Verdicts & Settlements

Controversial Ohio Ruling Says Officers Don’t Need Radar for Speeding Tickets

Two Ohio lawmakers plan to introduce legislation designed to overturn a state supreme court decision allowing police officers to issue speeding tickets based on their visual estimate that a car is violating the speed limit. The legislation would require officers to use radar detectors or other technology to verify speed…

Jun 14, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Partner’s Affair With Client’s Wife Isn’t a Breach of Fiduciary Duty, Court Rules

It is undisputed that a partner of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz had an affair with the wife of a client and longtime friend while representing the fired bank executive in a wrongful termination suit. But without a showing that the affair adversely affected the representation the situation doesn’t…

Jun 11, 2010 8:33 PM CDT

Insurer to Pay $72.5M to Settle Alleged Structured Settlement Fraud in Earlier Cases

A federal judge in Connecticut has given a preliminary thumbs-up to an insurer’s agreement to pay $72.5 million to settle a class action over the structured settlements it provided to plaintiffs in earlier workers’ compensation and accident cases. A spokesman for the Hartford still says the company did nothing wrong…

Jun 11, 2010 4:36 PM CDT

Insurer to Pay More, Lawyers to Take Less in New Ground Zero Settlement

Less than three months after a federal judge rejected a proposed settlement for ground zero workers, a new deal has been reached that will put more money in plaintiffs’ pockets. The insurer for New York City will now contribute $712.5 million, an increase from a prior deal to pay up…

Jun 10, 2010 4:08 PM CDT

Most Job Discrimination Suits Win, at Best, Small Settlements, Study Says

When people think of employment discrimination suits, big-name class action cases like the recent record-breaking filing against Wal-Mart tend to come to mind. But individual suits that rarely make it to trial and are likely to win a modest settlement, if any, accounted for the vast majority of employment discrimination…

Jun 9, 2010 10:49 PM CDT

Tax Lawyer’s True Tales Include High Cost of Bigamy When It’s Time to ‘Divorce’

More brain than brawn, tax lawyers have a more interesting practice than many give them credit for, writes tax lawyer Robert Wood in a Forbes column. Among his own most interesting cases was a divorcing couple who expected to take advantage of a rule that property is divided among the…

Jun 9, 2010 8:19 PM CDT

Judges Can Moonlight as Artists, Says Ethics Panel

An ethics panel has given the green light to New York judges who wish to alleviate the paucity of pay raises for the past 12 years by moonlighting as artists. So long as they retain a third party, such as an agent or publisher, to market their artistic efforts, they…

Jun 8, 2010 8:22 PM CDT

Ex-White House Lawyer Posts $750K Bail in Case Over Alleged Murder Attempt on Attorney Wife

Accused of beating his attorney wife with a metal flashlight so severely that her mental functioning was impaired, a former White House lawyer charged with attempted murder and first-degree strangulation has now posted $750,000 bail and been released to a mental hospital for treatment. John Michael Farren, 57, will be…

Jun 8, 2010 8:06 PM CDT

Rotunda Sex-Harass Suit Against George Mason Legal Clinic Exec Is Settled

A sexual harassment lawsuit filed against a George Mason University legal clinic executive director has been settled. Plaintiff Kyndra Rotunda, a former director of the clinic who is the wife of constitutional law scholar Ron Rotunda, has agreed to a confidential settlement of her claims against Joseph Zengerle. It involves…

Jun 8, 2010 6:49 PM CDT

Lawyer Can Sue Critic Over Craigslist War of Words, Says Appeal Court

Reversing a lower court ruling that a screenwriter’s critical comments on Craigslist about a California lawyer were protected by the First Amendment, a state appeals court last week reinstated attorney Richard Gibson’s suit. The comments allegedly posted by screenwriter Justin Swingle in conjunction with advertisements for Gibson’s law practice on…

Jun 7, 2010 11:09 PM CDT

Court Nixes Ex-Greenberg Associate’s 2nd Try for Suspension re $493K Firm Scheme

For the second time in three months, the Georgia Supreme Court has nixed a former Greenberg Traurig associate’s effort to agree to a voluntary suspension of his law license concerning the $493,000 he obtained from the firm—and repaid—for work he performed under false identities. In March, the court rejected Michael…

Jun 7, 2010 10:36 PM CDT

Psychiatrist Had Duty to Warn Patient’s Spouse of Herpes Risk from Doctor-Patient Affair

A psychiatrist allegedly infected with the herpes simplex virus had a duty to warn his patient’s spouse before allegedly having unprotected sex with the patient, a New York judge has ruled. Upholding the husband’s right to bring a negligence suit for the alleged breach of duty by the psychiatrist, Westchester…

Jun 7, 2010 7:59 PM CDT

Law Firm Points Trash-Out Crew to Paid-Up ‘Foreclosure,’ Is Sued

Martin Powelson paid off his delinquent Detroit mortgage. But after a law firm that handles a high-volume foreclosure practice mistakenly said told the lender that the redemption period had expired with the loan unpaid, a so-called trash-out crew paid a visit to his house. Contending that crew removed some $60,000…

Jun 7, 2010 6:51 PM CDT

7 Surviving Union Carbide Execs Convicted in Case Over 1984 Bhopal Disaster

More than 25 years after 7,000 people died from a toxic gas leak at a Union Carbide Corp. pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, and many more were injured, a court has convicted seven surviving senior executives there of causing death by negligence. The convictions carry maximum two-year jail terms. The…

Jun 7, 2010 4:52 PM CDT

Lawyer Got 25 Years for Brokering Hit on Client’s Husband But ‘Black Widow’ Gets Only 12 Years Today

Attorney Manuel Martinez was sentenced to 25 years to life after being convicted of arranging for a client’s wealthy husband to be murdered during a bitter divorce trial in 1990. But the victim’s wife, so-called “Black Widow” Barbara Kogan, got only a 12-year term today. In a best-case scenario, the…

Jun 4, 2010 7:58 PM CDT