Verdicts & Settlements

Sunglasses Issue Obscures Case Outcome

A New Jersey judge’s insistence that a respondent should remove his sunglasses in her courtroom has put the outcome of his civil commitment hearing in doubt. Her focus on his shades calls into question her impartiality, requiring another hearing before a different judge, a state appeals court says. A forensic…

Sep 4, 2008 9:54 PM CDT

Abramoff Gets 4 Years, After Prosecution Urges Leniency

Jack Abramoff, a disgraced lobbyist who was at one time one of the powerhouse figures on Capitol Hill, was sentenced to four years in prison today by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle “ordered Abramoff to serve an additional 48 months on top of the two years…

Sep 4, 2008 8:52 PM CDT

Suspended By Texas Bar, Judge Will Stay on Bench

A Texas judge has been suspended for three months for representing a client while on administrative suspension for not paying his bar association dues, prior to assuming the bench. But the suspension won’t require District Judge Bruce Priddy to step down from his judicial duties, reports the Dallas Morning News.…

Sep 4, 2008 3:41 PM CDT

Feds Can Review N.J. Lawyer’s Client Files, Judge Rules

A federal judge has OK’d a plan for the FBI to review computer records that a New Jersey lawyer says concern all of his clients for the past 15 years, finding that the procedure established for doing so is adequate to protect the rights of all concerned. The ruling by…

Sep 3, 2008 9:15 PM CDT

Fla. Judge Sends Hundreds of Cases to Private Defense Lawyers

Ruling today that the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office is too understaffed to handle most of the felony cases it is getting, a Florida judge said 60 percent must be handled by other counsel. However, Circuit Judge Stanford Blake didn’t go as far as Public Defender Bennett Brummer had requested. He…

Sep 3, 2008 7:11 PM CDT

Another Family Relationship Pitfall for Lawyer Who Had Sex With Client’s Mom

Reinstated to the Wisconsin bar almost exactly one year ago, after he was given a six-month suspension for having sex with a client in one case and for having sex with a client’s mother, without a waiver, in another, attorney Carlos Gamino has is now in trouble again over a…

Sep 3, 2008 6:23 PM CDT

Did Lady Jane Douglas Lie in High-Profile 1700s Inheritance Case?

The lawsuit took about 10 years to resolve, at a cost of around $18 million in today’s dollars, and the winner inherited the riches of a man reputed to be the wealthiest in Scotland. At issue was whether the twins claimed by Lady Jane Douglas as her own biological children,…

Sep 3, 2008 5:22 PM CDT

Chambers Gets More Time in Drug Case Than as ‘Preppy Killer’

Now 41, Robert Chambers Jr. became notorious decades ago. His murder trial and manslaughter plea, for what he claimed was the accidental strangulation of a young woman in 1986 during a night of “rough sex” in Central Park, electrified New York. Their shared prep school background and youthful good looks…

Sep 2, 2008 9:57 PM CDT

R.I. Lawyer Admits He Stole $2.5M in 13 Real Estate Deals and is Disbarred

A lawyer in Cranston, R.I., was disbarred by the state’s supreme court last week after his counsel disclosed that Pasquale Scavitti III had admittedly stolen $2.5 million in more than a dozen real estate transactions and submitted his affidavit consenting to disbarment. The amounts taken by Scavitti from 12 homeowners…

Sep 2, 2008 6:48 PM CDT

As Students Head Back to School, Lawyers Head Back to Court

As students start another school year, litigation over their education is on a number of minds. In Chicago, as many as 2,000 predominantly minority students are boycotting the first day of school today and taking special buses to public schools in the upscale suburb of Winnetka, in support of efforts…

Sep 2, 2008 3:20 PM CDT

Attorney and PI Convicted in Celebrity Wiretapping Case

A well-known California lawyer was convicted today in a federal wiretapping conspiracy case, due to his legal work for a billionaire client. Terry Christensen conspired with private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s ex-wife during a bitter child custody dispute, a federal jury in downtown Los Angeles found.…

Aug 29, 2008 8:30 PM CDT

Hilary Duff’s 21st Birthday Bash Contested in Court

Whether or not the father of actress Hilary Duff should pay $25,000 for her 21st birthday party was the subject of a court hearing in Texas yesterday from which her father was removed in handcuffs. After a tense hearing in the bitter divorce case that also featured acrimony between opposing…

Aug 28, 2008 8:39 PM CDT

Lawyer Lied About Pomeranian in Federal Corruption Probe in N.J.

A New Jersey lawyer who is also an architect reportedly gave a Pomeranian to a Union City Zoning Board member’s girlfriend, in an effort to bribe him. Then, when questioned about the little orange yapper by the FBI, attorney Jose Izquierdo, 52, falsely claimed that he had been repaid $3,417…

Aug 28, 2008 6:11 PM CDT

Naked Naturists Win Another Round in California Park Case

Officials who have for years turned a blind eye to public nudity in an isolated area of San Onofre State Beach, unless someone complained, can’t change that enforcement policy now without a public hearing, a California judge ruled yesterday. Following complaints of lewd behavior, the California Department of Parks and…

Aug 28, 2008 5:31 PM CDT

1912 ‘Gold Coin’ Lease Payment Term is Enforceable, 6th Circuit Rules

A 1912 lease provision that requires payment in gold coin is enforceable, a federal appellate panel held yesterday, even though the U.S. withdrew the gold coin from circulation in 1933 and the building owner, for decades after that, didn’t attempt to enforce the payment term. Because the price of gold…

Aug 28, 2008 3:58 PM CDT