3rd Circuit Court

Federal Judge Again Rejects Guilty Pleas of 2 Former Pa. Judges

After a federal judge in Scranton refused to reconsider his earlier decision to reject their guilty pleas, two former Luzerne County, Pa., judges withdrew them today. Mark Ciavarella Jr., who served as the county’s president judge, and former senior judge Michael Conahan are now headed toward trial on honest services…

Aug 24, 2009 11:24 PM CDT

2 Disgraced Pa. Jurists Ask Fed’l Judge to Reconsider Nixed Plea

Two former Pennsylvania jurists whose conditional guilty pleas to corruption charges and agreed 87-month prison term were nixed by a federal judge late last month are now asking him to reinstate their pleas. In a joint filing yesterday, former Luzerne County president judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. and senior judge Michael…

Aug 21, 2009 6:51 PM CDT

Settlement Requires Judge to Pull Rulings from Westlaw, Lexis

A federal judge in Philadelphia has agreed to direct Westlaw and Lexis to pull eight of his published rulings in an attractive nuisance case to honor the terms of a confidential settlement. U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel vacated his opinions and directed their removal from the legal publishers’ databases after…

Aug 19, 2009 11:39 AM CDT

Alleged Mastermind in Biggest-Ever ID-Theft Prosecution Faces 2 Other Cases

The claimed 28-year-old mastermind indicted this week in a hack attack on retailers described as the biggest identity theft case ever prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice has allegedly been busy, very busy. In addition to his alleged involvement in the 130 million or so consumer data thefts from…

Aug 18, 2009 8:10 PM CDT

3 Indicted in Biggest Hacking and ID Theft Case Ever Brought by DOJ

Three individuals are charged in a federal indictment handed down in New Jersey today in what the U.S. attorney’s office in Newark describes in a press release as apparently the largest computer hacking and identity theft case ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice. At least 130 million credit and…

Aug 17, 2009 8:00 PM CDT

Obama Nominates ERISA Expert, Federal Judge for 6th and 3rd Circuits

Corrected: President Obama has nominated a lawyer known for her ERISA expertise and a federal judge from Pennsylvania for spots on two federal appeals courts. Jane Stranch, a labor and ERISA expert at the Nashville law firm Branstetter, Stranch and Jennings, was nominated for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of…

Aug 7, 2009 4:09 PM CDT

Hand Over Client Info, 9th Circuit Tells Ex-Hagens Berman Counsel

Upholding a preliminary injunction issued by a federal court in western Washington state, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has told two onetime counsel for Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro to hand over information about prospective clients they lined up for their now-former law firm. Eran Rubinstein and…

Aug 5, 2009 8:45 PM CDT

3rd Circuit Rules Arbitrator Can’t Sue Stradley Ronon Over Bias Claim

A federal appeals court has ruled that a private arbitrator may not sue Stradley Ronon and one of its lawyers for allegations made in a quest to disqualify him. The Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Stradley Ronon and partner Andre Dennis are protected from suit because of…

Jul 31, 2009 1:33 PM CDT

Top Pa. Court Will Save Some Juvie Files, As Lawyers Take Issue to Fed’l Court

Before a federal judge could hold a scheduled hearing on Monday, the top court in Pennsylvania has acceded to some of the demands made in an unusual federal filing by lawyers representing individuals allegedly jailed improperly as juveniles because of judicial corruption in Luzerne County. In an order today, the…

Jul 22, 2009 11:04 PM CDT

Scary Discovery Sanctions Case Packs 3rd Circuit Courtroom

Daunting discovery sanctions imposed by a federal judge on defense lawyers who were, many colleagues say, simply doing their job in a medical insurance coverage case filed by a group of doctors packed an appellate courtroom during a recent oral argument. Although the underlying case settled after U.S. District Judge…

Jul 22, 2009 6:08 PM CDT

Jailed Attorney Sues Billionaire Ex-Client, Seeking to Retain $36M Quellos Fee

Seeking to retain $36 million in claimed advisory fees paid in connection with a Quellos Group tax shelter that put a billionaire media mogul in hot water, a jailed California lawyer has sued his former client in the latest chapter of a convoluted investment saga that has created trouble for…

Jul 22, 2009 5:30 PM CDT

Lawyers Seek Order Barring Top Pa. Court from Destroying Juvenile Records

A bizarre case in which two senior Pennsylvania judges in Luzerne County are accused of having profited from putting hundreds—or perhaps even thousands—of youths into juvenile detention for relatively minor offenses has now taken a strange new twist. In an extraordinary filing, lawyers representing individuals allegedly improperly jailed as youngsters…

Jul 21, 2009 10:59 PM CDT

Warren Beatty Depo to be Videotaped, Del. Judge Rules

Actor Warren Beatty has lost his bid to avoid having to give a deposition on videotape in a dispute over television and film rights to the Dick Tracy comic strip character he played in a 1990 movie. A bankruptcy judge in Delaware today denied Beatty’s request to avoid the camera…

Jul 21, 2009 9:40 PM CDT

Pa. Lawyer Didn’t Pursue Plea Offer, Spent $1M to Cut 5 Months Off Sentence

Offered a suggested deal in a federal corruption case that would, at one point, have required him to plead guilty to one fraud count in exchange for a prison term of no more than five years, Vince Fumo reportedly wound up instead taking the case to trial. That strategy cost…

Jul 16, 2009 8:30 PM CDT

Probe Finds Kozinski’s Sexually Explicit Photos Were ‘Judicially Imprudent’

A federal judicial council has admonished Judge Alex Kozinski for keeping sexually explicit materials on a personal website, concluding an ethics investigation spurred by a June 2008 Los Angeles Times article. How Appealing reported on the June 5 opinion (PDF), released yesterday. The judicial council of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S.…

Jul 2, 2009 2:39 PM CDT