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Selections from National Law Journal Daily Headlines February 23, 2010

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: NLJ.com, February 23, 2010.

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Hearings begin on Toyota's product safety record

"Toyota executives head to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for the first of three hearings on the automaker's product safety record ? a trip to the political woodshed that could get the company into a deeper legal thicket in courts around the country."

 

Justices may favor clients over lawyers in fee shift dispute

"A majority of the Supreme Court appeared sympathetic to the Obama administration's arguments on Monday that attorney fee awards under a key fee shifting statute belong to the clients, not the attorneys who earn them, and the awards can be offset to pay debts owed to the government."

 

Massachusetts challenges Defense of Marriage Act

"While the legal challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage ? Proposition 8 ? plays out in California, a direct constitutional challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act moves forward on the east coast."

 

7th Circuit worries but not too much about insurer influence in attorney fees case

"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit reversed two lower court decisions on the awarding of attorney fees in a decision last week consolidating three cases in which private parties sought fees after they prevailed over the U.S. government."

California high court sides with employer that gives unlimited paid sick leave

"The California Supreme Court held that employers who provide paid sick leave are not automatically obligated to allow employees to use that leave to care for family members. The ruling clarifies the state's so-called 'kin care' law, which generally permits an employee to use a portion of paid sick leave to care for family members."

 

Former police officer granted new criminal trial because public was excluded from jury selection

"The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts recently granted a new trial to a former police officer convicted of extortion and witness intimidation because the trial court violated his constitutional rights by barring the public from jury empanelment. The ruling has opened the door for other verdict challenges"

 

Maryland legislature looking into 'questionable' payments to former law dean

"The former dean of the University of Maryland School of Law has retained the managing partner of DLA Piper's Baltimore office after a university audit found that she received more than $400,000 in 'questionable compensation payments' between 2007 and 2009".

 

AG Holder defends prosecution of terror suspects in civilian court

"Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. struck back at critics Monday, declaring that the denigration of civilian federal courts to prosecute terror defendants "flies in the face of the facts" and is more about politics than independent analysis of cases". .

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on February 23, 2010 (boomark / email).