States

No Cash Awarded, But $9.5M Fee Allowed

A federal judge in New Jersey has approved $9.5 million in attorney fees in an investor suit against Schering-Plough Corp. even though no money damages were awarded. U.S. District Judge Katharine Sweeney Hayden said fees were justified because the company agreed to changes in its corporate governance, and the litigation…

Jan 15, 2008 11:44 AM CST

LGBT Legal Clinic to Open in Md.?

Lawyers in Baltimore are organizing a fledgling legal clinic for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered clients. If it gets off the ground, it reportedly will be the first LGBT clinic in the state of Maryland and one of the few in the country. Individuals working with the FreeState Law Project…

Jan 15, 2008 1:33 AM CST

Vermont Calm About Possible Same-Sex Marriage Law

Accustomed to civil unions allowing same-sex couples to form legally recognized partnerships, Vermont residents are now reportedly taking in stride a plan to put same-sex marriage on the legislative table. Part of the reason for the dialed-down debate this time around may be that no vote is planned in the…

Jan 15, 2008 1:14 AM CST

Investments Stop Calif. High Court From Hearing Lockheed Case

Because four of seven justices on the California Supreme Court own stock in Lockheed Martin or companies that provided related materials, they can’t hear an appeal involving several dozen workers who say they were injured by chemical exposure. The case is the talk of the state appellate bar, but Chief…

Jan 15, 2008 12:51 AM CST

Op-Ed Argues for Preventive Detention of Terrorism Suspects

The laws have been stretched to cover the case of Jose Padilla, paving the way for precedents that could allow government overreaching in garden-variety criminal cases, a former New Jersey attorney general argues in a New York Times op-ed. Padilla, at one time accused of plotting to detonate a dirty…

Jan 14, 2008 7:32 PM CST

More Details Emerge in Scruggs Bribery Case, Former Counsel Pleads

More details were revealed in court today concerning an alleged attempt by famed Mississippi personal injury attorney Richard Scruggs and four others to bribe a judge last year for a favorable ruling in a $26.5 million case involving Hurricane Katrina legal fees. Meanwhile, in a separate case in which Scruggs…

Jan 14, 2008 7:15 PM CST

Judge Turns Down Appeal of Jesse Friedman, Subject of Documentary

A federal judge has ruled against Jesse Friedman, the subject of the documentary Capturing the Friedmans, who was seeking to reverse his guilty plea to child molestation on the basis of new evidence. U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert said Friedman filed his appeal too late, Newsday reports. Friedman pleaded…

Jan 14, 2008 6:51 PM CST

Look, It’s a Home, or a New Bistro—No, It’s a Law Office!

If at first glance Kriss & Feuerstein’s sleek new law offices look like a high-end postmodern home or a trendy new bistro, that’s not surprising. The 10-attorney Manhattan real estate boutique intentionally set out to design a space that looks like the places where young clients choose to spend their…

Jan 14, 2008 6:04 PM CST

Big Brother is Watching ... in the Barnyard

Seeking to help prevent widespread outbreaks of animal illness that can affect humans, such as avian flu and mad cow disease, federal officials are in the fledgling stages of implementing a national identification program. Eventually, it will require many farmers to register and microchip individual animals among their livestock, and…

Jan 14, 2008 5:33 PM CST

Trail of Dog Poop Leads Police to Suspect

It didn’t take police in Durham, N.C., long to get their man after a resident reported his yard had been torn up when an apparent drunken driver ran off the road and drove through it. Resident Bill McDonald owns two large dogs and hadn’t cleaned up their recent dog poop…

Jan 14, 2008 5:09 PM CST

Use of Assault Weapons Up in Miami

The use of assault weapons reportedly is surging in South Florida, as well as a few other areas, including Atlanta and parts of Texas near the Mexico border. In 2004, assault weapons were used only in about 4 percent of all homicides in Miami, reports the Miami Herald. But, as…

Jan 14, 2008 4:48 PM CST

Court Won’t Hear Sentencing Confrontation Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to decide whether the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause applies during sentencing. Defendant Sherman Lamont Fields had contended the right to confrontation should apply in sentencing hearings when capital punishment is an option, SCOTUSblog reports. The U.S. solicitor general had urged the court to decline…

Jan 14, 2008 4:08 PM CST

New Firm to Use Alternative Billing in Commercial Disputes

Three former big-firm lawyers have formed a new law firm in Chicago that will use alternative billing in commercial civil litigation. The firm’s new name will be the Valorem Law Group, which is Latin for “value.” The firm will bill clients using fixed rates, contingency fees and other alternative arrangements,…

Jan 14, 2008 2:34 PM CST

Fleeing Prisoner Blames Injuries on Lax Jail Security

A prisoner who hurt himself while trying to escape from jail has filed a lawsuit claiming a Colorado sheriff caused his injuries by making it too easy to flee. Scott Anthony Gomez Jr. fell 40 feet as he used bedsheets to try to rappel down the side of the Pueblo…

Jan 14, 2008 2:07 PM CST

The Case of Judge Alex and the Preston-Change-O Arbitration Contract

The case of the TV judge billed as “tall, dark and judgmental” heads to the U.S. Supreme Court today for a ruling on whether his dispute with a former manager should go to a private arbitrator. “Judge Alex” as Alex Ferrer is known, contends California law requires initial issues in…

Jan 14, 2008 1:41 PM CST