Lawyer - News

A former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks will receive $5.8 million to settle his lawsuit against the Justice Department. Steven Hatfill claimed the DOJ violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case. The deal requires the Justice Department to pay $2.825 million up front and buy Hatfill a $3 million annuity that will pay him $150,000 each year for 20 years. No comments

Calling her contrition "too little too late," the California Commission on Judicial Performance on Thursday ordered Superior Court Judge Kelly MacEachern removed from the bench. Commissioners said MacEachern filed fraudulent expense reports for a judicial conference and then lied about her attendance to court officials and a panel of special masters that reviewed the allegations against her. MacEachern is the fourth trial court judge ousted by the commission in the last 18 months. No comments

Pleading scienter for individual defendants is not always required to support a showing of corporate scienter in a securities fraud class action, the 2nd Circuit has ruled, rejecting an argument that it adopt such a rule as a pleading requirement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. The court ruled that a putative class action brought against Dynex Capital and Merit Securities by a Teamsters pension fund must be dismissed, but also gave the union an opportunity to replead following dismissal. No comments

In the U.S. Supreme Court term that ended Thursday, the 9th Circuit was reversed in eight of the 10 cases reviewed, about par for the course for the nation's largest, and most closely scrutinized, circuit. The Court reversed not only their favorite targets like Judges Stephen Reinhardt and Betty Fletcher, but also Judge Pamela Rymer -- a well-regarded conservative talked about as a potential Republican nominee to the Supreme Court -- who paid the price for hewing closely to precedent. No comments

The Sicilian Mafia and janitorial services might seem an unusual pairing, but it's at the root of nine years of litigation ruled on Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. At the heart of the Federal Circuit's decision was the question of whether a voluntary dismissal of a case is appealable, and if so, in what time frame. No comments

Kaye Scholer has been hit with a legal malpractice suit by an ex-client that claims the firm's discovery errors forced it to enter into a $107 million antitrust settlement. Chemical and plastics giant Celanese Corp. announced last month it was paying that amount to resolve litigation by textile makers. In an amended complaint, Celanese says it only paid such a large settlement because Kaye Scholer's failure to turn over thousands of documents to plaintiffs had exposed Celanese to draconian trial sanctions. No comments

When Coke Zero marketers invited Web users to "take advantage of our revolutionary Sue-A-Friend Technology and sue the pants off anyone who is copying you," they weren't really soliciting suits against the Coca-Cola Co. But the diet drink's ad campaign -- featuring Coke managers who want to sue their counterparts at Coke Zero for "taste infringement" -- has taken a sharp turn from camp to the real thing in federal court in Atlanta. No comments

Like many organizations, title inflation has befallen law firms. Over the last decade, starting with the move of executive directors to chief operating officer titles, most functional managers have seen their titles elevated to the "C" level. Recruiter Michael DeCosta says that, while well intentioned, such titles can have a reverse effect on everyone as they cheapen the meaningfulness of the level. But used correctly, he says, they can represent a way to reward -- and, in theory, retain -- talent. No comments

The Legal Blog Watch weighs in from the floor and conference rooms of LTWC 2008. Bloggers watch as Rob Robinson of Orange Legal Technologies conducts live webcam interviews; Chevron GC Charles James delivers a telling keynote; and Monica Bay posts answers to her conference quiz. No comments

In a Wednesday order, federal Judge James Ware enforced a settlement between Facebook and onetime rival ConnectU over claims that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stole ideas and success from ConnectU. The settlement, which will give ConnectU undisclosed amounts of stock and cash, was disputed by ConnectU, which claimed it was a fraud. In a statement issued Thursday, Facebook claimed that the dispute over the settlement wasn't about fraud; it was about ConnectU and its lawyers at Quinn Emanuel. No comments