Verdicts & Settlements

Sending female intern’s horror-film clip to local law firms gets ex-partner suspended for 3 years

Updated: A former partner of a well-known Indiana law firm has been suspended from practice for three years for persuading his paralegal to impersonate that firm’s managing partner and send an email attaching a horror-film clip in which a new hire seemingly was onscreen in a state of undress. Arthur…

May 20, 2013 4:49 PM CDT

Pay law firm the disputed $94, plus $5K more, top state court tells couple

Updated: Sued by a Montana law firm in 2010 over a $2,800 unpaid legal bill, Daniel and Valery O’Connell anted up some $3,000 but disputed $93.99 of the total. The result was additional litigation, a default judgment and an eventual determination by the state’s highest court earlier this month that…

May 20, 2013 12:00 PM CDT

Fired female patent partner settles Ropes & Gray age and gender discrimination case

A fired female intellectual property partner has settled her federal employment discrimination suit against Ropes & Gray on undisclosed terms. Patricia Martone, who was 63 when she was fired by the firm in 2010, lost out on lucrative retirement benefits to which she would have been entitled at age 65…

May 17, 2013 6:20 PM CDT

Blinks of paralyzed victim lead to guilty verdict; appeal is planned

A Cincinnati man has been convicted of murder based on the blinks of a paralyzed shooting victim. Jurors in Hamilton County, Ohio, convicted Ricardo Woods on Thursday after prosecutors played a tape in which the now-deceased victim blinked his eyes three times to identify his attacker, report the Cincinnati Enquirer…

May 17, 2013 12:34 PM CDT

Judge’s tendency to ‘interrupt, patronize and admonish’ plaintiff lawyer requires new med-mal trial

A New York appellate court has reversed a defense verdict in a medical malpractice case, saying that the trial judge’s tendency to “interrupt, patronize and admonish” the plaintiff’s lawyer prevented the plaintiff from getting a fair trial, Reuters reports. While the lawyer, Anthony Pirrotti, “may have been overly aggressive, and…

May 16, 2013 9:10 PM CDT

Winning $4.85M lottery ticket saves house of mortgage foreclosure defendant

On Feb. 12, Ricardo Cerezo was in an Illinois courtroom for a hearing in the mortgage foreclosure case on his Geneva home. The judge gave the management consultant and his wife a few more months to find another place to live. Since then, their fortunes have improved and it appears…

May 16, 2013 4:50 PM CDT

Man jailed for 10th DUI is convicted for soliciting murder of judge, prosecutor and his ex-wife

Corrected: Sentenced to an additional 16-year prison term after being convicted–for the 10th time–of driving under the influence, Gordon Vanderark allegedly tried to get back at the Illinois prosecutor and judge who put him there. He tried to arrange with a fellow inmate for them to be killed, along with…

May 16, 2013 4:20 PM CDT

Something unusual occurred when Holly Van Voast took off her shirt this spring: She wasn’t arrested

It’s been over 20 years since the top New York appeals court ruled that women, like men, may take off their shirts in public without risking criminal charges for doing so, as long as it’s for noncommercial purposes. However, at least until recently, it appears that not everyone had gotten…

May 15, 2013 9:09 PM CDT

As sanction for destroying evidence, federal judge finds US negligent in wrongful death case

As a sanction for destruction of evidence by the National Park Service in a wrongful death case, a federal judge in Sacramento, Calif., ruled Tuesday that the United States was negligent. The case concerns the July 2009 death of Tommy Botell, 9, after a retaining wall that he and his…

May 15, 2013 8:08 PM CDT

Attorneys who helped client change story by ‘explaining’ the law get 9-month suspensions

Two Fordham University law school classmates who set up a law practice together a few years after graduating are now both facing nine-month suspensions for pursuing a fraudulent personal injury case. In a Tuesday opinion (PDF), the Appellate Division of New York Supreme Court suspended the licenses of Daniel H.…

May 15, 2013 5:40 PM CDT

Abortion doc convicted of first-degree murder strikes deal for life term

Convicted earlier this week of first-degree murder in the deaths of three infants who survived late-term abortions only to be slain at his Philadelphia clinic, a Pennsylvania physician struck a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty. Kermit Gosnell, 72, will get a life term in prison without parole…

May 14, 2013 10:05 PM CDT

Was well-known lawyer’s demand letter ‘extortion’? Appeals court to hear arguments on judge’s ruling

A well-known Southern California lawyer is famous for his menacing legal threats sent on behalf of celebrity clients. But attorney Martin D. “Marty” Singer crossed the line into making an “extortion” attempt in 2011 when he sent a demand letter to a client’s business partner, a state-court judge ruled after…

May 14, 2013 4:55 PM CDT

$40M Skechers settlement approved in class action targeting toning-shoe claims

A federal judge in Louisville has approved a $40 million settlement in a consumer class action alleging Skechers made unfounded claims about the benefits of its toning shoes. The company was targeted for claims that the shoes strengthened muscles and promoted weight loss, report the Associated Press, UPI and MSN…

May 14, 2013 12:48 PM CDT

Former public defender gets 1 year in federal prison for submitting false payment vouchers

A former panel attorney who worked as a public defender in multiple counties in West Virginia has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for submitting false payment vouchers for her services to the state. Lisa A. Weese, who has since been disbarred by consent, was…

May 13, 2013 5:30 PM CDT

Lawyers who didn’t notify insurance carrier of ‘nuisance case’ lose coverage appeal

Husband-and-wife West Virginia lawyers who practiced together in the same Charleston firm initially didn’t report to their insurance carrier what they subsequently described as a pro se “nuisance case” over a $290,000 check that the plaintiff said was wrongfully issued to one of the firm’s attorneys. But after the plaintiff,…

May 13, 2013 5:00 PM CDT