Tort Law

Lawyer Sues Newspaper for Cutting Staff, Devaluing His Subscription

A North Carolina lawyer has sued the News & Observer for cutting staff and news pages after he renewed his subscription to the Raleigh newspaper. Keith Hempstead, a Durham lawyer who is a former reporter for the Fayetteville Observer, claims the cuts breached his contract with the newspaper and amounted…

Jul 11, 2008 12:54 PM CDT

8 Victims Get $11M for Delayed Reporting in Foster Child Sex Abuse Case

Eight foster children, aged 5 to 12, who were sexually abused for an additional 18 months because of delayed follow-up by authorities are to get an $11 million settlement from three government agencies and the convicted abuser’s wife. Although Wendy Young wasn’t charged (her husband, Ronald, was sentenced in 2005…

Jul 10, 2008 9:42 PM CDT

Is al-Qaida on Your Speed Dial? New Wiretap Law Lets Feds Check

As expected, the Senate approved a bill today that significantly expands the government’s domestic wiretapping powers and provides immunity from liability for telecommunications companies that previously cooperated with such spying despite a lack of warrants. This was the final OK needed to enact the legislation, which was passed by the…

Jul 9, 2008 11:25 PM CDT

Clerk Charged with Stealing $6M from Texas Company; 30 Layoffs Followed

Updated: A trusted employee who had worked 16 years for a custom window builder in Houston was reportedly enjoying a luxe lifestyle for some time with the $6 million she allegedly embezzled. Meanwhile, the company laid off 30 employees this year because of a cash flow problem. Accounts receivable clerk…

Jul 9, 2008 6:07 PM CDT

UK Court Awards Woman $14K for Broken Heel

Updated: Stiletto heels are apparently dangerous in more ways than one. A British court has awarded a student $14,400 for a broken ankle she suffered when a stiletto heel broke off the first time she wore new shoes. And meanwhile, a Washington state woman had to have emergency surgery after…

Jul 9, 2008 5:28 PM CDT

Omar Sharif’s Winning Tort Defense Tactic: Not Fighting $455K Case

After he hit a Beverly Hills, Calif., restaurant valet in the face during a night of drinking in 2005, actor Omar Sharif initially was apologetic and ready to cover the man’s costs. But then the 76-year-old actor, who is famed for his wartime roles in Lawrence of Arabia and Dr.…

Jul 9, 2008 3:37 PM CDT

$50K Payment Ends Indy Law Firm’s $18M Nightmare

After worrying for two years about an $18 million jury verdict, partners of Fillenwarth Dennerline Groth & Towe were presumably delighted to ante up $50,000 to the Indiana Department of Insurance in order to win release from the judgment against the law firm. In return, the Indianapolis-based law firm has…

Jul 8, 2008 9:56 PM CDT

Termite Lawyer Bugged By Job But Likes the Independence

The life of a termite lawyer isn’t an easy one, particularly when he is new to the job, Pete Cardillo says. And the 50-year-old Columbia Law School graduate should know. Perhaps the only attorney in the nation who practices full-time suing pest control companies over allegedly breached contracts to keep…

Jul 8, 2008 3:40 PM CDT

Deadlocked Jury Had Favored Accused Fen-Phen Lawyers

The foreman of a deadlocked jury that heard the case against three fen-phen lawyers accused of defrauding their clients says the vote was 10-2 in favor of acquitting the remaining two defendants. Foreman Donald Rainone told the Louisville Courier-Journal that the vote had been 10-2 for much of the deliberations…

Jul 7, 2008 10:32 AM CDT

Student Loses Suit Claiming Unaccredited Law School Induced Him to Stay

A federal appeals court has tossed a lawsuit by a former student who claims the Southern New England School of Law fraudulently induced him to stay by promising that accreditation was imminent. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled plaintiff Joseph Rodi failed to show he relied on…

Jul 3, 2008 11:19 AM CDT

Defense Wants Deadlocked Fen-Phen Jurors to Continue Deliberations

Jurors still weighing the evidence against two lawyers accused of defrauding their clients out of $65 million in a fen-phen settlement aren’t making any headway. But the defense is hoping they will continue deliberations. Today the jurors said they were deadlocked, but Senior U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman told them…

Jul 2, 2008 4:32 PM CDT

Problems and Genesis of State Secrets Privilege Detailed in Book

An Air Force accident report that was shielded from litigants because of the state secrets privilege turned out to carry no secrets but instead information indicating negligence. The plaintiffs were three widows whose husbands were killed 60 years ago on a secret mission aboard a B-29 bomber that crashed. Their…

Jul 2, 2008 4:02 PM CDT

Appeals Court Rules for Grasso in Compensation Case

The battle over the $187.5 million compensation package for Richard Grasso has ended in a win for the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. A New York appeals court ruled that the state attorney general did not have authority to prosecute two violations of the state’s nonprofit law…

Jul 2, 2008 1:35 PM CDT

New Law Firm Marketing Technique: 99-Cent Gas

There’s no word on whether Kentucky personal injury attorney Kevin Renfro and the Becker Law Office, picked up any new clients. But his law firm-sponsored 99-cent gas sale at a local station in Louisville certainly garnered a lot of free publicity and a captive audience. Motorists lined up as early…

Jul 1, 2008 10:50 PM CDT

More eBay Suits Expected Over Sales of Fake Luxury Goods

Lawyers representing eBay are likely to be busy with additional lawsuits over sales of fake luxury goods after a $63 million ruling by a French court this week holding the Internet auctioneer liable for online sales conducted by users of its site. “I expect this ruling to encourage a number…

Jul 1, 2008 10:18 PM CDT