Tort Law

Nexgen Defamation Suits Amount to Scare Tactics, Say Targets

Plaintiff lawyers with product liability cases against knee replacement manufacturer Zimmer Holdings Inc. are getting hit with cease-and-desist letters from company, which claims the attorneys’ Internet writings and television advertisements distort the product’s safety record. The company faces 78 product liability actions over its artificial knee product known as NexGen…

Aug 8, 2011 3:35 PM CDT

Female-Owned Personal Injury Law Firm Sparks Billboard Battle in Detroit

Television is still a major advertising medium for personal injury lawyers in and around Detroit. But a relatively new and unusual competitor has sparked a growing billboard battle in recent years. Operating what she says is the first PI firm in the state headed by a woman, 47-year-old Joumana Kayrouz…

Aug 8, 2011 10:53 AM CDT

Facing Multiple Suits re $32M in Client Funds, K&L Gates Sues Ex-Partner in Custody in Hong Kong

A former partner in the Hong Kong office of K&L Gates is in custody, charged with theft and forgery. Navin Kumar Aggarwal, 44, resigned from the law firm in mid-June, after being confronted with the allegations, K&L Gates tells Bloomberg. He is accused of stealing approximately $2 million from the…

Aug 8, 2011 10:01 AM CDT

Widow of Slain DC Lawyer, Robert Wone, Ready to Move On with Life After Lawsuit Settlement

A $20 million wrongful death suit that attorney Kathy Wone filed over the slaying of her husband, Robert, was primarily an effort to find out what happened before he was found stabbed to death in the home of a then-partner of Arent Fox and two other friends, she told the…

Aug 5, 2011 5:01 PM CDT

Wachovia Bank Can Keep $9M Collateral It Snagged from Marc Dreier’s Failed Law Firm, Judge Rules

A bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of New York has blocked a trustee’s effort to claw back some $9 million obtained by Wachovia Bank from a money-market account for the new-defunct Dreier law firm. The trustee had argued that the bank should have known, when it extended another $9…

Aug 5, 2011 11:16 AM CDT

Mattel Ordered to Pay $225M in Punitives, Attorney’s Fees and Costs in Bratz Doll Case

A federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., today nearly trebled the $88 million that Mattel Inc. was earlier ordered to pay a competitor in a hard-fought case over the rights to the popular Bratz doll line. Mattel must pay MGA Entertainment Inc. $85 million in punitive damages and $2.5 million…

Aug 5, 2011 12:55 AM CDT

As Hackers Steal Up to $1B Annually from Biz Bank Accounts, Victims May Have No Recourse

Some $43 million was stolen in conventional bricks-and-mortar robberies, heists and stickups of U.S. banks last year. Meanwhile, cybercrooks stole hundreds of millions in what is being called a national security threat. The exact amount isn’t known. But security experts say up to $1 billion annually is being taken by…

Aug 5, 2011 12:28 AM CDT

Paul McCartney Says His Voice Mail May Have Been Hacked by UK Paper Competing with News Corp.

Ratcheting up an ongoing scandal over claimed widespread hacking into the voice mail of celebrities and others by British journalists, famed pop singer and songwriter Paul McCartney says he was apparently victimized and plans to pursue the issue when he completes his current U.S. tour. However, the former Beatle says…

Aug 4, 2011 10:31 PM CDT

Ex-Employee Suit Accuses Shaq & Cop Pals of Computer Hack to Get Revenge for Divorce Testimony

A former employee of Shaquille O’Neal has accused the basketball legend and law enforcement buff of hacking into his computer—with the help of South Florida and Arizona police pals—in an effort to get revenge for the ex-worker’s testimony in favor of O’Neal’s wife in a contentious divorce case. Plaintiff Shawn…

Aug 4, 2011 9:55 PM CDT

Ex-Partner of Ex-Lawyer and Convicted Swindler Scott Rothstein Now Makes a Living via ADA Suits

Only a few years ago, Stuart Rosenfeldt was living the high life with his name on the marquee of one of South Florida’s most prominent corporate law firms. He was making big bucks and had a Ferrari. Today the head of that firm, Scott Rothstein, is a convicted Ponzi schemer…

Aug 4, 2011 6:36 PM CDT

Judge OKs Army Vet’s Suit Against Rumsfeld Over Torture Allegations

A federal judge this week allowed the case of an Army veteran who claims he was imprisoned and tortured by U.S. military in Iraq to move forward against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The vet, who isn’t identified in court documents, was working as a contractor for an American company…

Aug 4, 2011 11:10 AM CDT

Widow of Slain Ex-Covington Lawyer Settles with Ex-Arent Partner and Pals Acquitted in Cover-Up Case

The widow of a former Covington & Burling associate mysteriously murdered in a Washington, D.C., townhome while he was staying with friends five years ago has settled her wrongful death suit against the three pals. Although the amount is confidential, the two homeowners, former Arent Fox partner Joseph Price and…

Aug 4, 2011 12:43 AM CDT

Ex-Associate Sues Ropes & Gray, Says Firm Discriminated Against ‘Token Black Associate’

Claiming that he was treated as a “token black associate” despite credentials including a degree from Harvard Law School and a clerkship on the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a former associate of Ropes & Gray has sued the law firm for discrimination and retaliation. John Ray III…

Aug 3, 2011 11:04 PM CDT

Attorney Married to Hef’s Daughter to Pay $168K to Settle SEC Insider-Trading Case re Playboy Stock

Warned by his wife and the company’s general counsel not to trade in shares of Playboy stock, attorney William Marovitz, who has been married since 1995 to Christie Hefner, a former Playboy Enterprises Inc. CEO and the daughter of company founder Hugh Hefner, did so anyway. The result was a…

Aug 3, 2011 7:34 PM CDT

FDIC Sues Law Firm, Says Security Deed Errors in $2.8M Loan Closing Bar Foreclosure

A Georgia law firm and one of its partners has been sued for malpractice by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. over a bad $2.8 million loan. Because a security deed prepared by Jampol, Schleicher, Jacobs & Papadakis for a 2005 loan closing to an investment company was defective, the FDIC…

Aug 3, 2011 6:36 PM CDT