Verdicts & Settlements

Imus Settles With CBS, Seeks New Show

Shock jock Don Imus has reportedly agreed to settle a threatened $120 million breach-of-contract suit against CBS Radio for an undisclosed amount, and is in negotiations to return to network radio with ABC. The confidential settlement agreement includes a clause that requires Imus, who was fired April 12 after making…

Aug 14, 2007 4:11 PM CDT

BDO Ordered to Pay $170 M

A Miami jury has decided that accounting firm BDO Seidman must pay $170 million in damages for negligent audits that failed to spot fraud at a financial services firm. The jury has also decided it will award punitive damages, although the amount is yet to be determined, the Daily Business…

Aug 14, 2007 3:16 PM CDT

3 Fen-Phen Lawyers Jailed Pending Trial

Updated: Seeking a several-month delay of a criminal fraud trial for allegedly bilking clients of $64 million in diet drug litigation settlement proceeds has cost three lawyers their freedom. Melbourne Mills, 76, William Gallion, 56, and Shirley Cunningham Jr., 52, were jailed after their bond was revoked today by U.S.…

Aug 10, 2007 9:27 PM CDT

DirecTV Settles Ad Suit

Cable TV company Time Warner Inc. has announced a settlement of a dispute with satellite operator DirecTV over its ads for high-definition TV. The companies told the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) they had reached a “mutually satisfactory” resolution of Time Warner’s false-advertising suit. Details were not available. Time Warner…

Aug 9, 2007 7:32 PM CDT

Marine Lawyer Cleared in Haditha Case

All charges have been dropped against a U.S. Marine lawyer who was accused of dereliction of duty for not conducting a more aggressive investigation of the deaths of 24 civilians at Haditha, Iraq in 2005. Capt. Randy Stone, who served as battalion lawyer, will not be charged, based on a…

Aug 9, 2007 6:58 PM CDT

Firm Hit in ‘Windfall’ Settlement

Updated: A Florida appeals court affirmed a ruling vacating a $7 million “windfall” settlement and disgorging attorney fees in an opinion that chastised the law firm that represented the plaintiffs. The law firm, Adorno & Yoss of Coral Gables, obtained the settlement for seven plaintiffs who challenged the constitutionality of…

Aug 9, 2007 11:54 AM CDT

CEO Convicted in 1st Backdating Case

Updated: In a result seen as a major victory for federal prosecutors, a jury in San Francisco today convicted the former CEO of Brocade Communications Systems Inc. of securities fraud in the first criminal stock options backdating case to go to trial. Today’s conviction of Gregory Reyes, 44, on 10…

Aug 7, 2007 10:06 PM CDT

Fen-Phen Lawyers to Pay $60 Million

A Kentucky judge has ordered three lawyers accused of misappropriating proceeds from a diet drug settlement to repay their former clients $62 million. Judge William Wehr ruled Friday that the Lexington lawyers owed $42 million taken from the settlement and $20.1 million in interest, the Associated Press reports. The lawyers…

Aug 6, 2007 12:41 PM CDT

Son to Get $250 K of $28 M Jail Award?

Lawyers for the son of a man who died in 1995 after 28 years in prison, serving a sentence for a murder he didn’t commit, told a federal judge in Boston yesterday that that her $28 million award to Louis Greco’s estate isn’t going to accomplish what she apparently intended.…

Aug 3, 2007 10:53 PM CDT

Judge OKs, Adds to Pedophile Injunction

Two Santa Clarita lawyers who sought an injunction to protect their daughters and other local children from associating with a self-admitted pedophile got everything they sought from a California judge today—and more. They had asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent Jack McClellan, a 45-year-old who admittedly is sexually…

Aug 3, 2007 7:15 PM CDT

Final Likely Loss for ‘Pants’ Judge: His Job

An administrative law judge who became a target of international disapprobation after suing his neighborhood dry cleaners for $54 million over an allegedly botched dry-cleaning job that resulted in the loss of his suit trousers, is now poised to lose more than his pants and the case. It is becoming…

Aug 2, 2007 10:49 PM CDT

Judge in $2 M Libel Case Seeks to Retire

A judge who won a $2 million libel verdict against the Boston Herald is now on sick leave and seeking to retire on a disability pension. Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy says he is suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of the paper’s coverage criticizing his judicial…

Aug 2, 2007 8:41 PM CDT

Taser Talks Tough, Settles Quietly

Taser International Inc. talks a tough game concerning its litigation strategy in cases brought over its controversial stun guns. “The word has gotten out: Taser doesn’t settle,” said the company’s general counsel, Doug Klint, in an April interview with Bloomberg. “Anyone who sues us is in for a fight.” But…

Aug 2, 2007 8:02 PM CDT

Nike Settles Bias Case

Nike Inc. has agreed to pay $7.6 million and appoint a diversity consultant at its flagship Chicago store to settle a race discrimination lawsuit. A federal judge approved class-action status for the suit last year and expanded the class to include about 400 present and former African-American employees, the Chicago…

Jul 31, 2007 4:17 PM CDT

Dentist Wins Toothy Coverage Case

The joke isn’t on Dr. Robert Woo after all. The Washington state dentist is going to get the last laugh—and $750,000—the Washington Supreme Court has decided, in an insurance coverage case over an office prank. The prank—temporarily implanting an assistant with fake boar tusks and photographing her while she was…

Jul 27, 2007 11:38 PM CDT