2nd Circuit Court

Judge OKs $19.5M settlement over claimed Dewey mismanagement

A federal judge in New York has approved a settlement between the bankruptcy estate of Dewey & LeBoeuf, an insurer and its former chair over claimed mismanagement of the now-defunct law firm. The insurer, XL Specialty Insurance Company, will pay the lion’s share of the $19.5 million settlement approved Thursday.…

May 31, 2013 4:45 PM CDT

Feds say alleged $6 billion money-laundering scheme used Internet-based currency

Updated: In what reportedly may be the largest alleged money-laundering scheme ever prosecuted, the federal government has charged seven men with creating an Internet-based currency for the purpose of washing $6 billion in criminal proceeds. Liberty Reserve, based in Costa Rica, was a “bank of choice for the criminal underworld”…

May 28, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

T. rex suit takes Texas lawyer to NYC and Mongolia

A victory in civil and criminal litigation over the New York City auction of a smuggled Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton last year hasn’t just earned legal fees for Texas attorney Robert Painter. It’s taken him to Mongolia, where evidence was collected in the Gobi desert, and from his Houston law office…

May 22, 2013 2:05 PM CDT

Fired female patent partner settles Ropes & Gray age and gender discrimination case

A fired female intellectual property partner has settled her federal employment discrimination suit against Ropes & Gray on undisclosed terms. Patricia Martone, who was 63 when she was fired by the firm in 2010, lost out on lucrative retirement benefits to which she would have been entitled at age 65…

May 17, 2013 6:20 PM CDT

Stunned by $45M cyberheist, banks have limited options for trying to recover money

It isn’t just bank customers who can see their funds vanish in a short time, with little or no recourse, when hackers take over their accounts. As a $45 million cyberheist revealed last week illustrates, banks themselves can have much the same problem. Two Middle Eastern banks lost the money…

May 13, 2013 4:35 PM CDT

Former Dewey partner settles $200K capital loan dispute with Citibank

A federal judge in New York issued a brief order Thursday dismissing without explanation all claims and counterclaims in a lawsuit concerning a capital loan for a little over $200,000 made by Citibank to a former partner of Dewey & LeBoeuf, reports Reuters. After Citibank sued ex-partner Steven Otillar for…

May 10, 2013 4:29 PM CDT

New federal agency sues 2 law firms over debt-relief fees; one attorney is also criminally charged

A new federal agency filed a lawsuit Tuesday against two New York City area law firms and an attorney who owns a related business. It contends that they charged illegal advance fees for so-called debt-relief services that provided little or no benefit to consumers, who routinely lost amounts ranging from…

May 7, 2013 9:37 PM CDT

Author Harper Lee sues, says agent tricked her into signing over ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ royalties

At 87, the author of one of the most famous trial novels ever written has failing eyesight and hearing. And in 2007 author Harper Lee was recovering from a stroke when she signed away her royalties from her 1960 novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, to her literary agent, Samuel Pinkus,…

May 7, 2013 7:57 PM CDT

Immigration ‘lawyer’ conned clients and courts for years, 35-count indictment alleges

Although Michael Schorr is not a lawyer, he practiced in immigration courts in New York and New Jersey for four years by simply borrowing other attorneys’ bar registration numbers or using a fake number, authorities allege. Arrested Friday and held without bail, he is accused of stealing tens of thousands…

May 7, 2013 7:00 PM CDT

Accidental gun discharge injures security officer at federal courthouse

A security officer suffered a non-life-threatening arm injury in accidental gun discharge Monday at a federal courthouse on New York’s Long Island, WABC reports. The unidentified officer was injured between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., in an area of the Central Islip courthouse that is not open to the public,…

May 6, 2013 8:32 PM CDT

With $1B fee unpaid, plaintiff lawyer who won $18B enviro case is now pro se against Chevron

Attorney Steven Donziger could earn $1 billion, his opposing counsel says, if an $18 billion foreign judgment against Chevron Corp. concerning environmental damage in Ecuador is upheld. Meanwhile, Donziger is unable to afford to pay his own counsel as Chevron continues with a bruising U.S. district court counterattack against the…

May 6, 2013 8:15 PM CDT

In ‘truly bizarre’ situation, FDA, DOJ and federal judge differ on ‘Plan B’ pill sale to teens

In the latest round of a hard-fought political battle over the issue of whether the so-called morning-after birth control pill should be available without a prescription to 15- and 16-year-olds, a federal regulatory agency has told pharmacies they are free to sell one brand, Plan B One-Step, over the counter,…

May 2, 2013 4:15 PM CDT

Judge puts the brakes on law firm’s suit over similar domain name, says bad faith not yet shown

A New York legal boutique known for its expertise in counterfeiting and cybersquatting cases is experiencing a frustrating delay in obtaining a relief against a Canadian computer programmer who they allege set up a website with a name almost identical to the law firm’s. Although GIOCONDOLAW.com is easily confused with…

Apr 30, 2013 9:03 PM CDT

Law firm’s latest bill for Madoff liquidation is $50M, bringing total since his 2008 arrest to $440M

Since December 2008, when Bernard Madoff was arrested in a record-breaking Ponzi scheme operated under the guise of an investment firm, Irving Picard and his law firm have been handling the liquidation for the Securities Investor Protection Corp. A filing in federal court in Manhattan shows the latest bill from…

Apr 30, 2013 3:47 PM CDT

Artist’s ‘new and different’ take on copyrighted photos was fair use, 2nd Circuit rules

An artist to who altered copyrighted photos of Jamaican Rastafarians to create collages and paintings generating $10 million in sales has largely won a battle before a federal appeals court. The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that 25 of 30 artworks by artist Richard Prince were…

Apr 26, 2013 12:51 PM CDT