Former Mich. Assistant AG Sued for Defamation by Student He Denounced as ‘Radical Homosexual’

A former assistant attorney general in Michigan is facing a defamation lawsuit that claims he “developed a bizarre personal obsession” with a student the lawyer denounced in blog posts as a “radical homosexual.” The suit was filed by Christopher Armstrong, former president of the University of Michigan student assembly, according…

Apr 7, 2011 3:17 PM CDT

Judge Warns Defense Lawyers in Pitino Extortion Case: Don’t Crib Law Discussion from Wikipedia

A federal judge has issued a legal writing warning to lawyers who sought a new trial for a woman convicted of trying to extort money from University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino. The defense should not have copied its discussion of ineffective assistance from Wikipedia, U.S. District Judge Charles…

Apr 7, 2011 1:02 PM CDT

Mom Sues School, Says Teacher Posted Her Daughter’s Photo on Facebook, Publicly Mocked Hairstyle

The mother of a 7-year-old elementary school student has sued the Chicago Public Schools and her daughter’s teacher for allegedly posting the child’s photo on a Facebook page and publicly mocking her hairstyle. Lucinda Williams is seeking damages in Cook County Circuit Court for the emotional distress she says her…

Apr 6, 2011 12:03 AM CDT

$1B Suit Against Facebook, Zuckerberg Says Page Pushing Violent Protest Wasn’t Removed Fast Enough

An attorney is suing Facebook and its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg for not promptly shutting down an embattled page that sought to incite violence against Jews. Larry Klayman, an American attorney and founder of the public interest group Judicial Watch, is seeking more than $1 billion in the suit filed in…

Apr 5, 2011 8:08 PM CDT

Amidst News of Massive Data Breach, Suit Says Condé Nast Sent $8M in Response to Scam Email

Amidst news today that a widespread spear-phishing campaign could follow a giant security breach that exposed millions of individual e-mail addresses comes word that it isn’t just unsophisticated small fry who can be tricked by such schemes. Relying on a seemingly legitimate e-mail saying that payment should be sent to…

Apr 5, 2011 12:10 AM CDT

Can My Client Say That? Guests Discuss Lawyer Ethics and Testimonials on Rating Sites

Some state attorney discipline agencies are heavily regulating how lawyers use rating sites for business development. But how do those rules jive with the less stringent Communications Decency Act of 1996, which says users of such sites aren't liable for content posted by others? ABA Journal podcast moderator Stephanie Francis Ward talks with guests to discuss, among other ethics issues, whether lawyers can/should face discipline for client-written "testimonials."

Apr 4, 2011 2:02 PM CDT

Producer Sues ISP and its Fired Employee, Saying Hack Destroyed Season of Kids’ TV Series

A new lawsuit alleges a fired employee hacked into his former company’s networked computers and deliberately destroyed an entire season of a syndicated children’s TV show. The suit (PDF posted by Courthouse News Service), filed last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii, claims Michael Scott Jewson,…

Apr 1, 2011 9:13 PM CDT

Web Attacks Can Diminish Your Good Name, But Something Can Be Done

Apr 1, 2011 9:20 AM CDT

As FTC Settles Google Buzz Privacy Case with Agreed Policy, Google Debuts New Search-Sharing Tool

As the Federal Trade Commission today announced that a privacy case over last year’s rollout of Google Buzz had been settled by the Internet titan’s promise to implement an agreed privacy policy, Google simultaneously debuted a new search tool. It is designed to encourage users to share their search results…

Mar 30, 2011 9:52 PM CDT

Judge Orders Newspaper to ID Commenter re Manslaughter Case Against Former ‘Melrose Place’ Actress

A judge in New Jersey yesterday ordered the Newark Star-Ledger to identify an anonymous commenter who said he witnessed a fatal car crash that resulted in an aggravated manslaughter charge against actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 39, who starred in the original Melrose Place television series. The comment by the claimed witness…

Mar 30, 2011 8:38 PM CDT

Federal Judge Nixes $125M Google Books Settlement That Would Have OK’d Digital Library

A federal judge in Manhattan has rejected a proposed $125 million class action settlement that would have allowed Google Inc. to avoid potential liability for creating a massive online digital library of out-of-print, copyrighted books by creating a registry to compensate authors, according to Reuters. The plan to immunize Google…

Mar 22, 2011 8:56 PM CDT

As Law Student Readies Reverse Auction Site, Law Bloggers React to ‘eBay’ of Lawyering

Updated: At 21 years old, Robert Grant Niznik began asking himself the same stress-inducing question looming over all law students: What am I going to do after graduation? Niznik’s graduation musings led him to contemplate the plight of indebted law students struggling to find jobs in a bleak economic climate…

Mar 14, 2011 3:26 PM CDT

Copyright Lawyer Kept Getting Killed Off by Wikia.com

A social psychologist-turned-lawyer learned of his death through an entry at the Wikia.com site on psychology. Zick Rubin died in 1997, according to the website. Rubin begged to differ. “To the very best of my knowledge, I wasn’t dead,” the publishing and copyright lawyer writes for the New York Times.…

Mar 14, 2011 2:31 PM CDT

Former Top Drug Prosecutor Gets 16 Years in Child Porn Case

A former assistant state attorney general who at one time was the top drug prosecutor in Maine was sentenced today to a 16-year federal prison term in a child pornography case. James Cameron, 48, worked for the AG’s office from 1990 to 2008. Prosecutors, who sought a prison term of…

Mar 11, 2011 12:55 AM CST

New Illinois Law Seeks to Require Web Merchants to Collect Sales Tax

Cash-strapped Illinois has jumped on the bandwagon with a handful of states that are trying to collect sales tax on Internet transactions. Effective immediately, any Internet merchant with a physical presence in Illinois must collect and remit sales tax, under a bill signed today by Gov. Pat Quinn, reports the…

Mar 11, 2011 12:06 AM CST