Verdicts & Settlements

Former defense lawyer gets 5 years in Secret Service money-laundering sting

Once a prominent criminal defense attorney, Ronald E. Partee, 66, had little to say as he was sentenced Monday by a federal judge in Kansas City to five years in prison. He will serve the time at a prison camp in South Dakota, to minimize contact with his former clients.…

Apr 30, 2013 5:08 PM CDT

Greenberg Traurig agrees to settle suit claiming it contributed to ‘chaotic’ Heller wind down

Greenberg Traurig has agreed to pay $4.9 million to settle a suit claiming the firm contributed to a “chaotic” wind down of Heller Ehrman. The deal still needs the approval of a bankruptcy judge, the Wall Street Journal Law Blog (sub. req.) reports. Greenberg Traurig spokeswoman Jill Perry told the…

Apr 30, 2013 1:34 PM CDT

Claimed Anonymous member takes plea in law firm computer hacking case

A 21-year-old who claimed to be a member of the Anonymous hacking collective took a plea Monday in a case over an alleged unauthorized intrusion into a Pittsburgh law firm’s computer. Matthew James West pleaded guilty to unlawful trafficking in computer passwords and reckless damage to a protected computer, both…

Apr 29, 2013 8:12 PM CDT

‘Wicked and selfish’ mom pushed teen daughter to get pregnant so she could raise baby, judge says

Thwarted when she tried, as a single mother, to adopt a fourth child, a “domineering” American woman living in Great Britain tried another approach. She used her influence on her then-14-year-old daughter to persuade the teen to get pregnant and provide the baby she wanted, so she could raise it…

Apr 29, 2013 6:24 PM CDT

Disabled woman who couldn’t afford vet for dog gets 6 months house arrest, can’t have a goldfish

As the Tampa Bay Times earlier told the story, a disabled Florida woman living on a $508-a-month government check had essentially done the best she could for her beloved 14-year-old dog, Harley. But those who charged, convicted and sentenced Tammy Brown in a felony animal cruelty case saw a different…

Apr 29, 2013 2:25 PM CDT

Postcard-only jail mail policy is unconstitutional, federal judge rules

A federal judge in Oregon has found that a suburban Portland jail’s policy of allowing inmates to receive only postcards is unconstitutional, because it violates the First Amendment rights of both those who send and those who receive mail. While the ruling applies only to the Columbia County Jail, it…

Apr 26, 2013 8:02 PM CDT

Widow who owed $21.6M to feds gets ‘effectively 5 seconds’ of probation, as judge scolds government

An elderly Palm Beach, Fla., widow with a high school education got “effectively five seconds” of probation from a federal judge in an offshore tax-evasion case after paying a $21.6 million penalty and back taxes. Mary Estelle Curran, 79, had inherited $43 million in Swiss bank accounts from her husband,…

Apr 26, 2013 3:50 PM CDT

Judge boots both bickering attorneys from civil case, sends copy of order to disciplinary body

For months, attorneys Joel Brodsky and Michael Meschino just couldn’t seem to get along as they litigated a civil matter over a failed business deal. So on Wednesday a Chicago judge booted them both off the case, finding that their “deplorable behavior”—which continued despite warnings and the use of courthouse…

Apr 25, 2013 8:30 PM CDT

Plan to have Kaye Scholer give up $1.5M in fees to settle disclosure case is withdrawn

A planned settlement of a case over lack of disclosure by a law firm and others in a corporate bankruptcy case has been withdrawn without explanation by the feds. The settlement would have required Kaye Scholer to forgo $1.5 million in attorney fees in a Chapter 11 case and have…

Apr 25, 2013 3:58 PM CDT

Millionaire who helped son, 16, get married has 180-day contempt term upheld by appeals court

A Florida appeals court on Wednesday upheld without comment a 180-day contempt term imposed on a millionaire for taking his then-16-year-old son to Las Vegas to get married to his housekeeper’s 18-year-old daughter. A Miami-Dade circuit judge had ordered Dan Rotta to take the troubled teen to a Utah boarding…

Apr 24, 2013 10:01 PM CDT

Appeals court OKs fine for lawyer who asserted SLAPP shield against tort case over demand letter

A California law that offers lawyers a shield against tort claims concerning their litigation activities has been limited by a California appeals court and might even be eliminated entirely by a federal appeals court. The state’s so-called anti-SLAPP statute is intended to offer an early exit for small parties targeted…

Apr 24, 2013 9:23 PM CDT

City ordered to pay $50K in attorney fees in case over police shooting of family’s pet dog

A small city in Washington state has been ordered by a federal judge to pay $50,000 in attorney’s fees to the prevailing plaintiffs in a federal civil rights suit over the fatal police shooting of their pet dog. Charles and Deirdre Wright had earlier settled with the city of Des…

Apr 24, 2013 3:38 PM CDT

Son of dead shooter in Del. courthouse slayings gets six months for probation violation

The son of a man who killed two women at a Delaware courthouse earlier this year as they arrived for a child-support hearing was sentenced Tuesday to two months in federal prison for violating his probation in a child-kidnapping and fraud case. David Matusiewicz was also present at the Delaware…

Apr 23, 2013 11:06 PM CDT

Kaye Scholer cedes $1.5M in Chapter 11 fees, OKs new policy to end US Trustee’s disclosure case

Kaye Scholer has agreed to give up $1.5 million in legal fees and revamp its policies and procedures concerning applications for bankruptcy work to settle a U.S. Trustee’s office claim that the law firm failed to make necessary disclosures in a major Chapter 11 case. The settlement announced Monday in…

Apr 23, 2013 10:02 PM CDT

Appeals court says client must pay law firm’s fees unless there is a finding of misconduct

An appeals court in Michigan has agreed with a lower court that a law firm and its attorney did not commit malpractice by signing a settlement agreement on behalf of a group of clients, even though one client objected to the pact. Defendant IGC Management Inc. had appealed the lower…

Apr 23, 2013 6:40 PM CDT