Trials & Litigation

5th Circuit: Gov’t. Must Notify Workers of Fridge Cleaning

Weighing in on an important workplace issue that has undoubtedly vexed many an employee nationwide, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reportedly rendered an opinion that determines the constitutionality of government office refrigerator cleaning. No longer can a government employer simply clean out the office refrigerator…

Nov 15, 2007 9:40 PM CST

Richard Scruggs Wins Venue Change in Contempt Case

A renowned Mississippi personal injury lawyer defending a criminal contempt case after allegedly defying the instructions of an Alabama federal judge to turn over insurance company documents has scored an apparent victory in a wide-ranging ongoing court battle related to insurance coverage for Hurricane Katrina. Federal district court judges in…

Nov 15, 2007 8:20 PM CST

Kansas Utility Owes CEO $2.46M in Defense Costs

Echoing a similar holding by a federal judge concerning another company executive, a special master in Kansas state court has found that a utility company wrongly refused to pay $2.46 million in legal fees to defend its former chairman and CEO in a criminal fraud case. The utility, Westar Energy…

Nov 15, 2007 7:17 PM CST

$1B Class Action Claims E-Filing Group Overcharged

A $1 billion class action lawsuit alleges a group of income-tax software companies charged excessive fees for e-filing. The companies named include H&R Block Inc. and Intuit Inc., the Legal Intelligencer reports. They participated in a group called Free File Alliance, which contracted with the Internal Revenue Service to file…

Nov 15, 2007 1:19 PM CST

O.J. Will Go to Trial in Armed Robbery Case

Unlike O.J. Simpson’s murder trial in the mid-1990s, it presumably won’t be billed as the trial of the century or become famous for related sideshow features such as a troupe of televised look-alike black-robed dancing trial “judges.” But the armed robbery case against the former football hero for an alleged…

Nov 15, 2007 1:15 AM CST

Judge Adds $49M in Atty Fees to Wal-Mart OT Bill; Total Nears $200M

A judge in Pennsylvania has awarded $49 million in attorney fees to plaintiffs counsel in a successful class action against the world’s biggest retailer over unpaid overtime, bringing the total judgment in the state court case to nearly $200 million. Including $10 million in interest that has accrued since an…

Nov 14, 2007 10:28 PM CST

Counterfeit Case Against eBay May Raise Web Policing Requirements

A federal judge in Manhattan has begun to hear a closely watched case between a renowned jeweler and an Internet auctioneer accused of turning a blind eye to the sale of fakes on its Web site. If Tiffany & Co. is successful in its trademark infringement claim against eBay, not…

Nov 14, 2007 9:46 PM CST

N.Y. Lawyer Stole $24M, Gets 10 Years

Updated: It isn’t every dishonest lawyer who manages to steal $24 million. But Anthony Bellettieri, a former real estate practitioner in wealthy Westchester County, N.Y., pleaded guilty earlier this year to doing so and was sentenced yesterday by a federal judge to a 10-year prison term. The onetime partner of…

Nov 14, 2007 8:05 PM CST

More Law Firms Seek to Sue Banks

After the subprime mortgage meltdown in the U.S. and a resulting worldwide credit crunch worsens, a traditional law firm taboo against suing banks has been relaxed as related litigation looms. A growing number of well-known law firms in the U.S. and U.K. are now ready to take such cases despite…

Nov 14, 2007 7:52 PM CST

Cat Killer in a Peck of Trouble Over Piper Plovers

The trial of a Texas bird-watching enthusiast for killing a cat turns on whether the victim, named Mama Cat, was feral. James M. Stevenson, the founder of the Galveston Ornithological Society, is being prosecuted under a law that bars the killing of cats “belonging to another,” the New York Times…

Nov 14, 2007 4:25 PM CST

It’s Confirmed: Judge Who Sued Over Lost Pants Lost His Job

The administrative judge who sued a dry cleaners for $54 million for losing his pants will not be reappointed, a Washington, D.C., lawyer has confirmed. Sources had told the Washington Post and the Examiner last month that Judge Roy Pearson will not be reappointed. Now the city’s general counsel, responding…

Nov 14, 2007 2:57 PM CST

Fired Book Publisher Sues, Claims ‘Deliberate Smear Campaign’

Former book publisher Judith Regan, fired after her decision to publish a book by O.J. Simpson called If I Did It, claims in a lawsuit filed yesterday that she lost her job based on a trumped-up charge. The $100 million suit (PDF posted by the New York Times) also claims…

Nov 14, 2007 2:41 PM CST

House Approves Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act

The Attorney-Client Protection Act was adopted in the U.S. House of Representatives by a voice vote today, but it may not be addressed by the Senate until the spring. Supported by an unusually broad-based coalition of organizations that includes the American Bar Association and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the…

Nov 14, 2007 1:33 AM CST

100 Protest N.J. Dog’s Death Sentence

More than 100 people protested outside Princetown Township Municipal Court in New Jersey over a judge’s order to euthanize a dog. The 2-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd named Congo was determined to be vicious after he attacked and mauled a landscaper who came into his yard last June, reports an ABC-affiliated station…

Nov 13, 2007 11:59 PM CST

Illinois Judge Axes Med-Mal Damages Cap

In a test case that is expected to go farther, an Illinois trial judge ruled today that a 2005 state statutory cap on noneconomic damages in some medical malpractice cases should not be applied to a specific plaintiff. Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Joan Larsen held that the law…

Nov 13, 2007 7:56 PM CST