4th Circuit Court

Former Managing Partner Gets 99 Years in $25M Investment Scheme

When Edward Digges Jr. bilked one of his best clients at Digges Wharton & Levin out of $3.1 million in an overbilling scheme, he served two years in federal prison after pleading guilty in 1990 to mail fraud. He also was fined $1 million and wound up with a $3.6…

Feb 24, 2010 7:17 PM CST

Young Lawyer’s Soaring Career Is Interrupted by Federal Indictment

After he graduated from a North Carolina law school in 1998, Charles Ruffin Poole’s legal career clearly was on an upward trajectory for which the sky seemed to be the limit. Hired to work in the state attorney general’s office, he quickly gained a much higher political profile when former…

Jan 22, 2010 7:45 PM CST

Lawyer Is Charged in Practice-Related Case Brought by Opposing Candidate’s Office

Attorney John Andrew Mattingly Jr. has been seeking election to the post of St. Mary’s County state’s attorney. But now it appears that the 40-year-old Leonardtown, Md., lawyer and Democratic candidate could lose not only the race for the prosecutor’s job but his law practice as a result of law…

Jan 13, 2010 6:14 PM CST

4th Circuit Upholds Moussaoui Guilty Plea & Life Term in 9/11 Attacks

A federal appeals court has affirmed the conviction and life sentence for co-conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, despite claims that he didn’t receive a fair trial concerning his guilty plea to six criminal conspiracy charges in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. “Moussaoui, having pled guilty, has waived all nonjurisdictional errors leading…

Jan 4, 2010 11:24 PM CST

Indicted Defense Lawyer Makes Unusual Filing in Civil SEC Case

A 56-year-old Georgia securities law practitioner and another man have been criminally charged in federal court in North Carolina concerning an alleged interstate investment fraud. But that shouldn’t prevent defense lawyer Gregory Bartko from continuing to represent a client in a claimed $53 million civil fraud case in federal court…

Nov 24, 2009 11:17 PM CST

Ex-Clinic Director Kyndra Rotunda Sues George Mason for Sexual Harassment

When constitutional law scholar Ron Rotunda and his wife departed George Mason University School of Law last year for new jobs at Chapman University School of Law in California they were “pleased to be leaving,” he told the local Washington, D.C., area legal community in an e-mail. Now his wife,…

Oct 5, 2009 10:00 PM CDT

4th Circuit Nixes Award Against Anti-Gay Funeral Protesters

A federal appeals court has cited the First Amendment in a decision that overturns a $5 million judgment against members of an anti-gay church who protested at a soldier’s Maryland funeral. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Va., said the protesters’ signs carried ”imaginative and hyperbolic…

Sep 25, 2009 11:55 AM CDT

Ex-Employee Pleads in $1M Law Firm Fraud and Fire

A former employee in the accounting department of a Maryland law firm has pleaded guilty yesterday to wire fraud and arson concerning a fire he allegedly set in order to try to cover up his embezzlement of a little over $1 million from its escrow account. George Michael Perez, 33,…

Sep 17, 2009 6:14 PM CDT

Lawyer Accused of Asbestos Fraud Wins Summary Judgment

A federal judge in West Virginia has dismissed a lawsuit against the founding partner of a Pittsburgh, Pa., law firm accused of conspiring with others to file fraudulent asbestos claims against CSX Transportation Corp., as the case was about to go to trial. The company plans to appeal the decision…

Sep 17, 2009 5:54 PM CDT

‘Trailblazer’ Va. Supreme Court Justice Nominated to 4th Circuit

Virginia Supreme Court Justice Barbara Milano Keenan has been nominated to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Va. Keenan, who served on the Virginia Supreme Court since 1991, has been “a trailblazer for women in the law throughout her career,” the Washington Post reports. In Virginia,…

Sep 15, 2009 12:35 PM CDT

IP Firm Owes Me $92K in ‘Working Capital,’ Ex-Darby Lawyer Says in Suit

A New York-based intellectual property boutique allegedly agreed that Raj Davé would be repaid the $92,000 in “working capital” he gave Darby & Darby while practicing there as a nonequity partner, if he ever moved to another law firm, reports the Blog of Legal Times. But now that Davé is…

Aug 12, 2009 7:28 PM CDT

4th Cir. Upholds Jury Verdict for McGuireWoods in FMLA Case

An attorney working as a legal secretary at McGuireWoods lost at trial and has now lost again on appeal in a case alleging that the law firm retaliated against her for asserting her right to take family medical leave to care for her ailing mother and libeled her after she…

Aug 6, 2009 11:31 PM CDT

Ex-US Rep. Jefferson Convicted; Harvard Law Grad Could Face Long Jail Term

Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson was convicted today of 11 of the 16 counts he faced in a federal corruption case. The Louisiana Democrat, who served 18 years in Congress until he was defeated in 2008, was accused by prosecutors during a six-week trial of seeking hundreds of thousands of…

Aug 5, 2009 10:26 PM CDT

Conservative 4th Circuit Chief Judge Retires Due to Early-Onset Alzheimer’s

Updated: A federal appeals judge once regarded as a contender for a spot on the U.S. Supreme Court is retiring due to the early onset of Alzheimer’s. Chief Judge Karen Williams of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told the White House of her retirement in a letter Wednesday,…

Jul 9, 2009 12:34 PM CDT

Lawyer Who Spotted Expired Patent on Solo Cup Wins Qui Tam Ruling

Washington, D.C., patent lawyer Matthew Pequignot did some investigating after spotting patent markings on the lid to his daily cup of coffee and discovered that the patent had actually expired some 20 years before. Now the lawyer is seeking millions of dollars in damages in a qui tam suit against…

Jun 9, 2009 2:02 PM CDT