Posts on ‘March 29th, 2010’

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi has called for an independent crime lab in San Francisco in the wake of an evidence-tampering scandal at the police department’s crime lab involving an employee who allegedly stole cocaine from the lab. He also called on the district attorney’s office to entirely drop cases touched by the scandal. The office has dismissed more than 350 narcotics cases since the scandal broke earlier this month, but prosecutors are hoping to refile them after drug evidence is retested.

As their trial date neared, two Georgia firms reached a confidential settlement with Ford Motor Co. over a 2006 crash that caused the paralysis of a girl who was wearing a lap-only rear seat belt. Similar cases involving people who were paralyzed from crashes while wearing lap-only rear seat belts have resulted in judgments ranging from $6 million to $16 million, according to news reports. The plaintiff’s lawyer said his case was helped by Ford’s knowledge of the danger of lap-only belts.

A Washington, D.C., federal judge ruled that the D.C. firearm ordinances enacted after the Supreme Court’s decision in 2008 “permissibly regulate the exercise of the core Second Amendment right to use firearms for the purpose of self-defense in the home.” He dismissed a case brought by Dick Heller, the same plaintiff who challenged the previous ordinance at the Supreme Court. Gun control advocates applauded the ruling as proof that did not sweep away all forms of firearm regulation.

Michael Diaz Jr., the founder and managing partner of international law firm Diaz Reus & Targ, faces arraignment for allegedly attacking a driver and his girlfriend in a road-rage incident after the other motorist honked his horn when the attorney’s car blocked the entrance to a parking garage. The other driver alleges that Diaz pulled open his car door, dragged him out and punched him repeatedly, and then punched his girlfriend when she tried to stop the fight.

After months of insisting he was wrongfully convicted of vehicular homicide, a Minnesota man in prison for a fatal Toyota crash sought a new trial last week. An attorney for Koua Fong Lee said that he’s given the prosecutor 16 affidavits from individuals who experienced sudden acceleration in older model Toyota vehicles, including seven with the same 1996 Camry model that Lee drove. Lee’s model is not part of the recent recalls, but Lee’s lawyers maintain that older models had problems too.

In another blow to struggling Ruden McClosky, four partners in the Miami office are leaving at the end of the month, including prominent attorney Larry Gordich, chair of the firm’s lucrative bankruptcy and creditors’ rights practice. The departures leave the Miami office with just six attorneys, including one of counsel and one who spends much of his time in Tampa, Fla. At its height, the office had up to 30 lawyers. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based firm also laid off 20 secretaries and support staff within the last month.

Pfizer has been socked with an eye-popping $141 million penalty for unlawfully promoting its epilepsy drug Neurontin for unapproved uses for which, the plaintiffs said, it didn’t even work. A federal jury in Boston on Thursday concluded that the pharmaceutical giant had violated federal racketeering laws in promoting the drug for so-called off-label uses that were ineffective. The jury’s verdict was actually $47 million, but the penalty was automatically tripled under the RICO Act.

The four employees of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto Group charged in China with bribery and stealing trade secrets were found guilty Monday and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 7 to 14 years. The four immediately were dismissed by Rio Tinto, according to the Australian Associated Press; their actions were described by the company as “deplorable.” The most senior of the four, Australian citizen Stern Hu, was sentenced by the Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court to 10 years in prison.

In an action that could affect a large number of practitioners, two court regulatory committees said on Friday that “virtual offices” staffed by receptionists who are mere answering services do not satisfy New Jersey’s bona fide office rule. “Virtual offices” — time shares in an office building on an hourly or daily basis — are popular with lawyers who work from their homes but need someone to take their calls and a conference room to meet clients.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray cited his experience clerking for two U.S. Supreme Court justices in explaining today why he would not join a lawsuit to strike down parts of the federal health-care overhaul. In a conference call with reporters, Cordray spoke about the importance of precedent, which was driven home to him while he clerked for Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. Cordray thinks the lawsuit by 13 other state attorneys general is likely to be thrown out because of prior rulings by the Court.