Trials & Litigation

Refco Suits Depend on Pending Case

A lawsuit accusing Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw of aiding the collapse of commodities brokerage firm Refco could turn on a pending U.S. Supreme Court case. The suit against Mayer Brown claims the law firm helped prepare documents for false transactions that covered up fraud, according to a column in…

Aug 10, 2007 3:16 PM CDT

Marine Lawyer Cleared in Haditha Case

All charges have been dropped against a U.S. Marine lawyer who was accused of dereliction of duty for not conducting a more aggressive investigation of the deaths of 24 civilians at Haditha, Iraq in 2005. Capt. Randy Stone, who served as battalion lawyer, will not be charged, based on a…

Aug 9, 2007 6:58 PM CDT

New Suit Targets Refco Purchaser

The legal fight over responsibility for the failure of commodities broker Refco has taken another turn, as a plaintiff now becomes a defendant. A lawsuit by a Refco trustee contends that Thomas H. Lee Partners LP became aware of problems at Refco but covered them up so it could sell…

Aug 9, 2007 6:26 PM CDT

San Diego Sues Willkie Farr

San Diego’s city attorney has filed a malpractice suit against Willkie Farr & Gallagher. It claims that the high-powered New York City-based law firm overbilled and exceeded the scope of its agreed representation to help a consultant and municipal audit committee prepare a report on the city’s financial failures. After…

Aug 9, 2007 5:16 PM CDT

Anna Nicole Breast Surgery Video Banned

A Southern California judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing a Texas plastic surgeon from selling, distributing or disseminating a 1994 videotape of breast augmentation surgery he performed on Anna Nicole Smith. The former stripper and Playboy playmate of the Year, perhaps best-known for her marriage to a Houston…

Aug 9, 2007 4:24 PM CDT

Makers of Katrina Trailers Sued

More than 500 hurricane survivors living in government-issued trailers are suing the manufacturers, claiming their use of substandard materials exposed them to dangerous levels of formaldehyde. The suit seeks to force the manufacturers to remove materials containing formaldehyde from the trailers, the Associated Press reports. The complaint claims the companies…

Aug 9, 2007 2:49 PM CDT

Firm Hit in ‘Windfall’ Settlement

Updated: A Florida appeals court affirmed a ruling vacating a $7 million “windfall” settlement and disgorging attorney fees in an opinion that chastised the law firm that represented the plaintiffs. The law firm, Adorno & Yoss of Coral Gables, obtained the settlement for seven plaintiffs who challenged the constitutionality of…

Aug 9, 2007 11:54 AM CDT

Paris Hilton Sets Celebrity Precedent

It isn’t the kind of precedent that attorneys learn about in law school. But the media circus surrounding Paris Hilton’s brief stint in the slammer earlier this summer shows that the legal rules for celebrity attorneys are different than those that take priority in less-scrutinized practice areas. “The Hilton mess…

Aug 8, 2007 11:28 PM CDT

ABA May Criticize Bush’s CIA Exec Order

A human rights lawyer is trumpeting a possible ABA resolution declaring that a July 20, 2007 executive order by President George W. Bush concerning the interrogation of U.S. prisoners is inconsistent with the Geneva Conventions. The proposed resolution, which is scheduled to be debated and voted on by the ABA…

Aug 8, 2007 10:17 PM CDT

Company Charged in ‘Big Dig’ Death Case

A grand jury has charged with involuntary manslaughter the Brewster, N.Y.-based company that provided the glue that is being blamed, in part, for the collapse of the “Big Dig” tunnel in Boston last summer. A passenger in a car underneath was crushed to death when the roof of the Interstate…

Aug 8, 2007 8:48 PM CDT

Are FedEx Drivers Really Contractors?

Are Federal Express drivers independent contractors? That is the potentially very expensive question to be answered by a federal case in South Bend, Ind., where a judge is to hold a hearing later this month about whether similar claims from drivers in 29 states that they are actually employees should…

Aug 8, 2007 4:12 PM CDT

Suits Target Annuity Pitches

More than a dozen federal lawsuits claim insurers are misleading elderly consumers with sales pitches for equity-indexed annuities that track the stock market. The largest case is a class action on behalf of 400,000 consumers who bought annuities from Allianz Life Insurance Co. of North America, the Wall Street Journal…

Aug 8, 2007 3:36 PM CDT

Pants Judge Gets Job Warning

The administrative law judge who sued a dry cleaners for $54 million is getting an official notice that he may be out of a job. The Commission on Selection and Tenure of Administrative Law Judges in Washington, D.C., sent Roy Pearson a warning letter yesterday, the Washington Post reports. It…

Aug 8, 2007 2:09 PM CDT

Tobacco Rulings Conflict

A New York judge has allowed a lawsuit seeking damages for defects in the design of cigarettes, setting up a conflict that may be destined to reach the state state’s highest court. Judge Charles Ramos refused to dismiss a case filed against Philip Morris and other tobacco companies, the New…

Aug 8, 2007 10:45 AM CDT

Lawyer Defends Qualcomm Representation

U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster didn’t name the lawyers who represented Qualcomm when he issued an opinion chastising the company for failing to turn over evidence in its patent infringement suit against rival microchip maker Broadcom. But the Recorder says the lawyers representing Qualcomm included Stanley Young of Heller Ehrman…

Aug 8, 2007 10:29 AM CDT