Evidence

Lawyers for Boy Scouts, Corporations & Media Argue About Whether ‘Perversion Files’ are Public

Lawyers for interested parties ranging from abuse survivors and multinational corporations to the Boy Scouts of America and media entities are battling about whether so-called “perversion files” can be opened up and, if so, to what extent. Kept by the Boy Scouts for decades to try to track and prevent…

Jan 12, 2011 12:16 AM CST

F. Lee Bailey: Dog Walker Would Have Shown O.J. Simpson Wasn’t a Murderer

F. Lee Bailey is taking issue with a decision by the late lawyer Johnnie Cochran in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson. Bailey, a disbarred lawyer, writes that Simpson was “in fact totally innocent of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman” and offers little-known evidence supporting his…

Jan 11, 2011 2:21 PM CST

Prosecutors Can Use Dog DNA Evidence at Owner’s Murder Trial

Prosecutors in Wisconsin have won the right to use DNA evidence from an accused killer’s dog at the defendant’s upcoming murder trial. Michael Haydon, 44, is charged with the 2003 murder of a Rib Mountain, Wis., who Haydon suspected was sleeping with his estranged girlfriend, the Wausau Daily Herald reported.…

Jan 7, 2011 7:27 PM CST

Filmed at Money Machine, Inserting Quarters, Man Is Simultaneously Issued a Parking Ticket

Scott Larsen was already unhappy about the city of Chicago’s hefty parking fees, he told an NBC Chicago news crew as he was feeding money into a central machine that issues a receipt that the motorist must then walk back and put on the dashboard inside his or her vehicle.…

Jan 6, 2011 11:14 PM CST

Law Firm Leverages Oops E-Mail Sent to Opponent to Win ‘Eye-Popping’ Protective Order

A law firm retained by a group of California engineers to help protect them against potential interference after they established their own shop accidentally sent confidential e-mail to the group’s ex-employer, Arcadis, when an autocomplete function filled in an old e-mail address. At Arcadis, the computer system automatically forwarded the…

Jan 6, 2011 8:42 PM CST

Ex-Corrections Officers’ Confab re Defendant’s Record Requires Jury Selection Do-Over

A Washington state court will be trying again with a new jury pool on Monday, after an initial effort to select a panel to hear a first-degree murder trial was tainted by a conversation today between two former Department of Corrections officers. As some other prospective jurors overheard, the two…

Jan 6, 2011 5:56 PM CST

Finicky Felines Prefer Super Scoop Kitty Litter, Not Fresh Step, Federal Lawsuit Contends

Citing a competing—and, it says, superior—study of feline toileting preferences, one leading manufacturer of kitty litter has made a federal case out of another’s advertising claim that finicky cats prefer the Fresh Step brand manufactured by Clorox Co. In fact, contends Church & Dwight Co. in a lawsuit filed today…

Jan 6, 2011 1:00 AM CST

Would-Be Ind. Lawyers Who Sued over Mental Health Questions Protected in Discovery

A judge has prohibited Indiana bar examiners from conducting further discovery about the mental health of would-be lawyers who filed a class-action suit over treatment questions in applications for a law license. U.S. District Judge Tanya Pratt upheld a magistrate’s order barring the line of discovery, the National Law Journal…

Jan 5, 2011 5:40 PM CST

Twitter Expert Will Testify Against Courtney Love in Defamation Trial

A social media expert is expected to testify against Courtney Love in a defamation suit that claims the rocker’s Twitter rants damaged the reputation of a fashion designer known as the “Boudoir Queen.” Love called Dawn Simorangkir a drug-pushing prostitute with a history of assault and battery after the designer…

Jan 5, 2011 1:31 PM CST

DNA Test Shows Texas Man Who Served 30 Years in Rape and Robbery Case Was Innocent

Paroled in July after serving 30 years in an abduction, robbery and rape case, a Texas man has now been declared innocent after being cleared through DNA testing. Exonerated today in a Dallas courtroom, Cornelius Dupree Jr., 51, said it is a joy to be free but added later that…

Jan 4, 2011 5:54 PM CST

Murder Victim Takes Photo of Gunman and Alleged Lookout, Leading to Suspects’ Arrest

Seconds before he was shot to death on New Year’s Day outside a Manila restaurant, a Filipino politician reportedly took a family photograph. Included in the image of his wife, daughter and mother-in-law, which is published by the Houston Chronicle, is a man standing behind a car at the left…

Jan 4, 2011 5:21 PM CST

New Accusers Sue Favre & Jets, Alleging Team Didn’t Address Known Sexual Harassment

Reportedly irked by what they saw as a slap-on-the-wrist $50,000 fine imposed on former New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre concerning allegations that he sexually harassed sideline team reporter Jenn Sterger and sent her an explicit photo, two more women have stepped up to the plate. In a lawsuit filed…

Jan 4, 2011 1:06 AM CST

11th Circuit Upholds $387K Sanction of Small Firm for Persisting in Case After Bad Client Depo

A divided federal appeals court panel has upheld a sanction of $387,738 against two South Florida attorneys. After their client contradicted herself repeatedly during an eight-day deposition in a sexual harassment case, Bill and Karen Amlong should have ended the litigation, held the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel…

Jan 3, 2011 7:20 PM CST

For Federal Plaintiffs, Twombly and Iqbal Still Present a Catch-22

Fred Isquith, a New York City-based business litigator representing plaintiffs, recently had a client approach him with an “extremely powerful file—a banker’s box full of materials—and an insider.” Despite that mound of evidence, Isquith’s client felt compelled to hire a special investigator to gather even more facts before filing suit.…

Jan 1, 2011 8:50 AM CST

‘Teen Mom’ in Reality TV Show is Charged With Battering Ex-Fiance

Shown slapping and punching her former fiance in front of their daughter on a September episode of the Teen Mom reality television show on MTV, a young woman is now facing criminal charges in Indiana. Amber Portwood was arrested today in Madison County on three counts of battery and one…

Dec 28, 2010 9:09 PM CST