Trials & Litigation

1940s Justice Influences Terrorism Cases

A justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1940s has had a major influence in several recent opinions, thanks to one of his former clerks—U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. Stevens has relied on World War II-era opinions written by Justice Wiley B. Rutledge, who served on the…

Sep 8, 2007 1:53 PM CDT

San Diego Church Settlement: $198 M

The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego has agreed to pay $198 million to settle claims of clergy sex abuse by 144 alleged victims. The settlement announced today is the second-largest in a series of such cases that have erupted throughout the nation since 2002, according to the Associated Press.…

Sep 7, 2007 11:02 PM CDT

Lawsuit! is a Game to NY Lawyer

Tina Eskreis Nelson’s job as an adjunct professor at New York University School of Law is now history. That’s because the mother of three came up with a unique way in 2003 of explaining to her then 6-year-old son what his parents, both lawyers, are trained to do. She stopped…

Sep 7, 2007 10:29 PM CDT

Ruling Could Slow Social Security Claims

The Social Security Administration is warning that a judge’s immigration ruling could cause a backlog of work for agency employees at the same time of a significant increase in their workload. Last Friday U.S. District Judge Maxine Chesney of San Francisco temporarily barred the agency from sending letters to employers…

Sep 7, 2007 6:14 PM CDT

Nursing Homes Sue Over PI Firm’s Ad

A personal injury law firm has been sued by the owners of a nursing home chain prominently mentioned in the law firm’s Web site advertising. Genesis Healthcare Corp. contends McHugh Fuller Law Group misappropriated its trademark and logo by including these brands on a Web page seeking plaintiffs interested in…

Sep 7, 2007 5:27 PM CDT

Judicial Watch Founder Loses Pro Hac Vice Bid

The Miami lawyer who founded Judicial Watch, a group that filed several lawsuits against the Clinton administration, has been denied pro hac vice admission for a New York case. In denying temporary bar admission, the judge cited other judges’ past complaints about lawyer Larry Klayman, including one judge’s decision to…

Sep 7, 2007 11:09 AM CDT

Terrorism Trial Scorecard

A little over a year ago, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a 68-page report that listed what the DOJ considers the country’s major terrorism cases. In an article that is part of a special terrorism issue, the ABA Journal now uses the report as a basis for a scorecard…

Sep 7, 2007 10:40 AM CDT

Book: Souter Distraught Over Bush v. Gore

U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter was distraught over what he viewed as a partisan decision by a majority of his colleagues in Bush v. Gore and considered stepping down from his seat on the bench of the nation’s highest court over the ruling. That is what an upcoming book…

Sep 6, 2007 8:50 PM CDT

2 NJ Law Firms Sued re Foreclosure Fees

Two law firms in New Jersey and the mortgage lenders who retained them are defending possible class actions over unauthorized fees that they allegedly imposed on homeowners facing foreclosure. While representing mortgage lenders in foreclosure cases, the two firms charged individual homeowners unspecified fees that weren’t authorized by statute or…

Sep 6, 2007 7:18 PM CDT

Court OKs Sleeping Judge at Jury Trial

Saying that a jury trial requires a judge’s physical presence rather than his attention, a divided Australian appeals court panel decided that a slumbering judge did not require retrial of two men convicted on drug charges. Each was sentenced to more than a decade in prison. The judge, who suffered…

Sep 6, 2007 6:07 PM CDT

Mortgage Foreclosures at Record High; Lenders Urged to Forbear

The number of mortgages entering foreclosure in the U.S. is setting new records. One in every seven subprime borrowers is now making mortgage payments late, according to a report released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association. Meanwhile, the percentage of all mortgages entering the foreclosure process was at an all-time…

Sep 6, 2007 3:38 PM CDT

Client Turns Tables on Firm in Fee Dispute

A Texas plaintiffs firm that sued to collect an attorney fee from a former client in a medical malpractice case won exactly nothing after a three-day jury trial. But a Tarrant County jury awarded the client $1.4 million last month on his counterclaim against the firm for intentional infliction of…

Sep 5, 2007 11:47 PM CDT

Sex With Client’s Mom Requires Waiver

It may be OK for a lawyer to have sex with a client’s mother—if the client approves the relationship in a written waiver of the conflict. But you can’t ethically have sex with the client, unless the relationship got started prior to the representation. That is the gist of a…

Sep 5, 2007 9:50 PM CDT

240 LA Court Interpreters Walk Out

Today was not a good day to be in Los Angeles County Superior Court with a case requiring an interpreter. Angry about skimpy pay increases since they became employees instead of independent contractors in 2005, some 240 court interpreters there went on strike today and did not show up for…

Sep 5, 2007 9:26 PM CDT

Microsoft Trial Win a Legislative Loss?

A stunning $1.52 billion verdict against Microsoft Corp. in a patent case earlier this month was the impetus for planned changes in U.S. patent law. But now that the computer megalith has succeeded in getting the federal jury verdict overturned, its courtroom win is likely to mean a legislative loss.…

Sep 5, 2007 3:58 PM CDT