Verdicts & Settlements

OSHA Hits BP Refinery With Monster $87.4M Fine; 15 Died in 2005 Explosion

The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking to impose a record-breaking $87.4 million in penalties on oil giant BP for safety violations at a refinery it operates in Texas. Of that amount, $56.7 million relates to a 2005 explosion at the Texas City refinery that killed 15 people and injured…

Oct 30, 2009 6:55 PM CDT

Jury Says Radio Station Must Pay $16.6M in Woman’s Water Intoxication Death

The owner of a California radio station must pay $16.6 million to the survivors of a woman who died of water intoxication after participating in a “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest. The winner of the 2007 contest promoted by KDND, also known as “The End” due to the…

Oct 30, 2009 6:12 PM CDT

DA’s Final Answer: Ex-Judge’s Acquittal Stands in Prisoner-Paddling Case

Explaining that three jurors who earlier raised questions about the not-guilty verdict in a criminal case against a former Alabama judge have backed down, the Mobile County District Attorney now says that the case against Herman Thomas is finally concluded, reports the Press-Register. “It is now time for this community…

Oct 30, 2009 5:08 PM CDT

Fed’l Judge Rules From Bench for ABA: ‘Red Flags’ Doesn’t Apply to Lawyers

Updated: In a surprise ruling from the bench today, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., agreed with the American Bar Association that the Federal Trade Commission exceeded its authority by applying its “red flags rule” to practicing lawyers. Congress did not intend lawyers to be considered “creditors” under the Fair…

Oct 30, 2009 12:33 AM CDT

Top Pa. Court Vacates 6,000+ Juvenile Rulings By Ex-Luzerne County Judge

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court today issued an order vacating all juvenile rulings between 2003 and 2008 by former Luzerne County President Judge Mark Ciavarella. The order, which bars retrial of all but a tiny fraction of the rulings, is expected to affect up to 6,500 cases, reports the On Deadline…

Oct 29, 2009 11:32 PM CDT

Bat-Maker Must Pay $850K to Family of Player Killed By Baseball

A Montana jury yesterday held that the maker of Louisville Slugger baseball bats must pay $850,000 to the family of a 18-year-old who was struck in the head by a batted ball at a 2003 American Legion game in Helena and died several hours later. Witnesses testified that they couldn’t…

Oct 29, 2009 8:38 PM CDT

Lawyer Raided Sullivan & Cromwell Offices for Inside Info Years Ago, Court Filings Say

Years ago, when he worked at Sullivan & Cromwell’s offices on Wall Street as a corporate associate during the 1990s, Gil Cornblum regularly conducted what he called “spelunking” raids there around 4 a.m., reports the Globe and Mail. Court documents filed in an Ontario insider-trading case against Cornblum and another…

Oct 29, 2009 1:38 AM CDT

Lawyer’s $900/Hour Arbitration Fee Angers Transit Board Members

After casting the swing vote in an arbitration that upped the ante on New York City transit worker pay by 11.3 percent over three years, a Weil Gotshal & Manges lawyer has added insult to injury as far as Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members are concerned. John Zuccotti charged the…

Oct 28, 2009 9:25 PM CDT

Defense Lawyer Says Executed Client Was Guilty in Texas Arson

Weighing in on the side of his client’s former wife and in-laws, a criminal defense lawyer who represented a man executed in a controversial Texas death-penalty case now says that defendant Cameron Todd Willingham set a 1991 fire that killed his children. “There was no question whatsoever that he was…

Oct 28, 2009 8:39 PM CDT

Jury Convicts Judge in Prostitution Case

Developing: A Washington state judge testified that he didn’t do it, and his lawyer questioned the credibility of the alleged male prostitutes testifying against him. But a jury has found Pierce County Superior Court Judge Michael Hecht guilty in a criminal case accusing him of paying men for sex and…

Oct 28, 2009 5:48 PM CDT

DA Plans to Appeal Ex-Judge’s Acquittal in Prisoner-Paddling Case

Saying that three jurors had “expressed some concerns” about the acquittal this week of a former Alabama judge in a prisoner-paddling case, Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr. told a local newspaper that he plans to appeal the not-guilty verdict. However, defense attorney Robert “Cowboy Bob” Clark told the…

Oct 28, 2009 4:30 PM CDT

Jurors Dispute Ex-Judge’s Acquittal in Prisoner-Paddling Case

At least three jurors in a sex-abuse trial in which a former Alabama judge was acquitted on all counts yesterday are disputing the not-guilty verdict in the Mobile County case. This wasn’t their verdict, they told Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson, and hence the jury’s decision wasn’t unanimous, reports…

Oct 27, 2009 7:04 PM CDT

Jury Awards Punitives in Hormone Case Against Wyeth, But Amount Is Sealed

A Philadelphia jury awarded punitive damages yesterday in Connie Barton’s case over the Prempro hormone replacement therapy marketed by Wyeth. But the amount of the award won’t be known for at least a month, because a judge in the Pennsylvania Common Pleas Court case agreed that the amount would be…

Oct 27, 2009 6:31 PM CDT

Texas Lawyer Sues Houston Over ‘Too Christian’ Prayers

A Texas lawyer who prevailed in an earlier federal lawsuit over a Harris County monument featuring a Bible is gearing up for her next constitutional battle. Saying that the prayers offered by city council member Anne Clutterbuck, in particular, are too Christian, attorney Kay Staley filed a federal lawsuit over…

Oct 26, 2009 9:17 PM CDT

Lesson Learned from Astor Trial: Document Client’s Mental Capacity

Once upon a time, New York estate practitioners only had to worry about potential civil litigation if there was a problem with a will they drafted. But after the high-profile criminal conviction earlier this month of a lawyer who represented heiress Brooke Astor before her death at age 105, attorneys…

Oct 26, 2009 4:42 PM CDT