Verdicts & Settlements

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

Top state court OKs $151M jury verdict against Wal-Mart over off-the-clock work by employees

Rejecting an argument that a Pennsylvania trial court should have required more than 187,000 plaintiff workers to testify individually about the damages they suffered due to their wage-theft claims, the state’s supreme court has affirmed a $151 million jury award against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. “In our view, this was not…

Dec 18, 2014 11:00 AM CST

Ex-lawyer gets death in murder of DA’s wife; judge compares him to Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer

Disagreement by just one of 12 jurors would have prevented Eric Lyle Williams from getting the death penalty. But after less than a half-day of deliberation, all agreed Wednesday that the former justice of the peace should get the ultimate punishment for shooting to death the wife of a Texas…

Dec 17, 2014 2:10 PM CST

After last-minute lead plaintiff substitution, iPod users seek $350M at trial and get zilch

Corrected: A $350 million federal class action noteworthy for its last-minute appointment of a new lead plaintiff made it the jury this week—only to have the jury rule for the defendant company after about three hours of deliberation. The jury on Tuesday found Apple Inc. not liable for allegedly suppressing…

Dec 16, 2014 3:55 PM CST

En banc 1st Circuit ruling nixes state-funded sex-change surgery for prison inmate

Reversing a federal district judge and a three-judge appellate panel, an en banc federal appeals court on Tuesday said Massachusetts does not have to pay for sex-change surgery for a prison inmate serving a life term for a domestic slaying. Rejecting an argument that refusing needed medical treatment for Michelle…

Dec 16, 2014 2:45 PM CST

2nd Circuit reverses 2 insider-trading convictions, narrowing scope of future prosecutions

In a blow to the U.S. Department of Justice, a federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed the insider-trading convictions of two former hedge fund portfolio managers. Finding that the government failed to prove defendants Anthony Chiasson and Todd Newman had prerequisite knowledge of wrongdoing, the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit…

Dec 10, 2014 2:30 PM CST

Judge is suspended for 30 days over trip to lawyer’s hunting ranch after $1.2M case was settled

A Louisiana judge has been suspended without pay for 30 days for taking an expense-paid three-day trip, after a personal injury case was settled for $1.2 million, to a Texas hunting ranch owned by an attorney in the case District Judge J. Robin Free, who is known for his hunting…

Dec 10, 2014 10:45 AM CST

Judge boots lead plaintiff in $350M case at trial against Apple, orders counsel to find a substitute

Agreeing with Apple Inc. that the only remaining lead plaintiff in a $350 million class action over iPods didn’t actually purchase one of the devices at issue, a federal judge has booted her from the case. However, rather than dismiss the antitrust case, which is at trial in Oakland, California,…

Dec 9, 2014 2:00 PM CST

Former in-house patent lawyer admits $5M billing scheme, will reimburse Hunter Douglas

Sued in federal court in Denver, a former lead in-house patent lawyer for Hunter Douglas Inc. has admitted a billing scheme that diverted more than $5 million of company funds to a patent-search firm he secretly controlled and promised to repay the money. Jason Throne, 53, said in court papers…

Dec 8, 2014 5:05 PM CST

Billionaire’s ex-wife appeals $995M award in divorce case

After 25 years of marriage, a divorce award of nearly $1 billion isn’t enough, says the ex-wife of an Oklahoma oil baron with an estimated net worth of $10.7 billion to $18 billion. So Sue Ann Arnall, a lawyer and economist, has filed an appeal of last month’s ruling in…

Dec 5, 2014 4:50 PM CST

11th Circuit bans drug tests for welfare applicants, says they’re not students or working risky jobs

Differentiating welfare applicants from students and employees working risky jobs, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the state of Florida could not require individuals to undergo drug testing as a condition of receiving government benefits. “Outside the context of employees in especially hazardous occupations, the Supreme Court has recognized…

Dec 4, 2014 11:00 AM CST

Disbarred lawyer wins appeal, has client-fraud conviction reversed after serving his prison time

A New York appeals court has reversed a disbarred bankruptcy lawyer’s 2011 conviction for defrauding 114 clients, finding that a trial judge erred in striking testimony by Christopher Chadick’s office manager after the witness took the Fifth. Meanwhile, Chadick already served the minimum time required under his 4- to 12-year…

Dec 3, 2014 1:15 PM CST

Fired reporter can’t sue over bikini footage shot by rival station, appeals court rules

A well-known television reporter in the Chicago area, who was fired after a rival station filmed her wearing a bikini near a swimming pool in a source’s back yard, doesn’t have a tort case against CBS News, the Illinois Court of Appeals has ruled. Knowing that her source was a…

Dec 2, 2014 5:35 PM CST

Judge stays enforcement of city ordinance making it a crime to feed the homeless

A Florida judge on Tuesday stayed enforcement of a controversial Fort Lauderdale ordinance that imposes restrictions on feeding homeless people in parks and public places and makes it a crime to violate these rules. The decision by Broward Circuit Judge Thomas Lynch concerns Arnold Abbott, 90, who has been cited…

Dec 2, 2014 1:49 PM CST

Judge says investigative files for ‘In Cold Blood’ murders can be published by investigator’s son

In 2012, a Kansas judge ruled that records kept by a man who investigated the murder of four family members portrayed in a famous Truman Capote book could not be published, sold or used as the basis for a book. But Shawnee County District Court Judge Larry Hendricks has since…

Dec 1, 2014 5:20 PM CST