Verdicts & Settlements

South Texas Attorney Takes Plea in Corrupt-Judge Case

A Texas attorney has taken a plea in a judicial corruption case. Jose Martin “Joe” Valle, 54, pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Brownsville to aiding and abetting extortion by former State District Judge Abel Limas, according to the Brownsville Herald and the San Antonio Express-News. The case concerned…

Aug 11, 2011 8:03 PM CDT

Judge Stays Own Ruling, Nixes Search Warrant Sought by Lampooned Wash. City to ID ‘MrFuddlesticks’

A Washington judge has temporarily stayed his own ruling granting a search warrant sought by the Renton city prosecutor after a lawyer for an unidentified videographer known as “MrFuddlesticks” provided more information. His client has done nothing criminal in creating online videos that apparently lampoon local police, and should not…

Aug 10, 2011 9:51 PM CDT

NJ Appellate Panel Reverses Foreclosure Because Deutsche Bank Didn’t Have Note When It Sued

A bank that sued to foreclose a New Jersey mortgage in 2008 is back on square one after a state appeals court ruling yesterday that its filing was defective because it didn’t prove possession of the note for the loan. After winning the case on summary judgment and obtaining possession…

Aug 10, 2011 7:58 PM CDT

Red is Not Solely Louboutin’s Domain, Federal Judge Rules, Denying Injunction in Designer Shoe Case

A federal district court judge in Manhattan has ruled against Christian Louboutin SA in a hard-fought case over high-end red-soled women’s shoes. Judge Victor Marrero today denied the Paris-based fashion company’s motion for a preliminary injunction that would have barred top competitor Yves Saint Laurent from selling similar shoes while…

Aug 10, 2011 5:00 PM CDT

Caught in Cocaine Sting Set Up By Client, Ex-Prosecutor Takes Plea, Gets Probation

Corrected: A former prosecutor in Bexar County, Texas, pleaded no contest to a felony drug charge yesterday as his trial for purchasing crack cocaine was about to begin. However, Gammon Guinn, 56, can avoid having the conviction on his record if he successfully completes his sentence of deferred adjudication probation,…

Aug 9, 2011 12:41 PM CDT

Judge’s Sanction Banning Website Mention of Law Firm and Members Violated 1st Amendment

A California judge had the power to ban a San Diego woman from continuing to make statements online that had been found to be false and defamatory. But the trial court went too far, an appellate panel found, when it banned Maura Larkins, as a sanction for continued violation of…

Aug 8, 2011 4:25 PM CDT

Church Leader Jeffs Convicted in Sex-Assault Case re His ‘Spiritual’ Marriages to Child Brides

After insisting on the right to defend himself at trial and then presenting only one witness and virtually standing mute at closing, the leader of a fringe fundamentalist religious group that advocates polygamy was convicted yesterday in a sexual assault case concerning his “spiritual” marriages to child brides. Warren Jeffs,…

Aug 5, 2011 2:47 PM CDT

Ex-Judge Loses Law License for 2 Years for Sexual Behavior re Multiple Female Lawyers While on Bench

A former municipal court judge who resigned after being accused of sexually harassing a female public defender who had recently graduated from law school, as well as other attorneys who appeared before him, did not escape legal ethics discipline. Although the Arizona Supreme Court could only censure Theodore “Ted” Abrams,…

Aug 5, 2011 12:49 PM CDT

Wachovia Bank Can Keep $9M Collateral It Snagged from Marc Dreier’s Failed Law Firm, Judge Rules

A bankruptcy judge in the Southern District of New York has blocked a trustee’s effort to claw back some $9 million obtained by Wachovia Bank from a money-market account for the new-defunct Dreier law firm. The trustee had argued that the bank should have known, when it extended another $9…

Aug 5, 2011 11:16 AM CDT

Mattel Ordered to Pay $225M in Punitives, Attorney’s Fees and Costs in Bratz Doll Case

A federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., today nearly trebled the $88 million that Mattel Inc. was earlier ordered to pay a competitor in a hard-fought case over the rights to the popular Bratz doll line. Mattel must pay MGA Entertainment Inc. $85 million in punitive damages and $2.5 million…

Aug 5, 2011 12:55 AM CDT

As Hackers Steal Up to $1B Annually from Biz Bank Accounts, Victims May Have No Recourse

Some $43 million was stolen in conventional bricks-and-mortar robberies, heists and stickups of U.S. banks last year. Meanwhile, cybercrooks stole hundreds of millions in what is being called a national security threat. The exact amount isn’t known. But security experts say up to $1 billion annually is being taken by…

Aug 5, 2011 12:28 AM CDT

Widow of Slain Ex-Covington Lawyer Settles with Ex-Arent Partner and Pals Acquitted in Cover-Up Case

The widow of a former Covington & Burling associate mysteriously murdered in a Washington, D.C., townhome while he was staying with friends five years ago has settled her wrongful death suit against the three pals. Although the amount is confidential, the two homeowners, former Arent Fox partner Joseph Price and…

Aug 4, 2011 12:43 AM CDT

Attorney Is Disbarred After Conviction for Stealing a Vacuum Cleaner

A longtime Washington state lawyer has been disbarred after failing to defend a disciplinary hearing that resulted from his theft of a vacuum cleaner from a department store. Paul Ryals was admitted in 1988. He was convicted of second-degree theft in a Snohomish County bench trial earlier this year, reports…

Aug 3, 2011 10:15 PM CDT

Attorney Married to Hef’s Daughter to Pay $168K to Settle SEC Insider-Trading Case re Playboy Stock

Warned by his wife and the company’s general counsel not to trade in shares of Playboy stock, attorney William Marovitz, who has been married since 1995 to Christie Hefner, a former Playboy Enterprises Inc. CEO and the daughter of company founder Hugh Hefner, did so anyway. The result was a…

Aug 3, 2011 7:34 PM CDT

Federal Judge Says Zediva’s Rent-a-DVD-and-Player Online Business Infringes, OKs Injunction

A creative concept for providing instant access to movies as soon as they are available on DVD, by renting both a DVD and a player to a single customer via the Internet, arguably complied with copyright law. But a federal judge in central California agreed with movie studios that it…

Aug 3, 2011 6:02 PM CDT