Alabama

Judge cites stand-your-ground law in tossing sorority sister’s suit against coach’s daughter

Citing Alabama’s stand-your-ground law, a Tuscaloosa judge has dismissed a civil suit by a former college student who says she was injured in a fight with her sorority sister, the daughter of University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban. Judge James Roberts Jr. said plaintiff Sarah Grimes initiated the confrontation…

Feb 20, 2014 1:57 PM CST

Young small-town lawyers credit thank-you letter for invitation to White House state dinner

When they got an email earlier this month inviting them to a state dinner at the White House in honor of the president of France, two young lawyers practicing at small firms in Huntsville, Ala., thought there must be some mistake. Or perhaps it was a scam? The invitation did…

Feb 14, 2014 11:10 PM CST

Married couple face first-degree murder charges in water-intoxication death of girl, 5

The father and stepmother of a 5-year-old Tennessee girl are facing first-degree murder charges over accusations that they caused her death by forcing her to consume an excessive amount of grape soda and water and failing to seek medical attention when she began to show signs of distress and injury.…

Feb 7, 2014 6:25 PM CST

Alabama’s chief justice, known as the Ten Commandments judge, fights gay marriage

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, known as the Ten Commandments judge, is taking up a new cause. Moore has written to the governors of all 50 states in an effort to enact a federal constitutional ban on gay marriage, the Associated Press reports. Moore is urging the governors to ask…

Feb 7, 2014 1:28 PM CST

Will bank suits against Target in $1B-plus customer data breach help spur security enhancements?

It isn’t just individuals who are taking legal action over a massive data breach in November and December that reportedly involved at least 40 million and perhaps as many as 110 million Target Corp. customer accounts. Contending that banks may have lost hundreds of millions of dollars because of Target’s…

Feb 3, 2014 11:20 PM CST

3 men convicted in infamous ‘Scottsboro Boys’ case are pardoned by Alabama parole board

Closing a chapter in a criminal case that is considered symbolic of racial injustice in the early decades of the 20th Century, the Alabama parole board Thursday granted posthumous pardons to three black men who were convicted by all-white juries of a rape that apparently never occurred in a case…

Nov 21, 2013 6:03 PM CST

Alabama fan must pay $796K in Auburn U tree-poisoning case

A University of Alabama supporter must pay $796,731.98 in restitution for poisoning an iconic 130-year-old stand of oak trees at Auburn University, a state-court judge has ruled. Harvey Updyke Jr. previously pleaded guilty to poisoning the Toomer’s Corner trees. It will take him 132 years to pay full restitution at…

Nov 11, 2013 10:25 PM CST

Bid to keep wife’s remains buried in the yard fails in this state supreme court

An Alabama man who wants to keep his wife’s remains buried in his front yard has lost his bid to have the state supreme court hear his appeal. The Alabama Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal by James Davis, leaving intact an appeals court ruling against him, Al.com reports…

Oct 16, 2013 11:04 AM CDT

Noncustodial parents not responsible for college costs of adult children, court says

The Alabama Supreme Court has reversed a 1989 decision requiring noncustodial parents to help pay college expenses for their adult children. The court, in a 6-2 decision (PDF) Friday, said the 1989 ruling failed to recognize the “ordinary and common-law definition” of a child as a minor, which the state…

Oct 7, 2013 7:41 PM CDT

Victim’s dad offers stranded juror a ride home, judge declares mistrial

Judges routinely instruct jurors to avoid a wide range of activities that could prove problematic to a criminal defendant’s right to a fair trial. However, the list is not all-inclusive, and it appears that an Alabama juror inadvertently stepped outside the bounds by admittedly accepting a ride home Monday night…

Aug 27, 2013 4:10 PM CDT

Ex-wife of NFL star sues lawyer for malpractice over $200 misdemeanor conviction

The ex-wife of former football great Kenny Stabler has filed a malpractice suit against the lawyer who represented her in a misdemeanor case over a restroom incident in an Alabama courthouse. Rose Burch Stabler was arrested in 2011 after a judge at the Baldwin County Courthouse in Bay Minette accused…

Jul 24, 2013 3:30 PM CDT

Law grad, 70, who celebrated 50th wedding anniversary June 1, is now studying for bar exam

Unlike some younger classmates, Sandra Wilson didn’t go to law school for the money. Nor is she worried about balancing a fledgling legal career with marriage and children—at 70, she just celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary June 1 and is a grandmother, the News Herald reports. Now, after earning her…

Jun 12, 2013 10:35 PM CDT

Onetime Natalee Holloway suspect may wed from Peruvian jail to avoid extortion extradition

Corrected: Convicted murderer Joran van der Sloot is now jailed in Peru, where he was found guilty of slaying college student Stephany Flores. His crime there was high-profile because of extensive publicity over the still-unsolved disappearance of another young woman, U.S. citizen Natalee Holloway, who vanished in Aruba while on…

Jun 3, 2013 2:46 PM CDT

Suspended and facing ethics case, judge blames president jurist, claims she rebuffed advances

An Alabama judge facing a legal ethics case over the unlawful arrest orders she is accused of entering against parties and witnesses in divorce cases is now blaming the jurisdiction’s former top jurist for her plight. Jefferson County Circuit Judge Dorothea Batiste denies in court filings that she abused her…

May 21, 2013 3:18 PM CDT

Woman dies on courthouse floor without medical aid after arrest over unpaid ticket, suit says

Arrested and jailed over an allegedly unpaid 2008 traffic ticket, Dwana Voncia London-Richardson died, at age 45, on an Alabama courthouse floor days after sheriff’s department and jail workers failed to provide her with medical treatment, a federal lawsuit says. It names as defendants the St. Clair County sheriff, county…

May 20, 2013 3:16 PM CDT