Verdicts & Settlements

Libyan Medics’ HIV Sentences Now Life

Libya’s High Judicial Council has commuted to life imprisonment the death sentences initially imposed on six foreign medics convicted in a controversial case of having intentionally started an HIV epidemic in a children’s hospital. The commutation today was prompted by a foreign financial settlement of $460 million to be paid…

Jul 17, 2007 9:47 PM CDT

DA Awaits Priest Files

The Los Angeles district attorney is waiting to learn what documents he will receive under a record $660 million settlement reached with the local archdiocese in priest abuse cases. District Attorney Steve Cooley told the Los Angeles Times that he needs relevant files to complete his five-year investigation into the…

Jul 17, 2007 5:57 PM CDT

Emotional Close to Priest Suit

A judge has approved a record $660 million settlement in a suit against the Los Angeles archdiocese for sexual abuse by priests. Victims cried as Judge Haley Fromholz of Los Angeles County Superior Court said settlement “was the right thing to do,” the New York Times reports. The plaintiffs’ lead…

Jul 17, 2007 2:28 PM CDT

Ex-Software CEO Can Sue Lawyers

The California Supreme Court has cleared the way for malicious prosecution suit by the founder of a software company. The decision allows Siebel Systems founder Thomas Siebel to sue two lawyers who represented a woman in a suit against Siebel and the company, the Recorder reports. Siebel Systems was later…

Jul 17, 2007 12:37 PM CDT

Legal Trouble for Black’s Wife

Since Conrad Black’s trial began on March 20, his wife has been a constant presence in the courtroom. Now ,as she copes with his conviction for mail fraud and obstruction of justice, she may need to gear up for her own legal troubles. Barbara Amiel Black, a Canadian journalist and…

Jul 16, 2007 3:42 PM CDT

Priest Abuse Settlement Before Judge

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles will present a record $660 million settlement of sexual abuse claims to a judge for approval today. The settlement with 508 sexual abuse victims came just two days before a scheduled trial, the New York Times reports. Settlement negotiations in the case had spanned more…

Jul 16, 2007 2:00 PM CDT

Media Mogul Convicted of Mail Fraud

Updated: A federal jury has convicted media mogul Conrad Black of mail fraud for diverting money from Hollinger International Inc., the Associated Press reports. He faces a maximum penalty of 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Black and three co-defendants were each found guilty of three counts…

Jul 13, 2007 6:59 PM CDT

Suit in ‘Shackling Case’ Cites Reform-School Problems

Two years after Mississippi settled a lawsuit that claimed abuses at a state reform school, a new suit cites continuing problems. Five of the six plaintiffs say they were shackled for 12 hours a day while at Columbia Training School, and three say they were able cut themselves while on…

Jul 12, 2007 3:50 PM CDT

Misconduct Charges for Libeled Judge

Misconduct charges have been filed against a Massachusetts judge who allegedly went too far in his continuing campaign against a Boston newspaper after winning a big-bucks libel case. After winning $2 million in 2005 from the Boston Herald, which had portrayed Judge Ernest Murphy as lenient to defendants and falsely…

Jul 10, 2007 9:38 PM CDT

UK Bomb Plot Jury Deadlocked

A jury has failed to reach a verdict against two remaining defendants in a failed plot to bomb London’s subways. The jury convicted four of the six defendants of conspiracy to murder on Monday, but remained deadlocked on the other two after deliberating two more hours today, the Associated Press…

Jul 10, 2007 4:38 PM CDT

BAR/BRI Settlement Approved

A federal judge has approved a $49 million settlement in a class action suit against a bar review course. But U.S. District Judge Manuel Real refused to approve incentive payments to class representatives and cut requested attorney fees, the Recorder reports. Real said class representatives had a conflict of interest,…

Jul 10, 2007 12:32 PM CDT

Owners Blame Cities for Bad Homes

As builders throughout the country rushed to profit in the recent construction boom, a number of homes and developments went up that were badly built or otherwise created problems. But in the resulting blame game, many homeowners are now saying municipalities large and small gave builders free rein instead of…

Jul 7, 2007 12:39 AM CDT

Young Trial Atty Wins Big Katrina Case

A renowned trial lawyer on the Mississippi gulf coast who had a big influence in the life of novelist John Grisham, attorney Will Denton made a name for himself as a plaintiff lawyer after Hurricane Camille hit the state in 1969. He didn’t live to see the devastation wrought on…

Jul 6, 2007 9:41 PM CDT

Davis Wright to Get $1 M ‘Pro Bono’ Fee

Davis Wright Tremaine won a racial discrimination case against Seattle’s public school district fair and square. But the $1 million fee the well-known firm is getting for its work in the “pro bono” case strikes some as an unfairly big bite into the city’s tax revenue. In fact, the firm…

Jul 5, 2007 9:18 PM CDT

Slain Victim’s Kin Own OJ Book Rights

A highly controversial book authored by fallen football hero O.J. Simpson that some considered his confession to the 1994 murders of his former wife, Nicole, and a male companion, Ron Goldman, is now likely to be published after all. But if so the profits will go not to O.J. Simpson’s…

Jul 3, 2007 6:52 PM CDT