9th Circuit Court

9th Circuit Stays Court Order Forcing Meds on Suspect in Shooting of Giffords and Chief Judge Roll

Granting an emergency motion by the suspect in a Tucson, Ariz., mass shooting spree early this year, a federal appeals court has ordered prison officials not to forcibly administer anti-psychotic medication to defendant Jared Loughner until the matter is finally decided. Loughner’s lawyers have argued that he was not given…

Jul 5, 2011 8:11 PM CDT

Kozinski: The Fourth Amendment Is Dying, and We Are the Killers

The Fourth Amendment is “all but obsolete” in a world where corporations track our store purchases, online companies save our account information, and smartphones reveal our geographic location. That’s the conclusion of Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He and his law…

Jul 1, 2011 11:00 AM CDT

Winklevoss Twins Won’t Ask Supreme Court to Scuttle Facebook Settlement

The twins who claim Mark Zuckerberg stole their idea for Facebook have given up their attack on a $65 million settlement reached in the case. Lawyers for Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss have notified the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that they won’t seek cert with the U.S.…

Jun 23, 2011 12:31 PM CDT

Attorney’s Failed Dream of Revitalizing Pacific Law Center Leaves Angry Clients, Unresolved Cases

Laura Perry says she paid $2,000 to the Pacific Law Center to handle a Chapter 7 bankruptcy for her. But the law firm, which at the time was reportedly operated by Kerry Steigerwalt, never made the filing, she contends. And, when it last offered her a refund, the 73-year-old tells…

Jun 22, 2011 6:59 PM CDT

Suing Wal-Mart Cost Lead Law Firm $7M

Expecting a big payoff, the lead plaintiffs law firm in a massive class action against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. invested about $5 million in attorney and staff time and $2 million in costs, much of it for discovery, to pursue the case. But after this week’s U.S. Supreme Court victory for…

Jun 22, 2011 6:09 PM CDT

Ex-McGuireWoods Partner Gets Home Detention for Falsifying IRS Doc to Avoid Levy for Unpaid Tax

A former partner of McGuireWoods has been given home confinement and community service for interfering with Internal Revenue Service efforts to collect more than $110,000 she owed in unpaid income tax for 2006 to 2008. When the IRS attempted to levy on partnership payments to Michelle Renee Walker, she provided…

Jun 21, 2011 5:39 PM CDT

Chief District Judge Nixes Motion to Vacate Prop 8 Ruling Due to Judge Walker’s Sexual Orientation

The chief federal district judge in San Francisco has refused to vacate a controversial same-sex marriage ruling last year by a now-retired colleague, based on his sexual orientation and involvement in a same-sex relationship. A judge is not required to step down from hearing a case simply because of his…

Jun 15, 2011 1:49 AM CDT

Bankruptcy Court Says Same-Sex Married Couple Can File Jointly Despite DOMA Prohibition

A federal statute barring recognition of same-sex marriage can’t prevent a legally wed same-sex couple from jointly filing for bankruptcy, a group of 20 judges in California has decided. The ruling by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles yesterday found that two men who had married in California before…

Jun 14, 2011 8:56 PM CDT

Suspended LA Lawyer Gets 32 Months, Must Repay $41M, in Quellos Tax-Shelter Scheme

A suspended Los Angeles lawyer has been sentenced to 32 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release for participating, along with the CEO and an attorney-principal of Quellos Group in a tax-shelter scheme involving wealthy investors. Sentenced Friday by a federal district court judge in western…

Jun 13, 2011 7:27 PM CDT

Split Supreme Court Has Effect of Upholding Gender Difference in Immigration Law

A recusal by Justice Elena Kagan has resulted in a 4-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on the issue of whether a gender difference in the immigration law is unconstitutional. The split decision (PDF) leaves intact a decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals finding…

Jun 13, 2011 2:44 PM CDT

9th Circuit: By Telling Cops of Dad’s Advice to Get a Lawyer, Suspect Didn’t Actually Ask for Lawyer

Tio Dinero Sessoms was recorded on video when, after being arrested in 1999, he told Sacramento homicide detectives that his dad “asked me to ask you guys–uh, get me a lawyer.” But a California court had an adequate basis for deciding that Sessoms’ relaying to police of his father’s advice…

Jun 10, 2011 12:16 AM CDT

Defense Lawyer Charged with Arranging to Bribe Cop to Say Client Was DEA Informant

Corrected: A California lawyer and a Rialto police officer have been taken into custody and charged with bribery after allegedly arranging for a client of attorney Lawrence Anthony Witsoe to pay $2,500 for the benefit of the officer. In exchange, the officer allegedly falsely told the Orange County District Attorney’s…

Jun 6, 2011 7:33 PM CDT

DOJ Settles Suit Against Joe Arpaio’s Office, Says Maricopa, Ariz., Sheriff Has Provided Docs

The Department of Justice has settled an unusual suit seeking to force the Maricopa County, Ariz., sheriff’s office to provide documents for a civil rights probe. The office is now cooperating, ending the documents dispute, although the investigation continues, reports the Associated Press. The sheriff’s office did not have any…

Jun 2, 2011 11:45 PM CDT

Report: BigLaw Attorney in Insider-Trade Case Didn’t Open Firm Docs, Allegedly Just Used Title Info

An attorney who allegedly obtained confidential information over a 17-year period while working at three major law firms before being charged earlier this year in an insider-trading case that allegedly involved over $30 million in illegal profits, has given chief information officers in the legal industry much to ponder. Wilson…

Jun 2, 2011 5:34 PM CDT

9th Circuit Rejects Bid by Wiccan Chaplain to Force California Prisons to Hire Him

A federal appeals court has ruled against a volunteer Wiccan chaplain who alleged in a lawsuit that California prisons violated inmates’ rights when they failed to give him a paid position. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals never reached the merits of the free-exercise and equal-protection claims…

Jun 2, 2011 3:00 PM CDT