Lawyer’s Suit Saying Ex-Senate Candidate Christine O’Donnell Owes Him $20K Heads to Court

A lawsuit that a lawyer aide filed against former Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell alleging that he wasn’t paid opened today in Delaware’s New Castle County Court of Common Pleas. Jonathan Moseley, a Virginia lawyer, claims O’Donnell owes him more than $20,000, the Associated Press reports. He testified today…

May 21, 2012 7:54 PM CDT

Judge Will Be Ousted for Pursuing Lawyer; Order Is Effective One Day After Pension Vests

A judicial ethics panel is removing a 63-year-old Delaware family court judge from his job, but the order won’t take effect immediately. Judge John Henriksen of Sussex County will be ousted on Nov. 2, one day after his judicial term expires and his $85,000 annual pension entitlement vests, report Delaware…

May 8, 2012 1:50 PM CDT

Purchase of Old Stock Certificate Is New Version of ‘Beverly Hillbillies,’ Judge Says

A case pending in Delaware considers whether the heirs of a man who bought an antique stock certificate at an estate sale are now entitled to a $130 million stake in Coca Cola. The case involves the California family of Tony Marohn, who died in 2010, two years after he…

Apr 9, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Del. Judge Fines Partner $500 for Sending Associate to Take Depo Without Pro Hac Vice Admission

Saying that some meaningful sanction was required for a clear-cut violation of settled law requiring pro hac vice admission before an out-of-state lawyer can take a deposition in a Delaware case, a state-court judge imposed a $500 fine on the partner who sent an unapproved associate to do so. However,…

Mar 19, 2012 9:09 PM CDT

Playing on Home Court: New York and Delaware May Lose Their Grip on Bankruptcy Cases

Mar 1, 2012 9:30 AM CST

New York AG Sues 3 Major Banks and MERS, Calls Mass Foreclosure Filings a Fraud on Court

The attorney general of New York today filed suit in state court against three major banks and an electronic mortgage recording operation, contending that they circumvented legal requirements and cost the the state some $2 billion in property recording fees by keeping their own private list of property transfers and…

Feb 4, 2012 12:01 AM CST

Ex-Partners’ Suit Says Law Firm Leader’s Affair with Another Practice Group Lawyer Forced Them Out

Two attorneys have sued a well-known Boston law firm and its managing partner, contending that his alleged affair with one plaintiff’s wife, who is also a lawyer there, cost both their jobs. Now partners at Nixon Peabody, estate planning attorneys Lawrence Cohen and Jay Rosenbaum say they were forced out…

Jan 14, 2012 12:07 AM CST

Big Payday for Shareholder Suit Lawyers: Del. Chancery Court Awards $285M Attorney’s Fee

A near-record verdict for Southern Peru Copper Co. in a Delaware shareholder derivative suit has resulted in a monster payday for the company’s counsel. The $285 million earned by Pennsylvania-based Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check and Prickett, Jones & Elliott of Wilmington, Del., may be the highest amount ever awarded…

Dec 19, 2011 7:34 PM CST

New Smartphone Suit re Data-Sharing Software Targets Apple, Wireless Cos., Device Makers, Carrier IQ

In at least the third would-be class action filed since technology blogger Trevor Eckhart last month reported that smartphones are providing carriers with private information about individual users, eight major defendants are accused in a federal lawsuit (PDF) filed Dec. 2 in Delaware of violating wiretap law via their common…

Dec 6, 2011 1:44 AM CST

Fed. Circuit: Incorporating in Delaware Doesn’t Force a Company to Defend a Federal Suit There

Granting a writ of mandamus, a federal appellate court has rejected the notion that incorporating in Delaware is a controlling factor in determining whether a company must defend a lawsuit there. And, finding that a district court judge abused her discretion by holding otherwise, the appellate panel directed that a…

Dec 5, 2011 8:21 PM CST

Bankruptcy Trustee Sues Foley & Lardner, Says Legal Work Aided Client’s Massive Ponzi Scheme

Contending that legal work performed by Foley & Lardner helped a former client perpetrate a claimed Ponzi scheme that stripped some investors of their life savings as insiders looted assets, a trustee in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy case for that client, DBSI Inc., has sued the law firm. Filed in…

Nov 4, 2011 2:53 PM CDT

Del. AG Alleges Deceptive Practices in Latest MERS Suit, Seeks Temporary Court-Ordered Shutdown

In an apparent new wrinkle among a growing wave of government litigation over a national electronic registry that circumvented the traditional system of recording mortgage assignments in county offices, the Delaware attorney general has filed suit against Merscorp Inc. alleging deceptive practices by its Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, according to…

Oct 27, 2011 8:29 PM CDT

Del. Chancery Court Violated Law with ‘Secret’ Business Arbitration Program, Fed’l Suit Says

A new corporate arbitration program hosted by what many consider the nation’s top business court violates the U.S. Constitution by holding “secret” judicial proceedings, contends a lawsuit that was filed today in federal court in Wilmington, Del., by the Delaware Coalition for Open Government Inc. Naming all five justices of…

Oct 25, 2011 10:55 PM CDT

New Del. Chancery Chief Awards $1.26B in Stock Suit, Raps Wachtell Ex-Partner re ‘Unfair’ Valuation

Saying that a special committee used “a series of economic contortions” to justify a Delaware corporation’s plan to pay a premium $3.1 billion price to purchase a company owned by a majority shareholder, the new chief judge of the state’s chancery court has awarded $1.26 billion to the purchaser, Southern…

Oct 17, 2011 10:55 PM CDT

News Corp. Board Knew a Decade Ago About Computer Hacking By US Subs, Amended Suit Says

An amended lawsuit filed by News Corp. shareholders in Delaware Chancery Court today says the company’s board knew a decade ago that its U.S. subsidiaries were hacking competitors’ computers, Reuters reports. In addition to phone hacking on behalf of some of its journalists in the United Kingdom that is the…

Sep 13, 2011 10:53 PM CDT