Government

Judge Reels Over Receiver’s $11M Bonus Request in Mutual Benefits Case

When Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno first saw the bonus requested by the court-appointed receiver in charge of collecting assets for investors who lost some $837 million in the Mutual Benefits viaticals fraud, he thought it was just over $1 million. Then Moreno realized that he’d misread the figure.…

Oct 30, 2009 10:17 PM CDT

OSHA Hits BP Refinery With Monster $87.4M Fine; 15 Died in 2005 Explosion

The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking to impose a record-breaking $87.4 million in penalties on oil giant BP for safety violations at a refinery it operates in Texas. Of that amount, $56.7 million relates to a 2005 explosion at the Texas City refinery that killed 15 people and injured…

Oct 30, 2009 6:55 PM CDT

Arizona Supreme Court Rules Metadata Is a Public Record

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s public records law requires disclosure of metadata embedded in the electronic records. The supreme court ruled in the case of a demoted police officer who wanted access to metadata to see whether notes written by his supervisor were backdated to justify…

Oct 30, 2009 1:30 PM CDT

Law Prof Argues Pay Czar Is Unconstitutional

Is the appointment of pay czar Kenneth Feinberg constitutional? Stanford Law School professor Michael McConnell, a former federal appeals judge, thinks not. In a Wall Street Journal opinion column, McConnell argues that Feinberg’s appointment violates the appointments clause requiring Senate approval of all officers of the United States. Feinberg was…

Oct 30, 2009 12:59 PM CDT

Judge Convicted in Prostitution Case May Not Lose His Job

Convicted yesterday in a prostitution and harrassment case, a Washington state judge apparently will continue to collect his $148,000-a-year salary for the foreseeable future. Although the state attorney general’s office contends that Washington law provides for Pierce County Superior Court Judge Michael Hecht automatically to vacate his elected office upon…

Oct 29, 2009 8:00 PM CDT

Office ID May Have Helped Asst. AG Beat Ticket—But He’s Out of a Job

A 66-year-old assistant South Carolina attorney general wasn’t charged after being pulled over by a Columbia police officer Monday while allegedly driving with an 18-year-old “gentleman’s club” employee, sex toys and a prescription sexual enhancement drug in his vehicle during his lunch break. But within two hours Roland Corning was…

Oct 29, 2009 6:09 PM CDT

Chief Lawyers for NYC and Philly Make Pro Bono World Series Bet

The top lawyers for the cities of New York and Philadelphia are making a World Series bet that highlights pro bono service. The chief legal officers from the losing city will travel to the winning city, along with a team of top lawyers and staffers, according to a press release…

Oct 29, 2009 3:50 PM CDT

Lawyer’s $900/Hour Arbitration Fee Angers Transit Board Members

After casting the swing vote in an arbitration that upped the ante on New York City transit worker pay by 11.3 percent over three years, a Weil Gotshal & Manges lawyer has added insult to injury as far as Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members are concerned. John Zuccotti charged the…

Oct 28, 2009 9:25 PM CDT

State AG Stunned By Win—an Award for a Nonfiction Book He Wrote About Work

John Kroger is used to being successful in life. But the Oregon attorney general said he was stunned last night to hear a presenter start reading a paragraph from a nonfiction book he’d authored, Convictions: A Prosecutor’s Battle Against Mafia Killers, Drug Kingpins, and Enron Thieves. That was when he…

Oct 27, 2009 7:59 PM CDT

Teen Girls Probed in Lohan, Hilton, Bloom Burglary Cases in L.A.

Seven teenage girls and young women—many of whom knew each other from high school—are being probed in an ongoing investigation of a multimillion-dollar celebrity burglary ring in the Los Angeles area. Several of the suspects, who currently are 18 and 19, have been arrested but have not been charged in…

Oct 26, 2009 11:35 PM CDT

Home Alone, Naked Man Didn’t Draw Blinds, Faces Indecent Exposure Rap

Corrected: Accounts differ of exactly what happened that led to the arrest of a 29-year-old Virginia man for indecent exposure while he was alone in his own home. But whether Eric Williamson never knew he’d been seen naked, as he claims, or, as a 45-year-old woman passing by says, was…

Oct 26, 2009 9:45 PM CDT

Mom Tailed in School Registration Case Pursues Privacy Complaint

Suspected of improperly registering her child at a local school in Poole, England, 40-year-old Jenny Paton became the target of an undercover surveillance mission. Authorities obtained her phone records and tailed her for weeks as she went about her daily activities, driving her daughter to school. As it turned out,…

Oct 26, 2009 8:10 PM CDT

Woman Can’t Take Her Pet Monkey to Restaurants, Federal Judge Rules

A Missouri woman has lost her legal bid to have her monkey, Richard, accompany her to restaurants and other business establishments. Richard is a pet, not a service animal to the disabled, U.S. District Judge Richard Dorr ruled Wednesday, and his owner, Debby Rose, is not disabled under the Americans…

Oct 23, 2009 11:41 PM CDT

Pa. Jail Taped Inmate Calls to Counsel, Sent Some to Feds, Lawyer Says

Adding another jurisdiction to those in which defense lawyers have previously accused officials of improperly recording inmate phone calls to their legal counsel, Federal Public Defender Lisa Freeland says in an e-mail this week to the Allegheny County defense bar that this has been happening at their local jail, too.…

Oct 23, 2009 10:14 PM CDT

Ethics Czar Defends Lobbying Reform Before ‘Tough Crowd’ at ABA Event

Norman Eisen, the former Zuckerman Spaeder parner who is President Obama’s new ethics adviser, says he did consult with lobbyists before instituting new ethics reforms—but only those who could have made valuable contributions. Eisen defended the reforms and the process at an ABA Administrative Law Conference luncheon on Thursday, according…

Oct 23, 2009 4:12 PM CDT