Family Law

Barney Frank Calls Scalia a ‘Homophobe’

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., called Justice Antonin Scalia a “homophobe” when commenting on the possibility of a case involving gay marriages reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. In an interview with the gay website 365gay.com, Frank was questioned about legal challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, FOX News reports.…

Mar 24, 2009 12:33 PM CDT

Webster Makes It Official: Definition of Marriage Has Changed

Marriage is no longer limited to opposite-sex unions, a persuasive authority has ruled. According to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, it is also defined as “the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage,” reports the Adjunct Law Prof Blog…

Mar 24, 2009 2:35 AM CDT

Senator Requests Asylum for Gay Man in Same-Sex Marriage

Sen. John Kerry has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to grant asylum to a gay man married in Massachusetts who was deported despite his rape in Brazil. Oliveira had sought asylum because he was raped as a teenager and feared additional attacks if he returned to the country, the Associated…

Mar 20, 2009 6:13 PM CDT

Domestic Abuse Victims in Mass. Get Proskauer Rose Lawyers

Domestic abuse victims who initially seek a court protective order not infrequently back away from the effort later on. But one major reason why is the lack of a level legal playing field, a district attorney in Massachusetts says. Already intimidated, the frequently female victim must appear in court, on…

Mar 20, 2009 5:12 PM CDT

Postnup’s $43M Divorce Settlement Isn’t Enough, Executive’s Wife Says

Married since 2002 to George David, who is now chairman of the board of United Technologies Corp., Swedish countess Marie Douglas-David is entitled to a $43 million divorce settlement under a 2005 postnuptial agreement between the now-warring spouses. But that’s not enough, she contends, for one who needs $53,000 a…

Mar 18, 2009 6:39 PM CDT

Discovery Denied in N.Y. Lawyer’s Fraud Claim Concerning Claimed Affair

Seeking to reduce his divorce settlement in a state that still attributes fault between spouses in divorces, a New York lawyer tried to get “liberal discovery” concerning his claim that DNA evidence proves his youngest child was the product of an affair between his wife and a building contractor. But…

Mar 18, 2009 5:52 PM CDT

Lawyer Gets Into ‘Hulkamania-Style Blowup’ with Pro Wrestler

A lawyer representing Hulk Hogan’s wife in a divorce managed to snare an autograph from the pro wrestler before a court hearing, but the truce quickly ended in a press conference afterwards. Lawyer Raymond Rafool got into “a no-holds-barred Hulkamania-style blowup” with Hogan after the wrestler interrupted the lawyer’s “boring…

Mar 13, 2009 2:20 PM CDT

Obama in ‘Tough Spot’ over Benefit Orders for Same-Sex Lawyer Couples

President Obama faces a difficult decision as he weighs how to respond to judicial orders requiring the federal government to pay insurance benefits to the same-sex spouses of two lawyers. Judge Stephen Reinhardt and Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the orders as…

Mar 13, 2009 12:40 PM CDT

California Justices Appear Likely to Uphold Gay Marriage Ban

The California Supreme Court appears likely to uphold a voter initiative banning gay marriage. Following oral arguments yesterday, the Recorder predicted that the court would uphold the voter measure known as Proposition 8 in a 5-2 decision. The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Journal (sub.…

Mar 6, 2009 12:53 PM CST

Sex Columnist Speaks at Univ. of Iowa Law School Event

Dan Savage is probably best known to many as the openly gay author of explicit newspaper sex-advice columns (often written, he says, on the desk he purchased from the estate of his esteemed predecessor in the advice-column business, Ann Landers). However, he is taking a higher profile as something of…

Feb 27, 2009 12:58 AM CST

Does Helmsley Fortune Go to the Dogs? Trustees Will Decide, N.Y. Judge Says

A New York judge has ruled that trustees of a fund established under the will of hotel heiress Leona Helmsley have sole discretion to determine how much of her multibillion-dollar estate will go to the dogs. A mission statement filed in 2004 said that the first purpose of the Leona…

Feb 26, 2009 1:14 AM CST

Octuplets’ Mom Tells Dr. Phil: Hospital May Think I Can’t Care for My Babies

An unemployed woman who along with her own mother, is already raising six children in a three-bedroom Whittier, Calif., home in pre-foreclosure, is worried that she may not be allowed to take her new octuplets home when they are well enough to be released from the hospital. In a Tuesday…

Feb 25, 2009 10:04 PM CST

Possible Dad Seeks Paternity Test re Octuplets, Amidst Medical Debate

A new contestant weighed in today in a controversial pregnancy that has ignited international legal debate. Saying that he had donated his sperm, at Nadya Suleman’s request, during the course of a three-year relationship, Denis Beaudoin announced today on national television that he might be the father of her octuplets…

Feb 23, 2009 9:30 PM CST

Slain La. Lawyer’s Husband Gets 90 Days in Seat Belt Case

Police have made no arrests and named no suspects in the case of a Louisiana criminal defense lawyer found dead in her Baton Rouge law office on Friday as she was about to begin a murder trial today. However, Chiquita Tate’s husband, Gregory Harris, 37, was jailed over the weekend…

Feb 23, 2009 5:08 PM CST

Lawyer Charged with Killing Ex-Girlfriend, Daughter of Knicks Player

A Chicago lawyer has been charged with killing the ex-girlfriend of a New York Knicks player and their 10-month-old daughter. The lawyer, Fredrick Goings, had represented victim Nova Henry in a paternity suit against Knicks player Eddy Curry, according to reports in the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. Goings…

Feb 23, 2009 1:02 PM CST