Government

County Officials Could Be Jailed If Convicted of Sunshine Law Violation

In an unusually stringent approach to the enforcement of open government laws, the Oklahoma provides for criminal penalties for those who don’t comply with statutory requirements that government decision-making be conducted in the sunshine. Now eight officials including the Okmulgee County sheriff and city police chief are defendants in a…

Oct 1, 2009 11:44 PM CDT

Tempted By Foreclosure Crisis, Some Lawyers Overcharge & Underwork

The foreclosure crisis has resulted in a lot of work for lawyers hired to try to help struggling owners hang onto their homes. But it has also resulted in a record number of complaints concerning claimed unscrupulous practices, some of which have already led to disciplinary action, according to a…

Oct 1, 2009 10:00 PM CDT

Court to Decide Extent of Liability for Immigrant’s Delayed Cancer Treatment

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to take up the case of Francisco Castaneda, a Salvadoran immigrant who died in custody after the U.S. government delayed treatment for what turned out to be penile cancer. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.…

Oct 1, 2009 3:17 PM CDT

Sheriff Taped Jail Phone Calls in ‘Illegal Spying’ Campaign, Lawyer Says

A Florida lawyer has accused the local sheriff’s office of an unethical and potentially criminal practice of secretly recording—and forwarding to its own legal counsel for review—jailhouse phone calls made to him by his clients. A spokesman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office calls the accusations by attorney John Trevena…

Sep 30, 2009 4:52 PM CDT

Supreme Court Accepts New Second Amendment Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a Chicago case that asks whether the Second Amendment applies to state and local governments. The name plaintiff in the Chicago case is Otis McDonald, an elderly man who keeps a shotgun at home to protect himself from gangs, the Chicago Tribune…

Sep 30, 2009 2:18 PM CDT

Drug Courts Need to Treat Addiction as Health Issue, Defense Lawyers Say

Drug courts were created 30 years ago to offer offenders with substance abuse problems an alternative to jail. But now criminal defense lawyers say the drug courts need reform in order to accomplish their intended mission, reports the Ocala, Fla., Star-Banner. “Drug courts were intended as a reform,” said National…

Sep 29, 2009 10:21 PM CDT

New Cohen Milstein Practice Group to Help State AGs Sue & Litigate

A former Washington, D.C., attorney general and her ex-chief of staff are joining a plaintiff’s firm to launch a new public client practice. The ex-attorney general, Linda Singer, starts Monday at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll. Her new practice group will focus on serving as outside counsel to state attorneys…

Sep 29, 2009 5:46 PM CDT

Federal Judge Sides with LA City Council in Spat Over Supersize Signs

A federal judge has given Los Angeles some respite in the city’s ongoing battle with billboard companies seeking to put up super-sized signs. U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins today refused to grant an injunction sought by Liberty Media ordering the city’s building department to permit 16 new so-called supergraphics, reports…

Sep 28, 2009 7:54 PM CDT

Homeowner Faces Potential Jail Term Over Wedding Receptions

Neighbors of a 7,000-square-foot house in a well-to-do California community were steamed when they realized that the homeowner apparently was renting it out for wedding receptions this summer. Now some of the pain is shared: Homeowner Melahat Uzumcu has been charged with violating the Palos Verdes Estates zoning code, operating…

Sep 28, 2009 7:30 PM CDT

Lawyer Says Newly Released Okla. Bombing Tapes Appear Edited

A lawyer is questioning a gap in some tapes of the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal bombing. Salt Lake City lawyer Jesse Trentadue obtained the tapes through a Freedom of Information Act request. ”The real story is what’s missing,” Trentadue told the Associated Press. The tapes show the confusion…

Sep 28, 2009 12:41 PM CDT

Judge Gives $750K to Plaintiff’s Attorneys in Open Government Lawsuit

A Florida judge has awarded $750,000 in legal fees to the attorneys who pursued a hard-fought and much-watched citizen case that sought to hold officials in the town of Venice responsible for adhering to the requirements of state open government law. The city spent more than $600,000 to defend itself…

Sep 25, 2009 8:44 PM CDT

N-Word Question Spurs Tiff in Case of Lawyer Demoted for ‘Ghetto’ Remark

Is it more offensive for a white person to use the N-word than for a black person to use it? That question was put to Detroit Deputy Mayor Saul Green during a deposition in a suit filed by the city’s former top lawyer, who was demoted for telling court staffers…

Sep 24, 2009 4:17 PM CDT

Deaf Man Gets $75K Settlement Over Denial of Interpreter

After Latell Chaney crashed into a car driven by the mother of his two sons, he asked for a sign-language interpreter. But, apparently believing Chaney could communicate adequately through handwritten notes, police in Martin County interrogated him without one. They they charged him with felony criminal assault and criminal damage…

Sep 23, 2009 9:26 PM CDT

DOJ to Propose New Limits on State Secrets Privilege

Updated: Attorney General Eric Holder plans to announce new limits on the state secrets privilege, invoked to block lawsuits because of national security concerns. Holder plans to require government agencies to get his approval before citing the privilege to withhold evidence or seek dismissal of a lawsuit, according to the…

Sep 23, 2009 1:23 PM CDT

Lawyer Can Sue Over Criticism of His Probe of City Attorney’s Rumored Affair

A California lawyer was within his rights as a citizen when he hired a private investigator to look into rumors of a possible affair between Morgan Hill’s then-city attorney and the municipality’s city manager, a state appeals court held yesterday. The decision by the California Court of Appeal’s Sixth District…

Sep 22, 2009 10:25 PM CDT