Tort Law

Blog Response to Law Firm’s Demand for Photo Takedown: We’ll Mock You

When bloggers posted about a seemingly way-too-thin photo of a model featured in a recent Ralph Lauren advertisement, the company and its lawyers reportedly responded with a takedown demand, as far as the reprinted, copyrighted photograph is concerned. While at least one blogger and/or its Internet service provider has apparently…

Oct 7, 2009 8:35 PM CDT

Recruiter Got Zip in 12-Lawyer Leap, Now Seeks $100M in Federal Suit

A legal recruiter has sued Los Angeles-based Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith for $100 million in actual and punitive damages, contending that the 700-attorney law firm squeezed C.B. Legal Search LLC out of a 12-attorney placement deal it helped orchestrate. In March, C.B. Legal Search introduced partner Edward Ruberry of…

Oct 7, 2009 6:16 PM CDT

Judge Tosses Suits Stemming from Partner’s Well-Publicized Ouster

A Manhattan judge has dismissed two lawsuits stemming from an attempt to set the record straight by the law firm Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman. The lawsuits were the result of a press release and “a messy public parting” between Kasowitz Benson and Jeremy Pitcock, the former chair of the…

Oct 7, 2009 1:36 PM CDT

$9M Verdict for ED Treatment Gone Bad

A Georgia man who claimed the treatment he receive for erectile dysfunction left him permanently scarred has been awarded more than $9 million in damages. John Henry Howard received the treatment from the Boston Men’s Health Center, operating clinics as the Boston Medical Group, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Howard injected…

Oct 7, 2009 12:01 PM CDT

Top Mass. Court OKs $1M in Punitives for Fired Wal-Mart Pharmacist

A former Wal-Mart pharmacist who contended she was fired on a trumped-up disciplinary charge after she complained she was paid less than male counterparts by the giant retailer is entitled to $1 million in punitive damages, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts decided yesterday. Its opinion upheld the trial judge’s…

Oct 6, 2009 11:07 PM CDT

Should David Letterman Have Kept Quiet? Mark Geragos Says Yes

Observers are debating how best to handle shakedown attempts, following David Letterman’s startling announcement on his Late Show television program last week that he had sexual relationships with some women employees. Although Letterman’s decision to complain to the authorities and go public led to the arrest of a CBS News…

Oct 6, 2009 10:44 PM CDT

Milberg Makes List of Hot Plaintiffs Firms

The embattled securities law firm Milberg has made it on a legal publication’s list of hot plaintiffs law firms. The Milberg law firm had been charged with participating in a scheme to pay kickbacks to lead plaintiffs, but the charges were dropped last year when the law firm agreed to…

Oct 6, 2009 6:30 PM CDT

To Avoid E. Coli Issues With Hamburger, Some Suppliers Simply Don’t Test

Faced with the potential for a costly recall if their product is found to be contaminated with potentially deadly E. coli bacteria, some companies that supply the meat and fat from multiple sources that is often mixed together to create ground beef as cheaply as possible have found a simple…

Oct 5, 2009 10:53 PM CDT

Ex-Clinic Director Kyndra Rotunda Sues George Mason for Sexual Harassment

When constitutional law scholar Ron Rotunda and his wife departed George Mason University School of Law last year for new jobs at Chapman University School of Law in California they were “pleased to be leaving,” he told the local Washington, D.C., area legal community in an e-mail. Now his wife,…

Oct 5, 2009 10:00 PM CDT

After 20 Years and $20M, Was $42M More Fair for 4 Months of Legal Work?

It’s been more than 25 years since Alice Lawrence asked Graubard Miller to help her liquidate her deceased husband’s share of a multi-million-dollar real estate empire. By 2004, she and her children had obtained $350 million in distributions, in a 22-year legal battle with his executor that racked up $18…

Oct 5, 2009 8:41 PM CDT

Insurers Lose Bid to Rescind Milberg Liability Coverage

A Manhattan federal judge has ruled three insurers can’t seek to rescind liability coverage for the Milberg law firm because they filed suit too late. Three insurers had sued Milberg nd four former partners in August 2008 in an effort to recover $4.8 million paid for defense costs and claims,…

Oct 2, 2009 6:33 PM CDT

UK’s High Court OKs Serving Injunction on Anonymous Blogger Via Twitter

In what reportedly is the first such use of the Internet authorized by any court in the country, the United Kingdom’s High Court has permitted an injunction on an anonymous blogger to be served via Twitter. The injunction demands that the unknown blogger stop impersonating on the Internet a well-known…

Oct 2, 2009 5:29 PM CDT

Lawyer to Plead Guilty to Losing $2M Due Clients on Bad Stock Trades

A California lawyer has agreed to plead guilty to charges that he lost more than $2 million in settlement money after investing it in bad stock market trades. Sandeep Baweja will plead guilty to wire fraud and obstruction of justice, prosecutors told the San Jose Mercury News. He could be…

Oct 2, 2009 4:41 PM CDT

Judge Tosses Blind Lawyer’s Suit Claiming Prostitute Overcharged His Credit Card

John Peoples, a 60-year-old blind Pennsylvania lawyer, claims he was victimized twice when a Philadelphia prostitute overcharged him by $8,600. According to Peoples’ lawsuit, the woman he hired through an escort services website overbilled him on 11 different occasions, overcharging $8,600 in all, the Philadelphia Daily News reports. The suit…

Oct 2, 2009 12:59 PM CDT

Teen Wins $150K Over Amazon’s Kindle Clawback of Orwell E-Book

When Amazon eliminated a George Orwell book from users’ Kindles earlier this year, after discovering the electronic text had been sold without proper authorization, it also eliminated Justin Gawronski’s homework. His notes on the margins remained, but since the text of Nineteen Eighty-Four was gone they were undecipherable, reports the…

Oct 1, 2009 10:40 PM CDT