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Major Players in Real Estate Title Industry Hit by Suits
Four major real estate title and escrow companies face class actions filed for a variety of business practices, including allegedly charging customers for services performed by other companies. The suits also allege that two of the companies are earning interest from pooling clients’ funds and steering customers to the companies’ own higher-cost subsidiaries for unnecessary services. The new lawsuits follow scores of antitrust suits claiming that the industry’s major players fixed prices.
Ex-U.S. Attorneys File Amicus Over Firings
A bipartisan group of 20 former U.S. Attorneys is backing the House of Representatives in its legal battle with the Bush administration over subpoena power in the congressional investigation into the firings of nine U.S. Attorneys. In a 15-page amicus brief filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last week, the former U.S. Attorneys sidestepped prickly legal arguments about the separation of powers and instead urged Judge John Bates to consider the gravity of the investigation.
Did Affirmative Action Really Hinder Clarence Thomas?
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas blames Yale Law School — specifically, its affirmative action program — for his difficulties securing a job as a first-year associate after his graduation. He wrote in his autobiography that his degree was basically worthless, since it “bore the taint of racial preference.” But interviews with a dozen African-American lawyers who attended Yale in the same years paint a strikingly different picture.
Texas Supreme Court Nixes Removal of Children From Polygamists’ Ranch
In a split decision Thursday, the Texas Supreme Court upheld an Austin appeals court’s mandamus decision ordering the children who were removed from a polygamist compound to be returned to their parents. A lawyer in the case says the justices′ ruling will apply to all of the more than 450 children who are in state custody and will allow them to be reunited with their parents. A lower court had granted the state temporary custody of some of the children.
US court says polygamy kids must be returned to parents (AFP)
AFP - The Texas Supreme Court ruled that 468 children seized from a polygamist sect must be returned to their parents, saying state child welfare officials had overstepped their authority.
Law Firms Lining Up for Mammoth French M&A Deal
The proposed megamerger between French energy giants Gaz de France and Suez has cleared yet another obstacle now that a council of French labor unions has issued a long-awaited opinion on the deal. Nine law firms — from Britain, France and the U.S. — have their hands in the $157.5 billion transaction that, if completed, will create one of Europe’s largest natural gas producers and the world’s third-largest utility.
Clifford Chance Posts 11 Percent Boost in Revenue
Clifford Chance has become the first Magic Circle firm to post its financial results for the 2007-2008 financial year, with the firm seeing an 11 percent hike in revenue. Profits per equity partner increased by a similar amount, jumping by 13 percent. The firm said it saw particularly strong growth in Asia, the Middle East and Central and Eastern Europe.
Facing Sentencing, Mel Weiss Denies Allegations of ‘Criminal Arrogance’
Melvyn Weiss, the co-founding partner of Milberg Weiss, said his meeting with a representative of a paid plaintiff was “less sinister″ than the federal government alleges and that his failure to turn over a subpoenaed fax was bad judgment, not “criminal arrogance,” according to sentencing papers filed on Wednesday. Weiss, who pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday.
N.Y. Governor Defends Recognition of Other Jurisdictions’ Gay Marriages
New York Gov. David Paterson said Thursday that fairness and fear of legal liability convinced him to direct all state agencies to immediately recognize as valid same-sex marriages solemnized outside of New York. Paterson compared recognizing legal same-sex marriages to the state’s policy of recognizing as valid common-law marriages from other jurisdictions. Opponents of same-sex marriage charged Thursday that Paterson was putting the state’s imprimatur on gay marriage without consulting the Legislature.
5th Circuit Revives Lawsuit Against Halliburton Over Iraq Deaths
A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived lawsuits against military contractors over a deadly ambush that killed civilian truck drivers in Iraq. The suits accuse Halliburton and former subsidiary KBR of knowingly sending a convoy into a dangerous area where six KBR drivers were killed and others wounded in 2004. A federal judge threw out the lawsuits in 2006, saying the judiciary can′t second-guess the military’s battlefield decisions, but the 5th Circuit reversed that judge’s ruling on Wednesday.