Connecticut

Hospital wins court ruling to boot ‘belligerent’ patient, but battle continues over free in-home bed

A Connecticut hospital won a court ruling requiring a “belligerent” patient to comply with a discharge order and vacate her acute-care bed. And patient Margo Smith was, in fact, transported home, a day after the court OK’d injunctive relief for St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center and 23 days after…

Oct 22, 2013 3:35 PM CDT

Hospital sues to boot ‘belligerent’ patient from acute-care bed

A Connecticut hospital has filed a state-court lawsuit against a “belligerent” patient, contending that she refuses to comply with a discharge order and continues to occupy her acute-care bed at the facility. Margo Smith has been examined by the St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center’s psychiatry department and “deemed to…

Oct 18, 2013 7:10 PM CDT

Owner who sold gun used in Newtown school massacre pleads to unrelated charge

David LaGuercia, the owner of the gun store that sold the rifle used in the Newtown school massacre, has pleaded guilty to federal charges from gun sales to other customers. LaGuercia’s Riverview Gun Sales in East Windsor, Conn., was raided in the days following the shooting. During the investigation, federal…

Aug 23, 2013 1:00 PM CDT

2nd Circuit nixes $50M suit against Yale over PhD mix-up that fanned hiring scandal flames

A federal appeals court has affirmed the dismissal of a case in which a South Korean university sought tens of millions of dollars in tort damages from Yale University after hiring a professor who falsely claimed to have earned a doctorate degree at Yale. A major scandal resulted from Dongguk…

Aug 15, 2013 9:10 PM CDT

Day Pitney is laying off 40 attorneys and staff

One of Connecticut’s largest law firms is giving pink slips to nearly 10 attorneys and about 30 staff members. Day Pitney has confirmed the layoffs, explaining in a written statements that “As the legal industry changes, we continue to evaluate and reshape our staff to better align with industry norms…

Aug 9, 2013 11:14 AM CDT

Longtime legal secretary charged in $1M theft, accused of blowing $500K at off-track betting parlor

A trusted longtime legal secretary is accused of embezzling over $1 million from a Connecticut law firm since 2008—and allegedly blowing some $500,000, in recent years, at an off-track betting parlor in New Haven. Barbara Kalpin is charged with two counts of first-degree larceny and 112 counts of second-degree forgery,…

Aug 8, 2013 10:35 PM CDT

Lawyer faces charges in claimed $2.5M auto insurance fraud

A Connecticut lawyer has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of mail fraud and conspiring to commit mail fraud as part of a claimed $2.5 million auto insurance scheme. Personal injury attorney Joseph Haddad is the seventh individual charged as a result of the so-called Operation Running Man probe by…

Aug 6, 2013 5:15 PM CDT

Suit claims consumer bureau is improperly trying to regulate lawyers

A Connecticut solo practitioner has filed a suit claiming the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is exceeding its authority by attempting to regulate law practice when it involves debt relief services. Lawyer Kimberly Pisinski filed the suit along with Morgan Drexen Inc., a company she hired to provide support staffers for…

Jul 23, 2013 4:31 PM CDT

Lawyer who complained of Web ads for 500 other attorneys now has new cause: His own suspension

A Connecticut lawyer lawyer who made headlines in 2010 by filing more than 500 disciplinary complaints against attorneys nationwide over their payments to a bankruptcy website for Internet advertising is now in hot water himself. Zenas Zelotes, who focuses his practice on bankruptcy, has had his Connecticut law license suspended…

Jul 3, 2013 3:49 PM CDT

Man on trial for allegedly offering judge a bribe; can his wife’s disappearance be used as evidence?

Trial is set to begin Monday for a Connecticut man accused of trying to bribe a judge to use his influence with a grand jury investigating the 1984 disappearance of the man’s wife from their Sherman home. An arrest warrant says Dominic Joseph Badaracco Sr. is considered a suspect in…

Jun 24, 2013 4:00 PM CDT

Barbershop doubles as a law office

Connecticut lawyer Don Howard notes that the city of Hartford is “oversaturated with lawyers and barbershops.” That’s why he has opened a barbershop on Main Street in New Britain and placed his office in the back of the place, the New Britain Herald reports. A criminal defense and personal injury…

Jun 19, 2013 10:39 AM CDT

Attorney gets 30 months in mortgage case that brought down 2 lawyers and a paralegal

A Connecticut real estate lawyer and others with whom he schemed reportedly intended to sell upscale homes at a profit when they submitted fraudulent mortgage applications to get standard financing to pay off “hard money” purchase loans that carried high interest. But the real estate scheme in the state’s burgeoning…

Jun 3, 2013 11:05 PM CDT

A changing truth: Do online news stories about arrests constitute libel after expungement?

A class-action lawsuit scheduled for argument next month in Connecticut claims that the news media defamed arrestees in online news stories about criminal records that were later expunged. Lorraine Martin of Greenwich claims in the suit that news stories about arrests that were true at the time of publication became…

Apr 30, 2013 3:11 PM CDT

Ex-client sues Shearman, says firm didn’t warn of $76M pension shortfall before deal closed

A former client has sued Shearman & Sterling, contending that the law firm failed to warn him about $76 million in underfunded pension liability before a deal went through as part of a corporate reorganization plan concerning two of his companies. Newsprint magnate Peter Brant alleges that as a result…

Apr 3, 2013 9:37 PM CDT

Shooter in Newtown school massacre had weapons and ammo galore, officials say

The deceased suspect in the massacre of six educators and 20 first-graders at a Connecticut elementary school last year was armed with a Bushmaster semiautomatic rifle and two semiautomatic handguns, which he used to fire over 150 rounds in less than five minutes, according to search warrants made public Thursday…

Mar 28, 2013 5:21 PM CDT