9th Circuit Court

En Banc Court Puts Roommates.com on the Hook in Fair Housing Suit

An en banc 9th Circuit has ruled that a website can be held liable for violating fair housing laws. The ruling by 11 judges of the San Francisco-based court found that Roommates.com can be sued for violating federal fair housing laws because it requires users to provide information that individuals…

Apr 3, 2008 9:38 PM CDT

Chastened Milberg Firm in Plea Negotiations

After a plea agreement and an apology last week by Milberg Weiss founding partner Melvyn Weiss over a scheme to pay millions of dollars in secret kickbacks to lead plaintiffs in securities class actions, the once-defiant tone of the defendant New York law firm has changed dramatically in the still-ongoing…

Mar 25, 2008 3:34 PM CDT

Judge Blasts Failure to Treat Cancer as ‘Most Egregious’ Lesson in Cruelty

A federal judge in Los Angeles has blasted immigration officials for failing to authorize treatment for a detainee’s penile cancer. For 11 months the officials had ignored several physicians’ recommendations to permit them to biopsy a growing lesion that eventually led to the death of the detainee, Francisco Castaneda, the…

Mar 13, 2008 12:34 PM CDT

Founder of Big Immigration Firm Gets 2 Years, Fined $750K in Visa Case

The former founder of one of the West Coast’s biggest immigration law firms was sentenced Friday to two years in prison for filing fraudulent visa applications. In addition to the prison term, Daniel Korenberg, 58, was also sentenced to serve six months of home confinement, with electronic monitoring, after his…

Mar 10, 2008 11:22 PM CDT

Firm Owes Co-Counsel in $26M Case Despite Claimed Lack of Profit

The word “recovery” in an engagement contract between a Texas law firm and the Arizona firm it retained to help pursue an environmental class action meant gross, rather than net recovery, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday in a breach-of-contract case filed over the fee…

Mar 7, 2008 8:45 PM CST

Qualcomm Lawyers Get Sanctions Lifted, Privilege Pierced in Discovery Fiasco

A federal judge is allowing six Qualcomm lawyers sanctioned for discovery violations in patent litigation to testify about privileged client communications. U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster of San Diego lifted the sanctions yesterday and returned the case to the federal magistrate who imposed them, the Recorder reports. Brewster said the…

Mar 7, 2008 12:12 PM CST

Discovery Debacle: How Not to Duplicate Qualcomm’s E-Mail Issues

After some $10 million in court-ordered penalties, attorney sanctions and a switch of both in-house and outside counsel, it is clear that Qualcomm Inc. didn’t handle its discovery obligations in a patent dispute with Broadcom Corp. in an optimal manner. But despite these severe sanctions over 46,000 e-mails that Qualcomm…

Mar 6, 2008 1:32 AM CST

Starbucks Settles Worker Suit as 1,000s Seek Overtime Pay

An undisclosed settlement between Starbucks Corp. and 350 assistant managers who claim they were required to work unpaid overtime was approved yesterday by a federal judge in Houston. But the Seattle-based international coffee chain, which has a reputation of paying workers generous benefits, is still facing other federal suits by…

Mar 5, 2008 5:48 PM CST

Hollywood Agog Over Names to be Named in Private Investigator’s Trial

As a so-called private investigator to the stars is about to go to trial tomorrow for allegedly using illegal tactics to gain evidence for his clients, Hollywood is reportedly agog over the names that are being named as possible witnesses. The trial is also expected to provide further details of…

Mar 4, 2008 5:57 PM CST

Judge Backtracks, Returns Wikileaks Whistle-Blower Web Address

Updated: Visibly frustrated by the way that Internet technology has outpaced traditional law, a federal judge today nonetheless acceded to First Amendment arguments and said Wikileaks could have its Web address back. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, who sits in San Francisco, today reversed his decision earlier this month granting…

Mar 1, 2008 1:35 AM CST

Milberg Weiss Probe Touches Other Firms

Federal prosecutors claim in court documents that several plaintiffs class action law firms secretly paid an expert witness on a contingency basis, giving him an incentive to inflate shareholders’ damages. John B. Torkelsen, 62, agreed to plead guilty today in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia to a single count of…

Feb 28, 2008 11:11 PM CST

Supreme Court Considers Exxon Punitives in Arguments Today

Updated: Exxon Mobil Corp. will rely on an argument advanced recently by many highly regulated industries when its lawyer asks the U.S. Supreme Court today to bar punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Exxon contends the Clean Water Act already regulates oil spills, and private suits for damages…

Feb 27, 2008 12:40 PM CST

Judge Appears Reluctant to Order Release of Law Firm Probe Notes

Former McAfee general counsel Kent Roberts’ quest for notes of a law firm’s corporate backdating probe appeared to run into a roadblock Monday in the form of Judge Marilyn Hall Patel. Roberts claims he needs the notes to defend himself in a civil suit for securities fraud by the Securities…

Feb 26, 2008 12:43 PM CST

Judge Shutters Whistle-Blower Site; Major 1st Amend. Issue

In a move that could spark a major test of the scope of the First Amendment in the Internet era, a federal judge in San Francisco has closed down a website with a mission of providing a bulletin board for the posting of leaked material. A permanent injunction (PDF posted…

Feb 19, 2008 9:22 PM CST

One Former Bill Lerach Law Firm Scarcely Misses a Step

In a recent discussion of leading plaintiffs firms filing class actions related to the subprime mortgage crisis, what Wall Street Journal Law Blog described as “San Diego-based plaintiffs powerhouse Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins” received prominent mention. Not mentioned at all in the post was the firm’s former name…

Feb 15, 2008 11:16 PM CST