Arizona

Jury says towns dominated by polygamous sect put religion above the law; awards $2.2M to 6 people

After nearly two months of trial and three days of deliberation, on Monday a federal jury in Phoenix found that two adjacent towns dominated by a polygamous sect have violated the rights of nonbelievers living within their precincts. Discriminatory policing and provision of municipal services such as water hookups violated…

Mar 8, 2016 11:56 AM CST

Inadequate medical care in immigration detention facilities leads to deaths, report says

Inadequate medical care in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities has led to in-custody deaths, according to a study by three watchdog groups, the Associated Press reports. Reports on deaths in detention from 2010 to 2012, filed by an ICE review board investigating deaths in detention centers, were examined…

Feb 26, 2016 1:25 PM CST

This law school will accept the GRE from applicants; will others follow?

Would-be lawyers applying to the University of Arizona College of Law have an alternative to the Law School Admission Test. The school has announced it will accept either the Graduate Record Examination or the LSAT, report the National Law Journal (sub. req.), the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) and the…

Feb 24, 2016 6:15 AM CST

Lawyers and clients beware: Spoof phone calls may direct funds to scammers

Lawyers should consider warning clients not to assume that caller ID is correct when it shows that a call seems to be coming from their attorney’s phone number, says the State Bar of Arizona in a news release. Scammers may be “spoofing” phone numbers of attorneys—tricking caller ID into displaying…

Feb 1, 2016 2:35 PM CST

Arizona governor wants the state out of the 9th Circuit

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced today that he is working with the state’s U.S. congressional delegation to push for legislation that would remove Arizona from the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the Arizona Republic reports. “The Ninth Circuit is by far the most overturned and overburdened court…

Jan 28, 2016 3:20 PM CST

Do officials in adjacent towns put religion above the law? DOJ case asks jury to decide

Opening statements are expected to begin Wednesday in the trial of a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice against two adjacent border towns accused of violating the civil rights of residents by putting religion above the law. Filed in 2012 against Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, the…

Jan 19, 2016 2:10 PM CST

9th Circuit blasts judge who ruled for rancher, boots him from grazing-rights case

A federal appeals court not only vacated and reversed portions of a judgment in a high-profile Nevada grazing-rights case on Friday but booted the trial judge from the case on remand. Saying that U.S. District Judge Robert Clive Jones had displayed bias against the federal government and grossly abused his…

Jan 19, 2016 12:10 PM CST

Teacher raped by prison inmate settles suit against Arizona for $3M

An Arizona prison teacher will receive $3 million to settle her lawsuit against the state after being stabbed and raped by an inmate when she was left unguarded in a classroom, the Associated Press reports. In January 2014, the teacher was giving a high-school equivalency test to about a half-dozen…

Jan 5, 2016 2:45 PM CST

Wealthy lawyer who repaid with interest $800K stolen from clients gets probation in fraud case

Updated: An Arizona personal injury lawyer was already earning millions annually when he made what federal prosecutors termed an “inexplicable decision” to steal about $800,000, an average of $100,000 a year, from clients in vaccine cases. That resulted in a loss of Jay Bansal’s law license but no prison time…

Dec 14, 2015 5:00 PM CST

Brownstein Hyatt closes Phoenix office

Five years after Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck opened an office in Phoenix, that office has closed its doors. But the Denver-based business and lobbying firm is still going strong in 14 other locations. “This decision was not made lightly given our immensely talented team in Phoenix. We worked hard over…

Nov 24, 2015 4:40 PM CST

Arizona asks FDA to return seized shipment of illegal execution drugs

Arizona’s attempt to import a lethal injection drug not approved for use in the U.S. was thwarted in July by federal agents who caught the shipment at the Phoenix airport, the Associated Press reports. The sodium thiopental had been used previously for executions in the U.S. but is no longer…

Oct 23, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Lawyer convicted of murder, then granted new trial, has conviction reinstated

In 2013, a Calfornia divorce lawyer was convicted of second-degree murder in the Arizona slaying of his stepdaughter’s husband. Then, only a few months later, Robert Fischer had the rare experience of seeing his jury conviction reversed by the trial judge due to insufficient evidence. Now Fischer has suffered another…

Oct 13, 2015 1:20 PM CDT

Sheriff Joe Arpaio testifies in contempt hearing, says he delegated compliance with court order

One of America’s best-known sheriffs has admittedly violated a federal judge’s order to stop racially profiling Latinos. But did Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, do so inadvertently or intentionally? That is the question to be answered by a contempt hearing at which he testified on Thursday, the Los…

Oct 1, 2015 4:30 PM CDT

9th Circuit rejects Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s attempt to remove judge in racial profiling case

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dealt another loss to Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, the Arizona Republic reported this week. The decision came in the civil contempt hearings against Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, for defying court orders in a seven-year-old racial profiling…

Sep 17, 2015 2:13 PM CDT

Lawyer admonished for email exchange with ‘Deliverance’ taunt seeks to set aside the judgment

An Arizona lawyer who was admonished in February after a fee dispute escalated into an email feud is seeking to set aside the judgment based on a declaration from the complainant, who says he was never offended. The admonished lawyer, Dennis Wilenchik, originally accepted discipline by consent, which included a…

Sep 1, 2015 5:45 AM CDT