Tort Law

Court allows suit claiming lawyer took $25K to file criminal appeals with no chance of success

A man convicted of rape can sue his appellate lawyer for allegedly taking $25,000 to file post-conviction petitions that had no chance of success, the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled. The supreme court said a trial judge should not have dismissed the malpractice case filed by Myron Timothy Yarbrough before…

Feb 1, 2017 8:00 AM CST

Foot Fight: Subway sandwich suit raises class action questions

Nine class action suits against Subway consolidated into one, and the sides reached a settlement in February 2015. But consumers shouldn’t get their hopes up about getting any money—or even a coupon. That’s because it’s all but impossible for people to prove that they ate a subnormal Subway sub. The plaintiffs and putative class members literally “ate the evidence.”

Feb 1, 2017 2:50 AM CST

BigLaw firm withdraws letter demanding CNN retract story on Cabinet pick’s stock purchase

After CNN published a story on Monday about the timing of stock purchases by one of Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks, Dentons fired off a letter demanding a retraction. Never mind. In a second letter dated Jan. 18, Dentons said the first letter should not have been sent because the law…

Jan 20, 2017 9:52 AM CST

Does litigation database belong to law firm or clients? Suit against ex-partners raises the issue

A Boston law firm and six former partners are battling in court over rights to databases for the firm’s asbestos and toxic tort cases. The Governo Law Firm and name partner David Governo contend in a lawsuit that the partners took proprietary databases that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars…

Jan 19, 2017 11:46 AM CST

Former ‘Apprentice’ contestant sues Trump for assault denial

A former Apprentice contestant has sued Donald Trump for denying her sexual-assault claim. Lawyer Gloria Allred announced on Tuesday that she filed the suit on behalf of Summer Zervos, a contestant on season five of the TV show, report the New York Times, the Hollywood Reporter and LawNewz. Zervos went…

Jan 18, 2017 11:49 AM CST

Should robots be civilly liable for damage they cause? EU may consider the idea

The European Union may need to revise its rules of civil liability to address damages caused by autonomous robots, according to a report endorsed last week by a committee of the European Parliament. The report raises the idea of creating a legal status for robots as they become more sophisticated…

Jan 17, 2017 10:45 AM CST

Meet Marc Kasowitz, the litigator who often represents Donald Trump

When Donald Trump needs a lawyer in defamation lawsuits and other knotty legal battles, he often turns to litigator Marc Kasowitz, the founder of Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman. In one suit that attracted press attention, Kasowitz sued an author in 2006 over allegations that Trump was worth less than…

Jan 11, 2017 9:44 AM CST

Trump wins defamation case; judge says his ‘intemperate tweets’ are opinion

A New York judge has tossed a suit that claimed Donald Trump defamed a guest TV commentator in his tweets. Judge Barbara Jaffe said in her decision Tuesday that Trump regularly skewers his critics on Twitter, and the reasonable reader would recognize his statements as opinion, according to the Hollywood…

Jan 10, 2017 1:56 PM CST

Lawyer who sued Gawker for Hulk Hogan now represents Melania Trump and claimed email inventor

The California lawyer who represented Hulk Hogan in his successful privacy suit against Gawker is now filing libel suits on behalf of Melania Trump and the man who claims he invented email. The latest suit filed by lawyer Charles Harder claims TechDirt libeled proclaimed email inventor Shiva Ayyadurai in articles…

Jan 6, 2017 9:47 AM CST

Alabama Supreme Court allows wrongful death claim for miscarriage of previable fetus

The Alabama Supreme Court is allowing a woman to sue a doctor for the wrongful death of her embryo after suffering a miscarriage in her first trimester. The unanimous court ruled (PDF) on behalf of the woman, Kimberly Stinnett, in a Jan. 6 decision, report AL.com and a press release…

Jan 5, 2017 11:55 AM CST

Lawyer will have to ID dead Twitter user sued by James Woods, judge rules

Actor James Woods will learn the name of the person who called him a “cocaine addict” in a tweet, even though the Twitter user is no longer alive. In a decision on Tuesday, a Los Angeles judge ruled that the lawyer for the deceased Twitter user will have to reveal…

Jan 4, 2017 4:28 PM CST

Ikea settles lawsuit over children killed by falling furniture for $50M

The parents of three toddlers crushed by Ikea dressers have settled their wrongful-death cases with the Swedish furniture company for $50 million. Ikea knew that the dressers, which were its Malm model, posed a danger, plaintiffs allege. Feldman Shepherd Wohlgelernter Tanner Weinstock Dodig LLP in Philadelphia was the firm which…

Dec 22, 2016 10:10 AM CST

‘It was horrible’ review is taken down; lawyer had filed court petition to find out who wrote it

A New York City lawyer who filed a court petition over a three-word Google review apparently got results, though it wasn’t through the court system. Lawyer Donald Tobias had filed a petition asking a judge to order disclosure of the reviewer who gave him one star and simply wrote, “It…

Dec 20, 2016 3:43 PM CST

Lawyers for Trump University plaintiffs reveal how they got the case and why they’re forgoing a fee

The small San Diego plaintiffs’ firm behind the Trump University lawsuit wasn’t expecting to end up enmeshed in presidential politics. But that’s what happened when Zeldes Haeggquist & Eck agreed in 2010 to represent a dissatisfied Trump University student, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The newspaper profiled the firm and…

Dec 20, 2016 7:00 AM CST

Pepper Hamilton is sued by fired Baylor employee for alleged negligence in sex-assault probe

A former Baylor University athletics department employee is blaming his firing on the Philadelphia law firm Pepper Hamilton, which was hired to investigate the university’s handling of sex-assault allegations. The suit by former employee Tom Hill alleges negligence and defamation and seeks $60,000 in lost income, report the Waco Tribune…

Dec 15, 2016 7:45 AM CST