Family Law

This group is defending Kentucky clerk and others who refuse to issue gay-marriage licenses

The Kentucky clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, Kim Davis, may be the most high-profile government official currently represented by Liberty Counsel. But there are others. The nonprofit religious rights law firm also represents a former North Carolina magistrate, an Alabama probate judge, and a Texas…

Sep 3, 2015 8:52 AM CDT

Served with process Tuesday, man shows up at court Wednesday with revving chainsaw, police say

Served with process Tuesday in a family-law case, the respondent showed up at a Canadian courthouse Wednesday morning—holding a revving chainsaw, police say. Sheriff’s officers at the family division of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador Family Division saw him coming and prevented the unidentified 43-year-old from entering the…

Sep 2, 2015 12:50 PM CDT

Defiant county clerk refuses to issue marriage licenses despite SCOTUS action

Updated: A county clerk in Kentucky who objects to gay marriage on religious grounds is continuing to refuse to issue marriage licenses, despite Supreme Court action on Monday. The order by the U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay a federal judge’s injunction requiring the clerk, Kim Davis, to issue marriage…

Sep 1, 2015 7:36 AM CDT

States deal with religious and gay rights in the wake of same-sex marriage ruling

In an attempt to stave off same-sex marriage, many states passed religious freedom restoration acts this year, with language that exempts businesses from providing services to same-sex couples based on the owner’s religious beliefs. But with the U.S. Supreme Court’s approval of same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges, issued in…

Sep 1, 2015 2:50 AM CDT

Skype co-founder sues ex-fiancee, seeks $472K ring and other gifts

A billionaire co-founder of Skype has sued his former fiancée, a Danish pop star, seeking the return of an engagement ring for which he paid nearly $472,000 and other gifts. Janus Friis wants the ring, a Copenhagen apartment, cash and other items back, contending that the gifts were “conditioned upon…

Aug 31, 2015 3:20 PM CDT

6th Circuit nixes stay for clerk appealing federal court order requiring her to perform marriages

Since the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to same-sex marriage in June, a Kentucky county clerk is not likely to win an appeal of a federal court’s order requiring her to perform same-sex marriages, a federal appeals court said Wednesday. So the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…

Aug 27, 2015 11:55 AM CDT

Judge orders mom to repay son for keeping $5K bar mitzvah gift from grandma

A mother who accepted $5,000 from her son’s grandmother who wanted the money to be a bar mitzvah gift had a fiduciary duty to give it to the youth, a New York judge says. Ruling on a small claims suit by the now 20-year-old Jordan Zeidman against his own mother,…

Aug 27, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

Ex-con is found guilty of murder of Colorado lawyer; he sought an attorney victim, DA says

An ex-convict has been found guilty of raping and killing a Colorado lawyer during his first meeting with her. Warren Dale Watson was convicted on Tuesday in the death of Lakewood, Colorado, lawyer Claudia Miller, report the Denver Post and Law Week Colorado. He was on parole for a felony…

Aug 26, 2015 8:31 AM CDT

Leaving toddler in car isn’t necessarily child neglect, state supreme court says

A mother who left her child in a running car for about 10 minutes in 55 degree weather is entitled to a hearing on whether the actions constituted neglect warranting her placement on a child-abuse registry, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled. The supreme court ruled on Thursday, report…

Aug 21, 2015 8:45 AM CDT

Judge apologizes for declaring that ‘Greeks never pay taxes’ during child-support hearing

A judge in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, has issued an apology and vacated a child support order after his courtroom assertion that Greeks never pay taxes. Judge Michael Coll made his remarks last month in a child-support hearing, according to NBC10, which obtained the transcripts. Coll’s “anti-Greek tirade” began, the story…

Aug 20, 2015 11:50 AM CDT

Judge who helped smoking buddy get out of jail in domestic violence case is reprimanded

A California judge who could have lost his job for helping a smoking buddy get out of jail in a felony domestic violence case was instead publicly censured on Tuesday. Superior Court Judge James Petrucelli apparently didn’t realize, when he arranged for restaurateur Jay Ghazal to be released without bail…

Aug 19, 2015 1:12 PM CDT

Divorce lawyers expect surge in clients after hackers dump data from Ashley Madison dating site

A hack attack on an Internet dating site that bills itself as “the most famous name in infidelity and married dating” has been followed by an apparent data dump of some 9.7 gigabytes of confidential information stolen from the “discreet” Ashley Madison site. Made available Tuesday to those willing to…

Aug 19, 2015 12:40 PM CDT

7th Circuit says court erred by upholding prison’s refusal to allow inmate and former guard to marry

A constitutional right to marry includes prison inmates and the guards. So a federal district judge erred in granting summary judgment to the Indiana Department of Corrections in a civil rights suit over a blocked wedding, a federal appeals court says. In a unanimous ruling (PDF), a three-judge panel of…

Aug 18, 2015 3:55 PM CDT

First Amendment doesn’t protect baker who refused wedding cake to gay couple, appeals court says

A Christian cake baker in Lakewood, Colorado, has lost an appeal that claimed he had a First Amendment right to refuse to provide a cake for a gay couple to celebrate their wedding. The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled that baker Jack Phillips of Masterpiece Cakeshop had an obligation to…

Aug 14, 2015 7:31 AM CDT

Suspended judge to get prison time in wife-assault case

A suspended Ohio judge has taken a plea that provides for prison time in a felony domestic violence case. Accused of beating his wife in front of their young children, while the family was driving in a Cleveland suburb a year ago, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Lance Mason pleaded…

Aug 13, 2015 2:05 PM CDT