Verdicts & Settlements

Judge OKs criminal case against Bill Cosby, rejects immunity argument

Rejecting arguments by lawyers for Bill Cosby and testimony by a former Pennsylvania district attorney, a Montgomery County judge on Wednesday said a sexual assault prosecution against the entertainer will go forward despite claims that testimony on which it is based was given under a grant of immunity. Cosby, who…

Feb 3, 2016 5:40 PM CST

Former general counsel will receive $850K for alleged defamation by his onetime employer

A former general counsel will receive $850,000 as a result of a lawsuit that contended his former company defamed him in a statement that wrongly implied he was replaced as a remedial measure in a penny stock probe. Jurors in Hennepin County, Minnesota, awarded the lawyer, Chet Taylor, $600,000 in…

Feb 3, 2016 9:23 AM CST

Appeals court nixes Florida suit over fatal Italian shipwreck of Costa Concordia

Although the parent company of a sunken ocean liner is based in Miami and five plaintiffs are U.S. residents, a Florida appeals court last week nixed a U.S. lawsuit over the fatal 2012 shipwreck. Because the Costa Concordia struck a coral reef off the Italian island of Giglio, the 3rd…

Feb 2, 2016 1:50 PM CST

Courtney Love’s win in ‘Twibel’ suit by her ex-lawyer is upheld by appeals court

A California appeals court on Monday OK’d a jury’s verdict in favor of Courtney Love Cobain in a landmark “Twibel” lawsuit over claimed libel per se in a tweet. It was brought by a former lawyer for the celebrity, Rhonda Holmes, and her law firm. The lawsuit was reportedly the…

Feb 2, 2016 12:10 PM CST

Delaware puts capital cases on hold while death-penalty issues are mulled by state supreme court

After a U.S. Supreme Court decision in January that struck down a Florida death-penalty sentencing scheme similar to Delaware’s, the state’s top court has agreed to review questions about whether Delaware’s capital punishment structure is constitutional. That led to a Monday announcement by Delaware Superior Court President Judge Jan Jurden…

Feb 1, 2016 5:00 PM CST

Lawyer who won $390K for clients at trial must pay $11K for alerting media about case

An Ohio lawyer is appealing a judge’s order requiring him to pay $11,000 to the defense, after winning $390,000 for the plaintiffs in a tort case, because he alerted a newspaper about the lawsuit. Attorney Peter Pattakos was sanctioned for telling a friend who is a Cleveland Scene editor about…

Feb 1, 2016 4:45 PM CST

New York Jets will pay cheerleaders $324K to settle wage lawsuit

The New York Jets will pay $324,000 to 52 current and former cheerleaders to settle a wage lawsuit. The cheerleaders will receive amounts ranging from about $2,500 to $5,900, report NorthJersey.com and the New York Daily News. The 2014 suit, filed in New Jersey state court, had alleged the cheerleaders…

Jan 27, 2016 1:52 PM CST

Disbarred lawyer gets 30 days after pleading no contest to theft of blind client’s $400K inheritance

After getting an inheritance of more than $400,000 after her mother died in 2008, Janet Stites decided to have a lawyer, Timothy Darden, put the money into two trusts. Instead, the California attorney stole the inheritance from Stites, she says—and, when she and another client complained to state bar authorities,…

Jan 25, 2016 2:15 PM CST

‘One man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric,’ says judge acquitting man in Twitter case

Apparently recalling a famous U.S. Supreme Court free-speech case, a Canadian judge on Friday found a man not guilty of criminal harassment charges concerning his Twitter posts. “One man’s vulgarity is another man’s lyric,” said Judge Brent Knazan as he announced the acquittal of Gregory Alan Elliott, reports the National…

Jan 22, 2016 2:55 PM CST

Remaining case against suspended judge dismissed on Tuesday; top court stays jail term on Thursday

Hours before she was scheduled to be taken into custody on Friday, a suspended Ohio juvenile court judge got good news. The state’s highest court has ruled that Judge Tracie Hunter does not have to serve a six-month sentence for having an unlawful interest in a public contract until her…

Jan 22, 2016 2:35 PM CST

Arrested after giving the finger to NYC cops, Occupy Wall Street pair wins $52K payout

Arrested in 2013 after flipping off two New York City police officers on a Queens subway train, two Occupy Wall Street protesters are $52,000 closer to becoming one percenters. That is the amount the city agreed to pay Nicholas Thommen, 21, and Channing Creage, 26, for violating their free-speech rights,…

Jan 22, 2016 9:45 AM CST

George Clooney lookalike in video ad sparks legal battle between coffee competitors

A disclaimer on an Israeli Espresso Club video ad featuring a George Clooney lookalike tells viewers he’s not the famous Hollywood actor. However, Nespresso, which uses the real George Clooney in its own advertising for coffee and related products, has sued over the spoof. A Haaretz story provides links to…

Jan 21, 2016 12:55 PM CST

Court rejects effort to trademark shape of KitKat candy bar

If the KitKat name wasn’t printed on the four connected “fingers” of a well-known candy bar, would customers know it was a KitKat without seeing the wrapper? The answer to that question in the United Kingdom is no, according to a Wednesday ruling by the High Court of Justice of…

Jan 21, 2016 11:45 AM CST

Tort reformer Ted Cruz once represented two tort plaintiffs defending $54M awards

GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz has backed limits on tort lawsuits, even though he once represented plaintiffs defending tort judgments against a nursing home and a group home for those with disabilities. Cruz usually worked for corporate defendants at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, the law firm he joined after serving…

Jan 21, 2016 9:44 AM CST

After mistrial in client extortion case, 2 law partners take plea involving no prison time

A former county bar association president and his law partner in a Youngstown, Ohio, firm have avoided prison time in a federal case over claimed extortion of a client convenience store owner. Originally charged with extortion and obstruction of justice, among other crimes, defendant attorneys Scott Cochran and Neal Atway…

Jan 20, 2016 4:45 PM CST