8th Circuit Court

Lawyer accused of hiding real estate client funds in trust account is convicted of bankruptcy fraud

An attorney accused of helping a client who was once a successful real estate developer conceal a substantial sum of money in a law firm trust account has been convicted in federal court in Arkansas following weeks of trial. K. Vaughn Knight, 46, of Fayetteville was convicted Monday of eight…

Nov 19, 2013 10:20 PM CST

Larry Flynt joins with ACLU to fight execution of serial killer who shot and paralyzed him

Hustler publisher Larry Flynt has spent decades in a wheelchair since being shot on March 6, 1978 as he stood on the steps of a Georgia courthouse in which he was facing an obscenity prosecution. His admitted assailant, Joseph Paul Franklin, 63, has been convicted of racially motivated murders in…

Nov 12, 2013 3:00 PM CST

Another federal judge blasts Prenda Law over firm’s handling of porn-downloading lawsuits

Blasted earlier this year by a federal judge in California over its handling of cases against alleged illegal downloaders of pornography, a Chicago-based law firm known for its mass copyright litigation has been blasted again by a federal judge in Minnesota. In a blistering Wednesday opinion (PDF), Magistrate Judge Franklin…

Nov 7, 2013 6:15 PM CST

Jailed based on mistaken identity, some who did nothing wrong are held days, weeks or months

At least 100 people have been wrongfully jailed in St. Louis over the past seven years, sometimes for lengthy periods, based on mistaken identities. Yet, through the use of technology, such as fingerprinting, it should have been relatively easy to verify the claims of those wrongfully incarcerated that they were…

Oct 29, 2013 7:05 PM CDT

Park officials can’t restrict man’s right to hand out Bibles at gay pride event, appeals court says

Minneapolis park officials cannot restrict a man’s right to give away Bibles at a gay pride event in a public park, a federal appeals court has held. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling (PDF) Wednesday, said the park district hadn’t shown that such…

Sep 12, 2013 8:16 PM CDT

Judge orders EEOC to pay $4.7M in legal fees in Jenner & Block case

In the latest chapter of a litigation saga that has proven expensive for the feds, Jenner & Block has won what could be a record $4.7 million in attorney fees and costs from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. At issue was an employment discrimination case brought by the EEOC against…

Aug 6, 2013 8:31 PM CDT

$1M seized in traffic stop is returned to exotic dancer on judge’s orders

A federal judge in Nebraska has ordered the government to return more than $1 million in cash seized during a traffic stop to a California woman who testified she earned it as an exotic dancer and claimed the money as income on her tax returns. Although the government argued that…

Jul 22, 2013 5:14 PM CDT

After $323,307 in federal court sanctions since 2011, lawyer now faces federal ethics investigation

William B. Butler, as a federal judge had requested, is already facing a state legal ethics probe in Minnesota. But in an unusual move the judge in charge of the federal court system in the state has also launched a federal ethics investigation of Butler, reports the Star Tribune. Last…

Jul 11, 2013 11:45 AM CDT

3rd lawyer is federally indicted, accused of aiding developer in claimed real estate loan fraud

A third lawyer was federally indicted last week for allegedly aiding Arkansas real estate developer Brandon Barber in a claimed series of schemes in which Barber is accused of obtaining $200 million in loans, diverting some of the money to participants at closing and then hiding his assets in a…

Jun 10, 2013 11:00 PM CDT

Federal judge calls herself ‘Hulk,’ clashes with prosecutors over info that could extend sentences

A former federal prosecutor now serving as a federal judge has clashed with federal prosecutors in Iowa over information she has sought in several cases that could be used to extend defendants’ sentences. Already under appeal is a sentence in a weapons case imposed on convicted drug dealer Bryan Holm…

Jun 5, 2013 8:00 PM CDT

FBI distributed child porn for several weeks as a sting after seizing service, court records say

The FBI seized and operated a child-pornography service for about two weeks last year as it worked to identify some 5,000 customers. Court records in one Washington state man’s case and an affidavit by a Washington state-based FBI special agent working on a Nebraska-based investigation say the FBI continued to…

May 29, 2013 3:50 PM CDT

8th Circuit nominee wins quick approval; did Grassley connection help?

Jane Kelly won confirmation to the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, just 83 days after her nomination. Kelly was approved faster than any other of President Obama’s circuit nominees, The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times reports. The average approval time for uncontroversial circuit nominees…

Apr 26, 2013 11:30 AM CDT

Booted from big enviro case, Covington blames ex-client for not protesting conflict earlier

A Minnesota judge last year agreed with 3M Co. that its longtime counsel, Covington & Burling, could not continue to represent the state in a big environmental lawsuit against the corporation. But even if a legal ethics rule would otherwise have prohibited the representation, Covington should be allowed to continue…

Apr 5, 2013 9:36 PM CDT

‘Girls Gone Wild’ company files for bankruptcy to deal with ‘frivolous and burdensome legal affairs’

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by the company that produces the racy Girls Gone Wild videos was apparently prompted by large judgments in several tort cases. However, GGW Brands LLC said in a written statement that its Wednesday filing in federal bankruptcy court in Los Angeles would not prevent the…

Mar 1, 2013 6:27 PM CST

FBI manhunt for disbarred attorney publicized after 2010 indictment is unsealed

Disbarred Iowa attorney Dennis Bjorklund can be fast on his feet when avoiding the long arm of the law, once reportedly outrunning a process server, although he did lose a shoe along the way. But now the former DUI defense attorney–who may still be selling books on the subject online–is…

Jan 28, 2013 3:35 PM CST