Verdicts & Settlements

11th Circuit Grants En Banc Hearing Sua Sponte in Sex Harassment Case

Plaintiffs attorney Edward Hawkins and law professor Eric Schnapper of the University of Washington had petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider a sexual harassment case brought by two men against Home Depot USA Inc. But they had made such no request of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of…

Mar 17, 2010 10:25 PM CDT

Partner Proclaims Victory Despite Dismissal of Law Firm’s Google Adwords Suit

A Connecticut judge has dismissed an advertising complaint brought against Google by a New Haven personal injury firm, agreeing with the Internet search engine giant that the lawsuit should have been pursued in federal court rather than state court. But partner Michael Stratton of Stratton Faxon is proclaiming victory even…

Mar 17, 2010 8:31 PM CDT

Did Juror Steal Fellow Juror’s Credit Card? Prosecutor Probes New Case During Recess

A prosecutor trying a credit card theft case in New York City wound up doing double duty after a juror accused another member of the panel of stealing his own credit card on March 8 and using it at stores near the Bronx courthouse over the next few days. During…

Mar 17, 2010 7:30 PM CDT

Refused Liver Transplant Coverage, Man Pays for It Himself, Sues & Wins Legal Fees

A successful produce merchant, Ephram Nehme was able to pay for a liver transplant himself. That enabled him to have the life-saving surgery when his insurer—after initially approving coverage for the surgery—rejected his doctor’s recommendation to seek a transplant out-of-state, where the wait time was expected to be much shorter.…

Mar 16, 2010 6:37 PM CDT

Detroit to Tell Workers to Tone Down Scented Products Under ADA Settlement

The scent of litigation success isn’t a sweet smell for at least one plaintiff who recently won a $100,000 settlement in a federal Americans with Disabilities Act discrimination case. As part of the pact in the federal lawsuit filed by planner Susan McBride, the city of Detroit has agreed to…

Mar 16, 2010 5:16 PM CDT

In Top 100 Tally, Commercial Verdicts Are Down, Tort Verdicts Are Up

Commercial verdicts dropped markedly in a tally of the nation’s top 100 legal awards for 2009. Commercial verdicts on the list compiled by VerdictSearch dropped from $1.4 billion in 2008 to a mere $421 million in 2009, the National Law Journal reports. It was a better year, however, for personal…

Mar 15, 2010 2:15 PM CDT

Lawyers for 9-11 Responders Would Take One-Third Under Settlement

Rescue and cleanup workers at the destroyed World Trade Center site have reached a settlement that creates a compensation system similar to the one established for the families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attack. The settlement will be paid by an insurance company funded by the federal government…

Mar 12, 2010 1:17 PM CST

Court OKs Cravath Role in Takeover Bid re Ex-Client; Proof of ‘Extreme’ Ethics Misstep Lacking

In a teleconference ruling today in a hard-fought case over a pending $5.1 billion corporate takeover bid, the Delaware Court of Chancery has OK’d the continuing representation of Air Products and Chemicals Inc. by Cravath Swaine & Moore. Ex-client Airgas Inc. failed to prove by clear and convincing evidence the…

Mar 5, 2010 9:42 PM CST

Lawyer Wins New Trial for Client Because Judge Didn’t Put Jury Under Oath

Sentenced to 15 to 40 years after being convicted of assault with intent to commit murder by stabbing an acquaintance in his apartment in what the prosecution described as a drunken frenzy, Timothy Lawrence Becktel has won a new trial. Because the judge in his case apparently forgot to put…

Mar 5, 2010 7:29 PM CST

Judge: Death Penalty Unconstitutional; AG: ‘Unabashed Judicial Activism’

In what the attorney general of Texas is describing as a “legally baseless” act of “unabashed judicial activism,” a state trial-court judge has granted a pretrial defense motion that the death penalty be declared unconstitutional in the murder case of John Edward Green Jr., reports the Houston Chronicle. “It’s safe…

Mar 5, 2010 6:52 PM CST

Burned Ex-Reed Smith Associate Back on Track for Trial After Appellate Win

An ex-associate who said her use of her dominant hand was impaired after it was burned during a Reed Smith trial training program is back in the litigation ballgame against her former employer. A trial court in 2007 had dismissed the 2003 disability discrimination case that Danielle Cesarano brought against…

Mar 4, 2010 10:31 PM CST

Judge Threatens to Jail Juror Delayed by Mom’s Surgery & Babysitting Issue

A Michigan judge had little sympathy with a potential juror who said she was late to court because she was delayed by her mother’s oral surgery and a baby-sitting issue. When Carmela Khury showed up in Oakland County Circuit Court late with her baby and 3-year-old child, Judge Leo Bowman…

Mar 3, 2010 6:18 PM CST

Judge OKs Gift of O.J. Simpson ‘Lucky Suit,’ But Smithsonian Turns Down Donation

Any relief that a California judge may have felt over an agreement to settle a 13-year litigation battle by donating O.J. Simpson’s lucky suit to the Smithsonian Institution was short-lived. Hard on the heels of the agreement that the donation would settle a dispute over the ownership of the tan…

Mar 2, 2010 11:30 PM CST

Does Mini-Defense in Capital Case After Perjury Threat Merit New Trial?

Concerned that their client intended to perjure himself in a Nevada capital murder case, defense lawyers for Siaosi Vanisi sought to withdraw. Then, when the judge refused permission to do so, they put on an abbreviated version of a standard murder defense: They eliminated opening and closing arguments and the…

Mar 2, 2010 9:15 PM CST

Plaintiff Lawyer’s ‘Reptile’ Book Bites Back at Wrongful Death Trial

A $95 trial strategy book co-authored by attorney Don Keenan and a jury consultant apparently was intended to help plaintiffs lawyers maximize their clients’ awards. But the book, titled Reptile: The 2009 Manual of the Plaintiff’s Revolution, also proved helpful to the defense in a recent DeKalb County, Ga., wrongful…

Mar 1, 2010 7:08 PM CST