Verdicts & Settlements

Suspended Philadelphia judge pleads guilty to lying to FBI about small-claims case

A federal sting operation has led to the downfall of a second Philadelphia municipal judge, over possible favorable treatment in a small-claims case of a political supporter of former Judge Joseph Waters. Suspended Judge Joseph O’Neill, 65, pleaded guilty on Thursday in federal court in Philadelphia to two counts of…

May 26, 2016 4:15 PM CDT

‘Guccifer’ takes plea in hacking case; feds said he accessed personal accounts of political figures

A Romanian known as “Guccifer” took a plea deal Wednesday in a federal hacking case over his alleged unauthorized intrusions into some 100 accounts, including those of members of the Bush family and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Marcel Lehel Lazar, 44, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria,…

May 26, 2016 11:30 AM CDT

Public defender handcuffed in court at judge’s order says she was just doing her job

An assistant public defender put in handcuffs in a Nevada courtroom on Monday says she was just doing her job and attempting to represent her client when the presiding judge ordered his marshal to restrain her. Earlier, Las Vegas Justice of the Peace Conrad Hafen told the Las Vegas-Review Journal…

May 25, 2016 3:20 PM CDT

Couple must pay $572K, plus possible punitives, in 4-year-old son’s fatal shooting of playmate

A New Jersey judge hearing a wrongful death case over the accidental slaying of a 6-year-old by his 4-year-old playmate has ordered the parents of the shooter to pay $572,588.26, plus possible punitive damages. Judge Robert Brenner found Anthony Senatore 90 percent liable and Melissa Senatore 10 percent liable for…

May 25, 2016 2:35 PM CDT

Man is acquitted of shooting assault on federal judge, but convicted on lesser counts

A Michigan jury has acquitted a 23-year-old man on charges that he robbed and assaulted with intent to murder a federal judge. The judge was shot outside his Detroit home last year, in what appears to have been a random robbery. However, Kevin Andre Smith Jr., 23, was convicted Tuesday…

May 24, 2016 1:50 PM CDT

Law firm loses bid to hold banks accountable for its $287K loss in cashier’s check fraud

A New York lawyer who was defrauded of $287,450 in a cashier’s check scam by a purported client has lost an initial effort to recover from the bank that deposited the check in his trust account, as well as the bank that purportedly issued the check. Apparently victimized in what…

May 23, 2016 5:05 PM CDT

Tom Brady and NFL players union seek 2nd Circuit en banc rehearing of Deflategate ruling

When quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots recently added superstar appellate lawyer Ted Olson to his team, it appeared that he might be anticipating a U.S. Supreme Court appeal of his four-game suspension imposed over the so-called Deflategate incident last year. But, at least initially, Brady and the…

May 23, 2016 2:20 PM CDT

Federal judge imposes sweeping sanctions on DOJ, requires ethics classes for litigators in 26 states

Blasting the U.S. Department of Justice for its earlier conduct in a major immigration case that is currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal judge in Brownsville, Texas, on Thursday imposed sweeping sanctions on the department’s litigators and demanded a remedial response from U.S. attorney general Loretta Lynch. “[T]he…

May 20, 2016 9:35 AM CDT

No liability for movie theater owner in Colorado movie massacre, jury decides

A Colorado jury on Thursday found no liability on the part of a movie theater owner in a lawsuit over a shooting massacre at an Aurora premiere of the Batman film The Dark Knight Rises in 2012. Jurors deliberated only three or four hours before rejecting claims that more security…

May 19, 2016 5:00 PM CDT

Judge denies bid to block San Francisco law requiring warning labels on ads for sugary drinks

San Francisco is poised to become the first city in the country to require warning messages on advertisements for sugar-added drinks, after a federal court refused Tuesday to issue a temporary restraining order. After the enactment of two ordinances by the city’s board of supervisors last year, the American Beverage…

May 19, 2016 1:55 PM CDT

Suburban Chicago mom gets 4 years for killing disabled daughter

Originally charged with murder in the death last year of her severely disabled 28-year-old daughter, a suburban Chicago mom was sentenced to four years in prison Wednesday after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Prosecutors had recommended probation for Bonnie Liltz, 56, who killed Courtney Liltz by putting a lethal dose…

May 18, 2016 4:25 PM CDT

Jury awards $1.6M to man in supermarket slip-and-fall, including $1M in punitives

A jury in Portland, Oregon, awarded $1.6 million on Friday to an 85-year-old man in a suburban supermarket slip-and-fall case, including $1 million in punitive damages. Attorneys for Christopher Armstrong-Stevenson, who was 84 at the time of the accident, argued to the jury that the Safeway chain that owns the…

May 17, 2016 1:30 PM CDT

Man gets 37 months in federal prison for intimidating witness on Facebook

The son of a man now serving a 27-year prison term in a Tennessee methamphetamine distribution case is himself also facing a significant time in federal prison. That’s because Daniel Ray Sands, 32, sent a witness in his father’s case an intimidating Facebook message and put memes indirectly threatening “snitches”…

May 17, 2016 11:55 AM CDT

Early plaintiff in Uber case challenges $100M settlement, says he feels ‘utterly betrayed’ by lawyer

One of the first drivers to file suit in what has become 240,000-member class action against Uber Technologies Inc. has gone on the record in opposition to a $100 million settlement of the case over the smartphone ride-sourcing app. Saying that he felt “utterly betrayed” by class counsel Shannon Liss-Riordan,…

May 16, 2016 5:20 PM CDT

Coffeemaker win lacks perk for lawyer who asked for $180K in fees but got $6,800

Plaintiff Pamella Montgomery still gets the $250 settlement she was promised after a more than two-year legal battle with Kraft Foods Global Inc. and Starbucks Corp. over her purchase of a single-serve coffee maker. But the Michigan woman’s lawyer is receiving $6,800 in attorney fees and costs rather than the…

May 16, 2016 5:02 PM CDT