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Former Milberg Weiss Partner Sues
Headline News |
2008/06/18 07:58
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pA former partner in Milberg Weiss has sued four of its founding partners - Melvyn Weiss, David Bershad, Steven Schulman, and William Lerach - claiming they lied to him and other attorneys about their secret kickbacks to plaintiffs in shareholder class actions. Michael Buchman sued his former partners in Federal Court on Tuesday, as the firm, now known as Milberg, agreed to pay $75 million to the United States to settle criminal complaints in the scheme.
Buchman says he joined Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes amp; Lerach in January 1997 and was made a partner in December 2000. He worked in the antitrust division until he left the firm in February 2007. When Lerach left to set up his own office in 2004, the firm changed its name to Milberg Weiss Bershad amp; Schulman.
Buchman says the defendants lied to him, and to other attorneys, after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment in which Seymour Lazar and Paul Selzer alleged that certain partners of Milberg Weiss had secretly paid them kickbacks to serve as plaintiffs in securities class actions.
Buchman's complaint states: In various meetings that occurred at Milberg Weiss after the Lazar Indictment, Defendants Weiss, Bershad and Schulman, who were united in interest, repeatedly represented to plaintiff and to other partners in Milberg Weiss hat the accusations contained in the Lazar Indictment were untrue, politically motivated, and that the government's case rested on mischaracterization of legitimate referral fees paid to other law firms, which assertedly had been duly reported to the government of Forms 1099. Weiss, for example, vigorously denied that the alleged payments had been made to Lazar, and represented that Lazar's sold motivation for pursuing multiple class actions had been to recover for his own injuries and to serve as 'a crusader.'
Believing these representations of fact by defendants, plaintiff continued to serve as a partner in Milberg Weiss. Similarly, most other Milberg Weiss partners who had no prior knowledge of defendants' unlawful and unethical acts also continued throughout the rest of 2005 to serve as Milberg Weiss partners.
Defendants had a fiduciary duty to plaintiff and to other Milberg Weiss partners to be honest and forthcoming with government authorities. Were the allegations made in the Lazar Indictment true, defendants had a duty truthfully to reveal their unethical and unlawful conduct to the authorities and to take personal responsibility for such conduct. Instead, defendants refused to acknowledge the truth and continued to misrepresent the facts to government authorities, thereby putting Milberg Weiss as a firm, and the financial and professional interests of plaintiff and other innocent Milberg Weiss partners, in grave jeopardy./p |
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ACLU files suit against Texas juvenile prison system
Law Center |
2008/06/17 07:51
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| pThe American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a class action lawsuit Thursday against the Texas Youth Commission (TYC), alleging that five girls imprisoned at the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex were subjected to punitive solitary confinement, physical abuse and invasive strip searches. The ACLU alleged that the treatment violated the girls' rights under the US Constitution and international law, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. TYC officials responded that the agency is working to address the issues raised in the lawsuit./ppIn May 2007, TYC announced it would release 226 inmates after an investigation revealed that their sentences had been improperly extended in retaliation for filing grievances. In June 2007, Congress passed a bill to reform the Texas juvenile prison system, creating the Office of Inspector General to internally police the system. The Ron Jackson girls' facility is estimated to hold about 190 inmates./p |
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Ginsburg Reverses FOIA Denial
Law Center |
2008/06/16 07:45
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An airplane enthusiast has the right to seek documents from the Federal Aviation Administration, though the lower court had denied his friend the same documents.
Greg Herrick was denied access to the documents, due to an exemption covering trade secrets. When his friend filed a similar lawsuit, the lower court said the lawsuit was precluded by the first ruling. The D.C. Circuit upheld, but Justice Ginsburg reversed, shooting down the Circuit's 5-point test for virtual representation.
Extending the preclusive effect of a judgment to a non-party runs up against the deep-rooted historic tradition that everyone should have his own day in court, Ginsburg wrote.
For a lawsuit to be precluded, the two parties must have pre-existing substantive legal relationship or one party must have assumed control over the previous litigation, according to the unanimous opinion. |
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Washington, D.C. Law Firms Join D.C. Habitat For Humanity to Donate Buildable Hours to a Local Family
Firm News/D.C. |
2008/06/14 14:20
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A group of law firms in the greater Washington area have joined together to participate in the third year of a community service summer program in conjunction with D.C. Habitat for Humanity called “Buildable Hours.”nbsp; The Buildable Hours team of law firms will provide fiscal and physical resources to build a Habitat home in Northeast Washington, D.C.
The Buildable Hours project provides law firms with the opportunity to build upon the volunteer work that many associates and summer associates started at college chapters of Habitat for Humanity.nbsp; The team grew this year to 24 participating firms from last years 17 firms.nbsp; Buildable Hours partners include major law firms such as:nbsp; Latham amp; Watkins LLP, Caplin amp; Drysdale, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer amp; Feld LLP, Alston amp; Bird LLP, Baker Botts LLP, Cleary Gottlieb Steen amp; Hamilton, Dickstein Shapiro Morin amp; Oshinsky LLP, Fried Frank Harris Shriver amp; Jacobson LLP, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP, Kirkland amp; Ellis LLP, Kirkpatrick amp; Lockhart LLP, McKee Nelson LLP, McKenna Long amp; Aldridge LLP, Miller amp; Chevalier Chartered, Morgan Lewis amp; Bockius LLP, Morrison amp; Foerster LLP, Patton Boggs LLP, Piper Rudnick LLP, Reed Smith LLP, Ross Dixon amp; Bell LLP, Shaw Pittman LLP, Sidley Austin Brown amp; Wood LLP, Steptoe amp; Johnson LLP, and Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman, LLP.nbsp; The project has also expanded nationally with new Buildable Hours teams now in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta and Omaha.
Each Buildable Hours partner is making a financial contribution to Habitat for Humanity.nbsp; In addition, 13 to 17 attorneys, summer clerks, and staff from each law firm will work on the job site for one day.nbsp; Participation will promote team building and give participating firms a unique sense of community involvement.nbsp; Last year, the Buildable Hours program contributed financially and physically to the building of a home for Elizabeth Dockery and her 3 sons, DeAngelo, Christopher, and DaQuan.nbsp; By partnering with Habitat for Humanity, Buildable Hours partners are able to help provide deserving individuals such as Elizabeth Dockery with a safe, decent place to live and raise their families.
“Buildable Hours provides law firms and summer associates a unique way to relate to each other while making a lasting contribution to the community.nbsp; The power of the program was demonstrated to us last summer when we saw summer clerks actually writing checks to Habitat,” said Roger Goldman, Latham amp; Watkins partner and event organizer. |
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Subscription Bill for $11.83 Brings $5 Million Award
Headline News |
2008/06/13 07:33
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A bill for $11.83 led a customer to file a federal class action accusing XM Satellite Radio of illegally renewing subscribers' contracts without proper notice. Damages are estimated at more than $5 million.
On behalf of all XM subscribers in New York, Richard Vacariello claims XM violates New York General Obligations Law §50903 by failing to notify subscribers 15 to 30 days before automatically renewing their subscriptions.
Vacariello took a 3-year subscription and used it in a leased automobile, then turned in the car and let the XM subscription expire - he thought. After he turned in the car, he says, XM sent him a bill for $359.64. (It is not clear from the complaint whether this was a bill for another year or for another three years.) Vacariello says he objected, and that XM told him it had automatically renewed the contract.
So Vacariello says he canceled the contract immediately, only to have XM send him another bill - for $11.83 - for the period after the 3-year contract expired, and before he canceled the automatic renewal.
Vacariello says XM refused to cancel the $11.83 bill, so he paid it under protest, for fear of harming his credit. Then he filed this class action. He estimates class damages at more than $5 million. He demands compensatory damages and an injunction. |
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South Florida Law Firm Gives Low Income Clients a Legal Lift
Firm News/Florida |
2008/06/12 14:45
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The Law Firm of Caserta, Spiriti amp; Gonzalez, is providing a helping hand to Floridians, allowing “eligible” low income individuals access to a full service lawfirm with deeply discounted legal care.
The services will fall under the firm’s Affordable Legal Lift Program ™. This program was spearheaded by Senior Member, David Caserta, who after returning back from Tallahassee and witnessing first hand the devastating State Budget Cuts, immediately called a meeting with the firm’s Managing Member, Joe Spiriti, to discuss how the firm could reach out to the overwhelming number of Floridians that cannot afford legal services. Aided by Attorney/Member Maria Cristina Gonzalez, who previously dedicate several years as a family law practitioner with the Dade County Legal Aid Society, Spiriti reviewed some of the public and private programs offered in several states. After weeks of review and joined commitments by all of the Attorneys in the firm, the Affordable Legal Lift Program™ was created.
To be eligible for the Affordable Legal Lift Program ™, individuals will need to fill out a simple application, provide current paystubs, or similar proof of income, and fall within the Client Financial Eligibility Guidelines, which have been set by the firm. The Guidelines are based on Size of Household and Annual Income.
Under the Affordable Legal Lift Program ™, Caserta, Spiriti amp; Gonzalez will provide as much as a 50% discount off their usual and customary hourly rate. In addition, on Contingency Fee Cases (Where the fee is usually expressed as a percentage of the amount collected or awarded), Caserta, Spiriti amp; Gonzalez may accept a reduced fee as low as 20% if the case is settled before formal court proceedings begin or 25% if settled after filing the lawsuit.
“With the increased number of foreclosures and level of unemployment, everyone needs to give each other a Lift,” says Caserta. |
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