Tort Law

Ex-attorney faces federal criminal case over claimed $1M in client thefts

A longtime Oregon personal injury practitioner who gave up his law license last year in the face of complaints from over 40 clients that he had misappropriated their money is now the defendant in a federal criminal case. Bryan Gruetter is charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, accused of…

Nov 19, 2013 4:10 PM CST

John Edwards returns to law practice, says it’s ‘what I was born to do’

John Edwards is returning to law practice after his political career ended with a sex scandal and campaign finance charges. Edwards, 60, says he’s not worried that his past will hamper his law practice because he has faith in juries, report the National Law Journal, the New York Times DealBook…

Nov 19, 2013 1:36 PM CST

Social media maven sues TV network, says it stole 6.78M Facebook ‘likes’ from her page on ‘The Game’

A social media maven credited with getting The Game back on cable television and helping the program about the lives of football players premiere in front of 7.7 million viewers on Black Entertainment Television in January 2011 has added an unusual claim to a federal lawsuit she filed in Florida.…

Nov 15, 2013 6:05 PM CST

Ex-Miss USA contestant told to pay Donald Trump $5M files malpractice suit against her former lawyer

Ordered to pay $5 million to Donald Trump earlier this year in a federal-court ruling upholding an award in a defamation and breach-of-contract arbitration she didn’t attend, an ex-participant in his Miss USA contest has now sued her former lawyer. Sheena Monnin is not alone in blaming attorney Richard Klineburger…

Nov 13, 2013 11:00 PM CST

Nurse was ‘worked to death,’ suit contends

An Ohio nurse who died in a car accident after working a 12-hour shift was “worked to death,” according to a suit filed by her husband. The wrongful death suit says Beth Jasper had to work extra shifts and without breaks because the hospital where she worked was “regularly understaffed,”…

Nov 13, 2013 1:02 PM CST

Infomercial king Kevin Trudeau guilty of contempt for violating FTC consent decree

A federal jury in Chicago has reached a verdict almost immediately after a trial concluded Tuesday in a criminal contempt case against a diet book author and television infomercial king. Kevin Trudeau, 50, is guilty of violating a decade-old consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission over his marketing of…

Nov 12, 2013 9:29 PM CST

Identity-theft victim wins $105K jury award for night spent in lockup and arraignment in jail garb

A suburban Portland, Ore., resident learned she had been a victim of identity theft in 2008. That’s when an officer from the Clackamas County sheriff’s office stopped by Kimberly Fossen’s home to let her know that a woman arrested in Las Vegas had a Florida driver’s license in Fossen’s name.…

Nov 12, 2013 6:05 PM CST

Ex-client can bring her new lawyer to legal ethics hearing for her old lawyer, top state court says

A woman who accused an Iowa lawyer of sexual misconduct while he was representing her and her husband has a limited right to legal representation at a legal ethics hearing for her former counsel, the state’s top court has ruled. Although legal discipline proceedings are confidential, “We conclude a person…

Nov 12, 2013 4:25 PM CST

Travelers may sue airline for alleged sex-toy prank, 5th Circuit says

A federal appeals court has ruled that a lawsuit against an airline for allegedly taping a sex toy to the top of a checked bag should survive a motion to dismiss. The suit for intentional infliction of emotional distress, invasion of privacy, and negligence is not pre-empted by an airline…

Nov 12, 2013 11:50 AM CST

Tax lawyer and DOJ settle suit over claimed $16M shelter scheme; suit by football players ongoing

A Chicago tax lawyer is apparently going to have to focus on a new area of practice and find a new job following a settlement of a civil complaint by the U.S. Department of Justice that accused him of helping professional football players and others claim $16 million in improper…

Nov 11, 2013 8:40 PM CST

Appeals court OKs former law student’s suit over claimed Drake U hostility to service-dog training

A former law student has gotten a green light from an Iowa appeals court to proceed with her suit against Drake University over the law school’s alleged hostility toward the service dogs in she brought to classes between 2006 and 2009. Under state law, those who use service and therapy…

Nov 6, 2013 6:15 PM CST

University sued in drunk-driving deaths because housing officer didn’t report alleged domestic abuse

The parents of a young woman who died in a one-car crash soon after earning a bachelor’s degree last year have sued the University of California at Berkeley over the accident. Their daughter, Milanca Lopez, 22, and her 6-year-old son might have survived, the suit contends, if a university housing…

Nov 5, 2013 10:10 PM CST

Johns Hopkins pursues settlement in mandatory class action over gynecologist’s photos

A judge in Baltimore has conditionally OK’d a mandatory class action in a case brought by former patients of a deceased Johns Hopkins Hospital gynecologist accused of secretly photographing and filming women in examining rooms. Some 3,800 individuals are already represented by counsel in the case and the total number…

Nov 1, 2013 6:55 PM CDT

Victims are taking on ‘revenge porn’ websites for posting photos they didn’t consent to

In the summer of 2012, Hollie Toups got a disturbing call from a friend. Toups is from a small town near Beaumont, Texas, where nobody is that much of a stranger. Her friend had overheard some men talking about a pornographic website with local women on it—and they had mentioned…

Nov 1, 2013 9:30 AM CDT

For vacationers encountering trouble on cruise ships, U.S. laws may provide little help

The little girl with the Shirley Temple curls clung to her father, too frightened to cry. She and her parents were aboard the cruise ship Costa Concordia, which began listing badly and taking on water shortly after scraping along a rocky reef off Italy’s Tuscan coast and gouging a bus-size…

Nov 1, 2013 9:20 AM CDT