Category: Law
A court battle over rights to the names of two 1950s doo-wop groups has sparked an appeal that could have far-reaching effects in civil rights litigation. The 3rd Circuit has granted en banc rehearing to decide the proper test to determine a plaintiff's entitlement to attorney fees as the "prevailing party." The underlying battle started when New Jersey officials threatened to take action against
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
Prominent divorce lawyer Norman M. Sheresky, 82, lodged a $26 million suit against his former partners at Sheresky Aronson Mayefsky & Sloan on Friday after being pushed out earlier this month. Sheresky -- whose clients have included former supermodel Christie Brinkley's most recent ex-husband and actor James Gandolfini's ex-wife -- alleged his former partners in the firm he founded 15 years ago,
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
Four months after Hurricane Katrina hit, 5,352 attorneys had offices in New Orleans. Since then, that number has dropped by 19 percent, to 4,342, as attorneys moved elsewhere to make a living. Even so, membership in the New Orleans Bar Association now surpasses its pre-Katrina levels, if only slightly, said Executive Director Helena Henderson. She's encouraged by the bar association's numbers, bu
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
The nearly 10-year legal battle over the class action lawsuit alleging sex discrimination at Wal-Mart stores is now before the Supreme Court. Wal-Mart's petition challenging the class certification of more than 1 million female workers was filed Wednesday by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher's Theodore Boutrous Jr. He asserts that the certification and the claims for monetary damages violate due process an
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
Attorneys for the victims of the bridge collapse that killed 13 people in Minneapolis in August 2007 announced Monday that they had reached a settlement with the engineering company responsible for inspecting the bridge. In negotiations held this past weekend, URS Corp. agreed to pay $52.4 million to more than 100 people who sued the company in Minnesota state court. The settlement announcement c
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
An attorney's obligation to redact personally identifiable information from e-filings has arisen in a variety of circumstances. Whether the failure to meet that requirement can create professional liability has not been definitively answered, says Rivkin Radler partner Shari Claire Lewis.
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
In a significant setback for credit reporting agencies, the 3rd Circuit has ruled that consumers have the right to sue if a credit report includes inaccurate information drawn from a government watch list. The opinion marks the first time that a federal appellate court has held that such information is regulated by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, and could force Trans Union and other credi
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
The government has lost eight of 15 cases in which Guantanamo detainees have said they or witnesses against them were forcibly interrogated, according to a review by nonprofit newsroom ProPublica. These cases offer the most detailed accounting yet of how information obtained by controversial tactics is standing up in court. And if coerced evidence is costing the government victories in habeas cas
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
New York federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein had every right to block a lawyer who was not involved in the Zyprexa product-liability litigation before him from disseminating documents that were subject to a protective order, the 2nd Circuit ruled Thursday. The court agreed that the attorney, James B. Gottstein, aided and abetted a violation of the judge's protective order by issuing "sham subpoenas"
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
A securities fraud suit against insurance giant Aetna fell flat on Wednesday when a federal appeals court refused to revive claims by investors who said the company made false statements about its "disciplined" pricing strategies that were designed to drive up the stock price so that three top executives could cash in and sell $61 million in stock. The 3rd Circuit concluded that all of the allege
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
UCLA law professor Kenneth Klee recently released his massive report investigating the downfall of The Tribune Co. following a disastrous 2007 leveraged buyout. The report raises serious questions about the second step of the buyout and whether it left Tribune with an unsustainable amount of debt. In his first interview since nabbing the role as the official court-appointed examiner in the case,
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
Elena Kagan won't have the luxury of easing into her new job as a Supreme Court justice. She'll be hiring law clerks and secretaries, setting up her chambers, wading into thousands of petitions and handling emergency matters -- which may soon include an appeal of a stay in the California same-sex marriage case. But Kagan's familiarity with the Court as solicitor general, and the fact that she's a
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
After three months of sparring over Elena Kagan's legal experience andwhere she falls on the ideological spectrum, the Senate confirmed her asthe next U.S. Supreme Court justice on Thursday by a vote of 63-37. AllDemocrats but one voted for Kagan, while all Republicans but fiveopposed her. Her confirmation means the Court, for the first time in itshistory, will have three female members. Kagan, w
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
Elena Kagan is on the verge of becoming the 112th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, after three months of sparring over her legal experience and where she falls on the ideological spectrum. Senators voted 63-37 today to confirm Kagan, who is expected to be sworn in as early as Friday.
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
Category: Law
Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman was named lead counsel on Monday in the shareholder class action against Toyota over sudden unintended acceleration. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer in Los Angeles consolidated seven class actions against Toyota in June but held off a decision about lead counsel pending the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Morrison v. National Australia Bank. The high court rul
Read More »
Discuss Bury Tags
Discuss Bury Tags
