Verdicts & Settlements

Judge blasts disbarred lawyer for paying no restitution in $837K client fraud, gives her 4-year max

A disbarred Iowa lawyer was sentenced Tuesday to the maximum prison term for wire fraud by a federal judge who expressed “extreme disappointment” that Susan Hense has so far paid nothing toward restitution for more than one dozen victims. That amounts to over four years behind bars for Susan Hense,…

Jan 9, 2015 9:35 AM CST

Harvard law grad loses defamation suit over plagiarism rebuke on transcript

A Harvard Law School graduate says she lost out on BigLaw work because an unfair reprimand claiming she plagiarized a law review article was included on her transcript. But a federal judge saw the matter differently, granting a summary judgment Dec. 30 to Harvard and other defendants in the defamation…

Jan 8, 2015 1:25 PM CST

Attorney ex-wife rejects energy chief’s $975M check; judge nixes reduction despite oil price plunge

An Oklahoma oil baron wrote a check to his ex-wife for almost $975 million on Monday. But Sue Ann Arnall, a lawyer and economist, refused the payment, according to the Oklahoman and Value Walk, which provides a copy of the $974,790,317.77 check. Arnall is appealing the divorce award as representing…

Jan 7, 2015 11:55 AM CST

$5.4M in legal fees awarded by judge to inmates’ attorneys in jail-brutality case

A federal judge has awarded more than $5 million in legal fees to lawyers representing five inmates at a Los Angeles County jail who alleged brutality by deputies, the Los Angeles Times reports. The inmates themselves won a jury award of $950,000 in damages last February. The jury award included…

Jan 7, 2015 11:52 AM CST

Drug-court judge resigns after ethics commission calls for her removal over alcohol-related conduct

A Florida drug court judge resigned on Tuesday, following a call by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission on Monday for her removal from the bench. Sober for nearly 20 years, Broward County Judge Gisele Pollack relapsed in 2013 after her mother’s death. She had been elected in 2004, and had…

Jan 7, 2015 10:10 AM CST

Man beats murder rap but will serve at least 20 years for threatening trial witness

Found guilty in 2009 of murdering an elderly woman decades earlier, when he was a teenager, Jeffrey Glazebrook eventually got that conviction reversed. But the 54-year-old will serve at least 20 years for a mouthed a threat to kill a jailhouse informant testifying at his murder trial that was seen…

Jan 7, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Former Virginia governor sentenced to 2 years in corruption case

Convicted in September in a federal corruption case, former Virginia governor and attorney general Robert F. “Bob” McDonnell was sentenced on Tuesday to two years in prison, the New York Times reports. His lawyers sought probation and 6,000 hours of community service in the Richmond case, in which McDonnell and…

Jan 6, 2015 2:05 PM CST

Man banned from school board meetings wins $147K settlement

A Vermont man banned from school board meetings for two years after he criticized the school district has agreed to a $147,500 settlement. The settlement followed a September ruling by a federal judge that the Addison-Rutland Supervisory Union violated Marcel Cyr’s constitutional right to free speech and due process by…

Jan 6, 2015 9:35 AM CST

Lawyer must pay client’s estate $4.3M, including $2.6M penalty, judge rules

A California lawyer took advantage of a mentally ill client who was romantically fixated on him and improperly influenced her to leave all her money to him, a state-court judge determined in October. Then, awarding damages just before Christmas in a lawsuit brought by charities that originally were to benefit…

Jan 6, 2015 6:50 AM CST

Jailed 12 days, man proves his mistaken arrest by dropping pants in court; $88K settlement proposed

After successfully interviewing for a dream job at a Las Vegas hotel in 2010, Christian Robinson began a nightmare journey through the criminal justice system. A background check found there was a warrant for his arrest in a felony drug case in Colorado, his home state. So Robinson took a…

Jan 6, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Judge commits lawyer who tried to back out of agreed mental evaluation

A suspended Georgia lawyer won a delay of a contempt hearing last week by voluntarily agreeing to a psychiatric evaluation. But Christopher Nicholson was involuntarily committed the next day by the same judge, when he tried to leave the Georgia Regents Medical Center Hospital before the exam was complete. Hospital…

Jan 5, 2015 12:40 PM CST

Law firms say they will perform free same-sex marriage ceremonies if court clerks won’t

Updated: Amid uncertainty about whether court clerks throughout Florida will begin performing same-sex marriages this week, at least two law firms have stepped into the breach. Fleet and Smith says it has a dozen people who are qualified to officiate at weddings and will ask for more volunteers from outside…

Jan 5, 2015 8:10 AM CST

In wake of class action filing, Philadelphia DA drops effort to forfeit some homes

Two Philadelphia families whose homes were targeted for forfeiture by the Philadelphia district attorney’s office have won their battle to stay in their homes. After homeowners Christos “Chris” Sourovelis, 52, and Doila Welch, 47, became lead plaintiffs in a class action against the city, the DA’s office decided not to…

Dec 19, 2014 12:30 PM CST

Top state court temporarily suspends municipal judge without pay, orders her not to practice law

A municipal judge in Cleveland has been temporarily suspended from her job without pay and ordered not to practice law until her legal ethics case is resolved. In a Thursday order (PDF), the Ohio Supreme Court also said Judge Angela Stokes must undergo a psychiatric exam and said her case…

Dec 19, 2014 11:55 AM CST

Attorney accused in claimed $2.3M law firm scheme has settled suit, is discussing deal with feds

A New York attorney who is also a veteran Nassau County lawmaker has reportedly settled a lawsuit brought by his former firm over a claimed $2.3 million billing scheme and is discussing a possible plea deal with the feds in a mail-fraud case. David Denenberg has made full restitution, his…

Dec 18, 2014 1:35 PM CST