Criminal Law

Judge Rejects Plea of No Jail Time But Extraordinary Fine
E.Scott Reckard, LA Times, Judge Rejects Plea Deal for Broadcom Co-founder Henry Samueli (esp) (w/ a hat tip to Stephanie Martz)

JEFFERSON COURTS: Judge rejects probation
Judge rejects probation COURIER JOURNAL A Jefferson Circuit Court judge denied Nathaniel Anderson's request for probation yesterday, telling the former funeral home operator that his burial practices went "against all sense of decency and humanity...

Judge rejects plea deal for Broadcom Corp. co-founder
A judge has rejected a plea deal reached between federal prosecutors and Henry Samueli, the co-founder and former chief technical officer of Broadcom Corp., in a criminal backdating probe, finding that the agreement would "erode the public's trust in the...

Tax Cheat Worth $1.8 Billion Evades $52 Million in Taxes, Gets Probation and $3,500 Fine
Doug Berman (Ohio State) of our sister Sentencing Law & Policy blogs Feds Agree to Probation for Tax Cheat Billionaire!?!?!: After seeing this story at Forbes, headlined "U.S. Agrees Guilty Billionaire Shouldn't Go to Jail," I may have to rethink...

Mischa Barton Avoids Jail in Drunk Driving Plea Deal
Actress Mischa Barton has decided to accept a plea deal in her drunk driving case that will keep her out of jail, according to People magazine. The former OC star will plead no contest at her Thursday arraignment and agree to serve a 3-year unsupervised probation term...

No-contest plea in Dakota DeRemus death
Instead of involuntary manslaughter, though, the charge has been changed to aggravated battery for Dustin Howard. The judge still has to approve, but the deal calls for Howard to spend 18 months under supervised, intense probation, Diane Carroll reports.

Richard Mellon Scaife
Billionaire divorce lawsuit ends in a $725,000 a month settlement.

Probation User Fees
Clark County Council pays $1.1 million settlement after misappropriating funds.

Hurricane Claims
State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. reaches settlement deal with Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood.

Baltimore Strip Search Class Action
Judge Gives Go-ahead

Canceled Insurance
Judge orders Health Net Inc. to pay $9 million settlement after terminating a policyholder's policy after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Labor and Delivery
Judge awards mother $6 million medical malpractice settlement after baby was born with brain injuries.