9th Circuit Court

Lawyer who forged client signatures on secret litigation-funding contracts takes wire-fraud plea

Seven years ago, Todd Macaluso won a $55 million verdict for the survivors of four U.S. Marines who died in a Camp Pendleton helicopter crash. But by mid-2012 the California personal injury attorney was forging client signatures on secret litigation-funding contracts to get millions of dollars to keep his law…

Apr 15, 2015 9:15 AM CDT

Man’s false claims to have placed bombs in federal courthouse get him 6 years

A Nevada man who falsely claimed to have placed bombs under the desks of two federal judges in a Las Vegas courthouse last year was sentenced Tuesday to 75 months in prison. Clifford James Schuett, 60, pleaded guilty in December to threatening to kill or cause damage through the use…

Apr 9, 2015 3:55 PM CDT

Will provision in funding law stop feds from prosecuting marijuana crimes?

The tension between new state laws that allow the sale of marijuana and federal laws that prohibit it has put some arguably law-abiding individuals at risk of spending time behind bars. Among them is Charles Lynch, 52, who was convicted on federal felony charges after opening a medical marijuana dispensary…

Apr 9, 2015 3:20 PM CDT

US Courts: Federal litigants face record civil-case backlog due to shortage of judges

During the past 15 years, the federal prison population has grown by more than 50 percent. But the federal bench has not, leading to record delays in hearing civil cases as criminal matters are given priority, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.). A backlog of some 330,000 civil cases…

Apr 6, 2015 3:55 PM CDT

Suit says ‘zombie cookies’ were used to revive deleted ad-tracking information

Add another case to the annals of zombie law: A federal class action says Turn Inc. used secret “zombie cookies” to track online activities of Verizon electronic device users. Filed in San Francisco, it accuses the online ad clearinghouse of “surreptitiously” monitoring users’ activities and “thwarting industry-standard consumer safeguards of…

Apr 6, 2015 10:15 AM CDT

LA is rewriting law banning living in cars, after 9th Circuit rejected original ordinance

Ten months after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Los Angeles city ordinance forbidding living in vehicles, the city is trying to rewrite it. City attorney Mike Feuer proposed a new version of the law in a report last week, the Los Angeles Times reported. The…

Apr 3, 2015 3:30 PM CDT

Federal judge says California has to pay for inmate’s sex-change surgery

California must pay for gender reassignment surgery for an inmate convicted of murder, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled Thursday. Surgery is “the only adequate medical treatment for her gender dysphoria,” said U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar in his written opinion. Hence, not providing it for Michelle-Lael Norsworthy,…

Apr 3, 2015 8:55 AM CDT

LA lawyer makes federal case out of ‘stealth towing’ charge imposed on his own vehicle

When California attorney J. David Sackman and his wife returned to their Los Angeles home after a five-day trip to San Francisco last year, an unpleasant surprise awaited them. Their 1999 Toyota Sienna had been ticketed after spending over 72 hours in the same spot and then towed more than…

Mar 31, 2015 9:45 AM CDT

Feds say 2 of their agents in Silk Road probe laundered Bitcoins; one is accused of working as mole

In the course of investigating now-convicted mastermind Ross Ulbricht in the Silk Road case, the feds seized Bitcoins worth some $33 million. But the official probe wasn’t the only drain on the anonymous digital currency used by the online black-market bazaar, the government now alleges. In a criminal complaint unsealed…

Mar 30, 2015 3:55 PM CDT

Botched child-murder case gets tossed; mother jailed for 2 decades speaks out

Found guilty in 1990 of playing a role in the slaying of her 4-year-old son, Debra Milke spent 22 years in the Arizona prison system before she was released in 2013 after successfully challenging her conviction in a federal habeas petition. In a scathing written opinion (PDF), the 9th U.S.…

Mar 25, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

Composer’s heirs sue CBS over use of iconic ‘Hawaii Five-0’ theme music in TV show remake

If CBS hadn’t rebooted a classic television show, then a renewal by CBS of the copyright registration for the original Hawaii Five-0’s iconic theme song decades ago likely would have gone unnoticed. However, following the airing of the new Hawaii Five-0 series, heirs of Morton Stevens filed a copyright infringement…

Mar 20, 2015 1:10 PM CDT

Cab companies sue Uber, call ‘safer than a taxi’ ad claim deceptive

Is a criminal background check, based on fingerprints, the best way to screen taxi drivers and assure passenger safety? Or does the Uber Technologies system of checking a private UberX driver’s name against court records, driving records and a national sex offender database, as well as a system of Internet…

Mar 18, 2015 3:15 PM CDT

General counsel, 3 others federally convicted in conspiracy to fleece Las Vegas HOAs

A former general counsel for a condominium association and three other defendants were found guilty Tuesday by a federal jury in Las Vegas of participating in a massive fraud of area homeowner associations. Lawyers for attorney Keith Gregory and the other three individuals said they knew nothing of the scheme…

Mar 18, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Defense rests in Las Vegas HOA criminal trial; says that GC didn’t know of the fraud

The defense has rested in a federal trial of the remaining four defendants, including a lawyer, in a massive criminal case over construction-related fraud at large condominium associations in the Las Vegas area. Following plea deals by the man portrayed by prosecutors as the mastermind of the scheme and dozens…

Mar 17, 2015 12:50 PM CDT

Are Lyft and Uber drivers employees? Juries will decide

Operators of the popular Lyft and Uber ride-sharing smartphone applications say drivers who use their own private vehicles to transport passengers who find them via the apps are independent contractors. But federal judges in two separate San Francisco class actions against the companies aren’t so sure, reports the Los Angeles…

Mar 16, 2015 9:07 AM CDT