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Hawks owner settles malpractice suit with law firm
Legal Career News |
2011/09/14 16:59
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The group that owns the Atlanta Hawks and recently sold the Atlanta Thrashers has settled a $195 million legal malpractice lawsuit against the law firm King & Spalding.
Tweet ShareThis The Atlanta Spirit, which sold the Thrashers to a Canadian group in June and has an agreement to sell a majority stake in the Atlanta Hawks, settled the complaint last week, said attorneys involved in the dispute. The terms of the deal are confidential and attorneys for both sides said they are pleased the dispute was amicably resolved.
The ownership group had claimed that the law firm cost it about $195 million with a "fatally flawed contract" that prevented it from selling off the city's NHL franchise team earlier.
The lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court claimed that the owners have been negotiating to sell the Thrashers for six years, but were thwarted by a contentious split with Boston-based co-owner Steve Belkin. That dispute was finally settled in December when his shares were bought out.
Atlanta Spirit, though, contends that the fight with Belkin would have ended in August 2005 if King & Spalding hadn't negotiated a botched contract and doled out advice that was "poorly considered, self-interested, and, in many cases, blatantly wrong."
Belkin split with the group in 2005, after he objected to the Hawks' trade of Boris Diaw, two first-round draft picks and a $4.9 million trade exception to the Phoenix Suns for guard Joe Johnson, who had agreed to a $70 million contract. |
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McCourts to argue over spousal support in LA court
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/09/14 15:57
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A judge on Wednesday will consider reducing the amount of spousal support paid by Dodgers owner Frank McCourt to his ex-wife Jamie their divorce battle over ownership of the team.
McCourt filed a motion in July indicating that he's paid more than $5 million to cover the mortgages of six homes and a condominium over the last year as well as $2.7 million in temporary spousal support to Jamie McCourt.
Last May, Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon, who oversaw the former couple's divorce trial, ordered McCourt to pay $225,000 a month in spousal support and more than $400,000 a month to maintain the homes.
McCourt said the payments should be more in line with the $5 million he receives annually and either Jamie McCourt should be ordered to pay the mortgages herself or the properties should be sold.
Jamie McCourt notes in a recent filing that her ex-husband has received more than $44 million into his bank accounts since June 2010.
The Dodgers filed for bankruptcy protection in Delaware last month, blaming a cash-flow crisis on Major League Baseball's refusal to approve a multibillion-dollar TV deal McCourt was counting on to keep the franchise afloat.
MLB assumed control of the club's day-to-day operations in mid-April.
Gordon ruled in December that a postnuptial marital agreement that gave McCourt sole ownership of the Dodgers was invalid, clearing the way for Jamie McCourt, who served as the team's CEO and was fired by her ex-husband two years ago, to seek half the team under California's community property law.
A group backed by Chinese government-owned investment banks has made a $1.2 billion offer to buy the Dodgers, but McCourt has repeatedly said he's not interested in selling the team. |
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Federal fraud charges for ex-Ohio St player
Court Feed News |
2011/09/14 11:58
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Former Ohio State and NFL quarterback Art Schlichter was charged in federal court Wednesday with fraud linked to a million-dollar ticket-selling scheme. Schlichter deceived people by promising sports tickets at low prices based on his contacts, according to the indictment and supporting documents filed in U.S. District Court. In fact, Schlichter didn't have contacts and used the money he got for tickets for personal expenses, to gamble and to repay older debts, the court documents said. Schlichter, 51, also has been charged in state court with multiple theft charges, with those counts expected to be resolved with a plea deal Thursday, according to Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien. Those charges allege Schlichter and unnamed associates bilked people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Schlichter surrendered in February and remains in jail. Beginning in 2006, according to the federal charges, Schlichter offered people a chance to buy sports tickets at low prices, mainly to Ohio State football games but also baseball and NFL games, including the Super Bowl, according to a document |
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Obama picks more females, minorities for judges
Legal Career News |
2011/09/13 15:33
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President Barack Obama is moving at a historic pace to try to diversify the nation's federal judiciary: Nearly three of every four people he has gotten confirmed to the federal bench are women or minorities. He is the first president who hasn't selected a majority of white males for lifetime judgeships.
More than 70 percent of Obama's confirmed judicial nominees during his first two years were "non-traditional," or nominees who were not white males. That far exceeds the percentages in the two-term administrations of Bill Clinton (48.1 percent) and George W. Bush (32.9 percent), according to Sheldon Goldman, author of the authoritative book "Picking Federal Judges."
"It is an absolutely remarkable diversity achievement," said Goldman, a political science professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who is only counting judges once, even if they fit more than one category.
The White House recently has been touting its efforts to diversify the federal bench during Obama's tenure, now approaching three years in office.
The president won Senate confirmation of the first Latina to the Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor. With the confirmation of Justice Elena Kagan, he has put three women on the high court for the first time. The Obama administration also nominated and won confirmation of the first openly gay man to a federal judgeship: former Clinton administration official J. Paul Oetken, to an opening in New York City.
"All of us can be proud of President Obama for taking this critical step to break down another barrier and increase diversity in the federal judiciary," Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said upon Oetken's confirmation. |
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Judge delays case involving FBI's GPS tracking
Legal Career News |
2011/09/13 13:32
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A federal judge is delaying a college student's lawsuit against the FBI for putting a GPS tracking device on his car without a warrant.
The student, Yasir Afifi of San Jose, Calif., asked for the delay until the Supreme Court decides a related case. The high court plans to hear arguments in the next term over the case of Washington nightclub owner Antoine Jones, convicted of operating a cocaine distribution ring. An appeals court threw out Jones' life sentence because police tracked his Jeep for a month by GPS without a warrant.
Other courts have upheld the use of warrantless GPS tracking.
The FBI admits it put the GPS on Afifi's car, but won't publicly reveal why. The Egyptian-American student says he never did anything to attract the FBI's attention. |
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Former Ukraine PM's trial halted for 2 weeks
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/09/13 09:32
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The judge presiding over former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's trial unexpectedly postponed hearings Monday for a two-week period, following renewed pressure from the United States and the European Union.
Tymoshenko, 50, the former Soviet nation's top opposition figure, stands accused of abuse of office when signing a natural gas import contract with Russia in 2009. Prosecutors say she violated legal procedures when the deal was signed.
Judge Rodion Kireyev's decision to suspend hearings marks a contrast with how the trial has been rushed over the past two months, drawing complaints from Tymoshenko.
Tymoshenko, who was jailed during the trial early last month on charges of contempt of court, maintains her innocence. She says the trial has been orchestrated by President Viktor Yanukovych to keep her out of political life.
Although a deeply divisive figure in Ukraine, Tymoshenko retains a substantial following and was only narrowly defeated by Yanukovych in last year's presidential election.
The United States and the European Union have criticized the trial as politically motivated.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton together with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton sent Yanukovych a letter regarding the Tymoshenko trial Friday, according to an EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. He would not discuss the content of the letter and Yanukovych's office declined to comment. |
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