Todd A Smith is one of the nation’s leading medical malpractice lawyers, renowned and feared in the courtroom, having extracted a lengthy string of multimillion-dollar settlements and verdicts from doctors, hospitals and insurers over the years. Though wealthy even by the standards of his profession, Mr. Smith, 55, seems to have lost none of the […]
A federal judge in Manhattan has cut in half a request for attorney fees in a securities class action that resulted in a $300 million settlement. “[I]t is not thirty times more difficult to settle a thirty million dollar case as it is to settle a one million dollar case,” Southern District Judge Loretta A.
Act that Prince despises is used to back his marriage By Marie Woolf, Chief Political Correspondent 24 February 2005 The Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles can marry as it is their right under the Human Rights Act, the Lord Chancellor has said in a written statement to MPs. In a bid to quash
Jurors in Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial will be allowed to hear evidence that the accuser’s mother had made allegations of improper touching against store security guards, a judge ruled Friday. Attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. made the allegations during motions on whether evidence could be admitted about the family’s lawsuit against J.C. Penney. The family
A U.S. judge on Thursday dismissed Russian oil company YUKOS’ U.S. bankruptcy case, saying the issue belonged in a forum that included the participation of the Russian government The ruling, which came just hours after a summit between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bratislava, ends two months of legal maneuvering by YUKOS
A tiny upstart in the cigarette business threatens to topple a comfortable cartel engineered by big tobacco companies and their strange bedfellows, the state attorneys general. Big tobacco was supposed to come under harsh punishment for decades of deception when it acceded to a tort settlement seven years ago. Philip Morris, R.J.Reynolds, Lorillard and Brown
A defense attorney who investigators say has ties to the New York Mafia is quitting the legal team of reputed Connecticut underboss Anthony Megale, a move that avoids a public hearing on whether there are conflicts of interests in the case. New York attorney Joseph Corozzo was captured on video hobnobbing with Gambino family brass
Houston’s Southern District courthouse will this week place two markers on the face of the energy business, with key decisions expected in the controversial break-up of Yukos and the trial of Enron’s former top executives. Judge Letitia Clark will decide whether the dismembered Russian oil group can continue its battle with the Russian government through
A jury Friday ordered the Boston Herald to pay $2.1 million for libeling a Superior Court judge, saying it misquoted him as telling lawyers that a 14-year-old rape victim should “get over it.” In a case closely watched by the media and legal communities, a jury deliberated for more than 20 hours over five days
An MCI Inc. shareholder has sued to block the company’s $6.8 billion takeover by Verizon Communications Inc., saying the price was too low, according to a published report Sunday. The lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, said MCI and its board of directors breached their fiduciary duties “by depriving MCI’s public stockholders of maximum value
