Verdicts & Settlements

Akin Gump Hit with $72.6M Malpractice Verdict

Updated: Jurors in a San Antonio federal trial have awarded plaintiffs $72.6 million in a malpractice case against Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. The firm plans to appeal. And in a statement released to the ABA Journal late this evening, Akin Gump says, it “is disappointed with the verdict,…

May 8, 2009 5:59 PM CDT

Would-Be Client Wins $2.2M Verdict in Law Office Chair-Collapse Case

Robert Friedrich went to Fetterman & Associates in 2003 seeking representation in an auto accident case. But after his chair collapsed in a conference room at the North Palm Beach, Fla., law firm he wound up with a new tort claim. A Palm Beach County jury yesterday awarded Friedrich and…

May 7, 2009 11:29 PM CDT

Ohio Lawyer Gets 1-Year Suspension; Bought Jag & Boat, Let Taxes Go Unpaid

When John Large received a $72,000 fee in 2002 for settling a personal injury case, he bought a used Jaguar and his boat. But the Ohio attorney didn’t use the money to catch up on his unpaid income tax, reports the Vindicator. In practice since 1997, Large soon got behind…

May 7, 2009 6:49 PM CDT

4th Circuit Nixes Attorney Fee Award to Defendant in Terrorism Tort Case

In an unusual award of attorney fees to a prevailing defendant in a civil rights case, a federal court said a Muslim family whose Virginia home was lawfully searched had to pay about $41,000 to an individual they accused of conspiring with federal agents to fabricate evidence supporting the search.…

May 7, 2009 5:43 PM CDT

Helping Client Gets Minn. Attorney Suspended for 2 Years

Attorney Benjamin Houge had argued that his conduct merited only a reprimand. But the Minnesota Supreme Court suspended the Twin Cities practitioner for two years over his representation of a client who had previously been involved in mortgage frauds. The court found that Houge had aided a client’s probation violation…

May 6, 2009 7:04 PM CDT

Attorney Can’t Ask 3rd Party to ‘Friend’ Witness on Facebook, Opinion Says

A lawyer who wants to see what a potential witness says to personal contacts on his or her Facebook or MySpace page has one good option, a recent ethics opinion suggests: Ask for access. Alternative approaches, such as secretly sending a third party to “friend” a Facebook user, are unethical…

May 6, 2009 12:38 AM CDT

2 Longtime La. PI Lawyers Disbarred; Others Disciplined for ‘Jackass’ Fracas

Two longtime Louisiana personal injury attorneys have been disbarred by the state supreme court for allowing nonattorney case managers to run much of their law firm operation. Partners E. Eric Guirard and Tommy Pittenger cooperated with the investigation, which began in 2000, stopped using the case manager system in 2004,…

May 5, 2009 11:40 PM CDT

Arrested at 13, Freed 16 Years Later After Witnesses Recant

Thaddeus Jimenez said he didn’t do it. But, after being arrested at 13 for a 1993 street gang murder, he was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in prison. Only after the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University School of Law took on his case and witnesses recanted did…

May 5, 2009 1:59 AM CDT

Probation Recommended for Mom in MySpace Cyberbullying Case

A sentence of one year of probation and a $5,000 fine are the penalties recommended in a presentence investigation report for the defendant in a landmark federal cyberbullying case, reports Wired magazine. Acquitted last year of the most serious charges against her, Lori Drew was convicted in November of three…

May 4, 2009 9:43 PM CDT

Appeal Over Judge-Prosecutor Affair Should Be Heard, Texas Court Finds

Not quite a year ago, Charles Dean Hood was on the verge of being put to death in Texas when an execution order expired. A few months later, a last-minute appeal was granted within hours of another scheduled execution. Now he seemingly has some likelihood of overturning his conviction, based…

May 1, 2009 11:26 PM CDT

Chicago Judge Jails Lawyer Overnight; Attorney Says Draft Order Set Him Off

A child support hearing in Chicago last week reportedly ended with an attorney for one of the parties being hauled off to spend the night in the Cook County Jail, after the judge objected to the manner in which she had written up his decision-making in a draft order. Nancy…

May 1, 2009 10:15 PM CDT

Fla. Lawyer Disbarred; Alternative Sex-for-Legal-Fees Billing a Factor

A Florida lawyer has been disbarred for a pattern of misconduct, including an alternative billing arrangement under which an 18-year-old client reportedly paid her $2,300 legal bill with sexual favors. James Harvey Tipler, 58, discounted the client’s bill by $200 when she had sex with him, and $400 when she…

May 1, 2009 8:17 PM CDT

Accused al-Qaida Agent Pleads Guilty, May Not Have to Serve Much Time

Ali al-Marri, an accused al-Qaida sleeper agent and legal United States resident who was held more than five years in an American military brig without charges as an alleged “enemy combatant,” has pleaded guilty in federal court in Illinois. His plea today to one count of conspiring to provide material…

Apr 30, 2009 10:36 PM CDT

DOJ and Legal Groups Seek Law Eliminating Cocaine Sentencing Disparities

Representatives of the Judicial Conference of the United States and the American Bar Association joined federal officials today in calling for Congress to enact legislation to reduce sentencing disparities between crimes involving crack cocaine and those involving powder cocaine. In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, a federal…

Apr 30, 2009 12:30 AM CDT

O’Melveny Associate & UCLA Student Win 9th Circuit Immigration Appeal

Finding that a legal United States resident who served four years in the Navy had exhausted her administrative remedies, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has derailed a government effort to deport her over a California criminal conviction. The appellate ruling (PDF) in favor for Maria Gemma…

Apr 29, 2009 9:28 PM CDT