Search

The article discusses the ruling of the federal court in Manhattan, New York City for a public-corruption trials of New York's former Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos. It highlights that Silver and Skelos, are charged to have used their public offices for personal gain. It also highlights the statement of Manhattan Democrat Liz Krueger for the same.

The article discusses a decline in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC's) success rate in court trials and steps taken by SEC head Mary Jo White to address the situation. Over a five-month period the SEC has won 55% of its cases, fewer than in previous years. White has restructured the SEC's trial unit to strengthen cooperation between litigators and investigators.

A correction to the article regarding the start of trial for former New York state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on November 2, 2015 is presented.

The article focuses on a 2008 deadline which is approaching for the $4.85 billion settlement of a case related to Merck & Co.'s painkilling drug Vioxx. A discussion of the probability that the majority of plaintiffs will agree with the settlement, and of plaintiffs who are threatening not to agree with the settlement, is presented. A history of the Vioxx lawsuit, and of the negotiations which led to the settlement, is offered.

The article focuses on the trial of former Enron executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, whose testimony may decide the case. Questions which will be asked the defendants are discussed, including $120 million that the company spent on futures against its stock while proclaiming the company's success to the public and $1 million Lay borrowed days before the company collapsed. The defense may also call convicted chief accounting officer Richard Causey to the stand.

This article reports on the legal problems facing Merck & Co. over issues related to the painkiller Vioxx. By the end of February 2006, Merck will have three trials running concurrently. The drug giant will be forced to defend its handling of its controversial painkiller before at least a dozen separate juries in courtrooms including New Orleans, Louisiana, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, California.

The article reports on a trial in which a lone juror stood between Merck & Co. and what would have been a second Vioxx-trial victory. The judge overseeing the case ruled a mistrial. It will now be necessary for Merck to try the case, the third of thousands of pending lawsuits, again. The article describes the case, in which "Dicky" Irvin alleged that Merck should be held liable for a fatal heart attack he suffered after taking Vioxx for less than a month. Eight members of the jury felt that Mr. Irvin was at high risk for suffering a heart attack anyway and voted in favor of Merck. However, the ninth juror, Lloyd Massey, felt that, although Merck should not be held liable, they were also not entirely above-board in their marketing of the drug.

The article reports on the impact of the decline in courtroom trials since the 1980's. The reasons for the decline are explored, including the threat of huge jury verdicts in civil cases and strict federal sentencing guidelines in criminal cases that often lead to plea deals and settling out of court. Moreover, the cost of litigation is intimidating to many plaintiffs. Some judges are concerned that the basic right to a trial by jury is being diminished and lawyers do not have opportunities to practice their courtroom skills. As a result, many lawyers are finding creative ways to find trial work, such as offering to donate associate time in exchange for referrals of cases that seem likely to go to trial.

Focuses on court reporter Regina Tell and her role in the liability trial involving Merck & Co.'s painkiller Vioxx in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Comments of Tell regarding her work as court stenographer; Background on the case, in which Frederick "Mike" Humeston alleges that Vioxx caused his 2001 heart attack; Challenges of real-time reporting; Background on Tell, who says the Vioxx case is the biggest in her career; Importance of stenotype machines in the courtroom; Intense moments in the trial; Complex nature of the Vioxx case.

Discusses the involvement of the jury in the questioning of witnesses during the case that will decide whether Merck & Co. should be liable for the heart attack of a man who took its Vioxx painkiller. Requirement that the judge select questions to read from those written down by the jurors; Potential for the jurors to clarify issues to their own satisfaction, giving lawyers a chance to see where they have failed to explain an issue or make a point; Reference to the fact that the jurors' questions in this case seem to suggest that they are skeptical of both sides and are trying to rule out whether the plaintiff's heart attack could have been caused by something other than Vioxx; Indication that the relatively well-educated jurors are engaging with the complex scientific questions before them; Comparison with the jury in a similar case in Texas which involved Vioxx.

Focuses on former drug sales representative Susan Hudock and her lawsuit against former employer Aventis Pharmaceuticals Inc., now part of Sanofi-Aventis SA. How, prompted by rising legal fees and helped by free information on the Internet, Hudock represented herself in a Phoenix, Arizona courtroom; Reasons for this nationwide trend; Background on Hudock's case; Details of Hudock's legal quest; Highlights of the trial; Hudock's plan to appeal the case.

Reports on the likelihood of a retrial for Richard M. Scrushy, after jurors told U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre that they are deadlocked on every charge against the HealthSouth Corporation founder. Background on the corporate-fraud trial; Why Scrushy could have several advantages in a retrial; Signs that the jury has had trouble recalling exact details of testimony; Views of lawyers not involved in the trial; Outlook.

Reports that a former Tyco International Ltd. marketing manager, Barbara Jacques, testified that she had an intimate relationship with chief executive L. Dennis Kozlowski, who, along with Mark H. Swartz, is on trial and charged with looting from the company. Perks received by Jacques, including a huge credit in her Tyco loan account; Excerpts of the witness examination between prosecutors and Jacques; Details of a transaction, suggesting that Kozlowski improperly acquired money from the company to forgive outstanding loans from Tyco; Why Jacques' testimony is deemed important to the prosecution.

Reports that a document as surfaced in the trial of former Tyco International Ltd.'s executives, L. Dennis Kozlowski and Mark H. Swartz, that suggests they were aware of a shift in the company loan program that allowed executives to increase their borrowing. Value of grand larceny scheme of which the two executives are accused; How the new evidence came out of the cross-examination of Barbara Miller, a former Tyco treasurer; Details of allegations against the two executives.

Examines the lawsuit brought against Drummond Co., alleging it had a role in the murders of several Drummond employees at the company's plant in La Loma, Colombia. Details of how paramilitary forces in Colombia sought out the employees, apparently for their labor union activities; Legal strategy of the plaintiffs, including the use of the Alien Tort Claims Act (ACTA) designed to police corporate behavior overseas; Reaction from Drummond regarding the employees' deaths, suggesting no link between the company and paramilitary forces.

The article reports on the second phase of the trial for bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev at a federal court in Boston, Massachusetts with regard to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing incident.

Photographs are presented which depict luxury automobile manufacturer Porsche's logo and its former Chief Executive Wendelin Wiedeking who is reportedly involved in a market manipulation-related trial in a German court.

An image is presented of a woman in China reading a posted notice that the trial of the former Communist Party leader Bo Xilai will begin in August 2013.

The article reports on the June 24, 2013 conviction and jail sentence of former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over charges that he paid for sex with a minor and used his executive power to conceal the crime, noting that the decision could impact Italy's coalition government. INSET: Tracking the Verdicts.

The author reflects on the March 2013 Russian trial against deceased attorney Sergei Magnitsky for alleged tax evasion, focusing on his efforts to expose political corruption in the Russian government of President Vladimir Putin before he died in prison.

The article reports that a military judge ruled Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his accused co-conspirators in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the U.S. are free to boycott pretrial hearings in their case, and notes issues the hearings will address in October, 2012.

The article discusses the trial of former U.S. senator John Edwards in Greensboro, North Carolina, specifically the April 23, 2012, arguments of Edwards attorney Allison Van Laningham concerning former Edwards aide Andrew Young.

The article reports that jurors in the case of accused Ponzi schemer R. Allen Stanford were told by a federal judge to continue deliberating after they informed him they were unable to achieve unanimity on all 14 criminal counts Stanford has been charged with.

The article discusses the trial in Spain of activist judge Baltasar Garzón, who is being tried on charges of having illegally sought to prosecute members of the country's former military regime for alleged human-rights abuses.

The article reports on the trial in London, England involving Russian oligarchs Roman Abramovich and Boris Berezovsky.

The article reports on the testimony of former Christian Dior designer John Galliano during his one-day trial in Paris, France for accusations of drunken anti-Semitic rants.

The article reports on the insider-trading trial of Galleon Ground founder Raj Rajaratnam on April 26, 2011, during which jurors listened to tapes of his phone calls that were secretly recorded by government investigators.

The article reports on the decision of U.S. District Judge Larry Burns to move the federal trial of Jared Loughner, the 22-year-old man accused in a mass shooting on January 8, 2011, to Tucson, Arizona where the shooting occurred.

The article reports on the start of a money-laundering trial against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in Austin, Texas on November 1, 2010, in which he argued that he was being unfairly prosecuted for his political prowess rather than any illegal activity.

The article reports on the ongoing trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor over his role and responsibility for the atrocities during the civil war in Sierra Leone being heard by the Special Court for Sierra Leone in the Netherlands.

Corrections to several previous articles are presented, including those about David Ruder, the trial of retail tycoon Huang Guangyu and Customer Growth Partners president Craig R. Johnson.

The article reports on the start of the hearing of the lawsuit filed by eBay Inc. against Craigslist Inc. in a Delaware court on December 7, 2009. Ebay claims that Craigslist founder Craig Newmark and chief executive officer (CEO) Jim Buckmaster had diluted its shares in the company from 28% to 24%. It also argues that the move eliminates the right of eBay to elect a Craigslist board member. Craigslist filed a countersuit that alleges eBay used its investment to steal confidential information and create the competing online classified service Kijiji.

The article focuses on the implication of the hearing of the U.S. Supreme Court case Jones v. Harris Associates scheduled to begin on November 2, 2009 for money-management fees that drive the mutual-fund industry. It is said that fees could decline if the ruling favored shareholders. According to the industry, its court defeat means a surge in lawsuits challenging advisory fees and rewarding plaintiff lawyers more than investors. The plaintiff shareholders with Oakmark Funds alleged Harris Associates LP charged the fund higher rate on assets.

The article reports on the resumption of the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, an opposition leader in Myanmar. It mentions that the opposition leader is accused of violating the terms of her house arrest imposed by the government by permitting a U.S. citizen to visit her home located in Yangon in May 2009.

The article reports that the government of Switzerland will block UBS AG from handing out confident client data to U.S. authorities in order to protect its longtime banking secrecy in 2009. A trial in the U.S. could force UBS to surrender data of U.S. clients who have allegedly evaded taxes in their home country with the bank's help. Tax rules have been adopted by the Swiss government to avoid being tag as a tax haven.

This article reports on the opening of a trial of former Democratic Louisiana Congressman William Jefferson for 16 counts of criminal charges. Jefferson is facing criminal charges including racketeering, bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice. The prosecution alleges that Jefferson had asked for bribes and in some cases received bribes from businessmen who came to Jefferson's office seeking help. Jefferson pleaded not guilty to the charges. It presents the details of the cases against Jefferson.

The article discusses the efforts of several states across the U.S. on enacting laws which aim to give sexual abuse cases redress in civil courts. The law enacted in California in 2002 provides victims one year to sue their abuser or the employer regardless when the incident took place, a measure being followed by other states such as New York. It is noted that the statutes of limitations, for criminal or civil actions, address situations wherein evidence is incomplete, documents have been lost, and testimonials described faded memories.

This article reports on the decision of judges in the trial of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to delay her final hearing in June 2009. The judges also postponed ruling on whether to allow three barred defense witnesses to testify in the hearing. It found guilty of breaking the terms of her house arrest, Suu Kyi faces three to five years in prison.

This article reports on the trial of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon, Myanmar, in May 2009 for allegedly harboring an American man. The defense lawyer asserted that Suu Kyi was innocent of the charges. Protest rallies have been called by activist groups in front of the Insein prison to free Suu Kyi.

The article reports on the deliberations held by a jury in Brooklyn federal court for the retrial of six individuals accused of an alleged plan to misuse information. The case focused on announcements at Wall Street firms when buyers are about to buy or sell stocks. It was revealed that brokers at Merrill Lynch & Co., Smith Barney and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. were paid to leave telephone lines open so traders at A.B. Watley Inc. could hear the block orders by institutional clients. The defendants includ Kenneth Mahaffy Jr. and Robert Malin.

This article reports on the claim by Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, the lone gunman captured alive in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks in India that he was only 17 years old on the first day of arguments at his trial. Kasab's lawyer requested that Kasab be tried in a juvenile court, but the judge rejected the request citing that Kasab indicated that he was 23 years old in earlier confessions and that he does not look like a teenager. The government prosecutor on the other hand suggested that Pakistan's military could have been involved in the attacks.

This article states that recent studies reveal that employees who sue over discrimination lose at a higher rate in U.S. federal court than other type of plaintiffs. Studies suggest that plaintiffs in job discrimination cases get less time in court and with judges quicker to throw out their cases. Employee welfare advocates are hoping the Obama administration will create a better climate for discrimination claims. It details the results of studies on the issue, such as statistics on chances of winning a job discrimination case.

The article reports on the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to hear whether Eliot Spitzer went out of bounds of his duty as former New York state attorney general. During his term as state attorney general, Spitzer investigated real-estate lending practices of national banks, which prompted the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and a consortium of national banks to file a lawsuit. The Supreme Court could hear oral arguments in the case, which claims that only federal regulators could conduct investigations, starting April 2009.

The article reports on the reinstatement of the lawsuit filed against Union Carbide Corp. to a Manhattan federal-court judge. The case was filed by people who say they suffered health problems from a toxic chemical leak in Bhopal, India. According to the report, the appellate panel found that the lower court was erroneous in granting the defendants' request without giving the plaintiffs the opportunity to access certain pretrial documents.

The article reports on a motion for a new trial granted by U.S. District Judge Michael J. Davis to Jammie Thomas who was convicted of pirating music files. He ruled that he made a mistake in the jury instructions that substantially prejudiced her rights. The woman was convicted in October 2007 of copyright infringement after offering to share 24 songs on the Kazaa file-sharing network.

The article reports on U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon overseeing the massive litigation over Vioxx capped fees for plaintiffs' attorney at a relatively low 32% of the $4.85 billion settlement. Fallon wrote in an order that while the limit is below the usual 33.3%-40% that lawyers collect when they take cases on a contingency, it should not result in a paltry award for the lawyers. He added that the reason for the limit is because most of the claimants are elders or are survivors of people who died of a heart attack or stroke.

The article reports on the decision of a judge to overturn a verdict against Apollo Group Inc., ruling that jurors erred when they sided with shareholders who had sued the company for fraud. Shareholders sued Apollo in 2004, accusing the company of withholding a U.S. Department of Education report critical of the student recruiting policies of the University of Phoenix. The jury found evidence of fraud and awarded shareholders $5.55 per share. But on appeal, the judge countered that plaintiffs failed to show they suffered damage as a result of the fraud.

The article reports on a trial canceled by a federal judge to hear lawsuits stemming from a 2006 place crash that killed 49 people in Kentucky, after family members and the airline reached settlements in most of the cases. The cancellation was confirmed by chief deputy clerk Mark Armstrong. Accordingly, the lawsuits alleged that Comair was negligent because its pilots steered the plane in the pre-dawn darkness to the wrong runway.

The article reports on the decision of a federal appeals court in Denver, Colorado to review a decision that overturned the insider trading conviction of former Qwest Communications International Inc. former chief executive officer (CEO) Joseph Nacchio. Nacchio was convicted in April 2007 for illegally selling $52 million of Qwest shares when he knew that the company was at risk. In March 2008, a Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision. According to the article, the prosecution considers the decision a victory.

The article reports that an arrest warrant was issued by a British judge for Prince Jefri of Brunei after he failed to attend a hearing to determine if he is to be jailed for contempt of court. He has been accused in 1998 of misappropriating $14.8 billion from the treasury of Brunei and has since been in legal battle with his brother, the Sultan of Brunei. The judge has been informed by the Prince's lawyers that he has no intentions of voluntarily submitting to the British court.