Tort Law

Judge Nixes $225M Suit By College Grads Claiming They Were Misled By NY Law School Job Stats

A state court judge has thrown out a lawsuit brought by nine New York Law School graduates against their alma mater. Although the plaintiffs contend they were somehow misled by published NYLS employment data into believing that their post-graduation job prospects were better than they are, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice…

Mar 21, 2012 8:28 PM CDT

$15.4M in Hiking Deaths of Gibson Dunn Partner and Cousin May Be Hawaii’s Biggest PI Settlement

Having already been found liable in the 2006 hiking accident deaths of a Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner and her cousin, the state of Hawaii has agreed to pay a settlement of $15.4 million. One lawyer in the case says it’s the highest personal injury settlement in state history, reports…

Mar 20, 2012 7:39 PM CDT

Insurance Agent Gets Jail Time for Selling Annuity to Elderly Woman; He Denies Recognizing Dementia

Updated: A California insurance agent has been convicted of felony theft and sentenced to jail for selling an annuity with an early withdrawal penalty to an elderly woman, despite, prosecutors say, her apparent dementia. The agent, Glenn Neasham, was sentenced to 90 days in jail last month in a case…

Mar 20, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Better Business Bureau Asks Federal Judge to Dismiss Suit Filed by Law Firm Over F Grade

The Better Business Bureau of Central Florida is asking a federal judge to dismiss a law firm’s suit over the F grade it received from the BBB. It’s review of the Orlando-based KEL law firm was truthful, fact-based opinion, the BBB contends. And furthermore, the law firm, formally known as…

Mar 19, 2012 10:09 PM CDT

Breast-Feeding Woman Booted from Plane Wins Secret Delta Settlement, 2 Other Carriers to Pay $20K

A New Mexico woman who said she was ordered off a Delta Connections flight in Vermont in 2006 after she refused an offended flight attendant’s demand to cover herself with an airline blanket has settled her civil rights case over the incident. According to Emily Gillette, who is now 32,…

Mar 16, 2012 9:25 PM CDT

Fed’l Class Action Says Social Network, Game Apps Take Smartphone Contact Info Without User OK

Apps for popular social networking sites and games including Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and possibly Angry Birds are accessing confidential personal address book data without user permission, contends a federal suit filed in Austin, Texas, this week. The suit, which was filed in federal district court in Travis County, seeks an…

Mar 15, 2012 7:01 PM CDT

Gulf War Hero, a Disbarred Lawyer, Is Accused of Participating in Claimed $54M Fraud on US Military

A former lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve who previously made a name for himself as a politician and New Hampshire lawyer, before being disbarred in 2006, is now gaining a high profile in a new arena. David Young, 49, a Green Beret and Gulf War hero, is accused by…

Mar 15, 2012 4:55 PM CDT

Jury Awards $4M Each to Families of Two Slain Va. Tech Students; Awards Likely to Be Capped at $100K

Siding with the families of two Virginia Tech students slain in a 2007 campus massacre by another student that left 33 individuals dead, a state-court jury in Christianburg today awarded $4 million to each of the families in a duty-to-warn case. The state, which is the only defendant, immediately filed…

Mar 14, 2012 9:37 PM CDT

Homeowner on ‘60 Minutes’ Foreclosure Program Will Get $18M Settlement in Whistle-Blower Case

A Florida homeowner and foreclosure fighter who was featured on a 60 Minutes program about the so-called robo-signing scandal concerning improperly attested documents is scheduled to get an $18 million settlement from a whistle-blower case. The money will come from a $95 million settlement between five of the nation’s biggest…

Mar 13, 2012 4:45 PM CDT

Jurors Award Lawyer and Husband Nearly 10 Times the Requested Amount in Internet Defamation Case

Georgia jurors in an Internet defamation case last month ignored a request to award $48,000 each to a lawyer and her husband. Instead, they awarded a total of $900,000 in damages. The plaintiffs, lawyer Jana Tabor and construction company owner John Tabor, had alleged they were defamed through media and…

Mar 13, 2012 1:51 PM CDT

Catholic Church Decides It Doesn’t Need ‘Altar Boy’ Lawyers, Advocate Says; Victims Group Subpoenaed

A group representing victims of clergy abuse is being targeted with subpoenas seeking two decades of emails, including possibly correspondence with lawyers. The Roman Catholic Church has obtained five subpoenas in Kansas City and St. Louis for records held by the group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests,…

Mar 13, 2012 12:58 PM CDT

Lawyer’s Wife Sues the Other Woman; Lawyer, Ex-Mistress are Accused in Murder Attempts on His Spouse

Updated: Yvonne Stern has reconciled with her husband, Texas personal injury attorney Jeffrey Stern, despite what authorities say was his role in arranging with his then-mistress to attempt to murder his wife. But Stern is suing the ex-mistress, Michelle Cabrera Gaiser, for damages over the injuries she suffered when she…

Mar 9, 2012 8:40 PM CST

A Juror Walks Into a Bar and Gets a Med-Mal Defense Verdict Reversed by Talking to an Attorney

A juror who walked into a bar after the conclusion of a medical malpractice case and talked to a stranger who happened to be an attorney about his bias against the plaintiffs and insistence on trying the case according to his own rules has managed to achieve the opposite of…

Mar 7, 2012 11:30 PM CST

FDIC Sues Officers of Another Failed Bank; Critics Say Agency Goes Easy on Ex-Executives

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has sued 12 former directors and officers at the failed Freedom Bank in Georgia, part of an ongoing effort to recover losses to its insurance fund. The suit filed last week claims the bank made 21 loans without adequate documentation to borrowers who had no…

Mar 7, 2012 4:08 PM CST

Stanford Verdict Could Be Bad News for Attorney and 2 Law Firms Facing Related Civil Cases

A prosecution verdict today in the criminal fraud case against onetime billionaire R. Allen Stanford could be bad news for an attorney and two law firms facing civil cases related to his crimes. Attorney Thomas Sjoblom, who formerly worked for both Chadbourne & Parke and Proskauer Rose after leaving the…

Mar 7, 2012 12:14 AM CST