9th Circuit Court

Jaywalker handcuffed and put in police car was not arrested, city says in response to his civil suit

Stopped by a police offer in 2010 as he was admittedly jaywalking across a Portland, Ore., street, Scott Miller was handcuffed, placed in the back of a squad car and told he was under arrest. But he wasn’t actually arrested, the city is now contending in response to the federal…

Jul 18, 2013 7:45 PM CDT

Federal judge OKs feds’ $5B suit against Standard & Poor’s, blasts ‘troubling’ defense of ‘puffery’

A federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., has given the green light to a Department of Justice lawsuit claiming that Standard & Poor’s Rating Services fraudulently misrepresented its evaluations of companies as independent and objective. While U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has not ruled on the merits, he denied…

Jul 17, 2013 4:55 PM CDT

Greenpeace, gun groups join in suit over US surveillance ‘dragnet’ by Electronic Frontier Foundation

A wide swath of interest groups, ranging from Greenpeace to gun rights advocates, have joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a coalition of 19 organizations in filing a legal challenge to what the plaintiffs describe as an “illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet electronic surveillance” by the U.S. government. Filed…

Jul 16, 2013 8:55 PM CDT

‘Certifiable saint’ but for indirect role in $2.4B fraud, ex-BigLaw partner gets 1 year in club fed

A former partner of Mayer Brown was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in federal prison for his role in a $2.4 billion fraud on investors in Refco Inc. Joseph P. Collins, 62, was allowed to remain free pending his appeal in the Manhattan federal court case, reports…

Jul 16, 2013 3:45 PM CDT

Paralegal admits embezzling $327K, secretly settling law firm claims

A paralegal, office manager and secretary for a small San Francisco-area law firm has admitted embezzling more than $327,000 by secretly settling client claims and stealing the proceeds, as well as retainer payments, over a five-year period. Ana Lissa Reyes also signed up clients without the firm’s knowledge, and established…

Jul 3, 2013 7:40 PM CDT

Gays who want to marry in California may have to wait for 25 days or more

June 27 • Scalia predicts the future, once again, in gay-marriage dissent • Gays who want to marry in California may have to wait for 25 days or more • You won’t see these words in Kennedy’s DOMA decision June 26 • SCOTUS standing ruling has effect of allowing gay…

Jun 27, 2013 2:05 PM CDT

Deadly ‘valley fever’ risk means thousands of prison inmates must be moved, federal judge says

A federal judge told California officials on Monday that they must move several thousand inmates at two prisons who are at risk of contracting a potentially deadly airborne fungus known as valley fever. The state has seven days to begin doing so and must complete the move within 90 days,…

Jun 25, 2013 9:00 PM CDT

Did cities violate right to counsel by providing ‘a warm body with a law degree’?

At closing arguments Tuesday in a trial over the public defenders provided by two Washington state muncipalities to low-income individuals charged with crimes, counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union asked a federal judge to find that “a warm body with a law degree doesn’t cut it.” But the defense…

Jun 19, 2013 5:25 PM CDT

‘Valley fever’ fungus in local soil prompts request to judge to move thousands of inmates

A naturally occurring soil fungus in arid areas of Arizona and California is no problem for a number of people. But in others the fungus, which becomes airborne when soil is disturbed, causes “valley fever” symptoms that can range from aches and fever to death. The fungus, which has had…

Jun 17, 2013 4:30 PM CDT

Judge disqualifies Winston & Strawn in San Bernardino bankruptcy

Winston & Strawn has been disqualified from representing a bond insurer in the San Bernardino bankruptcy, due to a conflict created by the law firm’s hire of a lawyer who formerly worked for an opponent in the litigation. The Chicago-based international law firm had argued that the former California Public…

Jun 14, 2013 10:00 AM CDT

Disbelieved and accused of making a false rape report, now-vindicated victim sues

Despite physical evidence that supported her story that a stranger had bound, gagged, raped and photographed her in 2008 in the transitional housing apartment in which she was living, an 18-year-old Washington state woman was disbelieved. Pressured by police into recanting, she was criminally charged for making a false rape…

Jun 11, 2013 8:00 PM CDT

Kobe Bryant’s parents apologize, get OK to auction some boyhood sports items

Litigation between basketball star Kobe Bryant and an auction house that reportedly gave his parents a $450,000 upfront payment to auction sports memorabilia from his youth has been settled. His parents, Joe and Pamela Bryant, have apologized and will be allowed to sell a small fraction of the items that…

Jun 11, 2013 4:28 PM CDT

Trial begins in federal class action over public defender caseloads in municipal court

Two cities in Washington say they never systematically violated the right to counsel of criminal defendants and do an even better job now, under new standards adopted by the state’s top court. But the American Civil Liberties Union contends otherwise, in a class action that went to trial Monday in…

Jun 5, 2013 10:30 PM CDT

Was judge senile in death penalty case? 9th Circuit dissenter sees ‘painfully obvious’ incompetence

A federal appeals court has discounted allegations that a judge who sentenced a triple murderer to death was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease at the time. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the death sentence for Ronald Deere, convicted of murdering three family members of his ex-girlfriend…

Jun 5, 2013 11:25 AM CDT

Was Apple betrayed by a lawyer at its own firm?

While working for Morgan Lewis & Bockius, an environmental litigation partner reportedly participated for years, with his wife, in the affairs of a tech company that has since become a significant issue for the law firm and a major client. Now unusual questions are being raised: Was now-former partner John…

Jun 4, 2013 7:05 PM CDT