Woman sues GM over criminal conviction resulting from car crash

General Motors is facing a number of lawsuits as a result of its now-admitted problem with vehicle ignition switches. But one may be unique. A Texas woman who was convicted of negligent homicide as a result of a 2004 crash now says in a federal lawsuit filed in Tyler on…

Jun 9, 2014 10:50 PM CDT

Former executive takes plea in $16.6M fruitcake bakery embezzlement case

A former executive at a small town Texas bakery known for the big business it did in high-end mail-order fruitcakes has agreed to take a plea in a $16.6 million embezzlement case. Sandy Jenkins, who was until 2013 the controller at Collin Street Bakery, pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court…

May 22, 2014 8:20 PM CDT

Akin Gump withdraws from case after winning $25M jury verdict, says client admitted evidence issues

After winning a verdict of nearly $25 million in a federal trade secrets case earlier this year, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld has filed a motion to withdraw from its representation of LBDS Holding Company, LLC. Noting that it is unusual to do so after a favorable jury verdict…

May 22, 2014 3:57 PM CDT

5th Circuit issues last-minute execution stay based on claim Texas concealed inmate’s low IQ

Unpersuaded by an injection-drug argument Monday, a federal appeals court nonetheless issued a last-minute stay of execution Tuesday in the case of a Texas inmate. The argument that won the day for Robert James Campbell, 41, was based on his intellectual capacity, the New York Times (reg. req.) reports. His…

May 13, 2014 9:59 PM CDT

Final settlements reached in Bonfire accident at Texas A&M that killed 12 and injured 27

Dominic Braus was a freshman at Texas A&M University in 1999 when a 60-foot-high stack of some 6,000 logs came apart in a horrific Nov. 18 accident, killing 12, injuring 27 others and ending the school’s 90-year-old Bonfire tradition. Braus, who almost lost his right arm—which was partly severed when…

May 12, 2014 8:15 PM CDT

Lawyer who sued Apple last year over porn addiction now wants to marry his computer

Last year, a Tennessee lawyer made headlines when he filed a product liability suit contending that Apple Inc. was responsible for the pornography addiction that he says resulted when he mistyped a Web address into a MacBook Pro laptop. Now Chris Sevier is taking a different tack in federal litigation…

May 8, 2014 6:50 PM CDT

3 new pleas linked to ex-law firm chief serving 50 years in $1.2B swindle; 20th conviction now looms

Three more guilty pleas are scheduled in cases linked to disbarred onetime Florida law firm leader Scott Rothstein, bringing the total number of expected federal convictions, including Rothstein’s, to 20. The latest defendants who have agreed to take pleas are a former Broward County sheriff’s lieutenant and detective and the…

May 6, 2014 5:50 PM CDT

BP cries foul, says crafty lawyers and claimants collected $500M in comp unrelated to oil spill

In a written settlement agreement concerning the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began with a 2010 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, BP agreed to a compensation formula to reimburse businesses. But now BP is unhappy about language that is being interpreted not only by plaintiffs lawyers…

May 5, 2014 10:00 PM CDT

Law that would shut down Mississippi’s only abortion clinic is reviewed by 5th Circuit

Federal appeals judges on Monday considered the constitutionality of a Mississippi law that requires doctors performing abortions to have admission privileges at nearby hospitals. The law is similar to a Texas law upheld in March by the same appeals court, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. But…

Apr 29, 2014 1:17 PM CDT

Federal magistrate says sheriff must do courthouse time-outs if he keeps missing discovery deadlines

Predicting that monetary sanctions will prove an ineffective if a Louisiana sheriff continues to miss discovery deadlines in litigation over conditions at Orleans Parish Prison, a federal magistrate has come up with an alternative penalty plan. Parents will likely recognize it as a version of the time-outs routinely used to…

Apr 25, 2014 6:55 PM CDT

Lawyer faces two criminal cases and civil rights suit over 2012 taxicab incident

A Louisiana lawyer has been caught up in a complex legal situation after an April 2012 taxicab incident resulted in criminal charges against both the attorney, who was a passenger in the vehicle, and its driver. Jennifer Gaubert, 33, was convicted last week in a bench trial of simple battery…

Apr 10, 2014 4:00 PM CDT

Lawyer files federal racketeering suit over ‘pay for play’ on son’s high school lacrosse team

A Texas lawyer has filed a 39-page federal lawsuit over what he describes as a federal racketeering enterprise requiring “pay for play” from those who want to be active participants in some of the state’s top high school lacrosse programs. Among those adversely affected, according to the complaint by William…

Apr 8, 2014 3:30 PM CDT

Could massive GM vehicle recall get bigger? Single key in ignition isn’t safe, says plaintiff lawyer

As the CEO of General Motors appeared before federal lawmakers in the nation’s capital this week amidst a massive recall of vehicles over an ignition-switch issue blamed for a number of fatal accidents, the situation continued to escalate. On Wednesday, testifying before a Senate committee, Mary Barra reiterated earlier advice…

Apr 4, 2014 5:25 PM CDT

Amidst ‘epidemic’ of tax-refund claims using stolen IDs, feds charge 25 in $36M fraud

Amidst what a top federal prosecutor calls an epidemic of fraudulent filings for federal income tax refunds under stolen identities, a strike force in South Florida has charged 25 individuals in 19 cases involving $36 million in fraud. The defendants include a jail guard accused of stealing the identities of…

Apr 3, 2014 8:04 PM CDT

Letters: The Stewart Model

Apr 1, 2014 10:10 AM CDT