Appeals court blasts lawyer who ‘played the Nazi card’ and flouted in limine orders

A California appeals court makes no secret of its disapproval of a lawyer’s tactics in an opinion reversing a verdict for the state in a suit by an injured motorcycle rider. The lawyer for the California Department of Transportation, Karen Bilotti, engaged in “truly egregious, indisputable instances of misconduct” as…

Aug 10, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

9th Circuit rejects widow’s suit over fatal mountain goat attack in national park

Sovereign immunity protects the U.S. government from being held liable for a mountain goat’s fatal attack on an Olympic National Park visitor, a divided federal appeals court has ruled. The National Park Service had discretion under the Federal Tort Claims Act to decide how the 370-pound wild animal that was…

Jul 29, 2015 1:18 PM CDT

Woman fell from bed through 3rd-story window while sleeping, is now suing property manager for $230K

A woman who fell from her bed through an open third-story window while sleeping in her Corvallis, Oregon, apartment last summer is suing the building’s property manager for $230,000 in damages. Shelbi Macholz alleges in her Lane County Circuit Court complaint (PDF) that Principle Property Management failed to keep the…

Jul 29, 2015 11:30 AM CDT

Mom sues Chicago over police chase after her toddler was killed by fleeing vehicle

The mother of a 13-month-old boy who died earlier this month when a red Toyota fleeing a police chase jumped a curb and struck his stroller has sued the city of Chicago and 20 unnamed police officers. Attorney Antonio Romanucci represents Shatrelle McComb and said at a Thursday news conference…

Jul 23, 2015 2:50 PM CDT

Struck by pickup, injured bicyclist sues another driver who she says gave pickup the OK to turn

Jeffrey Lovelady may have thought he was being courteous and helpful by allegedly giving a man at the wheel of a pickup a go-ahead signal to make a left turn in an industrial area of Portland, Oregon, last year. But now he is facing a big-bucks accident suit. Struck by…

Jul 23, 2015 1:55 PM CDT

Feds face tough laws requiring specific intent in possible criminal case over GM ignition issues

After the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, prosecutors charged a BP unit with violating the federal Clean Water Act over the deaths of brown pelicans. Like similar consumer-safety laws involving pharmaceuticals and food, no specific intent is required to prove a violation, the New York Times (reg.…

Jul 21, 2015 12:35 PM CDT

Cover-up claim about GM ignition-switch issues is ‘reckless and outrageous,’ law firm says

Fighting an attempt by plaintiffs in a massive federal products liability case to get hold of confidential documents in discovery, King & Spalding came out swinging. Claims that firm lawyers conspired with General Motors to conceal ignition-switch defects are not only baseless and defamatory but “reckless and outrageous,” the firm…

Jul 14, 2015 12:05 PM CDT

Zombie Walk: San Diego is a dead event after accident last year

A year after an encounter between a California driver and lurching, blood-covered, corpse-like individuals participating in Zombie Walk: San Diego resulted in a traffic accident, litigation over the incident is still ongoing. So the event has been placed on indefinite hiatus, a Facebook post says, as liability issues are sorted…

Jul 8, 2015 4:55 PM CDT

Insurers hacked tens of thousands of legal files to get an edge in worker’s comp cases, lawsuit says

A client of a California law firm says insurers hacked into tens of thousands of confidential client files as part of a nationwide scheme to get an advantage in worker’s compensation cases. The federal class action filed last week by Hector Casillas names as defendants not only the insurers allegedly…

Jul 2, 2015 12:50 PM CDT

Attorney and law student indicted in boating accident that cost passenger an arm

A Massachusetts lawyer who specializes in defense of operating-under-the-influence cases was indicted Wednesday, along with a former law student intern, in a Boston Harbor boating accident in which alcohol allegedly played a role. However, the charges against attorney Benjamin Urbelis, 33, were reduced after it became clear that he apparently…

Jul 2, 2015 10:50 AM CDT

Lawyers quarrel over tort liability after the Disneyland measles outbreak

Jul 1, 2015 3:40 AM CDT

Top state court to hear case of lawyers accused of asking paralegal to ‘friend’ litigant on Facebook

The New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether legal discipline officials have jurisdiction in an ethics case accusing two lawyers of directing their paralegal to friend a litigant on Facebook. The lawyers, John Robertelli and Gabriel Adamo, claim the Office of Attorney Ethics had no jurisdiction to charge…

Jun 25, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Should tapping veiled woman on the shoulder be actionable? Law institute says yes; law prof says no

As many readers will recall from their law school torts class, a defendant who has injured an unusually sensitive plaintiff likely won’t win by arguing that a different person would have been OK. But does the American Law Institute go too far, in its latest restatement of torts, by suggesting…

Jun 23, 2015 3:30 PM CDT

GM, outside firm conspired to hide faulty ignition switches, lawyer alleges

A plaintiff’s lawyer has accused General Motors Co. of conspiring with an outside law firm to conceal faulty ignition switches in millions of cars. Court documents filed by Texas lawyer Bob Hilliard, who represents consumers suing the automaker in a consolidated federal court case in New York, say GM and…

Jun 11, 2015 5:00 PM CDT

Lawyer’s idea spawns industry that finds successful accident plaintiffs to repay insurers

A Kentucky lawyer who represented insurers came up with an idea in the 1980s: Why not identify personal injury judgments that can be used to repay medical costs covered by insurance companies? The lawyer, George Rawlings, asked Humana Inc. for a printout of codes for injuries such as broken bones…

Jun 11, 2015 7:55 AM CDT