9th Circuit Court

Lawyers Win Dismissal of Stock Charges Because of Prosecutor Misconduct

A federal appeals court has affirmed dismissal of stock fraud charges against two lawyers because a prosecutor withheld evidence favorable to the defense. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the lawyers, Daniel Chapman and Sean Flanagan, should not be retried because of the misconduct, the National…

May 12, 2008 4:52 PM CDT

6 San Diego State Frats Suspended After Massive Drug Bust

After the arrest of 75 students and 21 others in a massive drug bust centered on San Diego State University, the school has suspended six fraternities pending a further investigation of their role. Authorities said some frat members dealt drugs openly, and an affidavit contends that drug profits may have…

May 7, 2008 8:47 PM CDT

Adidas Award of $305M in Trademark Infringement Case May Be Record

A Portland, Ore., jury has awarded Adidas AG nearly $305 million for violation of its trademark for three-stripe shoes. Lawyers at Kilpatrick Stockton who represented Adidas said the judgment against Payless ShoeSource Inc. may be the largest trademark victory in U.S. history, the American Lawyer reports. The verdict included $137…

May 7, 2008 4:14 PM CDT

Jury Mulls Whether Private Investigator Wiretapped Celebrities

Jurors in Los Angeles began deliberations yesterday in the prosecution of private eye Anthony Pellicano, accused of illegally gathering information and wiretapping celebrities such as Garry Shandling and Keith Carradine. Charges against Pellicano include racketeering, conspiracy, wire fraud, identity theft and bribery, the Los Angeles Times reports. Four co-defendants are…

May 2, 2008 11:53 AM CDT

Closed Courtroom Sought in High-Profile Capital-Case Sentencing

Federal prosecutors in Boise, Idaho, filed a motion yesterday seeking to close the courtroom for a high-profile sentencing in a case that reportedly involves child sexual abuse as well as kidnapping and murder. It would be emotionally difficult for the one surviving child kidnapped by Joseph Duncan in May 2005…

Apr 30, 2008 10:18 PM CDT

MySpace Wins Suit Against Accused Spam King

The MySpace social networking website has won a default judgment against accused spammer Sanford Wallace. CNET News reports that Wallace failed to respond to discovery requests in the suit, filed in Los Angeles federal court last March. MySpace had contended Wallace launched a phishing scam to access MySpace profiles and…

Apr 29, 2008 2:27 PM CDT

Lawyer & Client Jailed in Bizarre Scheme to Defraud Attorneys

A Washington state man and his lawyer have been sentenced to four-year federal prison terms in a bizarre, yet sophisticated scheme to fraudulently sell the homes of judges and attorneys. In the latest salvo in a revenge effort that has been ongoing for 25 years, client David Alan Hawkins, 68,…

Apr 28, 2008 3:20 PM CDT

9th Circuit Upholds $1M Farmworker Sexual Harassment Award

A federal appeals court has upheld a verdict by a California jury that awarded over $1 million in an employment discrimination case to a farmworker who said her supervisor repeatedly raped her and her employer retaliated when she complained. Her employer had argued to the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit…

Apr 25, 2008 11:25 PM CDT

Meet Gordon Erspamer, VA’s ‘Worst Nightmare’ in PTSD Benefits Case

A busy BigLaw rainmaker who has for nearly 30 years made time to promote the rights of armed services veterans “is a big, unresponsive government agency’s worst nightmare,” a California newspaper says. Gordon Erspamer, a Morrison & Foerster partner who went to trial this week in a federal class action…

Apr 24, 2008 5:43 PM CDT

9th Circuit Stays Execution of 85 Sea Lions, Siding Against Salmon

Updated: Their only crime was eating salmon. So execution, at least for now, is too harsh a punishment for up to 85 sea lions scheduled for extermination this year, in an effort to protect the diminishing Chinook salmon run in the Pacific Northwest. That’s what the San Francisco-based 9th U.S.…

Apr 24, 2008 3:57 PM CDT

9th Circuit Upholds Border Agent’s Laptop Search

A federal appeals court panel ruled Monday that border agents didn’t violate a traveler’s rights when they searched his laptop, finding child porn in the process. “We are satisfied that reasonable suspicion is not needed for customs officials to search a laptop or other personal electronic storage devices at the…

Apr 22, 2008 10:08 AM CDT

Brobeck Bankruptcy Trustee Sues 10 Former Partners, Two Law Firms

Ten former partners of the bankrupt law firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison and the two new firms they joined are facing lawsuits by a bankruptcy trustee. Ronald Greenspan filed two lawsuits on March 28 against the partners and their firms, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Dorsey & Whitney, the Recorder…

Apr 11, 2008 11:05 AM CDT

More Securities Cases, Higher Damages Predicted By Accounting Firm Experts

More securities class actions, as well as increased efforts to obtain redress abroad, were predicted today by experts from the PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting firm. They also said that the growing presence of unions and pension funds as plaintiffs in such cases is apparently driving up damages awards. Speaking today at a…

Apr 10, 2008 8:13 PM CDT

New Cash Register Receipts Law Rings Up Class Action Bonanza

A new federal law that requires merchants to remove from cash register receipts private information such as more than five digits of a credit card number apparently may have caught some major companies napping. Some 300 class actions have been filed during the 16 months since since the Fair and…

Apr 7, 2008 10:07 PM CDT

Justice Kennedy Refuses Request to Block Release of Convicted Murderer

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy has refused to block the release of a 45-year-old California prisoner convicted of killing a man 25 years ago. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel ruled last year that Fred McCullough should be granted parole because of evidence he had “turned his life around in 1985 and…

Apr 4, 2008 12:57 PM CDT