News & Politics

The doctor told the court he was too busy to show up. The judge told the doctor he was in contempt, and sentenced him to 10 days in jail and ordered him to undergo counseling, according to the AP via ABCNEWS.com.

The Ninth Circuit has published an opinion extremely critical of the IRS, ruling in favor of the taxpayers whom the IRS tried to prosecute for participating in a tax shelter scheme. It seems the lawyers for the IRS perpetrated a fraud on the court that lasted for years. Both attorneys have been disciplined, and they may yet be disbarred. Read an article about it or read the Court’s opinion itself.

Hanna-Barbera and the cheeky monkey say Universal Studios has been ripping them off, according to this. It remains to be seen whether Curious George’s allegations have merit. But if they do, Universal may have messed with the wrong monkey. Just ask the Man in the Yellow Hat.

Read the latest rant from the always amusing California Justice William Bedsworth, presented by law.com.

The court awarded Cruise $10 million against gay porn star Chad Slater after he admitted that his allegations of having had sex with Cruise were false, and declined to defend the lawsuit, according to this. Good luck collecting.

Effective January 1, 2003, California enacted new Code of Civil Procedure section 340.1, which effectively lifts the statute of limitations completely on suits alleging childhood sexual molestation for a period of one year. Some cases alleging abuse as long as 30 years ago are going forward. Many think the entertainment industry, with its infamous “casting couches,” is about to get hit as hard as the Catholic Church has been, according to this.

This article discusses a study of claims of asbestos disease submitted by plaintiffs’ firms to the Manville Trust, which was created and funded with $2 billion following the 1982 bankruptcy of Johns-Manville. The Trust pays out set amounts to those who file injury claims alleging exposure to its products. Among many disturbing findings, the study found one doctor who had diagnosed a staggering 30,467 claimants with low-level asbestos disease in a six-year period. According to my calculations, that works out to an average of about 21 positive diagnoses each day for six years! Sound fishy to you?

A Federal Court had ruled the law unconstitutional, but now a State Appellate Court has disagreed and held that plaintiffs can go forward with claims for things that happened over 50 years ago in foreign countries. The opinion can be read here (PDF).

Patricia Russell Brown says she was promised partnership when she lateralled to 750-lawyer Dorsey & Whitney in 2000. But she never got it, allegedly because she is black. She says no black associate has ever made partner there, and the firm has only three black partners in total, according to this.

A partner in the Bangkok office has been ousted from Clifford Chance and has accused the firm of defamation, which is a criminal offense in Thailand, Lawyer News reports.