5th Circuit Court

Investors fleeced in $6B Stanford scheme get a penny on the dollar from court-appointed receiver

Investors fleeced of $6 billion by now-imprisoned swindler R. Allen Stanford have gotten restitution checks from a court-appointed receiver. They range from $2.18 to $110,000, amounting to less than a penny of recovery for each dollar lost, reports the Center for Public Integrity. The receiver, Ralph Janvey, and his team…

Oct 11, 2013 4:10 PM CDT

Writing briefs with the iPad in mind | Taking your dog to the office | What is true innovation?

Most judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals read legal briefs on iPads, New Orleans appellate lawyer Raymond P. Ward wrote at Louisiana Civil Appeals. “But before the briefs are downloaded to the iPad, they are run through a program that automatically turns all the legal citations into…

Oct 11, 2013 1:30 PM CDT

5th Circuit tosses deceptive trade practice claim in suit against Match.com

A federal appeals court has tossed a deceptive trade practices claim in a would-be class action against Match.com that alleged subscribers were misled about the number of active users on the website. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the plaintiffs had failed to state an unconscionability…

Oct 11, 2013 11:15 AM CDT

In a victory for BP, 5th Circuit tells judge to re-evaluate oil-spill payout formula

BP’s complaints that undeserving claimants were winning oil-spill payouts will get a new look as a result of a federal appeals court ruling. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ordered a lower court judge to reconsider the formula used to measure potential economic loss suffered…

Oct 4, 2013 11:20 AM CDT

Harassed for being unmanly? En banc court sees Title VII violation; dissent sees clean-talk enforcer

An iron worker subjected to gay slurs and simulated sex because he failed to conform to his boss’s male stereotypes may collect Title VII damages for sex harassment, according to an en banc appeals court. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a jury finding of liability…

Sep 30, 2013 2:21 PM CDT

5th Circuit: Feds applied law that didn’t exist when deporting US citizen and others for decades

For nearly 35 years, federal immigration authorities have been applying a U.S. law that cites the Mexican Constitution when determining whether to deport individuals who assert American citizenship. But the cited constitutional provision doesn’t exist, as far as the claimed language concerning out-of-wedlock births was concerned, the Associated Press reports.…

Sep 24, 2013 10:56 PM CDT

Judge cites ‘grotesque prosecutorial misconduct,’ reverses cop convictions in Danziger Bridge case

Citing “grotesque prosecutorial misconduct,” including anonymous comments posted on the Internet by lawyers in then-U.S. Attorney Jim Letten’s office and a Justice Department prosecutor, a federal judge has reversed the convictions of five former New Orleans police officers in a civil rights case over shooting deaths and injuries to unarmed…

Sep 17, 2013 8:55 PM CDT

Prior to conviction in Fort Hood massacre, Nidal Hasan gave nearly $300K away to charity

Corrected: Convicted last month of 13 counts of murder in the 2009 shooting massacre at Fort Hood, while serving as a major in the U.S. Army, defendant Nidal Hasan is now battling a civil suit along with the government. But his military take-home pay of some $7,000 a month, which…

Sep 17, 2013 4:14 PM CDT

After former friend’s tip-off, onetime BigLaw partner loses disability benefits

Terri Truitt said she had so much pain from a back, leg and foot injury that she was unable to continue practicing law. Truitt, a partner in the Houston office of Mayer Brown who focused her practice on oil and gas litigation, said she could no longer handle the international…

Sep 16, 2013 6:25 PM CDT

5th Circuit finds no undue burden in law curbing liability protection for abortion providers

A federal appeals court has upheld a Louisiana law that removed liability protections for abortion providers. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that the 1997 law is not an undue burden on women’s right to abortion, according to an ABA media alert. The appeals…

Sep 6, 2013 2:59 PM CDT

Objecting to secret recording of attorney-client meetings got him fired, says sheriff’s deputy

A former chief deputy for a suburban New Orleans sheriff says he was fired for objecting to secret videotapes that routinely recorded conversations during attorney-client meetings in a sheriff’s office interview room. Tregg Wilson, who is a licensed attorney in Louisiana, makes the allegation in a federal lawsuit he filed…

Aug 30, 2013 1:15 PM CDT

Ex-judge gets 6 years in bribe case as ex-DA awaits sentencing; murder victim’s mom gets no apology

A former South Texas judge who admittedly took bribes, then served as a star witness at the trial of a former district attorney and other lawyers after pleading guilty in 2011 to a single federal racketeering count, has been sentenced to six years in federal prison. In addition to serving…

Aug 27, 2013 8:15 PM CDT

Fortune-teller accused of bilking $17M from best-selling romance novelist

Jury selection is expected to begin Monday in the criminal trial of a claimed psychic who is facing a 35-count indictment over fortune-telling activities that allegedly fleeced a best-selling romance novelist of $17 million over a 20-year period. While fortune-telling, in and of itself, is not illegal, federal prosecutors contend…

Aug 26, 2013 4:12 PM CDT

Federal judge nixes investor suit against SEC for not warning SIPC of $7B fraud by Allen Stanford

After initially giving the green light to a lawsuit that said securities regulators for years failed to warn investors of what they believed to be a massive fraud by former billionaire R. Allen Stanford, a federal judge in Florida has dismissed the case. U.S. District Judge Robert Scola said plaintiffs…

Aug 13, 2013 5:24 PM CDT

Lawyer faces health-fraud charges over claimed $12M insurance scheme

A Texas lawyer has been federally indicted after allegedly siphoning $12 million from insurance plan administrators and their clients, in a Ponzi-like scheme, through his operation of a reinsurance business. Hugh Lappe Scott Jr., 62, faces 22 health-fraud counts and 20 counts of theft from a health care benefit program.…

Aug 13, 2013 4:30 PM CDT