Recent Updates
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$6.4M fine in Ohio for illegal practice of law
Legal News Center 10/15/2009The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered two estate planning companies and their co-owners to pay nearly $6.4 million, the state's largest-ever fine for the fraudulent practice of law.The owners and employees of American Family Prepaid Legal Corp....
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Court considers death sentence for Ohio neo-Nazi
Legal News Center 10/14/2009The Supreme Court seemed receptive Tuesday to reinstating the death sentence of a flamboyant neo-Nazi convicted of murdering three men in Ohio more than a quarter century ago.Ohio attorney general Richard Cordray told justices during oral arguments t...
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High court will review 'S&M Svengali' case
Legal News Center 10/13/2009The Supreme Court has agreed to consider reinstating the sex trafficking and forced labor conviction of a man dubbed the "S&M Svengali."The justices said Tuesday they will hear an appeal filed by federal prosecutors in the case of Glenn Marcus, c...
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Fla. appeals court chastises judge over compassion
Legal News Center 10/09/2009A Florida appeals court has chastised a judge for granting extensions in a foreclosure case for compassionate reasons.The Third District Court of Appeal ruled last week that Circuit Judge Valerie Manno Schurr could not grant extensions solely on grou...
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Obama nominates 2 for appeals court openings
Legal News Center 10/07/2009President Barack Obama on Tuesday said he would nominate a pair of Northeastern judges to appeals court positions.Judge Denny Chin, a district court judge for the Southern District of New York, and Rhode Island Superior Court Justice O. Rogeriee Thom...
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Court takes up free-speech case of pit bull videos
Legal News Center 10/06/2009Supreme Court justices on Tuesday indicated that a federal law aimed at graphic videos of dog fights and other acts of animal cruelty goes too far in limiting free speech rights.The court heard argument on the Obama administration's appeal to reinsta...
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High court won't review oil royalties case
Legal News Center 10/05/2009The Supreme Court has left in place a court ruling that the Obama administration says will cost taxpayers at least $19 billion in royalties on energy leases in the Gulf of Mexico.The justices declined Monday to hear the government's appeal of a rulin...
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Madoff trustee ups claim against investor Picower
Legal News Center 10/02/2009Investor Jeffry Picower, described as the biggest beneficiary of Bernard Madoff's fraud, is now being sued for $7.2 billion, $2 billion more than the trustee in the case demanded in May.Picower, newly listed as one of the 400 wealthiest Americans by ...
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Conn. land vacant 4 years after court OK'd seizure
Legal News Center 09/28/2009Weeds, glass, bricks, pieces of pipe and shingle splinters have replaced the knot of aging homes at the site of the nation's most notorious eminent domain project.There are a few signs of life: Feral cats glare at visitors from a miniature jungle of ...
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Fallen money-market fund makes $1B distribution
Legal News Center 09/24/2009A money-market mutual fund that held more than $60 billion before it notoriously "broke the buck" a year ago said Wednesday it will hand out $1 billion in a fifth distribution to investors from the fund's remaining assets.The $1 billion distribution,...
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Calif. courts shuttered Wednesday to save money
Legal News Center 09/17/2009The doors are closed at the California Supreme Court, the tiny courthouse in Alpine County and every state courthouse in between in an unprecedented attempt to close a historic budget deficit.The Judicial Council, which oversees California's courts, ...
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Supreme Court could loosen cap on corporate political spending
Legal News Center 09/14/2009The Supreme Court's conservative bloc sounded poised Wednesday to strike down on free-speech grounds a 102-year-old ban against corporations spending large amounts of money to elect or defeat congressional and presidential candidates. If the justices...