Verdicts & Settlements

Panel: Convictions Disqualify Temp Judge

Unless it is over 10 years old, a criminal record disqualifies a lawyer from serving as a judge, even on a temporary basis, in Seattle. This decision by the King County District Court’s executive committee—as well as a new policy of conducting criminal background checks on all applicants for temporary…

Oct 17, 2007 7:33 PM CDT

Coupons Snuffed in $96M Tobacco Antitrust Case

A California judge will be asked in a hearing today to approve a $96 million cash settlement of antitrust claims against the largest U.S. maker of smokeless tobacco products. The case would be the first to produce a cash settlement in antitrust suits against U.S. Tobacco, the Recorder reports. Plaintiffs…

Oct 17, 2007 1:52 PM CDT

EU Top Court OKs Mandatory Retirement

Highlighting the difference between U.S. and European employment law, the the European Union’s top court ruled today that it is legal for employers to set a mandatory retirement age. Although the EU has laws against discrimination, including age discrimination, it is legal for an employer to have a mandatory retirement…

Oct 16, 2007 10:43 PM CDT

Partners: Void Our Unethical Law Firm Sale

After paying $1 million to a former partner for his share of their Long Island law firm, several New York lawyers tried to void the buyout agreement as unethical and get their money back. A state judge, however, refused to save them from themselves. First of all, their agreement to…

Oct 16, 2007 7:55 PM CDT

Group Seeks Access to Sealed Beer Vendor Settlement

The consumer group Public Citizen is seeking to unseal a settlement in a suit by the family of a 10-year-old girl who was paralyzed in a crash with a drunken Giants football fan. The parties settled after an appeals court overturned a $105 million verdict against a stadium vendor that…

Oct 16, 2007 3:26 PM CDT

Record Backdating Settlement Reached

A group of pension funds will receive $117.5 million to settle their class action suit against Mercury Interactive Corp. for losses caused by stock options backdating. The deal is the largest to date in a stock options backdating suit, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Previously the record was an…

Oct 16, 2007 12:48 PM CDT

Jury Rights Wrong Wyeth Verdict

A Nevada jury that withdrew nearly $100 million in a compensatory verdict for plaintiffs who took Prempro and Premarin has now awarded about that much in punitive damages. Jurors yesterday agreed to award $99 million in punitive damages to three plaintiffs who claimed the drugs they took for menopause symptoms…

Oct 16, 2007 11:03 AM CDT

Tips for Preventing Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment has been in the news lately, raising awareness of the issue. So now is the time to prevent problems in your own workplace, experts advise. An up-to-date written sexual harassment policy, appropriate training and encouraging discussion of the issue can go a long way to prevent it, reports…

Oct 15, 2007 5:00 PM CDT

Oops! Jurors Revise $100M Wyeth Award

Nevada jurors confessed they made a mistake in setting compensatory damages against the maker of Premarin and Prempro, hormone replacement drugs alleged to have caused breast cancer in three women. Jurors originally awarded $134.5 million in what was supposed to have been compensatory damages against the drugmaker, Wyeth. Jurors later…

Oct 15, 2007 1:14 PM CDT

WA, Not Parents to Fund Child Mental Care?

In a ruling that could help struggling families, the Washington Supreme Court says the state must help some children who need mental health services even if their parents aren’t unfit. Ordinarily, parents must care for their children unless they abuse or neglect them. But after “Henry’s” parents paid some $200,000…

Oct 12, 2007 11:17 PM CDT

Court Fines Law Firm Over Partner’s Tax Levy

When the IRS levied a New York personal injury firm to collect $1.2 million that partner A. Sheldon Edelman allegedly owed in unpaid taxes, Edelman—who was responsible for handling firm accounts—reportedly ignored the levies and continued paying himself and a junior partner their usual weekly draws. Because a draw is…

Oct 12, 2007 7:44 PM CDT

FL Boot Camp Guards Acquitted

Updated: A jury has acquitted eight employees of a Florida boot camp of manslaughter in the death of 14-year-old Martin Lee Anderson. The all-white jury took about 90 minutes to deliberate in the death of the black teen, the Associated Press reports. Anderson died last year after an altercation with…

Oct 12, 2007 5:54 PM CDT

Vatican Publishes Medieval Trial Docs

Documents from controversial trials 700 years ago that still fascinate many today are to be published by the Vatican later this month in a limited, leather-bound edition of 799 numbered copies. It features reproductions of handwritten parchment minutes of trials between 1307 and 1312 of members of the Knights Templar,…

Oct 12, 2007 5:31 PM CDT

IL Chief Justice Settles Libel Case

The chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court has settled his libel suit against a Chicago suburban newspaper for a reported $3 million. The agreement settles ongoing litigation after a $7 million libel verdict for Justice Robert Thomas against the Kane County Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune reports. The Chronicle also…

Oct 12, 2007 2:35 PM CDT

Menopause Drug Verdict: $134.5 M

Three Nevada women who claimed Prempro and Premarin caused their breast cancer have won a $134.5 verdict against the maker of the hormone-replacement drugs. The Reno jury delivered the verdict late Wednesday and will return to the courtroom today to consider punitive damages, the Associated Press reports. The compensatory damages…

Oct 12, 2007 12:57 PM CDT