9th Circuit Court

Jury Acquits W.R. Grace and Former Execs in Landmark Criminal Asbestos Case

In the latest blow to federal prosecutors trying a high-profile criminal case, a jury in Missoula, Mont., has acquitted chemical products company W.R. Grace & Co. and three former executives on all charges in a landmark criminal environmental case. All had been accused of knowingly contaminating a small Missouri mining…

May 8, 2009 9:31 PM CDT

Probation Recommended for Mom in MySpace Cyberbullying Case

A sentence of one year of probation and a $5,000 fine are the penalties recommended in a presentence investigation report for the defendant in a landmark federal cyberbullying case, reports Wired magazine. Acquitted last year of the most serious charges against her, Lori Drew was convicted in November of three…

May 4, 2009 9:43 PM CDT

High Court Holds Chemical Supplier Not Liable for Pollution Cleanup

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a supplier that delivered pesticides to a company that polluted an industrial site in California is not liable for cleanup costs. The court ruled that Shell Oil Co. was not liable under the Superfund law for delivering the chemicals, the Associated Press reports.…

May 4, 2009 3:31 PM CDT

Sen. Leahy Asks Judge Bybee to Testify About ‘Torture’ Memos

In the latest development in an ongoing controversy over internal government memos about permissible interrogation techniques in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked a government attorney who approved them to testify. A U.S. Department of Justice lawyer when…

Apr 29, 2009 11:04 PM CDT

O’Melveny Associate & UCLA Student Win 9th Circuit Immigration Appeal

Finding that a legal United States resident who served four years in the Navy had exhausted her administrative remedies, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has derailed a government effort to deport her over a California criminal conviction. The appellate ruling (PDF) in favor for Maria Gemma…

Apr 29, 2009 9:28 PM CDT

Appeals Court Reinstates Torture Suit Despite State Secrets Claim

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit that claims a Boeing subsidiary helped the CIA transport prisoners to overseas prisons for torture. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco said the lawsuit should not be dismissed based on the government’s assertion it could reveal state…

Apr 29, 2009 2:17 PM CDT

Web Advocacy Group & BluWiki Sue Apple Over Chat Board Shutdown Demand

In an effort to enforce its iTunes copyright, Apple Inc. threatened last year to sue BluWiki.com if the website didn’t remove from its discussion board a project called iPodhash. The project focused on how one might retrofit iPods and iPhones with open-source software allowing them to work without iTunes. BluWiki…

Apr 28, 2009 6:37 PM CDT

Heller Staff Members Sue Partners, Seek $32M for Alleged Labor Law Violations

Contending that they didn’t receive mandated severance and vacation pay, some 800 former Heller Ehrman staff have sued at least 179 partners of the firm for alleged WARN Act violations under federal and California state law. Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, their $32 million…

Apr 27, 2009 9:28 PM CDT

Bybee Colleague Says So-Called Torture Memo Just ‘Got Away from Him’

Federal appeals judge Jay Bybee had been a popular law professor at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas before his stint in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, winning professor of the year in 2000. Now Bybee’s colleagues at UNLV and elsewhere are theorizing why he signed an…

Apr 27, 2009 12:14 PM CDT

Congressman Calls for Impeachment of Bybee over Torture Memos

A Democratic congressman is calling for the impeachment of a federal appeals judge for his Justice Department memos approving harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects. U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, is the first member of Congress to call for the impeachment of…

Apr 21, 2009 11:32 AM CDT

All Eagles Star Wants to Do Is Sue Over Senate Candidate’s Alleged Song Misuse

A California lawmaker is now facing battles on two fronts, as he seeks the Republican nomination in an effort to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in 2010. Eagles founder Don Henley is suing Calif. Assemblyman Charles DeVore (R-Irvine) over his claimed infringement of “All She Wants to Do is Dance,”…

Apr 20, 2009 7:27 PM CDT

Attorney With LA Firm Fined $102K—Plus 200 Pro Bono Hours

NOTE: The sanctions described here against Deborah Klar, Teri Pham and the law firm Liner Grode Stein Yankelevitz Sunshine Regenstreif & Taylor were vacated, in effect, in April 2010 by U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro. A federal magistrate judge in Nevada has not only fined an attorney formerly with…

Apr 6, 2009 9:09 PM CDT

Catch Me If You Can

For years, Howard Kieffer dazzled clients, judges and lawyers with his federal sentencing expertise. Then they found out why he knew so much.

Apr 2, 2009 3:19 AM CDT

US Sues BP Sub Over Alaska Oil Spills, Seeks Maximum Penalties

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed suit against a subsidiary of a global oil company, contending that two discharges totaling some 200,000 gallons of crude oil into Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope in 2006 violated federal clean air and water laws and seeking maximum penalties. Filed in federal…

Apr 1, 2009 9:15 PM CDT

Human Rights Victims Want $5M Accounting From Judge Real

Lawyers battling over funds seized for human rights victims of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos have asked an appeals court to force a controversial federal judge to account for $5 million disbursed from an account controlled by the court while its ownership was being contested. The appeal, filed March…

Mar 31, 2009 6:42 PM CDT