Tort Law

Ex-Associate Tries Again, Wins Ruling He Can Seek $12M in Fees From Former Firm

Dismissing other claims by a former associate of Labaton Sucharow, a New York state judge has nonetheless ruled in his favor concerning what she calls the “big issue.” Jon Adams, a former assistant New Mexico attorney general, can continue to pursue a contract claim that the firm owes him about…

Jan 12, 2010 7:26 PM CST

Law Firm and Ex-Associate Battle in Court and on Net Over Badmouth Blog

A federal judge says she plans to order unspecified “limited” restrictions of an ex-associate’s badmouth blog criticizing the New Jersey law firm that formerly employed him. But it appears that some of the most telling blows in the battle between Levinson Axelrod and attorney Edward Heyburn over his Levinson Axelrod…

Jan 12, 2010 6:31 PM CST

Store Owner Can Sue Client Co. Over Manager’s Claimed Pressure for Sex, Appeals Court Says

The female owner of a New Jersey tire store has a viable quid-pro-quo sexual harassment claim concerning her allegations that a male manager of a rental-equipment store customer withheld business after she refused to have sex with him, a state appeals court has ruled. Applying a public accommodations provision of…

Jan 12, 2010 12:10 AM CST

Google IDs Defenses in YouTube Suit, Faces New Smartphone Name Claim

Attorneys for Google Inc. and Viacom Inc. are sharpening their legal weapons as they prepare for a federal court battle over an asserted $1 billion in damages over thousands of unauthorized third-party postings of copyrighted movie and television videos on YouTube. In letters to a Manhattan federal judge that were…

Jan 9, 2010 12:28 AM CST

Lenders May Cut Borrowers’ Principal to Prevent Costly Foreclosures

Several years ago, it would have been virtually unheard of. But a number of lenders are now sometimes willing to consider reducing or deferring part of a borrower’s principal balance on an upside-down mortgage in order to avoid taking an even more costly hit if the loan goes into foreclosure…

Jan 7, 2010 8:41 PM CST

Pig Exits Python: Securities Class Actions Plummet 24% in ‘09 as Credit Crisis Eases

As the mortgage meltdown and credit crisis eased, the number of federal securities class actions filed in 2009 over alleged stock fraud dropped sharply, compared both to the previous year and a 10-year average. There were 169 such filings in 2009, a 24 percent reduction from the 223 in 2008,…

Jan 6, 2010 8:34 PM CST

Angry About 27.99% Credit Card Rate, Lawyer Refuses to Pay, Threatens Suit

In a move that will undoubtedly strike a sympathetic chord with other credit card users hit with hefty interest charges despite longtime records of timely monthly payments, a California trial lawyer is taking an unusual new legal approach to the issue. Unless and until the Bank of America lowers his…

Jan 6, 2010 5:44 PM CST

Ex-Attorney Mulls Plea in Alleged $1.2B Scheme as Trustee Sues Firm Partner for $4M

Formerly high-flying Florida attorney Scott Rothstein is negotiating a guilty plea, his lawyer says, concerning the federal criminal charges he faces over an alleged $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme he is accused of operating while making use of the credibility conferred by his role as the managing partner of a Fort…

Jan 6, 2010 12:50 AM CST

Lawyer’s Enterprising iPhone App Routes Clients to ‘My Attorney’

A free iPhone application being offered by a Florida lawyer makes it especially easy for would-be clients to reach attorney Jason Turchin, send him photographs related to potential tort claims and download free legal advice and forms. But his My Attorney App has space for users to list additional attorneys…

Jan 5, 2010 5:50 PM CST

$12M Settlement Ends Pending Supreme Court Case on Prosecutorial Immunity

An Iowa county has agreed to pay $12 million to two men who claimed in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case that prosecutors framed them for murder during the investigation, removing their immunity from suit. The men, Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee, spent 26 years in prison. The settlement ends…

Jan 5, 2010 12:16 PM CST

Train Ride Home Took Lawyer on Journey Toward Writing Book About Christmas 1945

Needing a break after a workday spent on white-collar insurance fraud defense matters in New York City, Matthew Litt started reading printouts of archived 1945 newspaper articles on his ride home on the subway, years ago. A politics major in college, the now-32-year-old New Jersey lawyer says he didn’t even…

Dec 24, 2009 2:24 AM CST

Appeals Court: Microsoft Owes $290M, Must Alter Word or Stop Sales By Jan. 11

Upholding a small company’s stunning patent-infringement win against the world’s biggest software seller, a federal appeals court today not only upheld a $290 million verdict in favor of I4i LP but ruled that Microsoft Corp. must either alter its Word software by Jan. 11 or stop selling the popular product,…

Dec 22, 2009 7:04 PM CST

Editor Sues Tom Cruise, Says Actor, Lawyer & PI Illegally Wiretapped Him

In a new chapter of an ongoing saga of allegations against a so-called private investigator to the stars concerning claimed dirty litigation tactics in high-profile celebrity cases, a magazine editor has sued convicted gumshoe Anthony Pellicano, actor Tom Cruise and his lawyer, Bert Fields. Michael Davis Sapir claims in the…

Dec 22, 2009 5:31 PM CST

Hedge Fund Sues Dechert, Claims $125M Loss in Dreier Ponzi Scheme

Contending Dechert issued a “false” opinion letter used by then-practicing attorney Marc Dreier to defraud Fortress Investment Group, the private equity and hedge fund firm sued the legal partnership today for damages in New York state court. Its lawsuit alleges that phony promissory notes purchased by the sophisticated investor from…

Dec 22, 2009 1:36 AM CST

Ex-Fried Frank Associate Says Female Partner Harassed Her

A former litigation associate of nearly a decade is poised to file a federal discrimination suit against Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson, contending that the firm denied her a promotion to partnership because she is a lesbian and did not intervene to prevent higher-ups from harassing her. Julie Kamps,…

Dec 22, 2009 1:00 AM CST