Oct. 21, 2003: Florida enters the Terri Schiavo case

Oct 1, 2013 5:30 AM CDT

Salvage company that lost $600M sunken ship case must pay $1M to Spain for ‘abusive litigation’

First, a Florida-based marine salvage company lost a lawsuit over $600 million of sunken treasure it found in 2007 in a Spanish vessel that was shipwrecked more than 200 years earlier. Now Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. has been ordered by a federal judge to pay $1 million to the Kingdom…

Sep 30, 2013 10:45 PM CDT

Indictment: Man lay in wait and shot at federal judge, at home, with high-powered rifle

A Florida man accused of attempting to assassinate a federal judge in June by shooting a high-powered rifle into his home is facing a 25-count federal indictment (PDF). The indictment says that Aaron Markus Richardson, 24, shot into the home of U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Corrigan in the early…

Sep 30, 2013 8:10 PM CDT

TD Bank to pay $52.5M to settle regulatory complaints related to ex-attorney Rothstein’s $1.2B fraud

Without admitting wrongdoing, Canada’s second-largest bank has agreed to pay $52.5 million to settle complaints by U.S. regulators that it failed to put the brakes on a Florida lawyer who used his accounts at Toronto-Dominion Bank in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme for which he is now serving a 50-year…

Sep 24, 2013 7:45 PM CDT

Shook Hardy OKs $5M settlement with trustee overseeing bankruptcy of convicted ex-client’s company

Shook Hardy & Bacon has not admitted liability. However, the 500-lawyer, Kansas City, Mo.-based law firm has agreed to settle for $5 million a bankruptcy trustee’s civil complaint contending that it and an associate attorney aided and abetted a former client’s violations of federal securities law. The ex-client, Nevin Shapiro,…

Sep 10, 2013 11:00 AM CDT

11th Cir. slams university and lawyers, upholds $1M for workers who say black supervisor used N-word

A federal appeals court has upheld a $1 million bias award on behalf of three black or biracial employees of Alabama State University who claim their former superior, who is also black, used the N-word. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals began with a footnote of apology: “We…

Sep 5, 2013 10:44 AM CDT

2 lawyers indicted in $1.2B Rothstein swindle; one is accused of impersonating Florida bar official

Two lawyers in South Florida have been federally indicted, accused of playing a role in Scott Rothstein’s $1.2 billion swindle. Rothstein himself, now disbarred and serving a 50-year federal prison term, as well as eight other defendants, cut deals with the government before they were charged. However, Douglas L. Bates,…

Sep 3, 2013 4:15 PM CDT

‘My sentencing instincts suck,’ blogging judge admits, wishing ex-con-turned-law-student well

This week, we noted that Shon Hopwood—who wrote a rare winning certiorari petition to the U.S. Supreme Court while in federal prison for bank robbery and has since been released and entered law school—has been hired as a clerk for Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the U.S. Court of Appeals…

Aug 9, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

Disbarred lawyer gets 5 years for stealing $1.3M in worker’s comp settlements

A disbarred Georgia lawyer was sentenced Thursday to five years in federal prison for stealing $1.3 million in worker’s compensation settlements from 50 clients. Miles Lamar Gammage, 59, pleaded guilty to mail fraud early this year, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was accused by federal prosecutors of converting some $2.5…

Jul 26, 2013 11:45 AM CDT

Investors in law firm chief’s $1.2B swindle to get full repayment under OK’d bankruptcy plan

As a bankruptcy judge on Thursday approved a liquidation plan for a South Florida law firm at a hearing attended by some 75 attorneys, those involved said at least some investors in the now-imprisoned former managing partner’s $1.2 billion swindle are expected to be repaid 100 cents on the dollar.…

Jul 12, 2013 3:05 PM CDT

Man who attacked deputy US marshal while trying to file pro se federal suit gets 2 years

Noting that Larry Paul Delaney had a history of assaulting law enforcement officers, the U.S. Marshal’s office sent four deputies to arrest him on an outstanding warrant at a federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., two years ago. The warrant came to their attention when Delaney went through security en…

Jul 1, 2013 6:30 PM CDT

Lawyer for shot man suing ex-NFL player Aaron Hernandez: ‘You can’t make this stuff up’

When New York attorney David Jaroslawicz filed a federal civil suit June 13 against a New England Patriots football player, it might have seemed like an uphill battle to persuade authorities that Aaron Hernandez and two other men had left his client for dead, as Jaroslawicz says he now believes…

Jul 1, 2013 5:55 PM CDT

Lawyer gave cash to bankruptcy trustee as thank-you, not bribe, defense says; federal jury acquits

No one disputed that a Florida personal injury attorney gave a bankruptcy trustee $3,000 cash in an envelope that was wrapped in a newspaper. But Vincent C. Rowley did so as a thank-you for a case referral that had nothing to do with bankruptcy, not in an attempt to bribe…

Jun 26, 2013 3:25 PM CDT

Fla. lawyer who disappeared turns himself in; feds say up to $8M in client funds is missing

A South Florida real estate lawyer who reportedly disappeared in early April along with between $3 million and $8 million in client escrow funds has turned himself in to the feds. FBI officials in Miami say Timothy P. McCabe surrendered Thursday morning in West Palm Beach, CBS Miami reports, relying…

Jun 20, 2013 4:45 PM CDT

Family of slain law grad Lauren Giddings files wrongful death suit

The family of a Georgia law graduate allegedly slain by a neighbor and law school classmate two years ago has filed a wrongful death suit seeking answers about the case. Although jailed suspect Stephen McDaniel doesn’t have any money and isn’t likely to, the family wants answers about what happened…

Jun 18, 2013 4:30 PM CDT