Trials & Litigation

Mayer Brown Sued for $17 M

Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw is fighting a $17 million suit by a trustee for a bankrupt company. U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall of Chicago refused to dismiss the suit last month, the New York Law Journal reports. The suit claims the Chicago-based firm failed to defend health care management…

Jul 23, 2007 12:43 PM CDT

NY Court Bars Broadcast of Teen’s Name

At least for now, a New York appellate court has foiled an attempt to publish the name of a then-teenage girl who was allegedly sexually abused by an actor backstage after a Broadway show, to solicit information about others she might have accused in the past. A state appeals court…

Jul 20, 2007 11:04 PM CDT

Motion to Bar Bush Mention Denied

A federal judge in Philadelphia has turned down an unusual request to bar mention of the president’s name and the Iraq war during a trial scheduled to begin on Monday. Harold Lischner, an 82-year-old physician, is suing Pennsylvania’s Upper Darby Township for violating his Fourth Amendment rights by arresting him…

Jul 20, 2007 1:08 PM CDT

Valerie Plame Suit Dismissed

A federal judge has dismissed on jurisdictional grounds the privacy and constitutional claims for damages brought by former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband against senior Bush administration officials. Because they have not exhausted their administrative remedies under the Federal Tort Claims Act, there is no subject-matter jurisdiction…

Jul 19, 2007 10:39 PM CDT

Texas Lawyer Ordered to Repay $35.7 M

A big-name Houston plaintiffs lawyer has been ordered by an arbitration panel to repay $35.7 million in improper legal fees he charged to some 3,000 plaintiffs he represented in breast implant litigation. Including interest and attorney fees to be paid to the plaintiff lawyer who brought the claim, the total…

Jul 19, 2007 10:09 PM CDT

Ex-Madam Can’t Testify in Spector Trial

A number of potential witnesses are eager to testify for the defense in the televised murder trial of music producer Phil Spector. But they may never get their time in the spotlight because of rulings by Los Angeles Judge Larry Paul Fidler. The witnesses want to talk about actress Lana…

Jul 19, 2007 8:09 PM CDT

DOJ Cites Wins as Reform Bill Looms

The Justice Department may have lost big in the massive $2.5 billion tax shelter fraud case brought against former KPMG accounting firm employees, if a federal judge’s dismissal of 13 defendants on ethics grounds this week holds up on appeal. But it has won 1,236 other corporate fraud cases over…

Jul 19, 2007 8:08 PM CDT

Lawyers Outfox Fla. Legislature—For Now

Persuaded by a lobbyist that Minouche Noel really needed the $8.5 million she had been awarded by a Florida jury for being paralyzed in a botched surgery, the state legislature this year enacted a rare claims bill agreeing to pay the medical malpractice award. Until then, the vibrant young woman…

Jul 19, 2007 7:21 PM CDT

Camera ‘DNA’ May Nab Potter Bookjacker

Add digital cameras to the ever-lengthening list of modern technology that can be used as evidence to help prove a criminal or civil case. Experts say they have already identified the serial number of the three-year-old digital Canon Rebel 350 apparently used to take bootleg photos of the not-yet-released Harry…

Jul 19, 2007 6:47 PM CDT

Solo’s Suits ‘Vexatious,’ Judge Says

A Manhattan solo practitioner says an order barring her from filing new lawsuits on her own behalf is part of a judicial conspiracy against her. Eleanor Capogrosso will have to get advance permission if she wants to file any more suits, after filing 16 of them on her own behalf,…

Jul 19, 2007 3:58 PM CDT

Sisters Head Lawyer-Led Pakistan Cause

In addition to Pakistan’s suspended top judge, two sisters, both attorneys and longtime political activists, are among the emerging leaders in a lawyer-led movement to promote judicial independence and a more democratic government. Government gadflies since the 1970s, Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani have been audited, arrested and shot at.…

Jul 19, 2007 12:04 AM CDT

KPMG Lawyers: Unchain Us from Clients!

Representing a high-profile client in a major white-collar case can be both a blessing and a curse for a criminal defense attorney. Such cases can bring in big bucks and offer lots of free publicity. But they can also result in enormous unpaid legal bills. That nightmare scenario is apparently…

Jul 18, 2007 10:46 PM CDT

Diversity Issue Heats Up in Miami Courts

A simmering controversy over a series of insensitive remarks recently made by Miami area judges has heated up further, following the resignation of a Broward County jurist chairing the court’s newly created diversity board. Elijah H. Williams, the first black to be appointed to the Broward County bench in 20…

Jul 18, 2007 8:35 PM CDT

Suit: Legal Fees Draining Fund

A suit by Sept. 11 rescue workers claims a $1 billion insurance fund set up to compensate them is being drained by overhead and attorney fees. The fund has spent $74 million on legal bills and the costs of operation, paying only $45,000 to a worker who was injured by…

Jul 18, 2007 8:17 PM CDT

Texas Firms Pay $447 K to Defend Judge

Law firms and attorneys in Texas donated $447,000 to help an embattled state supreme court justice defend his integrity, according to recently revealed expense reports. With the help of these contributions, Justice Nathan Hecht prevailed in his appeal of an ethics citation for allegedly misusing his judicial office to help…

Jul 18, 2007 7:47 PM CDT