Tort Law

Ex-Alito Clerk Will Represent ‘Frequent Filer’ Inmate Who Won Cert with Handwritten Appeal

Pennsylvania inmate Kim Millbrook won Supreme Court review of his handwritten appeal with some help from his opponent, the U.S. Solicitor General’s office. Milbrook is what some would call a “frequent filer,” the New York Times reports. He has been housed in four prisons and jails and sued for alleged…

Oct 18, 2012 3:06 PM CDT

Ex-Client Awarded $867K Against Lawyer Who Stole $75K and Law Firm That Referred Her to Him

A woman whose lawyer misappropriated most of the $100,000 she was supposed to get in a probate case has had her day in court and was teary-eyed after a $867,000 jury verdict Monday in Bexar County, Texas. “I am very pleased. The jury believed in me,” Isabel Sloan told the…

Oct 16, 2012 6:30 PM CDT

Judge Orders Paralegal and His Legal Nonprofit to Pay $2.2M, Bars Further Work for Inmates in NJ

A New Jersey judge has ordered a paralegal and his nonprofit legal assistance organization to pay $2.2 million and stop doing work for inmates in the state. The order last week in the Essex County Superior Court case came after Bruce Buccolo and the Project Freedom Fund failed to respond…

Oct 16, 2012 4:45 PM CDT

Spokane Diocese Sues Law Firm That Handled Its Bankruptcy, Seeks $12M Legal Fee Clawback and Damages

Updated: The Catholic Diocese of Spokane has filed a malpractice suit against the law firm that handled its $50 million bankruptcy, contending that the church was ill-served by the strategy Paine Hamblen developed to deal with priest sex-abuse issues. The suit, which was spearheaded by Bishop Blase Cupich after he…

Oct 15, 2012 8:15 PM CDT

Outsider Calif. ‘Death to Meth’ DA Faces Disciplinary Trial, Sues Bar and Lawyers re Claimed Bias

First licensed to practice law in 1987, Jon Alexander followed an unlikely career path to be elected the district attorney of California’s Del Norte County. After overcoming his methamphetamine addiction and serving time in jail, he narrowly won election on a “Death to Meth” campaign. Now, after less than two…

Oct 15, 2012 5:00 PM CDT

Will Chinese Drywall Plaintiffs Collect? One Company Settles, Another Contests Jurisdiction

Two recent rulings favor plaintiffs suing over allegedly defective Chinese drywall, but the possibility of eventual collection from the foreign manufacturer is unclear. The rulings—one last month by a federal judge in Louisiana and the other on Aug. 31 by a Florida state judge—found that U.S. courts had jurisdiction, the…

Oct 15, 2012 12:42 PM CDT

Lawyer Seeks $25M From Insurer, Says He Was Set Up in Criminal Case That Destroyed His Legal Career

A jury trial is beginning this week for a Texas lawyer seeking $25 million in a tortious interference suit against an insurance company with which he formerly had dealings while representing plaintiffs in asbestos cases. Warren Todd Hoeffner, 48, contends that Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. set him up to…

Oct 11, 2012 4:25 PM CDT

Civil Suit Accuses Ex-Partner of Chinese BigLaw Firm of Conspiracy to Bilk US Clients of $10M

In a civil securities fraud suit filed in federal court in New York, a group of investors has accused a former partner in a Beijing-based BigLaw firm of conspiring with her husband to bilk them of $10 million. Helen Lv and her former 1,200-attorney law firm, DeHeng Law Offices, are…

Oct 9, 2012 8:22 PM CDT

‘Flame Arrester’ at Issue in Gas Can Litigation; Was It Lawsuit Abuse?

Abusive lawsuits are blamed for the shutdown of gas can manufacturer Blitz USA in an ad by the Institute for Legal Reform. The ad shows plant employees in Oklahoma who lost their jobs and invites viewers to visit FacesofLawsuitAbuse.com to learn how in-house lawyers ranked states for their business legal…

Oct 9, 2012 10:59 AM CDT

Courtney Love’s Ex-Counsel Loses Round in Libel Suit re Singer’s Tweet, Can’t Depose Love’s Daughter

In what amounts to a victory for attorney Rhonda J. Holmes’ former client, Courtney Love, the attorney has been denied permission by a California judge to depose the adult daughter of the grunge singer and actress in a defamation lawsuit. After filing suit over a comment Love allegedly made in…

Oct 5, 2012 4:00 PM CDT

As Lawsuits Swirl, Judge Tells Lawyer to Take Down RipoffReport Comment re Ex-Client Law Student

Apparently angry about what he perceived as unfairly critical online comments on RipoffReport by an anonymous former client, a New York lawyer allegedly responded publicly to the posts last year, making reference to the ex-client’s criminal case history and calling him “emotionally disturbed.” The former client, a Brooklyn law student,…

Oct 5, 2012 3:30 PM CDT

Legal Assistants Sue Quadriplegic Ex-Boss, Claim Harassment Over Duties Related to His Disability

Four former employees have sued a California lawyer for alleged sex discrimination, contending that the lawyer, who has a disability practice and is himself quadriplegic, created a hostile work environment in part due to his requirement that they perform job duties related to his disability. Scott Johnson operates Disabled Access…

Oct 4, 2012 5:47 PM CDT

Lawyer Suing for Sex Discrimination Says She Was Fired; Firm Calls It ‘Facilitating Her Transition’

New salvos have been shot in a much-watched legal battle between a highly credentialed female lawyer and the Silicon Valley venture capital firm for which she has been working as a junior partner while simultaneously pursuing a sex discrimination suit. Ellen Pao, a highly credentialed former BigLaw attorney, says, through…

Oct 4, 2012 3:30 PM CDT

Sandusky Accuser McQueary Sues Penn State over Firing, Legal Fees

The former Penn State graduate assistant coach who said he witnessed Jerry Sandusky molest a boy in the shower has filed a lawsuit against the school. Mike McQueary, who was earning $140,000 before his firing, seeks $4 million for lost future earnings, report the Legal Intelligencer and the Wall Street…

Oct 3, 2012 2:17 PM CDT

Supreme Court Appears Ready to Limit Reach of Alien Tort Law

The U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to limit federal suits over human rights abuses committed abroad, according to press coverage of Monday’s oral arguments. The New York Times, the National Law Journal and the Washington Post all reported that the justices appeared ready to limit the reach of the Alien…

Oct 2, 2012 12:38 PM CDT