Trials & Litigation

20882 ABA Journal Trials & Litigation articles.

St. Thomas College of Law reinstates fired tenured professor, will start termination hearings

Updated: After firing a tenured professor in July, the St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law has reinstated her for the purpose of formally terminating her via the due process rights spelled out in the faculty handbook.

Aug 29, 2024 10:22 AM CDT

2nd Circuit cites push notifications to jurors as one reason why Sarah Palin deserves new defamation trial

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a Republican, is entitled to a new trial in her defamation case against the New York Times, partly because a jury finding of no liability was marred by push notifications received by jurors, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

Aug 28, 2024 2:54 PM CDT

Disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi is convicted for stealing $15M from clients

A disbarred lawyer famous for his legal team’s portrayal in the movie Erin Brockovich was convicted Tuesday for stealing $15 million from four clients over the course of a decade.

Aug 27, 2024 2:59 PM CDT

Family sues judge who ordered teen to be handcuffed after she fell asleep

The mother of a teenage girl sued the Detroit judge who detained and handcuffed her daughter after she fell asleep during a field trip to his courtroom.

Aug 22, 2024 10:03 AM CDT

Tenured professor sues St. Thomas College of Law after firing

Updated: A tenured professor filed a civil lawsuit against the St. Thomas University Benjamin L. Crump College of Law in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County after being fired, claiming she did not receive due process in violation of her contract.

Aug 21, 2024 11:20 AM CDT

Ex-lawyer Tom Girardi’s former CFO had escape plan and lavish spending habits, ex-fiancee testifies

The former chief financial officer of the now-collapsed Girardi Keese law firm in Los Angeles asked his former fiancee to flee to the Bahamas with him in 2022, she testified Tuesday in the embezzlement trial of disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi.

Aug 21, 2024 11:09 AM CDT

Ex-bankruptcy judge who tried to avoid deposition in romance case ordered to take ethics training

A former bankruptcy judge has been sanctioned for trying to avoid a deposition by submitting to an unauthorized off-the-record interview with the law firm that employed his romantic partner.

Aug 19, 2024 12:37 PM CDT

8th Circuit allows Iowa book ban to take effect but rules for challengers on First Amendment issue

A federal appeals court on Friday allowed an Iowa law to take effect that polices books in school libraries, saying a federal judge who blocked the law erred in his analysis.

Aug 14, 2024 3:32 PM CDT

Disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi ‘didn’t seem all there’ in late 2020, ex-employee testifies in embezzlement trial

A public defender representing disbarred lawyer Tom Girardi in his embezzlement trial asked a former accounting employee Tuesday about a secret bank account being used by other lawyers at his now-closed law firm.

Aug 14, 2024 12:47 PM CDT

Golden Gate Law students and alums race to court to keep school open

“The court hearing is set for Sept. 13, but I plan to request to have the date shortened,” Ryan Griffith, attorney for the alums and students, and an adjunct professor at and graduate of the Golden Gate University School of Law, told the ABA Journal via email.

Aug 14, 2024 12:16 PM CDT

5th Circuit nixes ‘general, exploratory rummaging’ of location data to find suspects

A federal appeals court's decision Friday on the constitutionality of geofence warrants has “case-of-the-year importance,” according to a law professor's blog post.

Aug 13, 2024 10:58 AM CDT

Guardians ad litem have absolute immunity in suit alleging wrongful conduct, appeals court says

Lawyers representing a child as guardians ad litem are absolutely immune for acts happening within their court-appointed duties, even for acts alleged to be “wrongful and illegal,” a federal appeals court has ruled.

Aug 12, 2024 9:16 AM CDT

Federal judge who ruled against Google is ‘taken aback’ by its efforts to avoid paper trail

A federal judge who ruled that Google is a monopolist declined to sanction the search engine for failing to preserve internal chat messages, even though he criticized its policies intended to keep bad evidence out of litigation.

Aug 8, 2024 3:17 PM CDT

Google monopoly ruling shows 19th-century law can police Big Tech

A federal judge’s ruling that Google broke the law to maintain a monopoly in search has dealt a blow to one of Big Tech’s main arguments against regulation: that America’s antiquated antitrust laws aren’t flexible enough to address the fast-changing nature of tech innovation.

Aug 8, 2024 1:05 PM CDT

Former counsel sues BigLaw firm for alleged disability discrimination

A former counsel at Mayer Brown who was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2022 has filed a disability bias lawsuit against the law firm.

Aug 8, 2024 11:48 AM CDT

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