Verdicts & Settlements

Federal Judge: Goodyear, Lawyers Must Pay Plaintiff’s Legal Fees, Provide Sanctions Order to Others

Finding that a major corporation and two lawyers representing the company blatantly ignored or evaded their discovery obligations and comparing a hard-fought products liability action to the endless Jarndyce and Jarndyce case described in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House, a federal judge in Arizona has ordered Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.…

Nov 16, 2012 3:45 PM CST

BP Says It Will Pay $4.5B to Resolve Federal Criminal and Securities Allegations

Updated and corrected: BP has announced it will pay $4.5 billion to resolve federal criminal and securities allegations in connection with the Gulf oil spill. The company will pay $4 billion over five years in a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department and $525 million over three years to resolve…

Nov 15, 2012 4:38 PM CST

BP Said to Be Near Federal Plea Deal with Record Criminal Penalty

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly set to announce a plea deal with BP that will include a record criminal penalty for its actions in the Gulf oil spill. A source tells Reuters the penalty will top the record amount of $1.3 billion paid in 2009 by Pfizer Inc.…

Nov 15, 2012 12:43 PM CST

Woman Who Faked Mental Illness to Get Out of Jury Duty Pleads to Felony, Gets Deferred Adjudication

A Denver woman who faked mental illness and wore hair curlers and mismatched reindeer socks in an effort to avoid jury duty has taken a felony plea. Susan A. Cole pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempting to influence a public servant and a misdemeanor perjury charge. She was given deferred adjudication…

Nov 14, 2012 4:30 PM CST

2nd Circuit Reverses Disbarred Lawyer’s Fed’l Immigration Fraud Conviction Over Voir Dire Issue

A federal appeals court panel has reversed the immigration fraud conviction of a disbarred New York lawyer, finding that his constitutional right to a public trial was violated because the presiding judge excluded the attorney’s brother and the brother’s girlfriend from the courtroom during voir dire. The judge reportedly did…

Nov 13, 2012 11:10 PM CST

Man Is Jailed for Charging Cellphone In Park Picnic Area of City That Offers Free Charges for E-Cars

For those who own electric cars, the city of Sarasota, Fla., offers free electricity at vehicle charging stations throughout the city. But a homeless man was arrested Sunday after a police officer spotted him charging his cellphone at a strip of electrical outlets in a picnic shelter in a public…

Nov 13, 2012 10:05 PM CST

Judge Says Victimized Wife Doesn’t Have to Pay $25K Legal Bill for Ex-Spouse Imprisoned In Sex Case

Crystal Harris expected to help others by fighting for a new California law that prevents courts from ordering victims of spousal abuse to pay support to the other spouse after they are divorced. But it turns out she also helped herself. Already obligated to pay a $47,000 bill to the…

Nov 13, 2012 7:57 PM CST

Supreme Court Leaves In Place 11th Circuit’s Reversal of $600K Prosecutorial Misconduct Sanction

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to reconsider a federal appellate court’s reversal of a $600,000 sanction imposed by a judge on the Department of Justice over what the judge considered prosecutorial misconduct. The top court’s decision Tuesday not to hear an appeal by the acquitted defendant, Dr. Ali Shaygan,…

Nov 13, 2012 6:46 PM CST

Finding ‘Forbidden Fruit Issue’ Is ‘Hopelessly Vague,’ Judge Nixes Man’s Deer-Feeding Conviction

A New York judge has sparked controversy by reversing a Sullivan County man’s municipal court conviction for feeding deer on his property on constitutional grounds. Represented by a lawyer for the first time as he appealed his conviction under a state law apparently intended to prevent hunters from baiting white-tailed…

Nov 13, 2012 5:20 PM CST

Unit of Bank of New York Mellon to Pay $210M Settlement for Madoff Investor Advice

A Bank of New York Mellon subsidiary that advised clients who invested with Bernard Madoff has agreed to pay $210 million to settle suits by the U.S. Department of Labor, the New York Attorney General’s office and private investors. Ivy Asset Management is paying the money to resolve allegations that…

Nov 13, 2012 3:41 PM CST

6th Circuit: Lawyer Must Pay $300K for Using Stock Photos to Create Morphed Child Porn Trial Exhibit

A federal appeals court has approved a $300,000 award against an Ohio lawyer rejecting the attorney’s arguments that he had a First Amendment right to morph stock photos into child pornography as part of a defense trial exhibit and that no one was harmed by his doing so. Dean Boland…

Nov 12, 2012 6:08 PM CST

Unusual Identical Twin Fratricide Case Lacks Evidence; Survivor Says He Is Innocent, Misses Brother

Wael Ali’s family and friends stood by him when he was accused of killing his identical twin brother, Wasel, by strangling him with his bare hands in a fit of anger. But investigators considered him a lead suspect as they mulled the location where the 19-year-old’s body was found, in…

Nov 9, 2012 10:25 PM CST

Va. Judge OKs US Army Veteran’s License Plate, Says State Incorrectly Considered Bumper Sticker, Too

A Virginia judge has ruled that the state department of motor vehicles exceeded its authority last year when revoked a former U.S. Army sergeant’s vanity license plate, which could be considered to make an offensive racial reference. However, Circuit Court Judge John W. Brown said the state has to allow…

Nov 9, 2012 8:51 PM CST

Double Whammy for ‘I Did It. So What?’ Defendant: Jury Convicts, Voters Didn’t Repeal Death Penalty

An unrepentant pro se defendant in a California capital murder case was, not surprisingly, convicted Wednesday following his testimony to a jury earlier this week that “I did it. So what?” But Nathan Burris, 49, also lost out on another possible chance to derail a potential death sentence when California…

Nov 7, 2012 11:23 PM CST

‘Fugitive’ Texas PI Lawyer Jailed on Bench Warrant in NM Civil Consumer Case; Bail Set at $1M Cash

A Texas personal injury lawyer was arrested Tuesday in El Paso and was being held without bail for potential extradition after police there learned a bench warrant had been issued by a New Mexico judge in a civil case brought against Michael J. Gopin by the state attorney general. Gopin…

Nov 2, 2012 6:17 PM CDT