Verdicts & Settlements

US will pay tribes nearly $1B under settlement approved by judge

A federal judge in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has approved a settlement in which the federal government will pay nearly $1 billion to settle claims by Native American tribes. U.S. District Judge James Parker gave final approval to the $940 million settlement Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. Another Associated Press article…

Feb 26, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Appeals court denies bid by Outlaws biker club for return of 3 forfeited leather vests

After more than a year of litigation, the Outlaws Motorcycle Club has again been rebuffed in its efforts to reclaim three black leather vests seized from members who were involved in a 2012 bar fight in Wonder Lake, Illinois. In particular, the patches on the vests are important to the…

Feb 25, 2016 1:30 PM CST

7th Circuit blasts US case, cites turn signal seen on police dashcam in reversal of drug conviction

Reversing a trial court and criticizing government lawyers, a federal appeals court Tuesday nixed the drug conspiracy conviction of a man initially pulled over in a traffic stop. A police dashcam video helped save defendant LeShawn Stanbridge by showing that he activated a turn signal just before pulling to the…

Feb 25, 2016 12:50 PM CST

Man gets 46 months for email scam that told lawyer to send client’s $250K to 3rd party

An Ohio man was sentenced this month to 46 months in federal prison for sending a spoofed email that tricked an upstate New York real estate attorney into sending $250,000 from a client’s real estate transaction to a third party. Paul Lacey, 56, was also ordered to pay $337,002.64 in…

Feb 24, 2016 2:10 PM CST

Once-prominent lawyer is disbarred following no-contest plea in assault of paralegal

A prominent lawyer has been disbarred by consent, after pleading no contest in 2014 to a misdemeanor indecent assault charge concerning a paralegal who worked at a law firm he operated. The disbarment of Robert Kerns, 68, retroactive to last February, when he was temporarily suspended, was announced Tuesday by…

Feb 24, 2016 1:00 PM CST

California inmate paroled after court required state to pay for sex-change surgery settles her suit

A former California inmate who won a federal court order requiring the state to pay for gender-reassignment surgery—but was released on parole last year before the surgery was performed—has settled her civil rights suit. Under the pact, the state will pay about $500,000 in legal fees for Michelle-Lael Norsworthy, 52,…

Feb 24, 2016 12:55 PM CST

Top Texas court nixes abuse-of-power prosecution of former Gov. Rick Perry over veto of DA funding

The highest criminal court in Texas dismissed a felony case against a former state governor on Wednesday, saying that the laws under which he was charged were unconstitutional, at least as applied. Former Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, had earlier faced a bigger case concerning his 2013 efforts to force…

Feb 24, 2016 11:05 AM CST

Man convicted of first-degree murder in shooting of defendant outside Mississippi courthouse

A former firefighter accused of fatally shooting a drug case defendant outside a Mississippi courthouse last year, in the presence of the victim’s lawyer, has been convicted of first-degree murder. In closing arguments, lawyers for William Wells admitted that he killed Kendrick Armond Brown outside the Madison County Courthouse but…

Feb 23, 2016 5:00 PM CST

Jury awards $183M to firefighters’ families in fatal ‘Black Sunday’ blaze; NYC owes $140M

After a decade of courtroom battle over a fatal “Black Sunday” blaze that resulted in the immediate deaths of two New York City firefighters and severely injured four others, a state-court jury on Monday awarded $183 million to five of the victims and their families. The family of the sixth…

Feb 23, 2016 4:05 PM CST

St. Louis jury says J&J must pay $72M to family of dead woman in landmark talcum powder cancer case

The first case to go to trial among some 1,200 claims currently faced by Johnson & Johnson alleging a link between its talc-containing products and cancer obviously did not turn out the way the pharmaceutical giant would have wished. After three weeks of trial and five hours of deliberation, a…

Feb 23, 2016 2:15 PM CST

Founder of collapsed law firm to give up license

Updated: The founder and CEO of one of the largest mortgage foreclosure firms in Florida prior to its collapse last year has agreed to give up his state law license. In a petition (PDF) he filed with the Florida Supreme Court, Robert Hill Hosch, 54, acknowledged that he is accused…

Feb 23, 2016 2:00 PM CST

Woman who OK’d $900K settlement in phone call with her lawyer is bound by it, federal judge rules

The mother of a 22-year-old man shot to death in 2014 by police in a Utah city is bound by her oral agreement to a $900,000 settlement, a federal judge has ruled. Susan Hunt initially agreed to the pact in a recorded phone call with her lawyer. But she then…

Feb 23, 2016 1:05 PM CST

Federal judge orders lawyer to pay almost $116K for pursuing baseless employment discrimination case

A Pennsylvania lawyer with what a federal judge called a “consistently problematic track record” was ordered on Friday to pay nearly $116,000 in legal costs for the two defendants in an employment discrimination case determined by the court to be baseless. The initial opinion (PDF) by U.S. District Judge Matthew…

Feb 22, 2016 11:05 AM CST

Federal judge tells Skechers to stop selling shoes ‘confusingly similar’ to Adidas

Saying that he himself couldn’t see a difference between the “Stan Smith” white tennis shoe with a green heel patch manufactured by Adidas and a Skechers look-alike from three feet away, a federal judge in Portland, Oregon, has ordered Skechers to stop selling that shoe and two other styles “confusingly…

Feb 19, 2016 4:05 PM CST

Twice sentenced to death in son’s slaying, mother wins 3rd trial due to prosecutors’ comments

Twice sentenced to death, a Florida mother was granted a new trial Thursday by the state supreme court in the 1990 slaying of her toddler son because of inflammatory remarks made by prosecutors. Ana Maria Cardona, now 54, was also accused of torturing the boy, who weighed just 18 pounds…

Feb 19, 2016 2:00 PM CST