Top lawyer for tech company is slain; ex-roommate who lost eviction case is sought as suspect

A Minnesota lawyer who served as chief counsel for Boston Scientific worldwide businesses and was known as a caring, involved member of his community was shot and run over at a gas station outside Minneapolis on Monday. A suspect being sought in connection with the slaying of Kelly L. Phillips,…

Aug 12, 2014 8:30 PM CDT

After billionaire ex-client testifies, man who sold $20M in fake French wine gets 10 years

Many of the super-rich who collectively spent over $30 million on fake wine vintages sold to them by a single individual don’t want the publicity involved in admitting they were cheated. But billionaire William Koch isn’t among them. An avid wine collector, he has spent millions in efforts to collect…

Aug 7, 2014 8:15 PM CDT

Solo is censured for failing to detect paralegal’s participation in mortgage fraud scheme

A solo lawyer in East Orange, New Jersey, has been censured for failing to discover his paralegal’s wrongdoing. The New Jersey Supreme Court censured lawyer Stephen Brown on July 28 because he didn’t discover the paralegal was participating in a mortgage-fraud scheme, the New Jersey Law Journal reports. The disciplinary…

Aug 7, 2014 4:52 PM CDT

Condo owners in Florida battle developers seeking forced sale of their units

A change to Florida law that makes it easier to change condo buildings to apartments has spurred litigation by owners who object to the forced sale of their units. Developers in buildings where many units remain unsold are using the law to reclaim units and rent apartments, the Wall Street…

Aug 7, 2014 11:15 AM CDT

Ex-business partner of lawyer convicted in ‘kids for cash’ seeks freeze on incoming $150M legal fee

A Pittsburgh investment banker says his private juvenile detention companies lost more than $100 million because of theft and illegal kickbacks paid to juvenile court judges by a Pennsylvania attorney convicted in the “kids for cash” case in Luzerne County. So Greg Zappala is trying to freeze an award of…

Aug 6, 2014 10:00 PM CDT

Woman sues after family dies at local Home Depot in Joplin tornado; retailer cites ‘act of God’

A Missouri woman whose husband and two young children died when they took shelter from a massive Joplin tornado at a local Home Depot in 2011 has filed a wrongful death suit against the store, the company that designed it and the property owner. Edie Howard Housel contends that the…

Aug 5, 2014 6:30 PM CDT

Aug. 12, 1998: Swiss banks settle Holocaust claims

Aug 1, 2014 6:10 AM CDT

Judge orders Bank of America to pay $1.2B for Countrywide’s sale of faulty loans

A federal judge in Manhattan has ordered Bank of America to pay $1.2 billion in civil penalties for defective mortgages sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ordered the payment in a Wednesday decision after a federal jury determined that Bank of America’s Countrywide unit…

Jul 31, 2014 6:32 PM CDT

Will two women who escaped injury when run over by train be prosecuted for trespassing?

An engineer for the Indiana Rail Road Company thought two women caught on a 500-foot-long, 80-foot-high bridge had been killed when he couldn’t stop his freight train before it ran over them earlier this month. A company security video published by WTHR shows the two running for their lives on…

Jul 30, 2014 3:15 PM CDT

Record mudslide that killed 43 exacerbated by rain, logging and lack of monitoring, says report

In Australia or Hong Kong, developers and local government are required to take action, such as monitoring, to reduce the risk of landslides, says a new report by an investigative agency known as GEER. But less restrictive land-use rules apply in the U.S., which may have contributed to the scope…

Jul 28, 2014 10:15 PM CDT

Homeowners’ associations: Just because pot is legal doesn’t mean you can smoke or grow it

There are still plenty of details to work out as more and more states legalize marijuana: for example, homeowners’ associations can ban such practices when others can see it or smell it being used, the Associated Press reports. “The fact that people may be legally entitled to smoke doesn’t mean…

Jul 25, 2014 6:02 PM CDT

Feds and 15 states sue law firms and attorneys, alleging mortgage-relief scams

Federal agencies and 15 states have announced a wave of litigation against law firms, attorneys, affiliated companies and others that claimed to perform work on behalf of homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages. California attorney Stephen Siringoringo; the Florida-based firms Hoffman Law Group and Lanier Law; the Chicago-based Mortgage Law…

Jul 23, 2014 9:45 PM CDT

Murder-suicide does not have to be disclosed to home buyer, state supreme court says

A murder-suicide in a home is not a material defect that must be disclosed to the buyer, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has ruled. The court ruled (PDF) on Monday in a suit by the buyer, Janet Milliken, alleging common law fraud, negligent misrepresentation and violation of the state’s consumer protection…

Jul 23, 2014 3:07 PM CDT

Airbnb guest won’t leave, forcing condo owner to begin eviction proceedings

A San Francisco woman found out about the downside of a 44-day Airbnb rental after the renter refused to leave her Palm Springs vacation condo. The guest who overstayed his welcome has renters’ protections under California law because he was in the unit for more than 30 days, report the…

Jul 23, 2014 12:38 PM CDT

YouTube restores video of protest at eviction lawyer’s seminar

A California lawyer known for his work for landlords seeking to cash in on San Francisco’s hot real estate market was interrupted by protesters at a 2014 seminar on eviction law. After a two-minute video of the incident was posted on YouTube, Daniel Bornstein made a takedown demand under the…

Jul 22, 2014 9:50 PM CDT