Tort Law

Seyfarth Shaw Wins Malpractice Case in Jury Trial

Jurors ruled for Seyfarth Shaw on Monday in a malpractice case that alleged the law firm didn’t do enough to protect a client from employment judgments. A 13-member jury found no liability after all the parties agreed that the alternate could join deliberations, the National Law Journal reports. The suit…

Jan 31, 2012 1:55 PM CST

Onetime Foreclosure King Facing Multiple Suits Now Turns to New Venture: Five Guys Burgers and Fries

At the top of his game as Florida’s unchallenged foreclosure king, David J. Stern had perhaps 100,000 cases and a back-office legal processing support operation that he sold for $60 million in 2010. Then came allegations of slipshod work and the firm’s sudden collapse last year, after Fannie Mae pulled…

Jan 27, 2012 9:45 PM CST

Ex-Student Claims School Newspaper Used His Photo In Story About STDs

A 2011 graduate of a Miami-area high school is suing district officials over a photograph of him that was allegedly used to illustrate a story about sexually transmitted diseases among teenagers in the school newspaper. Kenneth “Kenny” Clements, 18, says the story damaged his reputation and earned the nickname “STD…

Jan 27, 2012 6:00 PM CST

Ex-Client Sues Orrick for $95M, Says Law Firm Didn’t Explain Cancellation Provision in Loan Contract

A Dallas-based former client sued Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe yesterday in state court in Texas, claiming that it suffered $95 million in damages from a collapsed loan deal because of the law firm’s negligence. Investment company Highland Financial Partners says in the Dallas County suit that it wouldn’t have paid…

Jan 26, 2012 11:31 PM CST

Will Hustler Magazine Pay $19.6M, $250K or Zip for Running Nude Photos of Slain Woman Without OK?

After a professional wrestler made headlines by killing his wife, his son and himself in 2007, a magazine known for its hard-core pornography published, without permission, nude photos from decades earlier that it obtained of Chris Benoit’s wife, Nancy. A federal jury in Georgia last year awarded $19.6 million in…

Jan 26, 2012 8:53 PM CST

Employee Locked in Restroom in Office Prank Loses False Imprisonment Appeal

An employee locked in a cruise boat restroom as part of an office prank has failed to persuade an appeals court that he deserved a new trial after jurors ruled against his false imprisonment claim. Plaintiff Steven Slasinski claimed the trial court erred when it denied a motion for a…

Jan 26, 2012 3:58 PM CST

Lawyer Helps Blow the Whistle on Alleged Cruise Ship Scammers

A personal injury lawyer from New York called police after he became suspicious of would-be clients who claimed their daughter and granddaughter died aboard the Costa Concordia. With lawyer Peter Ronai’s help, police arrested three Hungarians in the suspected scam, UPI reports. The New York Post and the New York…

Jan 25, 2012 1:36 PM CST

Potential Crash Defendant Sues Plaintiff Law Firm, Seeks TRO Banning Letter to Possible Witnesses

A company facing potential litigation concerning a fatal auto accident has filed an unusual lawsuit against a Nevada law firm representing others involved in the wreck. NV Energy is asking a judge for a temporary restraining order banning Jolley Urga Wirth Woodbury & Standish from continuing to send out mass…

Jan 24, 2012 12:19 AM CST

4th Circuit Nixes Damages Suit by ‘Enemy Combatant’ Jose Padilla Over Alleged US Torture

In a move decried by the American Civil Liberties Union as a sad day for the rule of law, a federal appeals court today upheld a lower court’s ruling that an American citizen who claimed he was illegally detained and tortured at a U.S. military jail in South Carolina cannot…

Jan 23, 2012 11:41 PM CST

Lawsuit Alleges Lawyer’s Parents and Grandma Are Liable for His Murder of Partner’s Ex-Wife

A Dallas lawyer who pleaded guilty to murder on Friday is a defendant in a wrongful death suit by the victim’s family that also names his parents and his 92-year-old grandmother. The suit claims that the parents and grandmother of lawyer Scott Marshall knew or should have known of his…

Jan 23, 2012 2:37 PM CST

Federal Jury Says TD Bank Must Pay $67M to Investors Swindled by Ex-Attorney Scott Rothstein

After four hours of deliberation, a federal jury in Miami yesterday decided that a South Florida bank must pay $67 million to a group of 27 investors swindled by then-attorney Scott Rothstein. The award, which includes $35 million in punitive damages, is based on a determination that officials of TD…

Jan 19, 2012 6:05 PM CST

State’s Attorney Sues Special Prosecutors Who Pursued Misconduct Charges Against Him

The state’s attorney in McHenry County northwest of Chicago has filed a $15 million lawsuit against special prosecutors who unsuccessfully pursued misconduct charges against him. State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi claims the prosecution was part of a conspiracy initiated by political enemies, report the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Herald and the…

Jan 19, 2012 2:14 PM CST

Shot by Client’s Husband Outside Courthouse, Lawyer Settles with City, Pursues $25M State Claim

Corrected: A matrimonial lawyer who was shot outside a Connecticut courthouse in 2005 by her client’s estranged husband as a divorce trial was in progress has settled her damages suit against the city of Middletown on undisclosed terms. Court documents show the litigation was settled Jan. 9. Attorney Matthew Dallas…

Jan 18, 2012 6:58 PM CST

Attorney Sibling Helps Driver Jailed for DUI Manslaughter Sue Estate of Victim in Fatal Crash

David Belniak is serving a 12-year sentence in a Florida prison after taking a plea in a criminal case over a fatal accident. Three people were killed in a Dec. 25, 2007 crash in which his pickup rear-ended a sports utility vehicle stopped at a red light on U.S. 19…

Jan 18, 2012 6:01 PM CST

Ex-Partners’ Suit Says Law Firm Leader’s Affair with Another Practice Group Lawyer Forced Them Out

Two attorneys have sued a well-known Boston law firm and its managing partner, contending that his alleged affair with one plaintiff’s wife, who is also a lawyer there, cost both their jobs. Now partners at Nixon Peabody, estate planning attorneys Lawrence Cohen and Jay Rosenbaum say they were forced out…

Jan 14, 2012 12:07 AM CST