Tort Law

Top Pa. Court Axes $3.5M Libel Verdict Due to ‘Judicial Impropriety’

Because of questionable conduct of the Luzerne County judges who oversaw the case, a Pennsylvania newspaper must get a new trial in a defamation lawsuit that resulted in a $3.5 million bench verdict in 2006, the state’s top court ruled today. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court did not find that lawyers…

Nov 5, 2009 12:38 AM CST

Law Prof Drops Privacy Suit Against Above the Law; Blog Offers Prof Guest Spot

A law professor at the University of Miami has seemingly changed his mind about the federal invasion of privacy suit he filed only last week against the publisher of Above the Law over a 2007 post on the self-described tabloid law blog. Plaintiff Donald Marvin Jones today voluntarily dismissed the…

Nov 4, 2009 10:20 PM CST

Plaintiffs Lawyers to Earn Up to $28M in Risky Wal-Mart Wage & Hour Litigation

Although Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has agreed to pay as much as $85 million to settle 39 consolidated wage-and-hour class action lawsuits involving more than 3 million employees, it wasn’t at all clear when the litigation began to unfold that the case would be a big winner. Now a hot litigation…

Nov 4, 2009 8:26 PM CST

Suspended Kentucky Lawyer Liable for $3.2M for ‘Reprehensible’ Conduct

A suspended Louisville, Ky., lawyer and a financier have been found liable for $3.2 million as a result of “inexcusable” conduct in a bankruptcy case. The judgment against lawyer Bruce Atherton and financier Randall Scott Waldman includes $2 million in punitive damages, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Joan…

Nov 4, 2009 6:59 PM CST

Lawyers Say Malpractice Suit by Mall Dynasty Heir Is ‘Study in Sensationalism’

Lawyers responding to a malpractice suit filed in Chicago by mall dynasty heir Mary Bucksbaum Scanlan questioned jurisdiction and criticized the complaint in responses filed last week. The suit by Scanlan claims Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg is to blame for more than $300 million in her trusts’ investment losses. The…

Nov 4, 2009 4:11 PM CST

Lawyer Says Televangelist’s No-Divorce Policy May Have Led to Killing

A lawyer says he needs to depose televangelist Joyce Meyer to determine whether her ministries could have prevented the slaying of a woman and her two sons. Lawyer Enrico Mirabelli represents the family of the victims in a lawsuit against the woman’s husband, Christopher Coleman, the former security chief for…

Nov 4, 2009 3:19 PM CST

DOJ Sues Attorney, Says Law Office Banned Service Dog, Violating ADA

The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that it has filed a disability discrimination lawsuit against a Colorado attorney for allegedly barring a woman from giving a deposition in his law office because she was accompanied by her service dog. The animal, an Australian shepherd, is trained to help the…

Nov 3, 2009 11:19 PM CST

Law Firm Partner Loses Lawsuit Over Pay & Alleged Strip Club Outings

A federal judge has dismissed a suit filed by a female partner of a Pennsylvania law firm over alleged pay discrimination and sexually explicit work-related activities. U.S. District Judge Arthur Schwab ruled that plaintiff Alyson Kirleis, a 46-year-old partner of Dickie McCamey & Chilcote, can’t continue with her 2006 action…

Nov 3, 2009 7:45 PM CST

Miami Lawyer Says He Pointed Feds to Rothstein in Claimed $500M Scheme

Updated: An investment opportunity offered by managing partner Scott Rothstein of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler seemed too good to be true, a Miami lawyer and developer thought. So, Alan Sakowitz tells the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, he called the feds and put them on Rothstein’s trail. After meeting with Rothstein three times,…

Nov 3, 2009 6:59 PM CST

Law Prof Sues Above the Law, Claims ‘Racist Series of Rants’ About His Arrest

Updated: A University of Miami law professor arrested but never prosecuted on a charge of trying to solicit an undercover police officer has sued the Above the Law blog for its posts on his predicament. But, in a startling development only days later, Donald Marvin Jones then voluntarily dismissed the…

Nov 3, 2009 2:53 PM CST

Ex-Associate Badmouths Former Firm in Legal Blog

It isn’t what an attorney would generally recommend to a client. But attorney Edward Harrington Heyburn says he was willing to risk litigation when he created a legal blog that badmouths partners at the New Jersey law firm at which he formerly worked, Levinson Axelrod. His Levinson Axelrod Sucks blog…

Nov 2, 2009 7:35 PM CST

Sandwich Suit Says Jimmy John’s was Too Fast With the Tuna

A Chicago man has sued Jimmy John’s, contending that restaurant, which advertises its speedy sandwich service, it was too fast with the tuna, mayonnaise and cheese. The problem was, not only had plaintiff Mackenzie Seiler ordered a turkey sandwich from a Jimmy John’s in Champaign, Ill., he is severely allergic…

Nov 2, 2009 6:46 PM CST

Judge Sanctions Lawyer $11.5K for Coaching Witness at Deposition

A 24-year practitioner has been sanctioned $11,484 by a Connecticut judge for coaching a witness during a deposition. Defense lawyer Madonna Sacco has been sanctioned four times previously for “strikingly similar” behavior during depositions, but the penalties apparently didn’t have the desired deterrent effect, according to Hartford Superior Court Judge…

Nov 2, 2009 5:40 PM CST

Lay Off the Coffee Talk

“Quackers,” September, is a very interesting article, and I don’t mean to be a downer, but the McDonald’s coffee lawsuit myth should not be repeated in these pages. The coffee was scalding hot, McDonald’s had received hundreds of complaints, and the plaintiff suffered horrific third-degree burns. The suit was far…

Nov 2, 2009 4:00 AM CST

Heroic Hassles

Why must we make life difficult for those who bother to step up and answer the call?

Nov 2, 2009 12:10 AM CST