduate found shot to death in his car last month near his family’s Delaware home was murdered by a classmate during an apparent drug deal, police said Wednesday. Benjamin Rauf, 25, was arrested in his home state of New York. He is being extradited to Delaware…

Sep 16, 2015 12:10 PM CDT

Law grad is shot and killed; his body is found in parked car

A Temple University law graduate was found dead in his car in a nursing home parking lot in Delaware on Monday. Police found the victim, 27-year-old Shazim Uppal, in the parking lot of Genesis Healthcare in Hockessin, Delaware, report Delaware Online and NBC Philadelphia. He died from gunshot wounds to…

Aug 26, 2015 7:44 AM CDT