Verdicts & Settlements

In Landmark Settlement of LA Graffiti Suit, Taggers Are Treated Like Gang Members

Although alleged members of the Metro Transit Assassins lost a First Amendment argument, made with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, against an unusual suit (PDF) brought by the city of Los Angeles, a settlement announced Wednesday spared them millions of dollars in claimed damages…

Jun 20, 2012 10:36 PM CDT

Secretarial Supervisor Laid Off After 27 Years at Fried Frank Loses Age Bias and Retaliation Suit

An evening secretarial supervisor who was laid off by Fried Frank after 27 years of employment there has lost her federal age bias suit against the law firm. Although Roseanne Zito contended that she was fired, at age 57, in 2008, because of her age and in retaliation for taking…

Jun 20, 2012 4:15 PM CDT

Ecuador Says It’s Mulling Asylum Request by WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange

Former computer hacker and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, facing likely extradition to Sweden—where he is wanted for questioning concerning claimed sex crimes against two volunteers for his organization—has holed up in the Ecuador’s embassy in London and is seeking political asylum in the South American country. Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino…

Jun 19, 2012 8:30 PM CDT

Federal Civil Rights Suit Seeking $40M Is Dismissed; Process Server Gave Complaint to Wrong Court

A federal judge in New York has dismissed a civil rights suit filed over a hate-crime slaying, agreeing with a magistrate that a process server hired by the plaintiffs’ lawyers delivered the complaint to a state criminal court building rather than the Suffolk County clerk’s office. Survivors of Marcelo Lucero,…

Jun 19, 2012 4:09 PM CDT

Federal Jury Convicts South Texas Lawyer in Racketeering Case re Judicial Bribes

The government scored a resounding victory in the first case to go to trial concerning a South Texas judge who admittedly took bribes from lawyers. Ray R. Marchan was found guilty Monday by a federal jury in Brownsville on all seven counts in a racketeering and extortion case concerning former…

Jun 19, 2012 3:45 PM CDT

Jury Verdict in Roger Clemens Perjury Case: Not Guilty

More than two months after jury selection began, a verdict has been reached in the perjury trial of baseball great Roger Clemens. Accused of lying when he told a congressional committee in 2008 that he had never used steroids or human growth hormone, the former star pitcher for the New…

Jun 18, 2012 8:54 PM CDT

Facebook OKs $10M Settlement in Class Action re User ‘Likes’ in Site’s ‘Sponsored Stories’

Facebook has agreed to pay $10 million to charity to settle a class action suit over the social media site’s inclusion of a user’s “likes” of certain advertisers on “Sponsored Stories” that appeared on other members’ Facebook pages. The plaintiffs contended that Facebook’s use of their names and profile pages…

Jun 18, 2012 5:12 PM CDT

‘I Am the Prize’ Ex-DA Ken Kratz Takes Plea in Attorney Ethics Case re His Treatment of Women

A former Wisconsin district attorney who has said he already paid a steep price for his behavior is taking a plea in a legal ethics case brought over his claimed sexual harassment of multiple women. Kenneth Kratz announced Friday that he has reached an agreement with the Office of Lawyer…

Jun 15, 2012 8:40 PM CDT

Ex-McKinsey Chief Rajat Gupta Is Guilty in Insider-Trading Case Linked to Hedge Fund Head Rajaratnam

A 63-year-old former managing partner of McKinsey & Co. was convicted Friday in a high-profile insider trading case by a federal jury in Manhattan. Rajat Gupta, who is also a former director of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co., was accused by prosecutors of passing along boardroom…

Jun 15, 2012 7:22 PM CDT

Federal Jury Sides with Kevin Costner in Stephen Baldwin’s $17M Suit Over Oil Spill Cleanup Machines

Kevin Costner. s_bukley / Shutterstock.com Stephen Baldwin. s_bukley / Shutterstock.com A federal jury in New Orleans sided with Kevin Costner in a lawsuit brought by fellow actor Stephen Baldwin over his investment in an oil spill cleanup machine venture that earned millions for the Field of Dreams, Bodyguard and Dances…

Jun 15, 2012 5:37 PM CDT

Top Oregon Court Says Much, But Not All, of 1,247 Boy Scout ‘Ineligible Volunteer’ Files Are Public

In a decision considered important not only to those involved in child sex-abuse cases but to a wide array of organizations seeking to reveal or keep secret material that has been seen by a jury, Oregon’s top court on Thursday upheld a lower-court ruling that 20,000 pages of confidential Boy…

Jun 14, 2012 8:51 PM CDT

Judge OKs Use of Predictive Coding to Cut E-Discovery Document Review Group from 2 Million to 5,000

A computer technique that can be used to drastically reduce the number of documents that must be reviewed by humans in litigation discovery has been OK’d by a Virginia judge despite opposition from the opposing party. Partner Thomas Gricks III of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis argued the contested motion…

Jun 11, 2012 4:10 PM CDT

Chamber of Commerce Takes Aim at Charitable Awards of Unclaimed Class-Action Funds

Cy pres awards in class actions—in which unclaimed settlement funds are awarded to charities—help pump up fees for the plaintiffs’ lawyers, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform. Testifying in a congressional hearing last week, John Beisner of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom explained the…

Jun 6, 2012 11:26 AM CDT

Lawyer’s Spilled Coffee Reference Doesn’t Work; Jury Awards $900K for Herpes Infection

An Oregon jury was apparently unimpressed with a defense lawyer’s inference that a woman suing over a herpes infection was money hungry. Last week Multnomah County jurors ordered a retired dentist to pay the woman $900,000, the Oregonian reports. The Beaverton woman, who filed suit under a pseudonym, was a…

Jun 5, 2012 2:14 PM CDT

Top Nev. Court Grants 3rd-Party Animal Rights Group Petition, Stays Execution of Dog in Tot’s Death

In a divided decision on Friday, the top court in Nevada granted a stay that prevents officials in Henderson from euthanizing a 120- or 130-pound dog that killed a toddler in their city until a New York-based animal rights group has an opportunity to appeal an adverse court ruling. A…

Jun 4, 2012 8:31 PM CDT