Verdicts & Settlements

Lawyer Gets 30 Days and Must Wear Alcohol-Detection Device After 5th DUI Arrest

An Illinois personal injury lawyer was sentenced to 30 days in jail and must wear an ankle device to detect whether he has been drinking after his conviction in a jury trial last year for aggravated drunken driving causing great bodily harm. The suburban Chicago case resulted from Timothy Winfield’s…

Jul 13, 2010 5:22 PM CDT

Pit Bull Beats Rap; Choppers Don’t Match Bite Marks on Pop Singer

Add another case to the annals of criminal charges pursued in a potential death-penalty matter over a bad eyewitness identification. Apparently persuaded by a veterinarian’s testimony that the bit marks on pop singer Vanessa Carlton’s leg didn’t match a local pit bull’s choppers, a Pennsylvania district court judge held that…

Jul 12, 2010 7:56 PM CDT

As Jury Deliberates in 45-Count Case, Ex-Attorney Takes Plea Deal

As a Florida jury continued its second day of deliberations in a 45-count racketeering and theft case after a two-month trial, a now-disbarred attorney struck a deal with prosecutors. Ira Hatch, 62, will plead guilty to one count of racketeering concerning $4 million in allegedly misappropriated client funds, and the…

Jul 12, 2010 7:03 PM CDT

Judge Slashes ‘Excessive’ $675K Award in Music Download Case to $67.5K

A Harvard Law School professor representing a graduate student in a high-profile music downloading case has finally won a significant victory. On Friday a federal judge slashed the $675,000 awarded last year by a Boston jury against Charles Nesson’s client, Joel Tenenbaum, to $67,500, saying that it is “unconstitutionally excessive”…

Jul 12, 2010 5:26 PM CDT

Ethics Panel Nixes Charity Plan to Auction Lunch Dates with Judges

No matter how worthy the cause, it’s not ethical for a judge to allow him- or herself to be auctioned off as a lunch date at a charitable event, an ethics panel of the Nevada Commission on Judicial Discipline has ruled in an advisory opinion. Doing so would be fraught…

Jul 7, 2010 6:27 PM CDT

Lead Attorney in Microsoft Case Hogged Lion’s Share of $75M Legal Fee, Suit Says

A lead lawyer in a $179.5 million class action antitrust settlement with Microsoft Corp. shared the $75 million legal fee with attorney Richard Hagstrom and the Minneapolis-based Zelle Hoffmann law firm, the Associated Press reports. But Roxanne Conlin of Des Moines, Iowa, didn’t honor an agreement to pay 20 percent…

Jul 6, 2010 10:09 PM CDT

Ex-Client Wins $7.3M Emotional Distress Award Against Law Firm

Updated: A former client who claims that his law firm worked against his interests in a battle with his brother for control of the now-shuttered Northern Mattress and Furniture Co. was awarded $7.3 million by a Maine jury on Friday for emotional distress. Peter Redman claimed that he was kept…

Jul 6, 2010 8:41 PM CDT

Appeals Court Nixes ‘Paramour’ Ban on Longtime Same-Sex Partner in Parenting Plan

Banning the longtime lesbian partner of a child’s mother from living in her home while her 15-year-old daughter is there is unnecessary and may not be in the best interest of the child, a Tennessee appeals court ruled yesterday. Nixing, for the second time, the “paramour” provision imposed by a…

Jun 30, 2010 10:07 PM CDT

Scottie Pippen Scores $2M Verdict in Law Firm Malpractice Case

He was seeking $8 million. But a jury awarded former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen $2 million this week in his legal malpractice claim against a Windy City law firm, reports the National Law Journal in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.). “It was not all that…

Jun 30, 2010 7:28 PM CDT

Suspension Urged for Lawyer Who Called Judge a ‘Narcissistic, Maniacal Mental Case’

A six-month suspension has been recommended for an Illinois lawyer who repeatedly criticized a judge, calling him, at one point, a “narcissistic, maniacal mental case” during a telephone conversation with the judge and opposing counsel in a family law matter. Although Melvin Hoffman has practiced for more than 35 years…

Jun 30, 2010 6:32 PM CDT

Blogger Who Put Juror Info Online Can Be Prosecuted; Intent Will Be Key Issue

Reversing a lower court, a federal appeals panel has given the government a green light to prosecute a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi for posting a juror’s name and publicly available address information on the overthrow.com website after the unidentified man helped convict a fellow white supremacist. Whether William White intended to encourage…

Jun 29, 2010 11:04 PM CDT

Ex-SEC Lawyer to Get $755K in Whistle-Blower Settlement

Without admitting wrongdoing, the Securities and Exchange Commission has agreed to pay $755,000 to settle a former staff lawyer’s wrongful termination whistle-blower suit. Gary Aguirre had contended that he was abruptly fired in 2005 because of his investigation of a potential insider-trading case against a giant hedge fund, Pequot Capital…

Jun 29, 2010 9:12 PM CDT

Lawyer Who Stole $650 to Spend on Drugs Shouldn’t Be Disbarred, Dissent Says

Attorney Juan Jesus Rodriguez admittedly behaved despicably by stealing at least $650 from low-income clients. And, when Minnesota lawyer disciplinary authorities caught up with him, he didn’t attempt to prove any mitigating factors or contest disbarment, saying that an aspect of his current participation in the Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics…

Jun 29, 2010 7:32 PM CDT

Former Chicago Police Lt. Accused of Suspect Torture Is Convicted of Perjury and Obstruction

It was a long time coming. But this afternoon, a decorated former Chicago police lieutenant accused, along with officers under his command, of torturing scores of suspects to extract confessions during the 1970s and 1980s was criminally convicted by a federal jury in Chicago. Although the statute of limitations had…

Jun 28, 2010 9:41 PM CDT

Judges’ Comments at Sentencing Require Do-Overs, Appeals Court Says

Is a musical chairs sentencing game under way in the courtrooms of two Florida judges? For at least the second time this year, a state appeals court today ordered that a convicted felon be resentenced because of comments by the judge. Circuit Judge David Gooding went too far when he…

Jun 25, 2010 10:07 PM CDT