Family Law

Sued by ex-girlfriend in domestic abuse case, associate vanishes from white-shoe law firm website

An associate attorney at a white-shoe New York City law firm who made headlines earlier this week after he was sued for domestic abuse by an ex-girlfriend is now no longer with Schulte Roth & Zabel. Samir Tabar’s bio page had vanished from the firm’s website as of Thursday, and…

Feb 7, 2014 3:50 PM CST

Did US Cellular violate law by releasing texts in divorce case? Judge raps company, sanctions lawyer

A judge on Maine’s top court is using a lawyer’s ethics case to criticize U.S. Cellular for turning over thousands of subpoenaed text messages in a divorce case. Justice Donald Alexander said U.S. Cellular violated a federal privacy law, report the Associated Press and the Morning Sentinel. “The Stored Communications…

Feb 7, 2014 3:01 PM CST

Alabama’s chief justice, known as the Ten Commandments judge, fights gay marriage

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, known as the Ten Commandments judge, is taking up a new cause. Moore has written to the governors of all 50 states in an effort to enact a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage, the Associated Press reports. Moore is urging the governors to ask…

Feb 7, 2014 1:28 PM CST

Task force considers whether guardians ad litem are helpful in custody disputes, given the costs

A Connecticut task force on custody disputes is considering whether appointing guardians ad litem to represent children is in families’ best interests, considering the costs involved. Peter Szymonik, a single father, told the task force that he paid two guardians ad litem more than $20,000 in his divorce, the Hartford…

Jan 29, 2014 9:49 PM CST

George Zimmerman appears to be taking a default in divorce filing

Claiming that George Zimmerman has not responded to a divorce petition filed last year, his estranged wife Shellie Zimmerman on Tuesday asked a Florida court to grant a default motion against him. A former Neighborhood Watch volunteer who in 2013 was acquitted of murdering Trayvon Martin, Zimmerman dodged process servicers…

Jan 29, 2014 9:11 PM CST

Judge nixes ex-wife’s civil racketeering claim against billionaire Steven Cohen, but OKs fraud case

A federal judge in New York on Monday dismissed a civil racketeering count in a fraud case filed against billionaire Steven Cohen by his ex-wife, Patricia Cohen. However, U.S. District Judge William Pauley gave a green light to her fraud case against the hedge fund manager even though Pauley nixed…

Jan 27, 2014 6:30 PM CST

Hospital takes brain-dead pregnant woman off life support after judge’s order

Updated: Siding with the husband of a pregnant woman who has been on life support in a Texas hospital since November, even though she was considered brain-dead, a state court judge Friday ordered that Marlise Munoz be taken off life-support by 5 p.m. Monday. She was taken off life support…

Jan 24, 2014 11:50 PM CST

Virginia attorney general won’t defend state ban on same-sex marriage

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring will notify a federal court in Norfolk today that his office will no longer defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Herring believes the ban is unconstitutional, his spokesperson told the Associated Press. The Washington Post also has a story based on two anonymous sources.…

Jan 23, 2014 1:07 PM CST

Man who responded to Craigslist ad for a sperm donor is a dad, must pay child support, judge rules

William Marotta didn’t intend to be a father when he responded to a Craigslist ad for a sperm donor in 2009, and the two women who sought one didn’t want that result, either. But, because they didn’t have a physician perform the artificial insemination procedure, the written waiver of his…

Jan 22, 2014 11:45 PM CST

Divorce lawyer testifies at murder trial of former client’s ex-husband

At first, although there was snow on the ground, John Ciccolella thought a lightning bolt had knocked him to the floor of his Colorado Springs law office on Jan. 23, 2002. But that wasn’t what happened. After a shot had been fired into his home about six months earlier, the…

Jan 22, 2014 5:00 PM CST

Divorce case sparked attacks on lawyer, judge and others, jurors in murder trial are told

A bitter divorce in which Bruce J. Nozolino lost custody of his children led the former white-collar worker to kill a man with whom his wife had had a brief affair and try to kill his wife’s divorce lawyer, the Colorado judge who heard the case and others, jurors were…

Jan 17, 2014 9:10 PM CST

Another state’s same-sex marriage ban is struck down by a federal judge

A federal judge has overturned Oklahoma’s ban on same-sex marriage following a similar ruling in a Utah case that is pending before a federal appeals court. U.S. District Judge Terence Kern of Tulsa ruled on Tuesday that the ban, incorporated in a state constitutional amendment, violates the equal protection clause.…

Jan 15, 2014 12:56 PM CST

Husband sues hospital to force it to take his brain-dead, pregnant wife off life support

A Texas paramedic has sued a Fort Worth hospital in an effort to get a court order requiring it to remove the body of his pregnant wife from life support. Marlise Munoz, who also is a paramedic, was found unconscious Nov. 26. Her husband, Erick Munoz, says in the suit…

Jan 14, 2014 9:30 PM CST

Same-sex marriages in Utah will be recognized by federal government, Holder says

The federal government will recognize nearly 1,300 same-sex marriages performed in Utah in recent weeks, despite the state’s announcement that it would not confer legal status on those unions. According to the New York Times, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Friday that the marriages would be “recognized as…

Jan 10, 2014 6:49 PM CST

Utah AG sees ‘legal limbo’ for same-sex marriages after SCOTUS puts the unions on hold

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday stayed a federal judge’s Dec. 20 decision allowing same-sex marriages in Utah. The Supreme Court stayed the decision by U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby pending disposition by the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, report the New York Times, the National Law Journal…

Jan 7, 2014 12:53 PM CST