The trial of controversial lawyer Geoffrey Fieger for illegal campaign contributions to John Edwards 2004 campaign is in full swing with the testimony of his paralegal and trainer. Despite his all-star defense team, Feiger’s defense seems pretty lame: he admits that he reimbursed employees for contributions but did not realize that it was illegal. Continue reading “Lawyers, Paralegal and Trainer Testify Against Geoffrey Fieger”
Category: Lawyering
Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Greg Damm is the focus of a blistering condemnation by the trial and appellate courts of his alleged prosecutorial misconduct in a Las Vegas case. The case against five individuals, attorneys Daniel Chapman and Sean Flanagan, involved alleged securities trading violations. Damm is accused for failing to turn over 650 pages of critical evidence after telling the court that all evidence had been produced for the defense. Continue reading “Dammed if You Don’t: Ninth Circuit Dismisses Criminal Case Due to Flagrant Prosecutorial Abuse”
Even though in a city that prides itself on “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” Elizabeth Halverson has achieved national infamy for conduct as a judge that allegedly ranges from having a bailiff rub her back to sleeping in the courthouse to making her husband swear under oath that he has done the chores at home. Now the Nevada Judicial Discipline Commission is starting a week of hearings to remove her from the bench. Continue reading “Nevada Judge Halverson Faces Possible Removal Over Bizarre Conduct”
Federal agents raided the office and home of U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch on Tuesday as they investigate whether he destroyed evidence that he retaliated against his own staff. It is a considerable reversal of fortunes for the man who investigates such retaliation against whistle-blowers. It is a scandal that gets more bizarre by the day — even sweeping Geeks on Call into the criminal investigation. Continue reading “Federal Agents Raid Office and Home of U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch”
The controversy over Pennsylvania judge Deborah Griffin is over. The state supreme court has removed her from the bench due to her guilty plead to credit card fraud 25 years ago.
Continue reading “Pennsylvania Judge Deborah Griffin Removed From Bench for Concealment of Prior Crime”
Former judge Richard McLean and attorney Edith Stevens appear to have had an eye on some land of neighbors Don and Susie Kirlin for some time. They got their wish when another judge, District Judge James C. Klein ruled that a mysterious path that appeared on the property gave them possession of 34 percent of the Kirlins’ lot on Hardscrabble Drive. Continue reading “A Judge Runs Through It: Family Loses Land by Adverse Possession to Colorado Judge”
Baseball star Roger Clemens has admitted to a series of extra-marital affairs while denying statutory rape allegations with 15-year-old country singer Mindy McCready. With Clemens facing both a criminal investigation and a civil lawsuit (that he filed against former trainer Brian McNamee), this may be only the first of such revelations. Continue reading “Three Strikes? Roger Clemens Admits to Adultery But Denies Statutory Rape”
There is yet another allegation of undue influence by a campaign contributors on the Texas Supreme Court. A closely divided court gave home builder Bob Perry a major victory in reversing an $800,000 arbitration award to Jane and Robert Cull. Perry happens to be the largest contributor to judicial campaigns in Texas as curious interest of a home builder in the make up of the state bench. Continue reading “Money Well Spent? Major Donor Receives Major Victory Before the Texas Supreme Court”
The Supreme Court has taken the case of a breakthrough case where the Ninth Circuit had held that a wrongly convicted man could sue the prosecutor who was allegedly responsible for injustice. The expectation is that the Court will carve out an exception for prosecutors — further insulating abusive prosecutors from responsibility for their acts. Continue reading “Supreme Court Takes Prosecutorial Abuse Case”
Professor John Yoo has formally rejected a request from the House Judiciary Committee for his testimony, prompting a likely subpoena from the committee.
Continue reading “Professor John Yoo Refuses to Testify on Torture Memos”
The Bush Administration has long had difficulty in terrorism, assembling the worst record of losses of an modern Administration. Now, in the Liberty City case of six defendants accused of plotting to try to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago, they are going to try a THIRD time to get a jury to believe them. This is not a matter of the law of terrorism but the law of averages. Despite the strikingly similar reaction of the prior two juries, the Justice Department just hopes that it can still find people who will not question the unconvincing case against these individuals. Continue reading “Playing the Law of Averages: Justice Department to Try Sears Tower Defendants a Third Time”
The sinking of the Titanic has long been the subject of romance novels and history books, but now may find its way into legal works. It has long been suspected that the ship sank due to shoddy material and construction that made it more vulnerable to sinking. Now, experts have focused on the rivets — raising the possibility that this was the largest actionable personal injury case in history. Continue reading “Titanic Personal Injury Case: Titanic Found to Be Largest Product Defect Case in History”
A federal judge In New Orleans has ruled that the city of Slidell must take down a portrait of Jesus on the wall at Slidell City Court. While the damages are nominal, the city will now pay legal fees and costs for an obviously unconstitutional act and attack on the principle of separation of church and state. Judge Jim Lamz helped bring about this loss by refusing to order the portrait removed. While it has been a few years since I lived in Louisiana, Slidell did not seem like a city with money to burn. Yet, it seems willing to waste money not only on this litigation but the salaries of the attorneys who told them that they could get away with this obvious violation. Continue reading “Jesus Has Left the Building: Courthouse Loses Fight Over Portrait of Jesus”
The case involving actor Rob Lowe now has a countersuit by one of the three former employees sued by Lowe and his wife. Former nanny Jessica Gibson charges Lowe with exposing himself and touching her inappropriately several times between September 2005 and January 2008. It is a good thing that Mary Poppins was written before nannies became litigation magnets. Continue reading “So Much For a Spoon Full of Sugar: Nanny Accuses Rob Lowe of Sexual Misconduct”
Usually, divorce parties wait for service of papers to learn the details of the case for termination of their marriage and details of a settlement. In yet another example of the transformation YouTube has wrought, Tricia Walsh-Smith used the YouTube video below to detail her case against her husband, Philip Smith, president of the Shubert Organization, the largest theater owner on Broadway. She details everything from their prenup to pictures of “evil” and “nasty” family members. Continue reading “Service by YouTube: Woman Uses Video to Detail Divorce Case Against Husband”