Family Law

Lawyer Charged with Extorting Cash and Jewelry from Another Attorney After Claimed Affair Ended

A New Jersey lawyer has been charged with extortion and stalking for allegedly demanding cash and jewelry from another lawyer with whom she had been having an affair in exchange for not revealing the two-year relationship to his wife after it ended. Sasha C. Intriago, 30, who has been handling…

Aug 14, 2012 8:27 PM CDT

Top Nevada Court Says Attorney Son Can Represent Dad in Divorce From Mom

Family unity anyone? At a gut level, one might think it is a bad idea for a child who is a lawyer to represent a parent in a divorce case involving the other parent as the respondent, points out the Las Vegas Review-Journal. However, it isn’t a clear conflict of…

Aug 13, 2012 8:55 PM CDT

Angry Judge in YouTube Video Calls Unrelated Ethics Case re ‘Overwhelming’ Caseload ‘Infuriating’

A West Virginia family court judge who became widely known after a YouTube video of his angry comments from the bench to a matrimonial party went viral is now reportedly outraged about an unrelated legal ethics case. The expedited state supreme court action, which was made public last week, charges…

Aug 13, 2012 4:37 PM CDT

Lawyer Who Picked Up Client’s Kids at School, Drove Them Around Aimlessly, Gets 6-Month Suspension

An Indiana lawyer has been suspended for six months and will have to apply for reinstatement following a December 2008 incident in which she frightened the mother of two children by picking them up at their elementary school on behalf of their father, her client in a matrimonial case. Although…

Aug 7, 2012 10:38 AM CDT

Lawyer Says News Article Defamed Her by Grossly Overstating Her Ad Litem Fee in Divorce Case

A Missouri lawyer filed a defamation suit (PDF posted by Courthouse News) on Thursday in state court contending that she has suffered professional harm because of a legal news article that grossly overstated the fee she charged to serve as guardian ad litem in a divorce case. Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly…

Aug 3, 2012 5:49 PM CDT

9th Circuit Temporarily Blocks Arizona Abortion Law

A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked enforcement of a controversial new Arizona law that would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. On Wednesday, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted (PDF) a request by opponents of the new law to temporarily halt enforcement of…

Aug 2, 2012 10:12 PM CDT

Bone of Contention: Pets Get Caught in the Middle When Relationships Go to the Dogs

OK, answer truthfully: Have you ever bought your pet a birthday gift? Do you carry on conversations with your pet, referring to yourself as “Mommy” or “Daddy”? It’s possible that you need to get out more, or maybe you’re just one of the many who treat their critters as sons…

Aug 1, 2012 5:10 AM CDT

August 14, 1889: Justice Stephen Field Attacked

In 1859, Stephen J. Field replaced David Terry as California’s chief justice, when Terry resigned to engage Sen. David Broderick in a duel. Terry prevailed on “the field of honor” and joined the Confederate Army in 1863, the same year Field was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Their paths…

Aug 1, 2012 5:01 AM CDT

After Decades in Practice, Family Lawyer Cringes Over Case ‘Way Beyond Just an Ugly Divorce’

Angry after his wife of 20 years left him, Ronnie Lee Durham, who is now known as Ronnie Lee Johnson, managed to persuade Virginia authorities that she was the abusive one. Eventually, after she was arrested for the 10th time and spent 17 days in jail, she fled to a…

Jul 30, 2012 11:47 PM CDT

Software Engineer Gets Life Without Parole for Murdering Opposing Counsel in Wrongful Death Case

A Silicon Valley software engineer convicted of murdering the lawyer retained by his late wife’s family to pursue a wrongful death case against him has been sentenced to life without parole. Jason Cai, 54, also was ordered Thursday to pay $715,544 restitution to the survivors of Xia Zhao, a married…

Jul 30, 2012 3:14 PM CDT

Legal Experts Raise First Amendment Concerns with Alderman’s Plan to Block Chick-fil-A

Legal scholars and civil liberties advocates are expressing constitutional qualms about a Chicago alderman’s plan to ban Chick-fil-A from his ward because of the company president’s stance against gay marriage. Alderman Proco Joe Moreno plans to block the restaurant in response to comments by Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy, who said…

Jul 30, 2012 10:58 AM CDT

Niche Practice for Some Divorce Lawyers Is Helping Men Deal with ‘Biases and Challenges’

Practitioners differ on whether advertising a matrimonial law firm’s focus on representing men is largely a marketing ploy or a useful effort to try to ensure that the rights of male clients aren’t overlooked in what can be acrimonious court battles for assets and child custody. But there appears to…

Jul 23, 2012 6:04 PM CDT

Single Parenthood Helps Explain Boost in US Income Inequality, Researchers Say

All those mothers of yesteryear were right. There is an advantage to getting married. Researchers say the rise in single parenthood explains 15 percent to 40 percent of the growth in income inequality in the United States, the New York Times reports in a blog post and article. And more…

Jul 20, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Judge OKs $10K Bond for Jailed Millionaire Appealing 180-Day Contempt Term re Teen Son’s Marriage

Jailed last week for 180 days for criminal contempt because he allowed his 16-year-old son to marry, a Florida millionaire has been granted $10,000 bond by another judge while he appeals, the Miami Herald reports. Dan Rotta, 65, had been ordered by a state court judge to take his son…

Jul 19, 2012 6:31 PM CDT

Asked to Award $25M in Kids’ Case Against Dad Over Death of Mom, Jury Approves a $60M Verdict

A lawyer working pro bono for two minor children who sued their father for wrongful death damages over his strangulation murder of their mother asked a California jury to award $10 million in compensatory damages to Rory Reiser, 12, and Niorline Reiser, 11. But after several hours of deliberation over…

Jul 17, 2012 7:37 PM CDT