6th Circuit Court

Supreme Court temporarily blocks same-sex marriage in Kansas

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has temporarily blocked same-sex marriages in Kansas in response to a stay application that cites a newly developed circuit split. Sotomayor, who handles emergency appeals from the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, granted the stay Monday evening, the New York Times, the…

Nov 11, 2014 7:12 AM CST

Ex-bookkeeper convicted of $93.5K law firm theft may get more time for probation violation

Federally convicted in 2009, a former bookkeeper for a Catlettsburg, Kentucky, law firm, served time for stealing $93,477 from her ex-employer, Pruitt & Thorner. Now Ronda Nixon may be headed back to jail, after a federal magistrate judge found that she violated her probation and recommended another 10 months behind…

Nov 10, 2014 5:05 PM CST

Law grad convicted of concealing Israel bombings conviction to get US citizenship

A 67-year-old law graduate and community activist has been found guilty of failing to reveal on U.S. immigration paperwork a 1970 bombings-related military conviction in Israel regarding a fatal supermarket attack in order to get American citizenship. Rasmieh Yousef Odeh, who was released by Israel after serving 10 years and…

Nov 10, 2014 1:20 PM CST

6th Circuit upholds same-sex marriage bans in 4 states; will issue now go to US Supreme Court?

For the first time, a federal appeals court has refused to recognize a constitution-based right of same-sex couples to marry, creating a circuit split and setting the issue up for likely U.S. Supreme Court review. In a 2-1 decision (PDF) on Thursday, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals…

Nov 6, 2014 4:45 PM CST

Federal suit over coffee machine bought at Starbucks settles for $250, but lawyer could get $175K

A Michigan woman who sued Starbucks and Kraft Foods over promotional claims made about a single-serve Kraft coffeemaker sold at Starbucks shops has settled for $250 after a 2½-year federal court battle. But the plaintiff’s legal counsel will get attorney fees under the deal, which are estimated at nearly $175,000,…

Oct 29, 2014 4:05 PM CDT

How a series of attacks by a breakaway Amish sect became a landmark hate-crimes case (podcast)

The Amish religion is a branch of Christianity which adheres to a doctrine of simplicity, non-violence and forgiveness. How then did a breakaway group come to be implicated in the first federal trial which prosecuted religiously motivated hate crimes within the same faith community?

Sep 29, 2014 5:23 PM CDT

Ex-lawyer gets 20 years for charges including $4M client theft in case linked to fen-phen settlement

Former Kentucky lawyer Seth Johnston, 35, was sentenced Monday to a 20-year federal prison term in a multi-faceted criminal case. Certain charges were linked to a $200 million settlement in litigation over a diet drug combination blamed for causing heart problems, which his lawyer once compared to “the curse of…

Sep 23, 2014 11:05 AM CDT

Jones Day bill for Detroit bankruptcy has topped $26M

As the first full week of trial begins in the nation’s biggest municipal bankruptcy case ever, the law firm representing Detroit has charged the city more than $26 million, as of March, including $1 million in fees. Among the key issues to be decided in the Chapter 9 case is…

Sep 9, 2014 11:35 AM CDT

Ex-partner gets 64 months in $2.7M client theft case

A former litigation partner at a well-known Michigan law firm was sentenced Wednesday to 64 months in federal prison for stealing $2.7 million from clients between 2004 and 2013. Under the guise of providing legal services to Dawda, Mann, Mulcahy & Sadler clients, a criminal information says, Kenneth Flaska used…

Sep 5, 2014 11:25 AM CDT

6th Circuit reverses hate-crime convictions of Amish in beard- and hair-cutting attacks

A federal appeals court has reversed the hate-crime convictions of 16 members of an Amish sect in Ohio accused of cutting the beards and hair of others. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the trial judge had improperly instructed jurors that prosecutors need only prove that the…

Aug 28, 2014 3:02 PM CDT

Foley partner who claimed bias because of lesser pay loses in 6th Circuit

A Foley & Lardner partner who claimed discrimination because he was paid less than minority, female and younger partners has lost his federal appeal. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Raymond Carey on Monday, the National Law Journal reports. The opinion (PDF) said Carey did not…

Aug 26, 2014 12:26 PM CDT

Gay-marriage opponents cite SCOTUS summary dismissal in 1972; is it still good law?

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal seeking to overturn Minnesota’s gay-marriage law in Baker v. Nelson with a one-line summary dismissal. “The appeal is dismissed for want of a substantial federal question,” the court said. A Tennessee judge cited the precedent in upholding Tennessee’s refusal to recognize…

Aug 18, 2014 3:46 PM CDT

6th Circuit mulls gay-marriage recognition in ‘unprecedented and marathon hearing’

In a high-profile hearing on Wednesday, the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. considered laws denying recognition to gay marriage in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee. The Washington Post described the session as an “unprecedented and marathon hearing.” Arguments lasted three hours, the New York Times says. The National…

Aug 7, 2014 3:05 PM CDT

Forcing kids to do household chores with beatings isn’t a federal crime, 6th Circuit rules

An immigrant in Michigan who forced four children from Togo to do household chores with beatings didn’t violate the federal law banning forced labor, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the behavior of Jean Claude Kodjo Toviave was reprehensible and deplorable,…

Aug 5, 2014 1:41 PM CDT

6th Circuit says man can’t sue judge who had affair with his wife during child-support case

A Michigan judge who admittedly had an affair with the wife of a man in a child-support case before his court won’t have to face a federal civil rights case, a U.S. appeals court has ruled. Calling the conduct of now-former Wayne Circuit Judge Wade McCree “often reprehensible,” a three-judge…

Jul 22, 2014 10:25 PM CDT