Posts on ‘March 10th, 2010’

A federal judge overseeing a big death penalty case in California has ticked off a cadre of defense lawyers by publicly questioning the need for taxpayer-funded victim outreach. Court-appointed attorneys representing alleged MS-13 gang members are fuming because their funding requests are usually kept private, so prosecutors cannot discern defense litigation strategy. But Judge William Alsup made his comments in a public order, in which the judge solicited the views of both defense lawyers and the government.

A broad spectrum of scholars and advocacy groups agreed that McDonald v. City of Chicago presented the best — and possibly the last — chance to revive the argument that the 14th Amendment’s “privileges or immunities” clause was the soundest way to apply individual rights like the Second Amendment right to bear arms to states and localities. And after the entire movement seemed to crash and burn in the space of a dramatic few minutes at the Supreme Court, there has been remarkably little regret or recrimination.

A former television producer pressured by debt and riven by jealousy admitted Tuesday he tried to extract vengeance and money by shaking down David Letterman in a case that bared the late-night icon’s affairs with staffers. Robert “Joe” Halderman pleaded guilty to attempted grand larceny, acknowledging he tried to chisel $2 million from Letterman, threatening to destroy the TV host’s reputation by airing his workplace dalliances — using information authorities have said he mined from a former girlfriend’s diary.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled last week that criminal indictments against two lawyers must be dismissed, putting to rest a case that the state’s criminal defense bar worried could threaten the livelihoods — and liberty — of lawyers whose clients are ultimately convicted. The lawyers were accused of stealing from the estate of a murder victim by accepting legal fees from his wife, who first inherited her husband’s estate but ultimately pleaded guilty to a murder-for-hire plot.

A D.C. judge has dismissed the Filegate lawsuits, ending a case that bedeviled the Clinton White House. Plaintiffs sued after the administration said it had mistakenly ordered up the FBI files of some 400 Bush I and Reagan officials. Tuesday, Chief Judge Royce Lamberth concluded, “After … endless depositions, the fictionalized portrayal of this lawsuit and its litigants on television, and innumerable histrionics, this Court is left to conclude that with this lawsuit, to quote Gertrude Stein, ‘there’s no there there.’”

A Florida lawsuit is a page-turner worthy of a best-seller: A short-term housekeeper employed by a Holocaust survivor in Monaco ends up in control of a $400 million fortune after he dies under “suspicious” circumstances. The lawsuit claims the woman manipulated the widow, who was suffering from dementia, and cheated a number of Israeli charitable, education and research organizations that were the rightful beneficiaries. A defense attorney maintains the suit is fiction, and courts all over the world have agreed.

Dallas County prosecutors will seek an indictment for murder against plaintiffs attorney Scott Marshall in connection with the Dec. 20, 2009, shooting death of Staci Montgomery, the ex-wife of Marshall’s former law partner, Bady Sassin. According to the Dallas County district attorney’s office, prosecutors will present the case against Marshall to a grand jury on Friday. Montgomery’s death occurred as the two former partners were engaged in a legal battle over the dissolution of their firm.

Trial lawyer Kenneth Turnbull started at King & Spalding on Tuesday, the fifth partner to join the firm’s professional liability and securities litigation practices from Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe since the beginning of February. David Schaefer, global director of communications for Orrick, said that despite the loss of the five partners, the firm still has a 65 lawyer-strong security and litigation enforcement group and “expects another successful year.”

The New Jersey Supreme Court is deciding if a title insurer can be held liable for a lawyer’s theft of a home buyer’s funds if it fails to tell the buyer directly it is not responsible for the lawyer’s misdeeds. The case, Lawyers Funds for Client Protection v. Stewart Title Guaranty Co., argued Monday, is being closely watched by the title industry, which could become a deep pocket for fleeced clients if the appeals court ruling below is allowed to stand.

Dallas police say charges against a former city attorney accused of shooting a father and son inside their financial business are on hold because the accused gunman isn’t expected to survive. Police say Robert Mustard shot himself in the head after shooting the others Monday. The 60-year-old was in intensive care Tuesday. Police Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse says aggravated assault charges won’t be filed if Mustard dies.