Government

Disbarred Lawyer Allegedly in Court with Client Is Jailed; Chicago Case Is 2nd in 2 Months

For the second time in less than two months, a non-lawyer in Chicago has been criminally charged for allegedly acting as an attorney in court. Darlene White-Yarber, 50, was disbarred in 1995. But Cook County authorities say she was nonetheless acting as a lawyer for a client in traffic court…

Feb 18, 2011 11:30 PM CST

Mom Probed After Making Teen Son Stand by Road Wearing Sign About Poor Grades

A Florida mom says she doesn’t want any of her children to have to stand at the side of the road begging for change. So 33-year-old Ronda Holder ordered her son, James Mond III, 15, to stand at the side of the road for several hours on Wednesday, wearing a…

Feb 18, 2011 7:03 PM CST

Widow of Lawyer Whose Body Was Found in Landfill Waits for Answers to Unsolved Crime

In 1995, a sister of Katherine Klyce was murdered in her home by a drug dealer. It took a decade to find the slayer and still that didn’t bring closure to the crime as far as Klyce was concerned. So she knows from experience that her husband’s death late last…

Feb 18, 2011 5:52 PM CST

Feds Raid Health Care Facilities, Arrest Over 100 Professionals in 9 Cities in Record Medicare Bust

Federal authorities have arrested 111 doctors, nurses and other professionals in nine cities in what is being billed as the biggest Medicare fraud bust ever. It allegedly involved fraudulent billing of the government for health care services that weren’t provided, according to ABC News and the Associated Press. The raids…

Feb 17, 2011 6:49 PM CST

US Agencies Raise Value of Life by Millions of Dollars, Justifying Tougher Regs

In the last few years, several U.S. agencies have raised the value of human life by millions of dollars, a calculation that justifies tougher regulations in a cost-benefit analysis. The New York Times lists the higher values. The Environmental Protection Agency set the value of human life at $9.1 million…

Feb 17, 2011 1:55 PM CST

Ex-Ohio AG Files Bank Class Action, Responds to Unrelated Call for Potential Attorney Discipline

A former attorney general of Ohio was in the news for two reasons today. Now a Cleveland practitioner, Marc Dann filed suit against the Bank of America contending that it had failed to comply with contractual duties to help struggling homeowners modify their mortgages under a federal program, reports WKYC.…

Feb 17, 2011 1:04 AM CST

Ex-Inmate Sues 7 Lawyers in Brooklyn DA’s Office, Says He Was Framed in Rabbi’s Murder

Convicted in 1995 of murdering a rabbi, Jabbar Collins was freed from a New York prison last year after a key witness told a federal court that a prosecutor in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office had threatened him with jail if he didn’t testify against Collins. Shortly before the accused…

Feb 16, 2011 6:31 PM CST

Pa. Judge Taken Off All Criminal Cases After Public Defender Wins Temp Protective Order Against Him

An assistant public defender has been granted a temporary protective order against a Pennsylvania judge with whom she works at the York County Judicial Center. Janan Tallo, 30, alleged in a protection from abuse petition (PDF) that York County Judge Thomas Kelley VI, who is 47, broke her right elbow…

Feb 15, 2011 5:39 PM CST

Mass Disaster, Quarantines and Courtroom Respirators Part of NY ‘Doomsday’ Legal Manual

What laws authorize mass evacuations in the event of a terrorist attack? How should courts deal with medical shortages during a biological or chemical disaster? When should lawyers and judges don respirators to avoid contagious diseases? Those are among the questions addressed in a new “doomsday legal manual” published this…

Feb 15, 2011 3:52 PM CST

Attorney Is Suspended Over Misrepresentations on Job Application

A Connecticut lawyer who applied for a staff attorney job with a state worker’s compensation agency wound up suspended over misrepresentations on his resumé after the woman assigned to check his references alerted lawyer disciplinary authorities. Contrary to what Mark Villeneuve claimed in his resumé, he hadn’t graduated with honors…

Feb 14, 2011 10:58 PM CST

EEOC to Mull Exclusion of Unemployed from Job Applicant Pool at Upcoming Meeting

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is apparently troubled by some employers’ practice of excluding those who are unemployed from consideration for job openings. It has put the topic on the agenda for a meeting on Wednesday, at 9:30 a.m., at its Washington, D.C., headuarters. Those invited to make presentations at…

Feb 14, 2011 8:43 PM CST

Last Week You Saw Larry Tribe’s Name on US Supreme Court Brief, This Week You Don’t

Last week, a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in an environmental case listed Laurence Tribe as counsel of record. This week, a substitute brief filed in the same case omitted the renowned Harvard Law School professor’s name but is substantively the same. The unusual change was made at…

Feb 12, 2011 1:19 AM CST

Now That 5 Shelter Beds are Available, San Diego Can Ticket Those Who Snooze on City Streets

The homeless can still sleep soundly in San Diego at night. But now it will have to be in a shelter bed or a jail cell, unless they can find an alternative snooze spot out of sight from police. Under a settlement of litigation brought by advocates for the homeless,…

Feb 11, 2011 12:51 AM CST

Comp Hearing Scheduled ‘On the Sly’ for Texting Cop Who Caused Fatal Accident

A lawyer arbitrator tried to keep reporters out of a public hearing by scheduling a hearing date “on the sly,” her e-mails reveal. The Belleville News Democrat obtained the e-mails of Jennifer Teague, an arbitrator with the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, through a freedom of information request. The hearing will…

Feb 10, 2011 4:22 PM CST

FTC Member Warns of Antitrust Concerns in Health Care Law, Seeks ‘Vigorous Enforcement’

A member of the Federal Trade Commission is raising concerns that the new health care law could reduce competition by allowing collaboration between hospitals and doctors. FTC member J. Thomas Rosch, an antitrust lawyer, says “vigorous antitrust enforcement” will be needed to preserve competition, the New York Times reports. He…

Feb 10, 2011 11:30 AM CST