Tort Law

Candy issue at Michael Jackson trial is resolved

Candy is dandy, but only if it isn’t apparent to the jurors who brought it to court. After peppermints were handed out to jurors this week at the Los Angeles trial of a civil case over alleged liability of a concert promoter for Michael Jackson’s death, a lawyer for the…

May 22, 2013 5:25 PM CDT

Woman who filed vaccine suit too late can still get attorney fees, Supreme Court says

Melissa Cloer filed suit too late to win any potential damages for her claimed injury from hepatitis B vaccines. But that doesn’t preclude an award of attorney fees under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a Monday opinion (PDF) authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor.…

May 20, 2013 5:30 PM CDT

Woman dies on courthouse floor without medical aid after arrest over unpaid ticket, suit says

Arrested and jailed over an allegedly unpaid 2008 traffic ticket, Dwana Voncia London-Richardson died, at age 45, on an Alabama courthouse floor days after sheriff’s department and jail workers failed to provide her with medical treatment, a federal lawsuit says. It names as defendants the St. Clair County sheriff, county…

May 20, 2013 3:16 PM CDT

If you live in a glass house, you may not win a privacy suit over a photo display, lawyer says

Residents of an upscale apartment building in New York City are in an uproar over a photo display at an art gallery. On exhibit are candid shots of residents taken with a telephoto lens by an artist who lives in a building across the street. Those in the Zinc Building…

May 17, 2013 9:45 PM CDT

Judge’s tendency to ‘interrupt, patronize and admonish’ plaintiff lawyer requires new med-mal trial

A New York appellate court has reversed a defense verdict in a medical malpractice case, saying that the trial judge’s tendency to “interrupt, patronize and admonish” the plaintiff’s lawyer prevented the plaintiff from getting a fair trial, Reuters reports. While the lawyer, Anthony Pirrotti, “may have been overly aggressive, and…

May 16, 2013 9:10 PM CDT

Lawyer’s suit claims his sessions with personal trainer left him with disabling pain

A New York lawyer who is publisher of the TechnoLawyer blog claims in a lawsuit that his sessions with a personal trainer left him with with disabling pain whenever he sits. Neil Squillante says in his suit that owners of the training company Focus Integrated Fitness were aware he had…

May 16, 2013 12:00 PM CDT

As sanction for destroying evidence, federal judge finds US negligent in wrongful death case

As a sanction for destruction of evidence by the National Park Service in a wrongful death case, a federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., ruled Tuesday that the United States was negligent. The case concerns the July 2009 death of Tommy Botell, 9, after a retaining wall that he and his…

May 15, 2013 8:08 PM CDT

Attorneys who helped client change story by ‘explaining’ the law get 9-month suspensions

Two Fordham University law school classmates who set up a law practice together a few years after graduating are now both facing nine-month suspensions for pursuing a fraudulent personal injury case. In a Tuesday opinion (PDF), the Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court suspended the licenses of Daniel H.…

May 15, 2013 5:40 PM CDT

Sex-reassignment surgery of infant in state’s care violated due process, adoptive parents allege

The adoptive parents of a baby born with both male and female genitalia claim the state of South Carolina violated their child’s constitutional rights by subjecting the child to sex-reassignment surgery. The child, identified as “M.C.,” was 16 months old when surgeons removed the toddler’s male genitals before the adoption,…

May 15, 2013 12:39 PM CDT

Was well-known lawyer’s demand letter ‘extortion’? Appeals court to hear arguments on judge’s ruling

A well-known Southern California lawyer is famous for his menacing legal threats sent on behalf of celebrity clients. But attorney Martin D. “Marty” Singer crossed the line into making an “extortion” attempt in 2011 when he sent a demand letter to a client’s business partner, a state-court judge ruled after…

May 14, 2013 4:55 PM CDT

Lawyers who didn’t notify insurance carrier of ‘nuisance case’ lose coverage appeal

Husband-and-wife West Virginia lawyers who practiced together in the same Charleston firm initially didn’t report to their insurance carrier what they subsequently described as a pro se “nuisance case” over a $290,000 check that the plaintiff said was wrongfully issued to one of the firm’s attorneys. But after the plaintiff,…

May 13, 2013 5:00 PM CDT

Lawyer’s suit claims law firm wrongly fired her, then misappropriated her likeness

A former lawyer with a construction law firm based in Philadelphia has filed a lawsuit accusing her one-time employer of improperly firing her and then misappropriating her likeness by keeping her photo on its website. The suit by Melissa Angeline also accuses law firm Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman…

May 13, 2013 1:15 PM CDT

NHL sued by player’s family for wrongful death

The family of hockey player Derek Boogaard, who died in 2011 from a combination of alcohol and pain medication, has filed a wrongful death suit against the National Hockey League. The suit was filed Friday by Corboy & Demetrio, the same Chicago law firm that sued over the death of…

May 13, 2013 12:40 PM CDT

Calif. AG sues JPMorgan Chase, alleges ‘robo-signing’ and ‘sewer service’ in credit-card suits

California’s attorney general sued one of the nation’s biggest banks on Thursday, alleging that JPMorgan Chase & Co.had engaged in widespread “robo-signing” of documents in credit card collection lawsuits. “To maintain this breakneck pace” while dealing with a glut of litigation against delinquent cardholders, the lending institution created a “debt…

May 9, 2013 10:52 PM CDT

Author Harper Lee sues, says agent tricked her into signing over ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ royalties

At 87, the author of one of the most famous trial novels ever written has failing eyesight and hearing. And in 2007 author Harper Lee was recovering from a stroke when she signed away her royalties from her 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, to her literary agent, Samuel Pinkus,…

May 7, 2013 7:57 PM CDT