Major US contractor settles first SEC case over confidentiality pacts that silence whistleblowers

In what is being hailed as a landmark federal enforcement action protecting the rights of whistleblowers, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday announced a settlement with a major federal contractor over provisions in its confidentiality agreements for workers. Overly broad language in the Kellogg Brown & Root confidentiality pacts…

Apr 1, 2015 2:40 PM CDT

Woman faces new charges of animal neglect; cop wore gas mask to rescue kitten

Found not guilty of animal neglect during a 2011 trial, an Oregon woman is now facing new charges. After a Portland police officer donned a gas mask to enter the abandoned apartment of Edna Sue Blair, a warrant was issued for her arrest. A total of four charges of animal…

Apr 1, 2015 9:30 AM CDT

Appeals court: Driver who kicked drunken friend out of his car is liable for 3rd-party hit-and-run

Drunk and belligerent, Piero Larrea was kicked out of a friend’s car on the way home from a New Orleans bar on Oct. 29, 2011. Then he died in a hit-and-run accident after John Cefalu pulled away. Sued by Larrea’s dad, Cefalu was found liable for 28 percent of a…

Apr 1, 2015 9:00 AM CDT

April 11, 1961: Adolf Eichmann on trial

Apr 1, 2015 12:30 AM CDT

Ellen Pao loses discrimination case against Kleiner Perkins, then judge revives one claim

Developing: The jury has reached a verdict in a much-watched Silicon Valley employment discrimination case. Ellen Pao, a former BigLaw associate with star credentials who currently is at the helm of Reddit, had sought millions from storied venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. She got zip. “The jury…

Mar 27, 2015 4:25 PM CDT

Jury recommends life sentence for woman convicted in granddaughter’s running death

A jury has recommended a life sentence without parole for an Alabama woman convicted of capital murder in her granddaughter’s running death. The jury, by a vote of 7-5, rejected prosecutors’ request for a death sentence for Joyce Hardin Garrard in the February 2012 death of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin, the…

Mar 27, 2015 2:21 PM CDT

Receiver appointed for law firm $10M in debt; loans taken out by partner before suicide contested

Rejecting a law firm’s argument that having a third party deal with its $10 million in debt would be “overkill,” an Iowa judge has appointed a receiver to oversee the dissolution of Gallagher Langlas and Gallagher. Veridian Credit Union, whose loans to the Waterloo firm are being contested in litigation,…

Mar 26, 2015 11:00 AM CDT

Botched child-murder case gets tossed; mother jailed for 2 decades speaks out

Found guilty in 1990 of playing a role in the slaying of her 4-year-old son, Debra Milke spent 22 years in the Arizona prison system before she was released in 2013 after successfully challenging her conviction in a federal habeas petition. In a scathing written opinion (PDF), the 9th U.S.…

Mar 25, 2015 10:00 AM CDT

Appeals court says magistrate had power to hold former TV judge Joe Brown in contempt and jail him

It appears that a former TV-show judge may be headed back to the slammer over a Tennessee juvenile-court outburst last year, in which he talked himself into an escalated five-day jail sentence after initially getting 24 hours for contempt of court. Although Joe Brown characterized his post-ruling debate with the…

Mar 24, 2015 12:40 PM CDT

Judge calls $600K legal fee in fast-track $1.5M settlement for woman punched by cop ‘unconscionable’

Noting that it took only about three months for a California lawyer to get a $1.5 million settlement concerning police conduct videotaped by a passing motorist, a federal judge last week described the attorney’s fee of over $600,000 charged by lawyer Caree Harper as “unconscionable.” However, although U.S. District Judge…

Mar 24, 2015 10:40 AM CDT

Retired judge could lose pension after pleading guilty to stealing cocaine evidence in his cases

A retired Pennsylvania judge accused of stealing cocaine from evidence in cases over which he presided pleaded guilty Friday to three misdemeanor charges. Paul Pozonsky, 59, served for 14 years on the common pleas court bench in the same Washington County courthouse where today’s hearing was held, reports the Tribune-Review.…

Mar 20, 2015 12:15 PM CDT

IRS will refund $25K penalty imposed on medical marijuana business for paying taxes in cash

Allgreens operates a medical marijuana dispensary in Denver that is legal in Colorado. But federal law still classifies marijuana as an illegal drug, which has made banks unwilling to allow Allgreens to open an account, the company says. As a result, it timely paid its taxes in cash–and has been…

Mar 20, 2015 11:05 AM CDT

Once on death row, man released after 39 years behind bars gets $1M for wrongful imprisonment

An Ohio man imprisoned for 39 years based on false testimony in a murder case has been awarded more than $1 million in compensation. Ricky Jackson, now 59, cried last year when he learned he was going to be released by Cuyahoga County, according to the Associated Press and an…

Mar 20, 2015 9:10 AM CDT

Controversial arrest captured on video of UVA student follows an earlier case

A video of a bloodied and beaten University of Virginia honors student being arrested for public intoxication and obstruction sparked renewed outrage and protests of excessive force at the hands of police. The latest incident, which happened at 12:45 a.m. Wednesday during St. Patrick’s Day celebrating, follows an earlier case…

Mar 19, 2015 4:15 PM CDT

Lawyer and wife win $26M jury verdict; defendant cab company immediately files bankruptcy

A former Chicago lawyer who was left brain damaged by a 2005 taxicab accident on an Illinois highway was awarded nearly $26 million, along with his wife, in a Tuesday evening jury verdict in Cook County Circuit Court. But within hours the defendant in the case, Yellow Cab Affiliation, had…

Mar 18, 2015 4:20 PM CDT