Verdicts & Settlements

Lawyer loses license for 2 years because his bookkeeper brother stole $4M from firm

A New York matrimonial attorney is apparently going to be forced to take a two-year leave from law practice after the state’s top appellate court declined Tuesday to review an intermediate appeals court’s OK of a two-year law license suspension. Peter Galasso was disciplined for failing to safeguard some $4…

Feb 20, 2013 6:05 PM CST

‘Disrespectful’ lawyer held in contempt after calling judge’s bond ruling ‘ridiculous’

Opinions differed about exactly what happened during a bond hearing in a suburban Chicago courtroom last week. But both defense attorney Robert Ritacca and his opponent in the matter, assistant Lake County state’s attorney Danielle Pascucci, agree that he was held in contempt and fined $1,000, reports the Chicago Tribune.…

Feb 20, 2013 5:45 PM CST

Federal jury awards $50.9M to crime writer Patricia Cornwell

In a plot twist worthy of one of her Kay Scarpetta crime novels, best-selling author Patricia Cornwell was awarded $50.9 million Tuesday by a federal jury in Boston. She had sought tens of millions, contending that her former financial manager, Anchin, Block & Anchin, and its former principal, Evan H.…

Feb 19, 2013 10:35 PM CST

3 lawyers facing theft and RICO cases over private investigation work for Glock get reprieve

Three lawyers facing criminal charges over $3 million in private investigation work they did for gun maker Glock Inc. got a reprieve Monday from the Georgia Supreme Court. Suggesting the 4-year statute of limitations had run on theft and attempted theft charges against Jerry Chapman, former federal prosecutor Jim Harper…

Feb 19, 2013 10:10 PM CST

Search ordered on juror’s computer drive to see if she violated Web research ban

Terri Wright says a Florida newspaper reporter misunderstood her when he said in an article that she conducted Internet research while serving as the forewoman of a jury hearing a 2011 drug case against a Grammy-winning reggae star. But a federal judge in Tampa plans to have a forensics expert…

Feb 19, 2013 8:16 PM CST

Sexting lawsuit against ex-district attorney is settled

A sexual harassment lawsuit against former Wisconsin District Attorney Ken Kratz by a domestic abuse victim whose ex-boyfriend he was prosecuting has been settled. No details of the settlement, first reported Tuesday by WLUR-TV, have been released, the Associated Press reports. But the alleged victim, Stephanie Van Groll, had accused…

Feb 14, 2013 10:25 PM CST

Jury awards $63M in Motrin suit; lawyer says drug caused reaction ‘like having your skin burned off’

Jurors in Plymouth, Mass., have awarded $63 million to a teen and her family in a suit claiming Children’s Motrin caused a rare skin condition and blindness. Samantha Reckis, now 16, was only 7 when she had a severe reaction to the ibuprofen medication, the Boston Globe and and the…

Feb 14, 2013 2:41 PM CST

Reports: Driver’s license of fugitive ex-cop accused in slayings is found with body in burned cabin

A manhunt for a former Los Angeles police officer that has been ongoing for over a week apparently ended Tuesday night in a fiery blaze after authorities began using a special armored vehicle to peel off the walls of a mountainside cabin following a gun battle, the deployment of tear…

Feb 13, 2013 6:04 PM CST

Lawyer ordered to delete Facebook posts involving McDonald’s settlement

Updated: A Michigan judge has ordered a lawyer to take down Facebook posts concerning a settlement by McDonald’s concerning its halal food offerings. The order also required Dearborn attorney Majed Moughni to post a copy of the actual settlement in a class action against McDonald’s and provide the court with…

Feb 13, 2013 4:23 PM CST

Dechert settles ex-associate’s ‘macho culture’ family leave case

Dechert has settled, on undisclosed terms, a former Boston financial services associate’s retaliation claim concerning the law firm’s alleged “macho culture.” Originally, Ariel Ayanna also filed a Massachusetts state-law sex-discrimination claim. In it, he contended that the firm used his alleged low billings as a pretext for terminating him in…

Feb 12, 2013 2:04 PM CST

Man who punched his own lawyer is convicted, gets 34 years, plus 6 months, and faces new charges

A man who punched his own lawyer in the face last week when the attorney argued against the client’s desire to fire him has been acquitted on an an attempted murder count even though he subsequently appeared in front of the Ohio jury in restraints. But Dionte Lummus was convicted…

Feb 11, 2013 11:30 PM CST

Retired Dewey partners propose to settle bankruptcy case for up to $5K each

A group of retired partners of Dewey & LeBoeuf had been taking an aggressive position in the BigLaw firm’s bankruptcy, contending that they should be treated as creditors for the purpose of winding up the failed business since they are owed some $80 million in unpaid retirement compensation and benefits.…

Feb 11, 2013 12:00 PM CST

3-parent birth certificate is OK’d by judge

After a lengthy court battle, two women and the gay man they used as a sperm donor have agreed that all three will be listed as parents on the birth certificate of their 23-month-old daughter, and a South Florida judge has approved the settlement. Maria Italiano, 43, and Cher Filippazzo,…

Feb 8, 2013 3:33 PM CST

Judge censured for comments he made to defendant sentenced to ‘rot in prison’

An Oregon judge was censured (PDF) by the Oregon Supreme Court on Thursday for comments he made when sentencing a defendant to life in prison for his sexual abuse of two 12-year-old boys. Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Tim Barnack said at the sentencing that defendant Richard Lee Taylor, then…

Feb 8, 2013 12:50 PM CST

Video shows car was towed after city workers painted it into a handicapped parking space

Hila Ben-Baruch knew she had parked her car legally on a Tel Aviv street on Sunday. But when she returned to get it the vehicle was gone and a new handicapped-parking zone existed in what had previously been an ordinary parking space. Told, when she complained to the city, that…

Feb 8, 2013 12:05 PM CST