Ethics

42 Sought in Alleged Auto Insurance Scam Run By One Calif. Family

After a several-year investigation, authorities today reportedly arrested about half of the 42 suspects they are seeking in a long-running insurance scam allegedly run primarily by one Southern California family. They say the group may have fraudulently collected millions of dollars from insurance companies over several decades. The claimed scheme,…

Mar 8, 2008 1:01 AM CST

Ex-Client Alleges Altered E-Mail, Seeks Womble Carlyle Sanctions

In the latest salvo in a contentious dispute by a former Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice client over the firm’s representation of an adverse party, the former client, Advanced Internet Technologies Inc., is accusing both the law firm and Dell Inc., of submitting altered e-mail evidence in a federal court…

Mar 7, 2008 5:02 PM CST

Group Seeks Contempt Hearing on White House E-Mail Statements

An advocacy group claims the Bush administration apparently made false and misleading statements about e-mail backups in a lawsuit alleging violations of record-keeping laws. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the plaintiff in the suit, says there is a discrepancy between what the administration told a federal court and…

Mar 7, 2008 4:04 PM CST

Qualcomm Lawyers Get Sanctions Lifted, Privilege Pierced in Discovery Fiasco

A federal judge is allowing six Qualcomm lawyers sanctioned for discovery violations in patent litigation to testify about privileged client communications. U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster of San Diego lifted the sanctions yesterday and returned the case to the federal magistrate who imposed them, the Recorder reports. Brewster said the…

Mar 7, 2008 12:12 PM CST

AG Now Seeking Lawyer-Pay Info from 700-Plus N.Y. School Districts

An ongoing probe by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo into the way school districts pay their lawyers has now expanded to request information from all of the more than 700 school districts in the state. It has also expanded to seek information not only about the way the districts…

Mar 6, 2008 9:35 PM CST

Judge Scolds N.J. Town Fighting 14 Tickets From Own Police Dept.

A New Jersey judge yesterday scolded a lawyer for a town that is fighting 14 tickets issued by its own police department. An attorney for Middletown, which is in the unaccustomed position of defending itself from its own tickets, was apparently confused about the municipality’s role in the case. But…

Mar 6, 2008 7:00 PM CST

Lawyers in ‘Ethical Minefield’ in $8.4M Detroit Settlement Scandal

An exploding scandal in Detroit over an $8.4 million settlement apparently intended to cover up misconduct by city officials now involves claimed false testimony, concealment of information from the city council and possible destruction of evidence. All create an “ethical minefield” for the lawyers involved, according to legal experts interviewed…

Mar 6, 2008 4:35 PM CST

Judge to Ex-Lawyer: Snow Job Could Help Repay Clients

A Maine judge has ordered an ex-lawyer to get a job, any job, so he can repay the money he stole from client escrows and his grandfather’s estate. John Frankenfield of Skowhegan has repaid only $50 of $219,000 in court-ordered restitution, the Sun Journal reports. He was convicted of skimming…

Mar 6, 2008 3:17 PM CST

Bork Litigation PR Firm Takes On Duke, Defends Litigation Website

The son of the man whose U.S. Supreme Court bid went down in flames in 1987 refuses to be borked by a court filing in a lawsuit filed by lacrosse team members. Robert Bork Jr. runs a litigation consulting firm known as Bork Communication Group, which represents the plaintiffs’ law…

Mar 6, 2008 2:44 PM CST

Two Florida Lawyers Accused of Making ‘Sham’ Claims for Credit Card Holders

Two Florida lawyers and their affiliated firms are accused in a lawsuit of making “sham” claims on behalf of consumers seeking to avoid payment of credit card debt. The suit by Chase Bank claims the lawyers falsely tell customers that the credit card company violated the federal Fair Credit Billing…

Mar 6, 2008 1:42 PM CST

Discovery Debacle: How Not to Duplicate Qualcomm’s E-Mail Issues

After some $10 million in court-ordered penalties, attorney sanctions and a switch of both in-house and outside counsel, it is clear that Qualcomm Inc. didn’t handle its discovery obligations in a patent dispute with Broadcom Corp. in an optimal manner. But despite these severe sanctions over 46,000 e-mails that Qualcomm…

Mar 6, 2008 1:32 AM CST

Judge: Countrywide ‘Bungling’ Not ‘Full-Blown Bad Faith’

In a bit of good news for one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders, which has been deluged lately with claims of abusive foreclosure practices, a federal judge in Texas said today that he won’t punish Countrywide Financial Corp. for its repeated mistakes in a Chapter 13 consumer bankruptcy case.…

Mar 5, 2008 11:15 PM CST

Md. Attorney and Assistant Charged in Asylum Fraud Case

A Maryland attorney and his legal assistant are facing criminal charges for allegedly submitting falsified paperwork to federal agencies on behalf of asylum clients and coaching them to falsify their testimony. Indicted last week in federal court were Patrick G. Tzeuton, 41, of Silver Spring and Henri Marcel Nzone (or…

Mar 5, 2008 9:55 PM CST

Client Sues McGuireWoods re Ex-Partner’s Claimed $17M Trading Scheme

A former client has sued McGuireWoods for malpractice over claimed illegal trading of the client’s stock by a law firm partner acting as issuer’s counsel. He allegedly made more than $17 million from selling stock of the plaintiff, Alternative Energy Sources Inc., and at least six other ethanol companies, but…

Mar 5, 2008 9:00 PM CST

Retired Pa. Judge Gets Probation in Concealed Gun Case

A retired Pennsylvania judge has been put on probation after pleading no contest to carrying a concealed firearm without a permit during a fray with his father-in-law in November 2006. Senior District Judge Donald H. Presutti, 60, “told officials he had the gun loaded, cocked and concealed because he was…

Mar 5, 2008 6:42 PM CST