Verdicts & Settlements

9th Circuit OKs civil rights case over death of 2 dogs shot during execution of search warrant

A divided federal appeals court panel has reversed a summary judgment in favor of police in a civil rights case over two pet dogs shot to death during the execution of a search warrant at the plaintiff’s home in a Las Vegas suburb. Reviewing the facts alleged by Louisa Thurston…

Jan 13, 2014 11:45 PM CST

BP oil-spill settlement is upheld by 5th Circuit

A federal appeals court has upheld the settlement in the 2010 Gulf oil spill over BP’s objections that a claims administrator’s interpretation of the deal was resulting in payments to businesses that suffered no injuries. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday, report the Wall…

Jan 13, 2014 5:48 PM CST

Art museum gets Renoir painting that woman said she bought for $7 at flea market, judge rules

A federal judge has ruled against a Virginia woman who claimed she purchased a small painting by a famous French impressionist for $7 at a flea market. How Marcia “Martha” Fuqua acquired the Pierre-Auguste Renoir painting doesn’t matter, said U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in a Friday decision granting a…

Jan 13, 2014 5:20 PM CST

Judge OKs mistrial when juror won’t deliberate due to religious beliefs, schedules contempt hearing

A Maryland judge declared a mistrial Thursday in a manslaughter case over the death of a law enforcement officer in a high-speed chase after a juror refused to deliberate due to her religious beliefs. The juror did not initially raise this objection before deliberations began Wednesday in the case against…

Jan 10, 2014 12:10 AM CST

Defendant in high-profile insider-trade trial was expelled from Harvard Law School, prosecutors say

A 39-year-old defendant in a high-profile insider trading case didn’t simply drop out of Harvard Law School to earn a master’s in business administration degree at Stanford University, as has been previously reported, prosecutors say. They contend in a federal court filing that former SAC Capital Advisors fund manager Mathew…

Jan 9, 2014 11:40 PM CST

Judge OKs subpoena requiring NJ gov’s appointee to testify about traffic-jam scandal; he takes 5th

Corrected: In an emergency hearing Thursday, a New Jersey judge refused to block a subpoena requiring a former Port Authority appointee of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to testify before a state legislative committee investigating a traffic jam scandal. The same morning, David Wildstein, who served as as director of…

Jan 9, 2014 6:19 PM CST

Turning a blind eye to Madoff fraud spurs $1.7B penalty for JPMorgan

JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $1.7 billion to settle criminal charges that it ignored signs of fraud by its client Bernard Madoff. The money will go to victims of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, report the New York Times DealBook blog and the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). An agreement expected…

Jan 7, 2014 3:22 PM CST

Judge dubious about effort to seek new trial in Michael Jackson case due to confusing jury forms

Although a final ruling has not yet been made, a California judge was dubious during a Friday hearing about efforts to seek a new trial in the wrongful death case brought by Michael Jackson’s estate. Confusing jury instructions tainted the verdict in favor of a concert promoter who paid the…

Jan 3, 2014 10:20 PM CST

4th Circuit rejects widow’s fraud claim over info withheld from defendant’s expert witnesses

Rejecting a widow’s argument that a coal company committed a fraud on the court by withholding information from its own experts supporting her husband’s claim of black lung disease in a worker’s compensation case, a federal appeals court has dismissed her suit seeking additional benefits. In a Friday opinion (PDF),…

Jan 3, 2014 9:25 PM CST

Girl gets $32M settlement in med-mal case over quadruple limb amputations

A $32 million settlement in a malpractice case against the University of Chicago Medical Center last year will allow an 11-year-old who had both arms and both legs amputated to live for the first time in a fully handicapped-accessible home; pay a personal assistant for the rest of her life;…

Jan 3, 2014 8:40 PM CST

Undocumented immigrants can practice in Calif. under new law, top state court says

Giving its seal of approval to a new state statute that allows undocumented immigrants to practice law in California if they were brought to the state as children, the state’s top court on Thursday granted permission for the California State Bar to admit Sergio C. Garcia. “In light of the…

Jan 2, 2014 9:15 PM CST

Apple feuds with court-appointed BigLaw monitor over his access, firm’s 2-week $138K bill

The relationship between Apple Inc. and a Goodwin Procter partner appointed by a federal court to monitor the company’s compliance with antitrust laws concerning its e-book marketing hasn’t been going well. In a Monday filing in the Manhattan case accompanied by hundreds of email copies, monitor Michael Bromwich says Apple…

Dec 31, 2013 6:09 PM CST

Lawyer fined for telling friend that client ‘Harry Potter’ author wrote new novel under pseudonym

A British lawyer has been rebuked and fined £1,000 by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for violating client confidentiality by revealing to his wife’s best friend that the author of the best-selling “Harry Potter” children’s book series had written a new novel under a pseudonym. The revelation sent sales of the…

Dec 31, 2013 5:40 PM CST

Unhappy with $128K award in family farm case, couple sues prominent lawyer and wins $1.1M

Originally, a Maine couple blamed an agricultural conglomerate for the loss of a potato seed farm that had been in their family for generations. But, following a 10-year legal battle against Agway Inc., Vaughn and Mary Sleeper refocused their legal attack on a new target–their former lawyer and his firm.…

Dec 31, 2013 4:15 PM CST

Former DOJ lawyer who practiced without active license for 20 years is admonished

A former lawyer for the Department of Justice who practiced for 20 years without an active law license has been disciplined with an informal admonition–the lightest possible penalty–for failing to maintain an active license and providing false information to the DOJ about her status. Laura Heiser began working for the…

Dec 30, 2013 7:10 PM CST