Celebrities

Is Lance Armstrong using a ‘shameless’ defense in Postal Service bid to recover marketing bucks?

Is cyclist Lance Armstrong offering a “shameless” legal defense in a motion to dismiss a $120 million whistleblower suit? That’s the contention of a Bloomberg BusinessWeek editor, who says Armstrong’s claim is “part of the great American legal tradition of offering shameless defense arguments.” The suit against Armstrong, initially filed…

Jul 25, 2013 2:15 PM CDT

Lawyer’s disclosure to wife’s best friend outs J.K. Rowling as author of murder mystery

Corrected: A partner in a London entertainment law firm has admitted that he inadvertently outed J.K. Rowling, the author of the mega-selling Harry Potter children’s book series, as the pseudonymous writer of the mystery novel The Cuckoo’s Calling. Partner Chris Gossage of Russells told his wife’s best friend, who posted…

Jul 18, 2013 5:45 PM CDT

Parole officers find body of former Paris Hilton prosecutor

Parole officers found the body of former Las Vegas prosecutor David Schubert in his garage on Wednesday after the parolee missed a check-in last week. Schubert, 49, was a former Clark County deputy district attorney who prosecuted Paris Hilton and Bruno Mars, report the Associated Press, the Las Vegas Sun,…

Jul 18, 2013 1:29 PM CDT

Facing fallout over N-word admission, Paula Deen replaces her lawyers

Celebrity chef Paula Deen has hired new lawyers to defend her in an employment bias suit filed by a former manager at a restaurant owned by Deen and her brother. Deen will be represented by lawyers at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, including Washington, D.C., managing partner Grace Speights, according to…

Jul 15, 2013 4:31 PM CDT

Ex-Miss USA contestant must pay $5M to Donald Trump; judge blames her ‘poor choice of counsel’

A former beauty contestant must pay $5 million to Donald Trump for defaming his Miss USA pageant, a federal judge in Manhattan has ruled. Upholding an arbitration award, which determined that the well-known millionaire’s company had suffered a seven-figure loss from a potential sponsor after she resigned as Miss Pennsylvania…

Jul 8, 2013 7:25 PM CDT

Gandolfini’s will is a tax ‘catastrophe,’ estates lawyer says

The will of the late Sopranos star James Gandolfini is a “disaster,” a “catastrophe” and “a nightmare from a tax standpoint,” according to an estates lawyer who reviewed the document. Lawyer William Zabel reviewed Gandolfini’s will for the New York Daily News. Gandolfini left 80 percent of his estimated $70…

Jul 8, 2013 6:38 PM CDT

Even if ex-NFL player Hernandez didn’t fire gun, prosecutors will deal with others, lawyer predicts

An “interesting choice of words” by a prosecutor during a Massachusetts court hearing last week suggests that authorities may believe someone other than Aaron Hernandez actually fired the five shots that killed Odin Lloyd. But whether or not the government thinks the former New England Patriots tight end was the…

Jul 3, 2013 5:52 PM CDT

Lawyer for shot man suing ex-NFL player Aaron Hernandez: ‘You can’t make this stuff up’

When New York attorney David Jaroslawicz filed a federal civil suit June 13 against a New England Patriots football player, it might have seemed like an uphill battle to persuade authorities that Aaron Hernandez and two other men had left his client for dead, as Jaroslawicz says he now believes…

Jul 1, 2013 5:55 PM CDT

Lawyer defends tweet about ‘doing Paula Deen in a strongly metaphorical sense’

One of the lawyers suing Paula Deen and her brother is defending a tweet in which he said he is “doing Paula Deen in a strongly metaphorical sense.” Lawyers for the defendants are appealing a magistrate judge’s refusal to disqualify the tweeting lawyer, Matthew Billips of Atlanta, report WSBTV.com and…

Jun 26, 2013 12:17 PM CDT

Lawyer in Paula Deen case says white plaintiff had no standing to pursue race claims

A rule 11 motion filed by a lawyer in the Paula Deen case raises standing issues that suggest the celebrity chef’s controversial deposition in which she admitted having used the N-word may have delved into a subject that should have been off limits. The motion (PDF) by lawyer Tom Withers…

Jun 24, 2013 1:11 PM CDT

In deposition, Paula Deen says ‘of course’ she has used the N-word, but it was long ago

Celebrity chef Paula Deen admitted using the N-word, but said it was long ago, according to a deposition transcript filed in federal court on Monday. Deen is facing a suit by a former employee, Lisa Jackson, who claims she was sexually harassed and worked in a hostile environment that included…

Jun 20, 2013 1:04 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

After ex-NFL star pats his lawyer’s backside, judge nixes his no-jail plea deal

Playfully swatting a teammate on the backside is a common move on the football field. But when former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson patted his lawyer, Adam Swickle, on the posterior Monday, in response to a question from the judge about whether he was satisfied with his attorney, the gesture…

Jun 10, 2013 4:55 PM CDT

Two men wrongly identified as possible suspects in Boston Marathon bombing sue newspaper

Two man who say they were wrongly identified as possible suspects in an article on the Boston Marathon bombing have sued the newspaper that published it for libel. The suit, filed Wednesday in Suffolk County, Mass., Superior Court, names the New York Post, five individual reporters and an unidentified headline…

Jun 7, 2013 5:45 PM CDT

Wrongful-death defendant’s lawyer called Michael Jackson ‘the freak’ in email shown to jurors

Jurors in the Michael Jackson wrongful-death action Wednesday were shown an email from the defendant’s top in-house lawyer, referring to the late performer as “the freak.” According to the Los Angeles Times, the email was written by Ted Fikre, chief legal and development officer with Anschutz Entertainment Group. The company…

May 23, 2013 5:45 PM CDT