Tort Law

Law firm’s suit claims former partner violated deal to pay $200K if appeals court ruled against him

A lawsuit by an Atlanta law firm claims a former partner violated a deal to settle prior litigation over his departure when he failed to pay $200,000 after an adverse appellate ruling. The suit by Helms & Greene says the former partner, Kirk Willis, agreed to pay the money if…

Aug 13, 2015 9:59 AM CDT

Lawyer who billed clients for watching true-crime shows is suspended

A “doggedly unrepentant” lawyer who billed her wrongful death clients for watching reality crime TV shows has been suspended for a year from law practice. The Tennessee Supreme Court upheld the suspension of Knoxville lawyer Yarboro Sallee, who was accused of billing her clients hourly fees of more than $140,000…

Aug 13, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Student suspended for two-word tweet may sue school district and police chief, judge rules

A federal judge in Minneapolis has refused to dismiss a suit by a former high school student that contends his First Amendment rights were violated when his school suspended him for a two-word tweet. U.S. District Judge John Tunheim ruled that the student, Reid Sagehorn, could sue the Elk River…

Aug 12, 2015 8:06 AM CDT

Acquitted man sues ‘Cold Justice’ producers and sheriff over claimed malicious murder prosecution

Acquitted earlier this year in the 1981 murder of his ex-wife, an Ohio man has filed a federal civil rights suit over a true-crime television show. In portraying the case in August 2014, TNT’s Cold Justice put him in a false light, Steven Noffsinger contends. The suit says that the…

Aug 11, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Fired coach sues Paul Weiss for alleged defamation in Dolphins bullying report

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and its partner, Theodore “Ted” Wells, are facing a defamation suit stemming from their probe of alleged bullying and harassment by Miami Dolphins players. Former Dolphins offensive line coach Jim Turner filed the suit (PDF) on Monday in federal court in the Southern District…

Aug 11, 2015 8:20 AM CDT

Lawyer says US suit is planned over crash of German plane in French Alps

Rejecting offered compensation of approximately $83,000, families of at least some of the 150 people killed earlier this year when their Germanwings flight crashed in the French Alps are planning to file suit in the U.S. Attorney Elmar Giemulla, who represents potential plaintiffs in the case, told Bild am Sonntag…

Aug 10, 2015 1:35 PM CDT

Family of driver fatally struck by NASCAR star Tony Stewart files wrongful death suit

A grand jury declined to indict NASCAR star Tony Stewart after he fatally struck another driver in a non-NASCAR race one year ago on a dirt track in upstate New York. But that didn’t prevent the family of Kevin Ward Jr. from bringing a civil wrongful death suit. Filed Friday…

Aug 10, 2015 11:55 AM CDT

Appeals court blasts lawyer who ‘played the Nazi card’ and flouted in limine orders

A California appeals court makes no secret of its disapproval of a lawyer’s tactics in an opinion reversing a verdict for the state in a suit by an injured motorcycle rider. The lawyer for the California Department of Transportation, Karen Bilotti, engaged in “truly egregious, indisputable instances of misconduct” as…

Aug 10, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Harley rider focuses on motorcycle law in office at converted service station

A former traffic-court prosecutor, Kirk Fisher had envisioned an environmental law focus when he transitioned into private practice. He was even attending a post-law-degree graduate program in the subject at Vermont Law School. The recession and a chance encounter with a group of lawyers from an Arizona firm at a…

Aug 6, 2015 2:00 PM CDT

Ex-associate settles lurid sex-harassment suit against law firm

A former associate’s lurid sexual harassment claims against a partner in a New York law firm have been resolved by a settlement on confidential terms. The case, described by Above the Law as a modern-day version of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel Tess of the D’Urbervilles. “Like the classic novel, her…

Aug 5, 2015 3:05 PM CDT

Lawsuit says ‘financial slavery’ service by dominatrix was elder exploitation

A Florida dominatrix was within the bounds of legality when she advertised her availability to provide physical punishment and “financial slavery,” a lawyer for Alex Abrams says. But a Seminole County Circuit Court lawsuit alleges that Judith Gumbrecht, aka “Goddess Jude,” went too far with a sadomasochistic financial relationship with…

Aug 5, 2015 2:25 PM CDT

Families of Sandy Hook victims agree to settle suits for $1.5M

A homeowner’s insurance policy purchased by the mother of Sandy Hook school shooter Adam Lanza will pay $1.5 million to settle lawsuits by the families of 14 victims and by two survivors. The families and the two survivors will each receive about $94,000 in their suits against the estate of…

Aug 4, 2015 12:33 PM CDT

3 UVa grads sue Rolling Stone over discredited fraternity-rape story

Three graduates of the University of Virginia sued Rolling Stone magazine in federal court in New York on Wednesday over a discredited story about a claimed rape at a fraternity near the college. The article did not name names, and the Charlottesville police department later said it found no evidence…

Jul 30, 2015 1:05 PM CDT

9th Circuit rejects widow’s suit over fatal mountain goat attack in national park

Sovereign immunity protects the U.S. government from being held liable for a mountain goat’s fatal attack on an Olympic National Park visitor, a divided federal appeals court has ruled. The National Park Service had discretion under the Federal Tort Claims Act to decide how the 370-pound wild animal that was…

Jul 29, 2015 1:18 PM CDT

Woman fell from bed through 3rd-story window while sleeping, is now suing property manager for $230K

A woman who fell from her bed through an open third-story window while sleeping in her Corvallis, Oregon, apartment last summer is suing the building’s property manager for $230,000 in damages. Shelbi Macholz alleges in her Lane County Circuit Court complaint (PDF) that Principle Property Management failed to keep the…

Jul 29, 2015 11:30 AM CDT