Tort Law

Holland & Knight Plans to Appeal $34.5M Malpractice Award; ‘Resolution’ Averts Punitive Verdict

Holland & Knight reached a deal on Tuesday to avoid a punitive damages verdict in a legal malpractice case after getting socked with a $34.5 million compensatory award last week. Los Angeles jurors were deliberating punitive damages on Tuesday when the law firm reached a confidential agreement with investors who…

Apr 26, 2012 12:43 PM CDT

Lawyer Gets New Trial on Claim He Had No Authority for $350K Deal; Jury Would Have Awarded $9M

A California trial lawyer is getting a second chance after he agreed to settle his brain-injured client’s case for $350,000 shortly before jurors revealed they planned to award $9.4 million. Lawyer C. Michael Alder argued he quickly agreed to the settlement without conferring with his client. On Wednesday, Judge Michael…

Apr 26, 2012 12:12 PM CDT

Texas Lawyer and His Wife Win Nearly $14M in Libel Suit over Online Comments

A Texas lawyer and his wife have been awarded $13.8 million in a libel suit against online commenters who accused the couple of sexual perversions, molestations and drug dealing. Tarrant County jurors awarded the money to Mark and Rhonda Lesher on Friday, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and ABC News report.…

Apr 25, 2012 2:13 PM CDT

Federal Judge Nixes Duty-to-Warn Case Against Lawyer by Victims of Elderly Client’s Shooting Attack

Updated: A federal judge in Helena is pushing the estate of an elderly Florida retiree to settle the tort case brought by a Montana woman and her daughter after he became obsessed with the girl, drove to her home more than 2,000 miles away and attacked the mother outside their…

Apr 24, 2012 4:54 PM CDT

Deaths Prompt Longtime Defense Lawyer and Solo to Join Pa. Plaintiffs Firm as Senior Partners

One of the best known auto insurance defense lawyers in Pennsylvania is making a major career change. James C. Haggerty, along with sole practitioner Terry Goldberg, has joined WSK Lawyers, a plaintiffs firm based in Philadelphia, reports the Legal Intelligencer. The name of the firm will be changed at some…

Apr 23, 2012 3:40 PM CDT

Lawyer Claims He Had No Authority to Settle Case for $350K; Jurors Planned $9M Verdict

A California trial lawyer claims he didn’t have the authority to settle a case for $350,000 shortly before jurors revealed they had planned to award his brain-injured client $9 million. Jurors had deliberated only four hours before reaching a verdict in the case of a developmentally disabled man who suffered…

Apr 23, 2012 1:16 PM CDT

Financier Sues 2 LA Law Firms for $100M, Says They Abetted In-House Counsel’s Breach of Duty

An entertainment industry financier has sued two well-known Los Angeles law firms, contending that they aided and abetted an alleged breach of fiduciary duty by his former in-house counsel. In a lawsuit (PDF) filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court, plaintiff David Bergstein contends that his then-counsel, Susan Tregub provided…

Apr 20, 2012 9:21 PM CDT

Jurors Award $34.5M to Investors in Suit Against Holland & Knight

Los Angeles jurors have awarded three real-estate investors $34.5 million in a malpractice suit against Holland & Knight. Jurors are scheduled to consider punitive damages today, according to the Daily Report. Jurors had deliberated for six days before finding liability. The story bases the verdict information on a report by…

Apr 20, 2012 1:48 PM CDT

$65K Award in Dog’s Demise May Be Largest Ever in Colo. for Death of Pet

An award of over $65,000 to a Denver woman whose pet dog, Ruthie, was let out of her home by a cleaning service last year and got hit by a car, may be the largest verdict ever in Colorado for the death of a pet. Plaintiff Robin Lohre said she…

Apr 19, 2012 7:35 PM CDT

Lawyer Scoffs at Portrayal of Kid Whose School Bus Ouster Led to Criminal Charges Against Principal

A lawyer for a West Virginia school principal says the public hasn’t learned the whole story in the prosecution of his client for forcibly ejecting a boy from a school bus. The Point Pleasant intermediate school principal, Cameron Moffett, is facing a civil suit as well as a criminal charge…

Apr 19, 2012 11:50 AM CDT

US Supreme Court Nixes Torture Suit Against Palestinian Authority and PLO

Updated: The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that a 1991 federal law authorizing foreign torture suits may not be used to sue organizations. The decision bars a suit by relatives of a naturalized U.S. citizen who died after being arrested in 2005 by Palestinian Authority intelligence officers. The suit…

Apr 18, 2012 2:42 PM CDT

9th Circuit Says Privilege Waived re Superman Comic Docs Stolen From Lawyer and Sent to Warner Bros.

Attorney Marc Toberoff cooperated with prosecutors after he said privileged documents concerning his efforts to help survivors of the creators of Superman gain rights to the famous comic character were stolen by another lawyer then working for him. But because of that he has lost his legal battle to prevent…

Apr 17, 2012 11:31 PM CDT

Pro-Se Ex-Associate Gets Green Light to Proceed with NY Suit Against UK Law Firm re Moscow Partner

A fired former associate in the Russia offices of Allen & Overy has been given a green light by a New York judge to sue the major London-based law firm. Deidre Clark, who made headlines while still working in Moscow for A&O by posting a racy online novel and photos…

Apr 17, 2012 8:07 PM CDT

Crowell & Moring Sued; Ex-Client Claims $15M Lost Due to Embezzlement by Then-Associate of Law Firm

A former real estate client has sued Crowell & Moring for malpractice, contending that it lost $15 million as a result of the actions of an inadequately supervised New York associate who jumped off the tracks of standard law practice. In addition to the $15 million it could cost to…

Apr 13, 2012 11:25 AM CDT

Law Firm’s Letter to Gawker re Outed ‘Fox Mole’ Evokes Much Analysis

It didn’t take long after Gawker announced Tuesday that it had hired an individual within Fox News to write about the company before the broadcaster publicly identified the “Fox mole” and fired associate producer Joe Muto of The O’Reilly Factor on Wednesday. But the fallout continues as a panoply of…

Apr 12, 2012 11:08 PM CDT