Recent Updates
-
Court says FOIA request cannot be used in lawsuit
Headline Legal News 05/17/2011The Supreme Court says a Freedom of Information Act request cannot be used to trigger a False Claims Act lawsuit. The court on Monday voted 5-3 to agree with arguments by Schindler Elevator Corp., which sought to get a lawsuit against it dismissed. D...
-
Phoenix realtor pleads guilty to mortgage fraud
Headline Legal News 05/12/2011A Phoenix real estate agent has pleaded guilty in a mortgage fraud scheme that costs lenders almost $10 million. Federal prosecutors said 31-year-old Jason Thomas Williams pleaded guilty Monday to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. It was un...
-
Courts nationwide hold hearings with video
Headline Legal News 05/09/2011George Villanueva, charged with first-degree murder in the death of an NYPD officer, will not leave jail for months of pretrial hearings. Instead, he'll be beamed into the courtroom via video as lawyers discuss his case in front of the judge. Villanu...
-
Judge clears 'Housewives' firing lawsuit for trial
Headline Legal News 05/04/2011A jury should decide whether Nicollette Sheridan's character was unfairly written out of the hit show "Desperate Housewives," a judge ruled Tuesday. With the actress looking on, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Allen White tossed a couple o...
-
Polygamous church dispute may head to Utah court
Headline Legal News 05/02/2011An internal tug-of-war over control of jailed polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs' southern Utah-based church may force Utah courts to walk a constitutional tightrope that experts say could tread a little too close to separation of church and state. ...
-
Insurer settles suit with former USU frat members
Headline Legal News 05/02/2011A Georgia insurance company that paid a wrongful death claim on behalf of a former Utah State University fraternity has settled the lawsuit it brought against four of the fraternity's members. The Herald Journal of Logan reports that attorneys for RS...
-
Iowa court reverses child endangerment conviction
Headline Legal News 04/28/2011The Iowa Court of Appeals on Wednesday overturned the conviction of a mother who has been imprisoned for nearly four years after being found guilty of injuring her young son, basing its decision on the boy's newfound ability to speak and claim he was...
-
Ohio man pleads guilty in abortion-gunpoint case
Headline Legal News 04/28/2011A man charged under an Ohio fetal homicide law with trying to force his pregnant girlfriend at gunpoint to get an abortion pleaded guilty Thursday to attempted murder, weapons and abduction counts. Dominic Holt-Reid pulled a gun Oct. 6 on girlfriend ...
-
High court rejects quick review of health care law
Headline Legal News 04/25/2011The Supreme Court rejected a call Monday from Virginia's attorney general to depart from its usual practice and put review of the health care law on a fast track. Instead, judicial review of President Barack Obama's signature legislation will continu...
-
Md. court considering same-sex spousal privilege
Headline Legal News 04/25/2011A court in Hagerstown is poised to consider whether a woman who legally married her lesbian partner in another jurisdiction can assert the spousal privilege of refusing to testify against her in Maryland, where same-sex marriage isn't allowed. Lawyer...
-
US court turns away new appeal from Uighurs
Headline Legal News 04/17/2011The five remaining Chinese Muslims who are being held at Guantanamo Bay lost their latest bid Monday to get the Supreme Court to hear their case. The justices turned away a plea from the five detainees, who have been held at the U.S. naval base in Cu...
-
Lawyers for NFL, players talk mediation with judge
Headline Legal News 04/10/2011The locked-out NFL players don't want to go back to collective bargaining with the league. They have now made a move to allow their former union boss to be present if court-supervised talks take place between the two sides.Attorneys for the NFL and t...