Verdicts & Settlements

Former Name Partner at Collapsed Miami Law Firm Gets Three-Year Suspension

Corrected: The Florida Supreme Court ordered a three-year suspension for Miami lawyer Henry “Hank” Adorno, the one-time name partner at Adorno & Yoss before it disbanded. The troubled Florida law firm announced its dissolution in March after Adorno resigned from the firm following disclosure of his ethics troubles. His departure…

Apr 22, 2011 2:15 PM CDT

Another Attorney Takes Plea in Galleon Case, Admits Connecting Trader with Ex-Ropes & Gray Lawyers

Another lawyer has pleaded guilty in a securities fraud case related to Galleon Group and co-founder Raj Rajaratnam. Personal injury attorney Jason Goldfarb, 32, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Manhattan to securities fraud and conspiracy, according to Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog. Sentencing guidelines call…

Apr 21, 2011 10:45 PM CDT

Mattel Loses Latest Bratz Doll Trial, Owes MGA $88M, Possibly Trebled

A verdict has been reached by a federal jury in a copyright infringement case filed by Barbie manufacturer Mattel Inc. over MGA Entertainment’s popular Bratz dolls. In a major reversal of fortune for Mattel, which won a $100 million award in an earlier trial of the same case and had…

Apr 21, 2011 6:38 PM CDT

Neo-Nazi Conviction Nixed; Gov’t Said He Targeted Juror in Trial re Soliciting Murder of Fed’l Judge

A federal district judge has reversed a jury conviction earlier this year of a self-avowed neo-Nazi accused of using a now-defunct website to solicit harm to the foreman of a federal jury. The government argued that William White, although he did not expressly call for jury foreman Mark Hoffman to…

Apr 20, 2011 4:53 PM CDT

Judge in Dognapping Case Awards Canine Custody to Caretaker, Orders Original Owners to Pay $16K

In the latest litigation treating a beloved pet almost as a human child, a judge in the United Kingdom asked to deal with a London dognapping case has awarded temporary custody of an approximately two-year-old Labrador to its caretaker of 18 months. The court was asked to weigh in after…

Apr 20, 2011 12:33 AM CDT

Jury Says Nordstrom Must Pay $1.6M for Failing to Protect 2 Shoppers from Female Stabber

Arguing that personnel at a Nordstrom in Bethesda, Md., didn’t do enough to protect shoppers from a deranged woman armed with knives in the eight minutes she was in the store, lawyers for two women stabbed multiple times one day in 2005 have persuaded a Montgomery County jury to award…

Apr 19, 2011 10:48 PM CDT

Chevron Celebrates Swift Dismissal of Patton Boggs Declaratory Suit re Alleged ‘Smear Campaign’

Saying that a claim of tortious interference with client relations was too speculative and that it would be inappropriate for one federal district court to tell other federal district courts how to rule on attorney ethics issues, a judge has dismissed a declaratory judgment action brought by a well-known law…

Apr 19, 2011 8:16 PM CDT

Wife of Jailed Ex-Judge Appeals Home Forfeiture, Seeks 3rd Circuit Ruling Protecting Her Interest

The wife of a retired Pennsylvania judge serving a federal prison sentence for insurance fraud is appealing a court order requiring that their home be forfeited to help pay restitution for the crime. Joanne Joyce, 58, filed an appeal yesterday of a federal judge’s ruling last month that the interests…

Apr 19, 2011 4:58 PM CDT

Omission on HUD-1 Form Leads to Lawyer’s Guilty Plea in Federal Mortgage Fraud Case

A Connecticut lawyer is facing possible prison time of perhaps six months after pleading guilty in federal court in Bridgeport to omitting information from a mortgage form in a real estate transaction. John Bryk, a 61-year-old Bridgeport practitioner, knew that the terms of his clients’ mortgage for the Westport home…

Apr 18, 2011 11:37 PM CDT

Appeals Court Nixes $650K Legal Fees Award, Says Parties Never Mutually Agreed to Arbitrate

At first, it was former clients of Glaser Weil Fink Jacobs & Shapiro who wanted binding arbitration to settle a dispute over the legal fees they were charged. Then, after the Los Angeles law firm rejected the written offer from art gallery owners George and Esther Goff, it changed its…

Apr 18, 2011 10:29 PM CDT

Fatal Collision with Cyclist Leads to Law License Suspension for Kansas Attorney

A Kansas attorney has been temporarily suspended from law practice after pleading no contest last week to felony charges related to a fatal collision with a bicyclist last year. Marc A. Schultz of Topeka will be sentenced in June for involuntary manslaughter, driving under the influence of alcohol and leaving…

Apr 18, 2011 7:07 PM CDT

Judge Orders Creditor to Stay Off Debtor’s Social Networking Pages

The lawsuit filed by Melanie Beacham over alleged harassment by MarkOne Financial is still ongoing. But in the meantime, a Florida judge has ordered the debt collector not to contact Beacham or her family and friends over Facebook or any other social networking site, reports the Orlando Sentinel. Her lawyer,…

Apr 18, 2011 5:30 PM CDT

Ex-Lawyer from Well-Known Palm Beach Family Expected to Plead Guilty in $600K Client Theft Case

A disbarred Florida lawyer whose biological and adoptive fathers were both well-known in Palm Beach County has reportedly decided to plead guilty as his trial was about to begin today for allegedly stealing over $600,000 from three clients. A. Clark Cone will plead guilty in the Palm Beach Circuit Court…

Apr 18, 2011 4:00 PM CDT

Skeleton in Closet After 1821 Execution Is Buried by Family Descendant

It emphatically wasn’t what his parents wanted. But instead of being buried the body of 18-year-old John Horwood was dissected after his 1821 execution for an almost accidental murder of a former girlfriend. The autopsy was done by Richard Smith, the chief surgeon of Bristol Royal Infirmary in Great Britain,…

Apr 14, 2011 5:00 PM CDT

Lawyer in ‘Invidious Personal Vendetta’ Ordered to Pay Prosecutors’ Defense Costs

A federal judge has ordered a Kentucky lawyer to pay the defense costs of two Kenton County prosecutors after suing them for false arrest and malicious prosecution in what U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman called “an invidious personal vendetta” that allowed attorney Eric Deters to make “libelous” statements in court…

Apr 14, 2011 2:58 PM CDT