Recent Updates
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Pa. appeals court upholds $188M Wal-Mart verdict
Headline Legal News 06/11/2011A $188 million class-action verdict against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Sam's Club over payment to employees for rest breaks and off-the-clock work was upheld Friday by a Pennsylvania appeals court. A three-judge Superior Court panel said there was suff...
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Court: No shield law for message boards posters
Headline Legal News 06/07/2011The New Jersey Supreme Court says people posting in online message boards don't have the same protections for sources as mainstream journalists. The court ruled Tuesday that New Jersey's shield law for journalists does not apply to such message board...
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Mack Trucks, Volvo to pay $525M to settle suit
Headline Legal News 05/19/2011Mack Trucks Inc. and its parent, AB Volvo, will pay $525 million to settle a class-action lawsuit filed by more than 9,300 retirees of the North Carolina truck maker after they challenged potential reductions to their lifetime health benefits. The Le...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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. ...
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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...
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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...
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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 ...
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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...