FTC sues Amazon, says it let kids make in-app purchases that ran up big bills for parents

The Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon on Thursday. The agency contends that the online retail giant violated the Federal Trade Commission Act by allowing children playing games such as Angry Birds and Ice Age Village to make in-app purchases that ran up a big bill for their parents, without their…

Jul 11, 2014 12:49 PM CDT

In first case of its kind, feds use RICO statute to pursue claimed Internet credit-theft ring

When federal anti-racketeering statutes were enacted, their intended targets were organized crime families largely based in the U.S. But today the Internet is where crime is rampant, and federal authorities are now using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act as a weapon against claimed international criminal confederates working in…

Jul 9, 2014 10:25 PM CDT

Civil rights groups sue feds to get lawyers for juveniles in deportation hearings

Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Seattle against Attorney General Eric Holder and other U.S. officials. They contend it is “fundamentally unfair” to require children facing deportation hearings to proceed without legal representation and are seeking a court order requiring the Department of Justice to…

Jul 9, 2014 4:40 PM CDT

Should insurance cover suit against law firm after staffer allegedly engineered a false arrest?

A law firm could face a double whammy if its insurer is successful in a declaratory judgment action filed in federal court in Las Vegas. Already, a former legal assistant at Lipson, Neilson, Cole, Seltzer & Garin is serving time for stalking, after allegedly setting up an opposing party for…

Jul 7, 2014 3:17 PM CDT

When should bloggers count as journalists in defamation suits?

Jul 1, 2014 9:10 AM CDT

Man who killed wife, shot at divorce judge through courthouse window calls counsel ineffective

Updated: A Nevada businessman who unsuccessfully sought to withdraw from a plea deal after he stabbed his wife to death and shot at a Reno divorce judge sniper-style through a courthouse window during a single day in 2006 is now claiming his defense lawyers were ineffective. In a continuing effort…

Jun 25, 2014 9:04 PM CDT

Samsung and Quinn Emanuel must pay $2M for revealing ‘attorneys’ eyes only’ info, judge rules

A major law firm and its client must pay a patent litigation opponent more than $2 million in legal fees and costs, a federal judge in California has ruled. The award covers the expense of litigating a sanctions motion and discovery dispute over the revelation of “attorneys’ eyes only” information…

Jun 24, 2014 6:10 PM CDT

Federal court clerk, 2 techs create e-billing system to speed payment to defense lawyers nationwide

A new computerized billing system expected to speed payment to indigent defense lawyers is being adopted at federal courthouses throughout the country thanks to a chief deputy clerk and two technicians at the federal courthouse in Las Vegas. Thinking there had to be a better way than the cumbersome manual…

Jun 24, 2014 3:25 PM CDT

Former BigLaw tax attorney gets 12 months for failing to file his own return

A California tax attorney has been sentenced to 12 months in federal prison for not filing his own taxes, and must also pay over $650,000 in restitution, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. James Kleier, 58, was accused of failing to report any income for more than a decade while earning…

Jun 19, 2014 3:29 PM CDT

City faces suit over police stop based on license-plate reader error

As law enforcement agencies throughout the country move toward a world in which, it appears, government cameras, license-plate readers, public records and facial recognition technology will be combined with cellphone records to identify criminals before officers even see them, a California woman’s case serves as a reminder that old-fashioned police…

Jun 18, 2014 9:50 PM CDT

Paralegal who bilked clients and got boss disbarred is sentenced to 27 months

A longtime secretary, paralegal and office manager for a since-disbarred California lawyer has been sentenced to two years and three months in federal prison for embezzling $327,000 from the firm and its clients. In addition to restitution in the mail fraud case, Ana Lissa Reyes must also pay $67,448 to…

Jun 18, 2014 5:30 PM CDT

LA to pay $215K to black man ejected and cited after wearing Ku Klux Klan hood to public meeting

The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $215,000 to a man who was kicked out of a governmental meeting in 2011 after wearing a Ku Klux Klan hood and a T-shirt with a racial slur and being cited for disturbing a public assembly. Although the case against Michael…

Jun 16, 2014 6:50 PM CDT

Deaf inmate says prison violated ADA by not providing sign-language interpreters

A deaf inmate has filed a federal lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Corrections, contending that the state violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by failing to provide him with a qualified sign-language interpreter. David D. VanValkenburg, 48, says he was systematically excluded from full participation in intake interviews, classroom…

Jun 13, 2014 3:53 PM CDT

9th Circuit allows class action over prison conditions in Arizona

A federal appeals court has upheld class-action status in a suit filed on behalf of more than 34,000 inmates in Arizona’s state-run prisons. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the Eighth Amendment suit on Thursday, report the Arizona Republic and Capitol Media Services. The court…

Jun 6, 2014 12:10 PM CDT

Judges should admit goofs instead of quietly revising opinions, says 9th Circuit judge

Judges appear more willing to explain how their views have evolved than to confess to a mistake in an opinion, according to a federal appeals judge. Writing for the Arizona Law Review (PDF), Judge Andrew Hurwitz of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says judges should be…

Jun 5, 2014 10:50 AM CDT