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Last Entry: November 19, 2009 at 13:23:25

NY court: Married gay couples entitled to benefits

Posted on November 19, 2009
New York's top court on Thursday rejected a Christian legal group's challenge to some government benefits provided to gay couples legally married elsewhere and now living in New York.The court rejected an argument that same-sex marriage was akin to incest and polygamy but avoided declaring that gay couples are entitled to all the rights of other married couples...

Senate girds for historic debate on health bill

Posted on November 19, 2009
Congressional budget crunchers Thursday said the Democrats' latest health care plan would hold down federal red ink for at least a 20-year stretch, an assessment that boosted the bill's advocates as the Senate moved gingerly toward a historic debate.The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said that Majority Leader Harry Reid's 10-year, $848-billion bill would produce a net reduction of $130 billion in federal deficits in its first decade...

Economy redefines law firm's focus

Posted on November 19, 2009
It's Business 101: When a practice area of your law firm suddenly becomes its sole focus, it's time to revise your business plan. That is exactly what Ken Gross and law firm Thav, Gross, Steinway & Bennett PC have done in light of the state and national economic crisis...

Not a member, US envoy attends international court

Posted on November 19, 2009
The American war crimes ambassador said Thursday the U.S. is committed to ending impunity for crimes against humanity, in a speech signaling a softening of hostility toward the International Criminal Court.Stephen Rapp's brief remarks marked the first time a U...

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Giuliani against trying Mohammed in civilian court

Posted on November 19, 2009
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is opposing the Obama administration's decision to try alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a federal civilian court.Giuliani was mayor on Sept. 11, 2001, when terrorists flew two hijacked planes into the World Trade Center, another hit the Pentagon and a third crashed in western Pennsylvania...

Rod Stewart Sued for $3.3 Million by Law Firm

Posted on November 18, 2009
A prominent entertainment law firm is suing Rod Stewart for $3.3 million in legal fees it claims he owes.Glaser, Weil, Fink, Jacobs, Howard & Shapiro filed the case Tuesday in Los Angeles. The firm has numerous high-profile clients and recently won judgments for architect Frank Gehry and television host Bob Barker...

Court sides with Boeing on $1.1B contract

Posted on November 18, 2009
A federal court has reversed a ruling that overturned Boeing Co.?s $1.1 billion contract for maintenance of an Air Force refueling tanker jet.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit?s ruling Tuesday overturns a 2008 decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and reinstates Chicago-based Boeing?s 10-year contract for work on the 50-year-old fleet of KC-135 tankers, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday...

US envoy attends international court meeting

Posted on November 18, 2009
The United States attended a meeting of the International Criminal Court's management board for the first time Wednesday in a sign it has stopped shunning the world's only permanent war crimes tribunal.The United States has not ratified the court's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, partly because of fears the court could become a forum for politically motivated prosecutions of U...

Controversial court nominee survives Senate test

Posted on November 18, 2009
Democrats on Tuesday crushed a Senate filibuster against a controversial appeals court nominee, demonstrating to Republicans they can't stop President Barack Obama from turning the federal judiciary to the left.The 70-29 vote limited debate over the qualifications of U...

FBI says hackers targeting law firms, PR companies

Posted on November 18, 2009
Hackers are increasingly targeting law firms and public relations companies with a sophisticated e-mail scheme that breaks into their computer networks to steal sensitive data, often linked to large corporate clients doing business overseas.The FBI has issued an advisory that warns companies of "noticeable increases" in efforts to hack into the law firms' computer systems ? a trend that cyber experts say began as far back as two years ago but has grown dramatically...

Man deemed unruly pulled from transatlantic flight

Posted on November 17, 2009
A Scottish man is facing charges after the Philadelphia-to-London flight he was on made an unscheduled stop in Boston because he was allegedly being belligerent and disruptive.A spokesman for Logan International Airport says John Alexander Murray of Glasgow was arrested shortly after US Airways Flight 728 landed at around 11 p...

Court to consider Mich. affirmative action ban

Posted on November 17, 2009
A federal appeals court is about to consider a lawsuit challenging Michigan's ban against racial preferences in public university admissions and government hiring.Civil rights groups and University of Michigan students, faculty and applicants say the 2006 ballot measure approved by voters is unconstitutional...

NY ex-lawyer in terror case ordered to prison

Posted on November 17, 2009
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a disbarred civil rights lawyer convicted in a terrorism case to go to prison and said a judge must consider whether her sentence of a little more than two years behind bars was too lenient.Lynne Stewart, 70, has been free on appeal since she was sentenced in 2006...

Court says ex-HealthSouth exec should go to prison

Posted on November 17, 2009
A federal appeals court says a former HealthSouth executive should go to prison for his role in a huge accounting fraud at the Birmingham-based rehabilitation chain.The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that probation isn't enough punishment for Ken Livesay, who pleaded guilty to inflating earnings at HealthSouth...

Govt may get billions under Forbes' divorce decree

Posted on November 17, 2009
The federal government might get to collect billions of dollars in court-ordered restitution under a new divorce decree between imprisoned former Cendant Corp. chairman Walter Forbes and his wife of 27 years.Bridgeport Superior Court Judge Howard Owens issued a ruling Thursday that orders Forbes' ex-wife, Caren, to transfer ownership of homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island back to him, plus half of the couple's jewelry and art collections...

Time Warner Loses $454 Million

Posted on November 16, 2009
Featuring: Jim Butler and George Fryhofer Time Warner?s $454 Million Breach of Fiduciary Duty: Six Flags Over Georgia v. Time Warner Entertainment, Inc. Six Flags Over Georgia, featuring Batman: The Ride, is one of America?s favorite playgrounds. But for 5 long years it reflected one of America?s most historic courtroom battlegrounds, pitting a small group of investor/owners in a David vs...

Insider Exclusive TV Show List

Posted on November 16, 2009
Rikki Klieman, TV Legal AnalystRay Boucher, The Consumer Attorneys of CaliforniaProtecting Investors from Financial FraudstersPaul Henderson, The San Francisco District Attorneys OfficeOrange County Sherriff's Dept Alleged Police BrutalityMysterious Death of Jason Gomez at the Orange County, CA...

Beazer Homes CEO McCarthy may face civil charges

Posted on November 16, 2009
Federal regulators have notified Beazer Homes USA Inc. that its top executive could face civil charges over incentive compensation.The notification comes more than a year after the Atlanta-based homebuilder settled a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into its financial statements...

Talk of Wyoming wind tax whips up debate

Posted on November 16, 2009
Wyoming lawmakers will soon take up the thorny issue of whether to impose new taxes on wind energy development, a proposal that developers say could stunt the fledgling industry's growth in Wyoming.Supporters of a new tax say it's only fair for wind projects to contribute to state and local governments equal to other energy industries...

Hot line for those who fled Ohio bodies suspect

Posted on November 16, 2009
The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center is launching a special hot line in hopes of hearing from those who survived encounters at the house where remains of 11 women were found.Police say the women were lured to the home of registered sex offender Anthony Sowell with the promise of alcohol or getting high...

Insider Exclusive TV Show List

Posted on November 13, 2009
Southern California's Premier Law Firms SeriesSouth Gate Police Department Lawsuits - The Law Offices of Goldberg & GageSix Flags Over Georgia v. Time Warner Entertainment, Inc. - Butler, Wooten & FryhoferRocky Delgadillo, LA's City AttorneyRobin Sax - Inside the World of a Sex Crimes D...

Lawyer: FBI asked terror suspect to be informant

Posted on November 13, 2009
A Massachusetts man accused of plotting to kill Americans was portrayed by federal prosecutors Thursday as a jihadist who is too dangerous to be released on bail, but the man's lawyer said he was charged only after he refused to become an FBI informant against Muslims...

Google to face Swiss court over "Street View"

Posted on November 13, 2009
Switzerland's data protection commissioner on Friday announced that he was taking Google to court in a dispute over privacy concerns on the US Internet giant's "Street View" facility.Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, Hanspeter Thuer, said in a statement that he was taking the case to the Federal Administrative Tribunal after Google had refused to apply the majority of measures he had recommended...

US court: CIA didn't violate Plame's speech rights

Posted on November 13, 2009
A federal appeals court in New York says the CIA did not violate Valerie Plame's free speech rights.The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2007 lower court decision in its ruling Thursday. The decision barred Plame from revealing the length of her tenure with the CIA in a memoir...

W.Va. Supreme Court opts for e-mail privacy

Posted on November 13, 2009
The state Supreme Court has ruled that public officials and public employees can keep their personal e-mails private.The court ruled 4-1 Thursday that none of the 13 e-mails between former Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard and Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship are public records...

Law Promo - Law firm websites that work

Posted on November 12, 2009
Law Promo's developers use the experience to get the job done Despite what some might think, the internet is the most important marketing tool you have. By typing a few words, a potential client can find hundreds of lawyers and law firms that you must now compete with...

Downturn has some law firms downsizing offices

Posted on November 12, 2009
"Legal services employment in Boston, which never fully recovered from the previous recession, is now shedding jobs at a rate not seen since the recession of the early nineties," and one result is that some local law firms are unloading no-longer-needed office space, Jones Lang LaSalle said in a new report...

Lawyer: Colo. balloon boy parents to plead guilty

Posted on November 12, 2009
The Colorado parents who reported their 6-year-old son floated away aboard a helium balloon will plead guilty to some charges and serve probation so that the family can stay together, the attorney for the boy's father said Thursday.Richard Heene will plead guilty in the alleged Oct...

Calif. doc pleads not guilty to molesting patients

Posted on November 12, 2009
A California plastic surgeon accused of molesting dozens of patients, many while unconscious, has pleaded not guilty to 64 felony sex charges.Forty-seven-year-old Peter Chi (CHEE) of Tracy entered the plea Monday in San Joaquin County Superior Court.Authorities say Chi inappropriately touched more than 30 female patients, including a 15-year-old girl, while working at his business, Beauty Renewed...

Ex-Hyundai executive pleads guilty in fatal crash

Posted on November 12, 2009
A former Hyundai Motor America executive has pleaded guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter in a drunken driving crash that killed a motorcyclist in Orange County.Forty-two-year-old Youn Bum Lee made his plea Tuesday in the 2005 death of college student Ryan Dallas Cook...

The Law Office of Max J Mizejewski

Posted on November 12, 2009
Quality Criminal Defense Law and Family Law RepresentationThe Law Office of Max J Mizejewski was founded to provide clients with quality representation in criminal defense and family law matters. Max Mizejewski (pronounced Majeski) received his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1993...

Ex-SEC lawyer pleads guilty in NY Marc Dreier case

Posted on November 10, 2009
A former lawyer with the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring with a prominent Manhattan lawyer to dupe hedge funds out of tens of millions of dollars.Robert Miller, 52, of Englewood, N.J., entered the plea to conspiracy and securities fraud charges in a cooperation deal with prosecutors in U...

Legal TV Show List - Insider Exclusive

Posted on November 10, 2009
What's Wrong with the American Financial System?Trailer Truck Nightmare AccidentsTom Mesereau - America?s Premier LawyersThe William L. Britt TributeThe Largest Pet Food Recall in U.S. HistoryThe Kristi Elliott Story - Story of Tragedy & TriumphThe IRS vs...

Feds seize assets of Fla. lawyer in Ponzi probe

Posted on November 10, 2009
Federal prosecutors accused a high-profile South Florida attorney of concocting a Ponzi scheme that lured millions of dollars from investors with promises of big payoffs from legal settlements that never existed, according to court documents filed Monday...

Senate tips Richmond appeals court to Democrats

Posted on November 10, 2009
The Senate gave President Barack Obama a major victory Monday in his efforts to remake the federal courts, confirming a judge who will tip the political balance on the once-conservative appeals court based in Richmond.The 72-16 vote for U.S. District Judge Andre Davis gives Democratic nominees a 6-5 edge on the 4th U...

High court considers what can qualify for a patent

Posted on November 10, 2009
Should techniques for training horses be eligible for a patent? What about a system for choosing a jury or fail-proof method for speed dating?Supreme Court justices raised the questions Monday as they struggled to decide what types of inventions should qualify for patent protection...

Boutique Bankruptcy Law Firms Keep Busy

Posted on November 09, 2009
hen Biopure Corp. decided to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, the biotech was already working with Ropes & Gray LLP, the largest law firm in Boston.But Biopure CEO Zaf Zafirelis decided to tap a much smaller firm, a 26-lawyer Boston-based outfit called Craig & Macauley PC with virtually no name recognition, to handle its bankruptcy proceedings...

Top 250 Law Firms Collectively Shrank by 5,259 Lawyers

Posted on November 09, 2009
A survey of the nation?s top 250 law firms shows they collectively shed 5,259 lawyers in the past year, a drop of 4 percent.The drop is the largest since the National Law Journal started collecting the information in 1978. The survey has recorded only two other declines?a drop of less than 1 percent in 1993, and a 1 percent drop in 1992, according to a National Law Journal story on the results...

Court won't review Lake Conroe capital case

Posted on November 09, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review the case of a Montgomery County man condemned for shooting a woman and dumping her body in a lake so he could steal her red convertible. Michael James ?Romeo? Perry was convicted of the slaying of 50-year-old Sandra Stotler during a burglary of her home near Lake Conroe eight years ago...

High court to look at life in prison for juveniles

Posted on November 09, 2009
The Supreme Court is considering whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison with no chance of parole is cruel and unusual punishment, particularly if the crime is less serious than homicide.The cases being heard Monday involve two Florida convicts...

China executes 9 Uighurs over July ethnic riots

Posted on November 09, 2009
Chinese state media says an initial group of nine Uighurs have been executed for taking part in July's deadly ethnic rioting in the country's far west.The China News Service reported Monday that the nine were put to death recently but gave no specific date or other details...

Ponzi-chasing law firm goes after JPMorgan

Posted on November 06, 2009
The law firm of Burlingame attorney Joe Cotchett filed suit today against JPMorgan Chase, in connection with a busted, $150 million Bay Area Ponzi scheme.As stated in a press release sent out by the firm, Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy, the scheme, was operated out of Napa, by William A...

Motivations Vary for Soldier-on-Soldier Attacks

Posted on November 06, 2009
Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began earlier this decade, soldier-on-soldier violence has been relatively rare. Before Thursday's shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, fewer than a dozen soldiers are believed to have fallen victim to such attacks since 9/11...

Supreme Court wades into mutual fund fee disparity

Posted on November 06, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court is taking a close look at a question individual investors have long asked about their mutual funds, but the courts have largely ignored: Why am I getting charged twice as much as big institutional clients?Sure enough, the money-management services that different classes of fund clients get aren't the same...

Guilty plea in fatal NY stabbing of immigrant

Posted on November 06, 2009
A man who agreed to testify against his friends in a fatal gang attack on an Ecuadorean immigrant pleaded guilty Thursday to hate crime charges, telling a judge he knew from the start they wouldn't "get away with it.""Throw away the knife," Nicholas Hausch says he pleaded with Jeffrey Conroy as they and five others ran from the scene...

SC high court says gov's ethics probe is public

Posted on November 06, 2009
South Carolina's Supreme Court ruled Thursday that an ethics investigation into Gov. Mark Sanford's travel must be made public, clearing the way for lawmakers considering impeachment to review a report on the probe.Sanford's lawyers had tried keep a report on a criminal investigation by the State Ethics Commission from being released to the House of Representatives as leaders there decide whether to move forward with impeachment efforts...

McCourts headed back to court over reinstatement

Posted on November 05, 2009
Jamie McCourt is headed back to a Los Angeles courtroom seeking reinstatement as the Dodgers chief executive after she was fired by her husband and team owner Frank McCourt.A hearing is scheduled Thursday where a court commissioner will likely hear arguments about whether Jamie McCourt should be given her job back because of her claims that she co-owns the Dodgers...

DC sniper calls himself 'this innocent black man'

Posted on November 05, 2009
Attorneys for John Allen Muhammad released a May 2008 letter on Wednesday in which the mastermind of the deadly 2002 sniper attacks in the Washington, D.C., area proclaims his innocence.The rambling, handwritten letter was made available because of requests for a statement from Muhammad, his attorneys wrote on the Web page of their law firm...

Mich. man wins appeal to get name off sex registry

Posted on November 05, 2009
The Michigan Court of Appeals says a man who had a teenage romance with a girl he later married doesn't deserve to be on the state's sex offender list.Robert Dipiazza had a consensual relationship when he was 18 with a nearly 15-year-old in 2004. A teacher contacted authorities because the age of consent is 16 in Michigan...

Buffett?s Burlington Breakup Fee Shows Confidence

Posted on November 04, 2009
Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the company that agreed to buy Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. in its biggest takeover, accepted a lower-than-usual breakup fee in a sign Warren Buffett expects no one will top his bid. Berkshire will receive $264 million if Burlington, the biggest U...

Calif. court to hear challenge to Jessica's Law

Posted on November 04, 2009
The California Supreme Court is set to hear arguments challenging a key section of a law aimed at protecting children from sexual predators.Jessica's Law prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park.It mandates that all those paroled after Nov...

Cravath Firm Cuts Bonuses for Most-Junior Lawyers

Posted on November 03, 2009
Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, the New York law firm, announced bonuses for salaried lawyers ranging from $7,500 to $30,000, based on experience, according to bloomberg.Cravath?s announcement opens the bonus season among large New York law firms. The bonuses are less than half of what the most junior associates received last year, when bonuses were between $17,500 and $30,000...

Fla. law firm seeks dissolution as lawyer probed

Posted on November 03, 2009
A prominent and politically connected South Florida attorney was being investigated by his own firm for financial irregularities in an investment business that led his law partner to seek dissolution Monday.The attorney, Scott Rothstein, and partner Stuart Rosenfeldt founded the firm Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler in 2002...

Sniper attorneys to appeal execution to high court

Posted on November 03, 2009
Attorneys for sniper mastermind John Allen Muhammad plan to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to stop next week's execution.Muhammad is scheduled to die by lethal injection Nov. 10 at a Virginia prison.Attorneys for the 48-year-old have said they planned to file the appeal Tuesday...

Law Firm SJ Berwin Opens Shanghai Office

Posted on November 02, 2009
Leading international law firm SJ Berwin has opened an office in Shanghai.The office is the firm?s third opening this year, its second in East Asia and its 12th office worldwide. It follows the opening of the regional office of SJ Berwin for East Asia in Hong Kong in April 2009 and the formal opening of its Dubai office last month...

Prominent law firm investigates partner

Posted on November 02, 2009
The Supreme Court turned away another appeal to stop the release of documents generated for sexual abuse lawsuits against priests in a Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut.The court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from the Diocese of Bridgeport, which has been fighting for years to prevent the release of the documents...

Jury Awards $16M in Radio Contestant Death

Posted on October 30, 2009
A Sacramento Superior Court jury Thursday awarded the survivors of Jennifer Lea Strange $16,577,118 as a result of her death nearly three years ago in a water-drinking contest conducted by a local radio station.In making the award, the seven-man, five-woman panel found that Entercom Sacramento LLC, the local subsidiary of Entercom Communications Corp...

Lovells, Hogan Managers Approve Law Firm Merger Plan

Posted on October 30, 2009
Officials at the Washington-based Hogan & Hartson law firm and London-based Lovells said Thursday that they are discussing a possible merger, a move that would make the combined entity one of the largest law firms in the world, with 2,500 lawyers and 40 offices...

Cops: Student threatened 'snitches' in UConn death

Posted on October 30, 2009
A University of Connecticut student committed an act terrorism by posting Internet messages telling people to "stop the snitching" after the stabbing death of football player Jasper Howard, university police said Thursday.Christopher Mutchler, an 18-year-old freshman from Wethersfield, faces charges of hindering prosecution, committing an act of terrorism and several misdemeanors...

'Big Brother 9' winner due in court in drug case

Posted on October 30, 2009
The winner of the reality TV show "Big Brother 9" is headed to federal court for a detention hearing on a drug charge.Adam Jasinski (jah-ZIN'-skee), of Delray Beach, Fla., is charged with attempting to sell 2,000 oxycodone pills. He is scheduled to appear in U...

Law firm worker arrested in theft

Posted on October 30, 2009
A 40-year-old Denham Springs woman has been arrested for allegedly misappropriating $30,000 while working at a law firm.According to court documents, the misappropriation of funds occurred between July 15, 2008, and June 12.During that time, authorities say Christine Cronin Iddings used company credit cards to make purchases...

Foley & Lardner law firm gets $208M NIH contract

Posted on October 29, 2009
The Milwaukee-based office of Foley & Lardner LLP says the law firm has received a $208 million contract from the National Institutes of Health. Foley says the contract calls for it to provide intellectual-property services for up to 10 years. The law firm says it will begin performing work this month on issues related to biotechnology patents, as well as to patents for mechanical, electrical and software technology...

Fla. Supreme Court denies NCAA motion for a stay

Posted on October 29, 2009
The NCAA's bid to delay a court order to release its records on academic cheating at Florida State was rejected Tuesday by the Florida Supreme Court.In a terse one-sentence order, the high court denied the NCAA's emergency motion. However, that decision does not preclude them from considering the merits of the case later...

New penalty phase in case of man stabbed 193 times

Posted on October 29, 2009
Texas' highest criminal court has thrown out the 25-year prison sentence a Houston jury gave a woman convicted of murder for stabbing her tied-up husband 193 times.Susan Wright was convicted in March 2004 of killing her 34-year-old husband, Jeffrey Wright...

Visteon seeks approval of $150 mln DIP financing

Posted on October 29, 2009
Bankrupt U.S. auto parts supplier Visteon Corp said on Wednesday it is seeking approval for up to $150 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from a group of its term-loan lenders.Visteon said it has filed a motion with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware for approval of the DIP facility, which would give it extra liquidity to pay for ongoing operations...

PepsiCo learns a $1.26 billion lesson over misplaced letter

Posted on October 29, 2009
It's an expensive lesson on the importance of reading your mail.A Wisconsin judge has ordered PepsiCo Inc to pay $1.26 billion to two men who said it stole their idea to sell purified water after a secretary mislaid a document alerting the world's No...

Mich. board asks gov, lawmakers to reduce ed cuts

Posted on October 27, 2009
Michigan's bipartisan State Board of Education urged Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers to find money to reduce cuts in public education and buy time for a long-term funding solution.The 8-0 vote on Monday came after a series of blows delivered to public schools last week...

Dallas Terror Suspect Pleads Not Guilty to Charges

Posted on October 27, 2009
A Jordanian man accused of trying to blow up a Dallas skyscraper with what he thought was a car bomb pleaded not guilty during his arraignment Monday.Hosam Maher Smadi, 19, told the judge "I'm not guilty on both counts" before she formally asked for his plea on one count of attempting to use of a weapon of mass destruction and one count of bombing a public place...

China Mobile Settles Anti-Monopoly Lawsuit

Posted on October 27, 2009
China Mobile Communications Corp., owner of the world?s biggest phone company by subscribers, settled a lawsuit filed by a customer alleging the carrier abused its market position to charge users fees. Zhou Ze, a lawyer with the Beijing Wentian Law Firm who sued China Mobile under the nation?s new anti-monopoly law, said today the company agreed to pay him 1,000 yuan ($146)...

Conviction of Berlusconi-linked lawyer upheld

Posted on October 27, 2009
An appeals court has upheld the conviction of British lawyer David Mills for accepting a bribe to lie in court to protect Silvio Berlusconi.The decision Tuesday is a potential embarrassment for the Italian premier, whose trial in the same corruption case is expected to restart soon following an Italian high court's ruling that a law granting immunity to Italy's highest public officials is unconstitutional...

Man who threw feces in CA courtroom gets 31 years

Posted on October 27, 2009
A man who sneaked a bag of his feces into a San Diego courtroom during his home-invasion robbery trial, smeared it on his lawyer and threw it at jurors has been sentenced to 31 years in prison.Superior Court Judge Frank Brown on Monday sentenced Weusi McGowan for robbery, burglary and two assault charges stemming from the feces-flinging incident during his January trial...

Law firm websites that work - Law Promo

Posted on October 27, 2009
Despite what some might think, the internet is the most important marketing tool you have. By typing a few words, a potential client can find hundreds of lawyers and law firms that you must now compete with. Having a website is a great way for your business to connect with new customers...

Sole Practitioner - Single practice - Lawyer Website Design

Posted on October 27, 2009
Running a solo practice is never easy, and we know how busy you are, especially if you are just starting up your practice. The most challenging part of running any solo business can be managing each and every aspect, including those areas in which you have less experience...

Ohio can't find doctors to offer execution advice

Posted on October 26, 2009
Ohio is struggling to find medical professionals willing to advise the state on the best way to put condemned inmates to death.Attorney General Richard Cordray says in a court filing that ethical and professional considerations are deterring doctors and others from offering advice about lethal injection...

FairPoint Communications files for bankruptcy

Posted on October 26, 2009
Rural telecom services provider FairPoint Communications Inc filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Manhattan bankruptcy court on Monday, under a pre-arranged plan that would cut its debt by $1.7 billion.In a statement, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based company said the restructuring plan had the support of lenders holding more than 50 percent of the outstanding debt under its secured credit facility...

Crowell & Moring to Open San Francisco Office

Posted on October 26, 2009
to announce that it will open a San Francisco office and gain 29 lawyers from the litigation powerhouse of Folger Levin & Kahn LLP (FLK). The firms have agreed to join together in December, adding a team of highly regarded trial lawyers, including nine partners, to Crowell & Moring's Litigation Group...

Stem cell scientist found partially guilty

Posted on October 26, 2009
The years-long scandal of Hwang Woo-suk, a former Seoul National University professor charged with fraudulent stem cell research, reached the end of its first chapter yesterday as the court handed down a suspended sentence of two years. "Though Hwang fabricated the DNA photographs in his 2004 paper and the stem cell charts in his 2005 paper, he cannot be seen as having thus defrauded his sponsors or the public," said the ruling judge of the Seoul Central Court yesterday...

Espionage suspect pleaded to overbilling govt

Posted on October 26, 2009
Court records show a former government scientist accused of attempted espionage last week pleaded guilty earlier this year to overbilling NASA and the Department of Defense more than $265,000 for contracting work.The January plea by 52-year-old Stewart Nozette of Chevy Chase, Md...

Law firms pay new hires to work for public good

Posted on October 23, 2009
If things had gone according to plan, Lindsay Murphy would be a big-city tax lawyer by now. Instead, the recent law school graduate found herself doing legal aid, listening to complaints about raw sewage bubbling up into the bathtubs of a Mississippi Delta housing project...

Minn. court: Bong water can count as illegal drug

Posted on October 23, 2009
In Minnesota, bong water can count as an illegal drug.That decision from Minnesota's Supreme Court on Thursday raises the threat of longer sentences for drug smokers in that state who fail to dump the water out of bong ? a type of water pipe often used to smoke drugsThe court said a person can be prosecuted for a first-degree drug crime for 25 grams or more of bong water that tests positive for a controlled substance...

Ky. Supreme Court hears online gambling question

Posted on October 23, 2009
The Kentucky Supreme Court is deciding whether the state has the power to seize Internet domain names involved in online gambling after hearing arguments Thursday from lawyers on both sides of the issue.At issue is whether the more than 100 domain names the state has tried to seize are tantamount to gambling devices such as slot machines, and whether the state has authority for the seizures...

Biographical information on Kenneth Feinberg

Posted on October 23, 2009
NAME ? Kenneth R. Feinberg.AGE ? 63, born Oct. 23, 1945, in Brockton, Mass.EXPERIENCE ? Obama administration "pay czar" for financial bailout program, June 2009 to present. He is serving without pay, as he did as special master of Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund of 2001; founded the Feinberg Group LLP, law firm specializing in mediation, in 1993; partner at Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler law firm, where he began mediating conflicts, 1980-93; administrative assistant to Sen...

Arkansas high court to review SWEPCO plant case

Posted on October 23, 2009
The Arkansas Supreme Court said Thursday it will review a case involving Southwestern Electric Power Company's planned coal-fired power plant in south Arkansas.The state Court of Appeals had overturned a permit that was issued by the Arkansas Public Service Commission for the $1...

SoCal man pleads guilty in Swiss bank case

Posted on October 22, 2009
A Malibu man has pleaded guilty to failing to report more than $1 million he transferred to a Swiss bank account.John McCarthy formally pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of failing to file a Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts report. He faces up to five years in prison and fines totaling $250,000 when he is sentenced on Jan...

Alleged victims, bankrupt diocese in U.S. court

Posted on October 22, 2009
The bankrupt Catholic Diocese of Wilmington began its court fight Wednesday withvictims claiming sexual abuse by its priests over the value of its estate and how much will be available for claims.Attorneys for most of the 142 victims indicated they may seek to expand the bankruptcy to include parishes that operate in the Delaware-based diocese but were not part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing Sunday...

Court rejects Calif. plan to cut prison population

Posted on October 22, 2009
A federal judicial panel has rejected California's plan for reducing the state's prison population because it failed to meet the terms of an earlier court order.In August, the panel ordered California to reduce its inmate population by roughly 27 percent, or 40,000, over two years...

Ludacris Sued For Allegedly Stiffing Former Law Firm

Posted on October 22, 2009
Law firm Carlton Fields P.A. has filed suit against Atlanta rapper Ludacris. reports the Courthouse News Service.Luda is being sued for non-payment of legal fees for services rendered between March 2008 and April 2009.The firm represented Ludacris and his Ludacris Foundation in a 2007 personal injuries and negligence complaint...

3 Tijuana drug figures plead guilty in US

Posted on October 22, 2009
Three once-powerful members of Mexico's Arellano Felix drug cartel have pleaded guilty to criminal charges in San Diego.Jorge Aureliano Felix admitted Wednesday to working with members of the Tijuana-based cartel to smuggle hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States and bringing hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds back to Mexico...

Littler Mendelson Expands National Litigation Presence

Posted on October 21, 2009
Littler Mendelson, P.C. (Littler), the nation's largest employment and labor law firm representing management, is pleased to announce the addition of Margaret A. ("Maggie") Clemens, a Rochester-based, nationally recognized ERISA litigator. Ms. Clemens recently joined Littler to open its 49th office in Rochester, New York...

Morrison & Foerster to Cut Associates? Salaries to $145,000

Posted on October 21, 2009
Morrison & Foerster LLP, the San Francisco-based law firm, will cut starting salaries to $145,000 for associates based in U.S. cities except New York, where they will remain $160,000, the firm said. ?The market for first-year salaries among national firms is undetermined at this time,? the firm said today in an e-mailed statement...

Britney Spears, photographer settle suit

Posted on October 21, 2009
Court records show Britney Spears and a photographer whose foot she ran over have settled a lawsuit.Ricardo Mendoza sued the pop singer in May, accusing her of assault, battery and negligently driving her car when she ran over his foot in Beverly Hills in October 2007...

Court blocks names in gay partnership referendum

Posted on October 21, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked Washington state officials from releasing the names of people who signed referendum petitions to bring expanded rights for gay couples up for a public vote in November.The court's action maintains a hold placed Monday by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who temporarily blocked a federal appeals court ruling that had ordered the release of the names...

Ashcroft: Judges should rehear 9/11 witness case

Posted on October 21, 2009
Former Attorney General John Ashcroft has asked a federal appeals court to reconsider its ruling that he can be held personally responsible for wrongfully detaining people as material witnesses after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.Abdullah al-Kidd, a U.S...

Man accused of threatening Obama pleads not guilty

Posted on October 20, 2009
A Northern California man accused of sending threatening e-mails to President Barack Obama and other officials has pleaded not guilty to federal charges.Federal authorities say 59-year-old John Gimbel of Crescent City sent a new batch of messages on Sept...

Key figure in NJ corruption probe pleads guilty

Posted on October 20, 2009
The central figure in a huge New Jersey corruption investigation pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud and money laundering charges Tuesday.Solomon Dwek's work for the government as a cooperating witness directly led to the arrests of 44 people in July, but it was his turn in court Tuesday...

Sandoval takes job with Jones Vargas law firm

Posted on October 20, 2009
Former U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval has joined the Nevada law firm of Jones Vargas.Sandoval, a Republican, resigned from the bench last month to launch a campaign for governor.He said he will focus on building an alternative dispute resolution practice for the firm, one of the state's largest with significant lobbying presence in Carson City...

David Dykeman Named Recipient of Rx for Excellence Award

Posted on October 20, 2009
David J. Dykeman, a shareholder and patent attorney in the Boston office of the international law firm Greenberg Traurig LLP, has been named a recipient of an "Rx for Excellence" Award from Massachusetts Medical Law Report for his contributions to the health care field...

Judge revokes bail for NYC ex-police commissioner

Posted on October 20, 2009
A federal judge on Tuesday revoked bail for former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and sent him to jail to await a corruption trial scheduled to start next week.Calling Kerik "a toxic combination of self-minded focus and arrogance," Judge Stephen Robinson said he was revoking the $500,000 bail because Kerik disclosed sealed case information to the trustee of his legal defense fund...

Law Firm Management: The Alternative Billing Debate Continues

Posted on October 19, 2009
Alan G. Badey, CPA and a partner at Citrin Cooperman & Company, writes: As law firms struggle to maintain profitability, if not their survival, in the current economic climate, the debate over the almighty billable hour has been renewed. There's no doubt that many clients are forcing their law firms to explore alternative billing methods, whether they like it or not...

Bankruptcy filing delays church sex abuse case

Posted on October 19, 2009
A sex abuse case against Delaware's Catholic Diocese of Wilmington and a former priest will be delayed after the diocese filed for federal bankruptcy protection on the eve of trial.The bankruptcy filing late Sunday delays a lawsuit that had been set to start Monday in Kent County Superior Court, the first of eight consecutive abuse trials scheduled in Delaware...

Sotomayor says nomination tightly scripted

Posted on October 19, 2009
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor says her nomination process was so tightly scripted that even her clothes were chosen for her.Sotomayor made the comments when she appeared at her 30th Yale Law School reunion on Saturday.The New Haven Register reports that Sotomayor spoke to 1,800 alumni, students and faculty, describing her recent grueling nomination process...

California DUI Attorneys Commended by ABA Journal

Posted on October 19, 2009
California DUI lawyer Lawrence Taylor, known nationally as the "Dean of DUI Defense," has been recognized along with his firm of DUI attorneys in the American Bar Association Journal (vol.1, issue 47) for their expertise and specialization.In an article titled "MADD and MADDer: Today's DUI Defense Bar Is More Focused and Aggressive Than Ever Before," the ABA Journal observed:The tremendous success of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other groups in their campaigns for tougher drunken driving laws and increased law enforcement has led to an inevitable backlash...

Ex-British spy takes book battle to Supreme Court

Posted on October 19, 2009
A former British spy is asking Britain's Supreme Court to overturn a decision by domestic intelligence agency MI5 to block him from publishing a book about his career.Lawyers for the former MI5 officer, who is not named in court documents, told a hearing Monday that he is seeking a judicial review of the decision...

Prosecutors seek 145 years in prison for lawyer

Posted on July 09, 2009
A prominent lawyer trained at Harvard and Yale universities who admitted defrauding hedge funds of more than $400 million should be sentenced to 145 years in prison, prosecutors told a judge Wednesday.Prosecutors cited the privileged education and his comfortable upbringing as they urged the maximum sentence for 59-year-old Marc Dreier...

Gay legal groups want in on Calif court case

Posted on July 09, 2009
Three gay-friendly legal groups have asked to be part of a federal lawsuit challenging California's same-sex marriage ban ? a request that drew an icy reception from the activists behind the case.After publicly questioning the wisdom of the suit and then submitting papers in support of it, the American Civil Liberties Union, Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights said they want to represent gay community groups in the proceedings...

It's not slang! Nev. court permits 'HOE' license

Posted on July 09, 2009
A Las Vegas man won a courtroom battle Wednesday with the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles over his "HOE" license plate, which the agency tried to cancel on grounds that he was using a slang reference to prostitutes.The high court said the DMV based its opposition to William Junge's plate on definitions found in the Web-based Urban Dictionary, which includes user contributions...

Astor's son back in NYC court, day after falling

Posted on July 09, 2009
Brooke Astor's son is back at his Manhattan trial, a day after he fell and hit his head in a courthouse restroom.Anthony Marshall, who's 85, had heart surgery last fall. He takes blood thinners and walks unsteadily with a cane. He also has reportedly suffered a mild stroke...

Analysis: Sotomayor record thin on executive power

Posted on July 09, 2009
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's thin record on the limits of presidential power suggests she will be neither reflexively hostile to broad expansion of a president's authority nor a reliable rubber stamp in support of it.Three cases in particular offer clues:_ As a judge on the 2nd Circuit U...

Wis. Supreme Court deadlocks on corporate law case

Posted on July 08, 2009
The Wisconsin Supreme Court deadlocked Tuesday on whether the former owners of a manufacturing business must pay millions in damages for enriching themselves while the company couldn't pay its bills.The court divided 3-3 on whether to uphold a jury's decision ordering Daniel Virnich and Jack Moores to pay $6...

Nevada high court gets follow-up OJ bail request

Posted on July 08, 2009
O.J. Simpson is promising not to disappear or endanger the community if he's freed from prison pending his appeal in an armed hotel room heist, his lawyers told the Nevada Supreme Court."Simpson recognizes that he has a heavy burden in demonstrating that his release will pose no danger to the community and that he is not a flight risk," attorneys Yale Galanter and Malcolm LaVergne said in a follow-up document filed Monday with the state's only appellate court...

Six charged in $140 million NY brokerage fraud

Posted on July 08, 2009
Six employees of Wall Street retail brokerage Sky Capital Holdings Ltd surrendered to the FBI on Wednesday on charges of a $140 million investment fraud and stock manipulation in the United States and Britain, officials said.The firm's founder, President and Chief Executive Officer Ross Mandell and five others were charged in a criminal indictment announced by U...

Appeals court rules for Abbott in AIDS drug case

Posted on July 08, 2009
A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit accusing Abbott Laboratories of antitrust violations over a sudden 400-percent price hike of a popular AIDS drug.Advocacy groups and drug benefit providers sued Abbott in 2004. They alleged the North Chicago, Ill...

Lear files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Posted on July 07, 2009
Struggling automotive parts supplier Lear Corp. said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after receiving the support it needed from lenders and bondholders.The company, which makes automotive seating systems and electronics, had been negotiating with its lenders and bondholders for additional support for its restructuring plan...

Lawyers' group: Sotomayor well qualified for court

Posted on July 07, 2009
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor earned a "well-qualified" rating from the American Bar Association on Tuesday as she prepared for Senate hearings next week.The ABA committee that reviewed her qualifications came out with that unanimous rating of the federal appeals court judge and released it in a letter to White House lawyer Greg Craig...

Woman seeks to decrease $1.92M fine for downloads

Posted on July 07, 2009
A central Minnesota woman ordered to pay $1.92 million for illegally sharing copyright-protected music is asking a federal judge to reduce the damages she must pay or grant a new trial, while the recording industry is taking steps to make sure she doesn't share music again...

Scientist in NYC says she's not against America

Posted on July 07, 2009
A U.S.-trained Pakistani scientist accused of helping al-Qaida has repeatedly interrupted her competency hearing to declare her innocence and insist she's not anti-American.The outbursts came during a daylong hearing in federal court in Manhattan to decide whether 37-year-old Aafia Siddiqui is competent to stand trial...

GM bankruptcy plan gains approval

Posted on July 06, 2009
General Motors cleared a major hurdle toward a quick exit from bankruptcy as a judge approved a government-backed plan to create a "new GM" that sheds major debts of the ailing Detroit automaker.The ruling released late Sunday paves the way for a "reinvention" of GM, which filed for bankruptcy protection on June 1 and has vowed to emerge as a leaner, more profitable company once freed from its burdensome debts...

Scientist's mental state at issue in NYC hearing

Posted on July 06, 2009
A U.S.-trained Pakistani scientist accused of helping al-Qaida and shooting at FBI agents in Afghanistan has been forced to appear in Manhattan court by a judge's order.Aafia Siddiqui (ah-FEE'-uh see-DEE'-kee) kept her hands folded as she entered court Monday surrounded by marshal's deputies...

Mass. mom pleads not guilty to denying son meds

Posted on July 06, 2009
A woman accused of withholding cancer treatment from her autistic son by canceling appointments and not filling prescriptions pleaded not guilty Monday to an attempted murder charge in the boy's death.Kristen LaBrie was ordered held on $15,000 cash bail during her arraignment Monday in Salem Superior Court...

African leaders denounce international court

Posted on July 06, 2009
After bitter wrangling, Africa's leaders agreed Friday to denounce the International Criminal Court and refuse to extradite Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for crimes against humanity in Darfur.The decision at the African Union summit says AU members "shall not cooperate" with the court in The Hague "in the arrest and transfer of President Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan to the ICC...

Rowe deciding whether to seek custody

Posted on July 06, 2009
Deborah Rowe, the ex-wife of Michael Jackson and the mother of two of his children, has not reached a final decision on whether to seek custody of the children, a lawyer said Thursday. Attorney Eric M. George made the disclosure on a telephone conference call but declined to take questions...

Montreal woman gets 15 years in son's Vt. drowning

Posted on July 02, 2009
A Vermont judge has sentenced a Montreal woman to 15 years in prison for drowning her young son three years ago. Judge Michael Kupersmith issued the sentence to 51-year-old Louise Desnoyers (day-noy-AY') on Wednesday in Grand Isle County after hearing her apology to family, friends and the court...

Injunction against Delta in Mesa case upheld

Posted on July 02, 2009
A federal appeals court has upheld a preliminary injunction barring Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest airline operator, from terminating a regional flying contract with Mesa Air Group Inc. subsidiary Freedom Airlines. Phoenix-based Mesa had said that the termination of the contract, if successful, would cripple its airline...

Mass. man charged with murder in son's beating

Posted on July 02, 2009
A man accused of beating his 7-year-old son to death of Father's Day was charged Tuesday with murder and was ordered held without bail. Leslie Schuler, 36, is accused of repeatedly beating Nathaniel Turner, culminating in a brutal assault on June 21, when he's alleged to have slammed the boy's head into a wall so hard it left a dent...

Jackson's will to be filed in court Wednesday

Posted on July 01, 2009
Heavy construction equipment and workers passed through the wrought-iron gates of Neverland Ranch, fueling speculation that it could soon be hosting a funeral or a permanent memorial to Michael Jackson. The activity occurred Tuesday, the day before Jackson's will was expected to be filed in court...

Group sends Sotomayor docs to Senate

Posted on July 01, 2009
A Puerto Rican legal advocacy group late Tuesday sent a trove of documents from Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's past to the Senate panel considering her nomination. Latino Justice PRLDEF sent the Judiciary Committee more than 350 pages of documents from the 12 years Sotomayor spent on its board, opening what could be an ugly new chapter in the debate over confirming the federal appeals court judge as the first Hispanic justice...

Court fails to decide on anti-Hillary movie

Posted on July 01, 2009
The Supreme Court has failed to decide on whether a scathing documentary about Hillary Rodham Clinton that was shown during the presidential race should be regulated as if it were a campaign ad. The court said Monday it will hear arguments in the case again in a special session on Sept...

White firefighters win Supreme Court appeal

Posted on June 30, 2009
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge. The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide and make it harder to prove discrimination when there is no evidence it was intentional...

Frenzy outside the court: Madoff gets 150 years

Posted on June 30, 2009
Inside a packed Manhattan courtroom, Miriam Siegman and eight other victims of Bernard Madoff directed their anger at the 71-year-old disgraced financier. Madoff "discarded me like road kill," Siegman said.Even before the one-time financier was sentenced to 150 years in prison, Siegman, 65, hobbled out of the federal courthouse and into the media scrum that has followed the secretive money manager from his Upper East Side apartment seven months ago to this sentencing Monday...

Baseball got free pass from antitrust laws in 1922

Posted on June 30, 2009
Football may be the nation's most popular sport, but baseball is the favored game with the Supreme Court, which gave the national pastime an exemption from antitrust laws in 1922. Thirty-five years later, the court refused to grant one to the National Football League, saying, essentially, that the court muffed that first call but that it was up to Congress to reverse it...

Bernard Madoff gets maximum 150 years in prison

Posted on June 29, 2009
Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to the maximum 150 years in prison for his multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. U.S. District Judge Denny Chin handed down the sentence in New York on Monday. Defense attorneys had sought 12 years, while prosecutors wanted the maximum...

Convicted Ponzi-Schemer Madoff To Learn Fate Monday

Posted on June 29, 2009
Convicted Ponzi-scheme operator Bernard Madoff will learn Monday morning whether he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars for running a decades-long swindle that bilked thousands of investors out of billions of dollars. Madoff, who admitted in March to orchestrating one of the largest and longest-running white-collar frauds in recent memory, is set to be sentenced at a hearing before U...

Supreme court allows NY state's bank lending probe

Posted on June 29, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the New York attorney general's office can investigate whether national banks discriminated against minorities seeking mortgages. The justices overturned part of a ruling by a U.S. appeals court that entirely blocked the state office from investigating or enforcing the fair lending laws against national banks because they are subject instead to federal regulation...

Cornell student charged in wife's slaying in NY

Posted on June 29, 2009
A Cornell University graduate student charged with murdering his wife is being held without bail in an upstate New York jail. Blazej (BLAH'-zay) Kot appeared in Tompkins County Court on Wednesday but didn't enter a plea. Defense attorney Joseph Joch (YAWK) says he will plead not guilty at a future court appearance...

Pa. man admits peeping on women for 2 decades

Posted on June 29, 2009
A suburban Philadelphia landlord has admitted setting up spy cameras and secretly recording women tenants for nearly two decades. Thomas Daley, of Phoenixville, put cameras behind mirrors and in ceiling fans in bedrooms, bathrooms and living rooms at five apartment buildings in Norristown...

Justices Rule Lab Analysts Must Testify on Results

Posted on June 26, 2009
Crime laboratory reports may not be used against criminal defendants at trial unless the analysts responsible for creating them give testimony and subject themselves to cross-examination, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a 5-to-4 decision. The ruling was an extension of a 2004 decision that breathed new life into the Sixth Amendment?s confrontation clause, which gives a criminal defendant the right ?to be confronted with the witnesses against him...

Court says strip search of Ariz. teenager illegal

Posted on June 26, 2009
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday school officials violated an Arizona teenage girl rights by strip-searching her for prescription-strength ibuprofen, saying U.S. educators should not force children to remove their clothing unless student safety is at risk...

Legal, insurance fees mounting for Metro

Posted on June 26, 2009
The deadly Metro crash that killed nine people and injured more than 70 is already having a financial effect on the transit system, with legal fees and insurance premiums mounting. The first of what is expected to be many lawsuits was filed two days after Monday?s crash, with the parents of 15-year-old Davonne Flanagan, who broke a leg, seeking $950,000 from the transit system because of what the suit called its negligence in maintenance and personnel training...

Accused Holocaust museum shooter not in court

Posted on June 26, 2009
Prosecutors said Tuesday that a white supremacist accused of opening fire in the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum still hasn't recovered enough to appear in court but has been turned over to the District of Columbia's Corrections Department. Prosecutor Nicole Waid told U...

Supremacist blogger accused of threatening judges

Posted on June 25, 2009
A white supremacist blogger was arrested at his New Jersey home Wednesday and charged with threatening to assault or murder three Chicago-based judges who refused to overturn local ordinances banning handguns. Hal Turner, 47, a former Internet radio talk show host, was taken into custody by FBI agents who went to his North Bergen home with a search warrant, according to the U...

Supreme court to decide federal sex offender law

Posted on June 25, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it would decide whether Congress may adopt a federal law that keeps sex offenders in custody indefinitely after they complete their prison sentences. The high court agreed to hear an Obama administration appeal seeking to reinstate a 2006 law providing for the continued detention of "sexually dangerous" convicted federal inmates who have served their prison terms...

Judge refuses company's guilty plea in bay spill

Posted on June 25, 2009
A federal judge has refused to let a shipping company plead guilty to two misdemeanor environmental crimes for an oil spill from one of its ships in San Francisco Bay. The judge ruled Monday that if Hong Kong-based Fleet Management Ltd. wants to plead guilty, it has to admit to charges in a revised indictment...

Woman pleads guilty, took dead mother's benefits

Posted on June 25, 2009
A Florida woman accused of hiding her dead mother's body and collecting federal benefits for six years has pleaded guilty to a theft charge. Penelope Jordan pleaded guilty Monday to theft of government property.The 61-year-old woman was arrested in March after police found her mother's decaying body barricaded in a bedroom in Sebastian, about an hour north of West Palm Beach...

Chris Brown Pleads Guilty in Deal

Posted on June 25, 2009
The R&B singer Chris Brown pleaded guilty in a Los Angeles court on Monday to one count of felony assault on the pop star Rihanna, The Associated Press reported. Mark Geragos, a lawyer for Mr. Brown, said that under the terms of the plea deal, Mr...

US Supreme Court issues first ruling to limit Voting Rights Act

Posted on June 24, 2009
The 8-1 ruling by the US Supreme Court Monday on the Voting Rights Act has been greeted with a mixture of relief and praise from many civil rights groups and liberal commentators. ?It?s fair to say this case was brought to tear the heart out of the Voting Rights Act, and today that effort failed,? said Debo Adegbile, lead attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund...

Court won't get involved Massachusetts tax fight

Posted on June 24, 2009
The Supreme Court won't stop Massachusetts from taxing out-of-state corporations that work in that state but don't have in-state buildings or employees. The court refused on Monday to hear an appeal from Capital One Bank and Geoffrey, Inc., a subsidiary of Toys R Us that licenses the company's giraffe logo and other trademarks...

Spammer Ralsky pleads guilty to stock fraud

Posted on June 23, 2009
Alan Ralsky, a spam kingpin who was convicted of felony bank fraud in 1995, could face more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty in a stock fraud case involving spam messages that pumped up Chinese "penny" stocks. Ralsky and four other individuals pleaded guilty on Monday, joining three others who had pleaded guilty earlier, the US Department of Justice announced on Monday...

Judge strikes down NYC's green-cab incentive

Posted on June 23, 2009
A judge on Monday rejected the city's latest maneuver to force taxicab owners to buy fuel-efficient hybrids, the second time in eight months he deemed such rules to be pre-empted by federal laws. Under the rules rejected by U.S. District Judge Paul A...

High court rules narrowly in voting rights case

Posted on June 22, 2009
The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Monday in a challenge to the landmark Voting Rights Act, exempting a small Texas governing authority from a key provision of the civil rights law but side-stepping the larger constitutional issue. The court, with only one justice in dissent, avoided the major constitutional questions raised in the case over the federal government's most powerful tool to prevent discriminatory voting changes since the mid-1960s...

Court says public must pay for private special ed

Posted on June 22, 2009
The Supreme Court has made it easier for parents of special education students to be reimbursed for the cost of private schooling for their children. The court ruled 6-3 Monday in favor of a teenage boy from Oregon whose parents sought to force their local public school district to pay the $5,200 a month it cost to send their son to a private school...

Court to rule on federal sex offenders law

Posted on June 22, 2009
The Supreme Court will decide the constitutionality of a federal law that permits sex offenders to be kept behind bars after they complete their prison terms. The justices, acting Monday, say they will consider the Obama administration's appeal of a lower court ruling that invalidated the law...

Ex-NBA star Jayson Williams back in court

Posted on June 22, 2009
Retired NBA star Jayson Williams is in a New Jersey courtroom for a hearing that could determine whether he'll be sent to prison. Williams wants a judge on Monday to delay sentencing him for covering up the shooting of a hired driver more than seven years ago...

'Craigslist' killer back in court to face new charges

Posted on June 22, 2009
Philip Markoff, the former medical student accused of killing a 25-year-old masseuse he met through Craigslist is being arraigned in Boston today for first-degree murder and other charges. Philip Markoff is expected to be in Suffolk Superior Court on Monday morning...

No benefits for LA girl born from dead man's sperm

Posted on June 19, 2009
A 10-year-old girl conceived from the frozen sperm of a dead man cannot receive his Social Security benefits, a federal appeals court ruled. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a lower court's rejection of child survivor benefits for Brandalynn Vernoff, who was born nearly four years after her father's death in 1995...

Court upholds settlement in asbestos lawsuits

Posted on June 19, 2009
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to let an insurance company settle some asbestos lawsuits for about $500 million in exchange for blocking any future litigation resulting from its long relationship with Johns Manville Corp., once the world's largest producer of asbestos...

Court makes it harder to prove age discrimination

Posted on June 19, 2009
The Supreme Court has made it harder to prove discrimination on the basis of age, ruling against an employee in his mid-50s who says he was demoted because of his age. In a 5-4 decision Thursday written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the court said a worker has to prove that age was the key factor in an employment decision, even if there is some evidence that age played a role...

State court again strikes down Philly gun laws

Posted on June 19, 2009
A state appeals court ruled Wednesday that the city cannot enforce an assault weapons ban and a law prohibiting guns bought by one person and given to another, measures passed by City Council in an effort to combat persistent gun violence. The 6-1 ruling marked the latest setback for Philadelphia officials, who have fought for years for the right to pass their own gun legislation...

Court upholds LAPD ban on asking immigration status

Posted on June 18, 2009
A state appellate court Wednesday upheld the validity of the LAPD's Special Order 40, the controversial policy that bans officers from asking the immigration status of crime victims and witnesses. In affirming a lower-court ruling, the three-judge panel said the 30-year-old order strikes the appropriate balance between immigrants' rights to equal protection and the Los Angeles Police Department's need to protect communities...

High court rules in favor of ex-Enron executive

Posted on June 18, 2009
The Supreme Court on Thursday sided with a former Enron Corp. executive in a ruling that makes it unlikely he can be tried a second time on charges related to financial fraud at the one-time energy giant. The court, in a 6-3 vote, threw out an appeals court ruling that would have allowed a retrial of F...

Court upholds settlement in asbestos law

Posted on June 18, 2009
The Supreme Court has agreed to reinstate a roughly $500 million settlement of asbestos lawsuits against the Travelers Companies Inc. Travelers had been named in lawsuits alleging that it tried to hide dangerous health effects of asbestos. The company argued that asbestos claims be paid out of a trust created by Johns Manville in the 1980s and approved by a federal bankruptcy judge...

Court finds convicts have no right to test DNA

Posted on June 18, 2009
The Supreme Court said Thursday that convicts have no constitutional right to test DNA evidence in hopes of proving their innocence long after they were found guilty of a crime. The decision may have limited impact because the federal government and 47 states already have laws that allow convicts some access to genetic evidence...

NJ man freed after murder convictions overturned

Posted on June 17, 2009
After spending more than 20 years in prison for two murders he repeatedly denied committing, Paul Kamienski spoke Tuesday as a man freed under unusual circumstances. Last month, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia overturned his 1988 convictions and double life sentence in the murders of a Florida couple in 1983 in what prosecutors described as a drug deal gone bad...

Mich. court gives judges say in witnesses' dress

Posted on June 17, 2009
The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday voted to give judges authority over how witnesses dress in court after a Muslim woman refused to remove her veil while testifying in a small claims case. A statewide court rule letting judges regulate the appearance of witnesses ? such as asking them to remove face coverings ? was approved by a 5-2 vote...

Ga. court: Travel Web site shorting city on tax

Posted on June 16, 2009
The Georgia Supreme Court concluded Monday that the online travel company Expedia Inc. has shortchanged a west Georgia city on hotel and occupancy taxes. The court's 4-3 ruling ? the first such decision by Georgia's top appellate court ? found that Expedia must collect hotel occupancy taxes from its customers and pay them to the city of Columbus...

Judge: Simpson `acquittal suit' to stay in storage

Posted on June 16, 2009
A judge on Monday ordered O.J. Simpson's former manager to keep the former football star's so-called acquittal suit in storage until it is determined who rightfully owns it. The ruling came after a contentious hearing that ultimately spilled into a courthouse hallway, where the former manager, Mike Gilbert, and a lawyer for Fred Goldman exchanged heated accusations...

Sen. Jeff Sessions 'troubled' over Obama court picks

Posted on June 16, 2009
The top Republican on the Senate committee reviewing Sonia Sotomayor's nomination to the Supreme Court said Monday that he is concerned President Obama is driving federal courts "far to the left" by choosing "activist" judges for the bench. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala...

High court won't review 'Cuban 5' espionage case

Posted on June 16, 2009
Cuban exiles said Monday they were relieved the Supreme Court refused to review the convictions of five intelligence agents for the communist country, despite calls from Nobel Prize winners and international legal groups to consider the case. The convictions stand against the so-called "Cuban Five," who maintain they did not receive a fair trial because of strong anti-Castro sentiment in Miami...

Hearing for Supreme Court nominee poses challenges

Posted on June 15, 2009
U.S. Senate Republicans are in a quandary over the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, aiming to raise pointed questions about her record without angering increasingly influential Hispanic voters. Senator John Cornyn exemplifies the Republican dilemma over Sotomayor, who is the daughter of Puerto Rican parents who seems certain to be confirmed by the Democratic-led Senate as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice...

Court steps into dispute between Shell, stations

Posted on June 15, 2009
The Supreme Court is stepping into a dispute between Shell Oil Co. and gas station operators who claim the oil company tried to drive them out of business. The justices, in an order Monday, say they will hear arguments next year in a case involving eight Shell station operators in Massachusetts who are fighting changes in lease terms that they say were intended to convert stations run by franchisees to company-owned facilities...

Court goes further spelling out deportation rules

Posted on June 15, 2009
The Supreme Court says immigration officials do not have to have a jury determine the financial impact of an immigrant's crime in their deportation decisions. The court, in an unanimous decision Monday, turned away Manoj Nijhawan's appeal. Nijhawan, who immigrated to the United States from India in 1985, had been convicted of fraud and money laundering, and stipulated that that the loss exceeded $100 million...

Court to determine if bankruptcy hearing needed

Posted on June 15, 2009
The Supreme Court will decide whether student loans can be dismissed through bankruptcy with just a notice to the collector instead of a hearing proving that paying the money back would cause an "undue hardship." Francisco Espinosa gave United Student Aid Funds Inc...

High court steps into Fla. beach erosion dispute

Posted on June 15, 2009
The Supreme Court has stepped into a property-rights dispute over plans to rebuild eroded beaches on Florida's Gulf coast. The court agreed to decide whether the Constitution imposes limits on governments' authority to combat beach erosion when beachfront private property would be affected...