AP - Justice Antonin Scalia on Sunday characterized himself as a social conservative and “a law-and-order guy” whose views do not impact his interpretation of the Constitution.
Ave Maria School of Law, apparently unable to sell naming rights to its planned new building in Ave Maria, Fla., will instead move to an older building in nearby Naples. The school cited “declining national economy and ongoing high construction costs due to the rising prices of raw materials” as reasons for the change in location. Earlier this month, Eugene Milhizer was named interim dean of the law school — just days after again ranked Ave Maria in the lowest fourth tier.
The verdicts in the Sean Bell case proved once more that a jury trial is not always the best option. A judge’s verdict of not guilty on all counts for the three police officers accused of killing Bell on the eve of his wedding serves as a reminder as to why many defendants — particularly those who work in law enforcement — leave the judgment to the court. The key reason to opt out of a jury trial, say legal experts: the emotions that law enforcement officials stir in certain jurisdictions.
In a decision that could impact other kinds of cases involving a federal regulatory scheme, the Texas Supreme Court held that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Act pre-empts a tort claim brought against a cigarette lighter manufacturer. The court’s 8-0 decision in leaves in limbo a more than $3.7 million judgment favoring the mother of a 6-year-old girl burned when another child accidentally set fire to her dress while playing with a BIC lighter.
Wachovia has agreed to pay an estimated $144 million to settle federal allegations that it failed to stop telemarketers charged with taking advantage of thousands of elderly consumers. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Friday that Wachovia didn’t act quickly enough to block telemarketers and payment processors who maintained their accounts at the bank. The marketers obtained customers’ bank account numbers while selling products including vouchers for travel and medical discount plans.
With his joint appearance alongside Bill Cosby last week, Judge Marvin Arrington continues an arc that is bringing growing fame as one of the newest voices calling for a renewed focus on self-respect and education among the black youth who end up in his courtroom. The collaboration between Arrington and Cosby arose following the national controversy surrounding the Georgia judge’s decision to ask white attorneys to leave his courtroom so he could have a “fireside chat” with black defendants.
High-profile lawyer Rosemarie Arnold was awarded a scant $227,000 in hourly fees last week for 4 1/2 years representing Antonia Verni, the girl whose paralysis caused by a crash with a drunken football fan focused national attention on binge drinking at sports events. The $105 million verdict against stadium vendor Aramark Corp. in 2005 set a dram shop record. Arnold, who was fired from the case in 2003, had asked for half the contingency fees.
Guilt or innocence has become largely beside the point for corporations defending themselves against aggressive federal prosecutors and allegations of criminal wrongdoing, says attorney Joan McPhee. Corporations facing criminal charges cannot afford to exercise their right to a jury trial and must instead resolve their disputes with the government short of the courthouse steps, says McPhee, who offers some approaches to addressing the situation.
If you’re handing out BlackBerrys like candy in the workplace, you better have a policy in place to ward off potential overtime lawsuits. That’s the advice many lawyers are shelling out to employers using hand-held devices to allow wired-up employees to work anywhere, anytime.
recently spoke to attorneys from well-known plaintiffs firms to find out if they’ve noticed any recent trends in movement within the plaintiffs bar. Some law firm leaders said defections are rare among firms in the plaintiffs bar, while others said that they do happen but largely go unnoticed by most of the legal community. Still, there are those who feel plaintiffs attorneys have been moving more in recent years, if not necessarily by choice.