Law Advice

NEW YORK – Following an Aug. 9 hearing, the judge overseeing General Motor Corp.’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in a New York federal bankruptcy court granted permission to creditors to seek data from new General Motors related to the filing of asbestos claims for use in estimating the company’s potential liability (In re Motors Liquidation [...]

A Kansas man convicted of child molestation will get a new trial because of misconduct by the judge and the prosecutor. The Kansas Supreme Court ruled last week that they each crossed the line during the trial of Luther Kemble, who was sentenced in 2008 to 25 years to life for fondling an 8-year-old girl. [...]

A federal judge has told attorneys with Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal there is no way the firm can represent both an alleged tax fraud conspirator and a cooperating witness for the government. Southern District of New York Judge William Pauley said that a “clear conflict of interest” exists where one Sonnenschein attorney represents former BDO [...]

The former general counsel of investment bank Ferris, Baker Watts appears to be off the hook after a Securities and Exchange Commission administrative law judge ruled Wednesday that he did not fail to reasonably supervise a rogue broker. While praising the SEC’s “regulatory zeal” in going after Theodore Urban, Administrative Law Judge Brenda Murray wrote [...]

Reuters Judge vetoes Obama's request to override halt on stem cell researchUW Badger Herald“Before a decision can be made about signing on to any lawsuit, the legal merits and arguments must be reviewed for their merit and sound legal basis,” Cosh …Legal Analysis: Parsing the Stem Cell CaseScience AAASWis. governor says stem cell ruling could [...]

A judge has denied a motion for contempt that R. Allen Stanford filed against Stanford Financial Group’s insurers on the ground they allegedly failed to meet a court-ordered reimbursement schedule for his criminal defense costs. The underwriters alleged that the most recent fee request by Stanford’s lead criminal defense attorney missed a deadline, and questioned [...]

Major Lindsey & Africa’s racketeering suit against a former recruiter has survived a motion to dismiss — barely. Federal Judge Colleen McMahon threw out Major Lindsey’s claims against former managing director Sharon Mahn under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and issued some stern words regarding the RICO claims. The judge wrote that she had [...]

PHILADELPHIA – After taking into consideration the overall uncertainty a tenant faced in prevailing on her claim that unsafe conditions in a home rented through a federally subsidized housing program caused her and her children to suffer injuries and her chances of recovering past medical expenses, a Pennsylvania federal judge on Aug. 24 reduced a [...]

LYNCHBURG, Va. – A federal judge in Virginia on Sept. 2 adopted a U.S. magistrate judge’s report recommending the approval of a $12 million settlement to compensate people sickened by a nationwide Salmonella outbreak linked to tainted peanuts (In re: Peanut Butter Corporation of America, No. 10-cv-27, W.D. Va.). Full story on lexis.com View full [...]

NEW YORK – Indemnification provisions in a lease and a third-party agreement do not require Citigroup Inc. to indemnify the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for claims stemming from the collapse of 7 World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a New York federal judge held Sept. 1, dismissing the [...]