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Court rejects bid to remove judge in Pitino case
Court Feed News |
2011/02/14 16:57
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A federal appeals court has rejected a bid to remove the judge overseeing the case of a woman convicted of trying to extort millions from University of Louisville coach Rick Pitino. The two-page decision issued Monday by the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals also turned down a request by Karen Cunagin Sypher to delay her sentencing, which is set for Feb. 18. Sypher was convicted in August of extortion, lying to the FBI and retaliation against a witness. Prosecutors said she sought millions in cash, cars and a house from Pitino to stay quiet about their one-night stand at a Louisville restaurant in 2003. Her attorney, David Nolan, has filed multiple motions alleging a wide-ranging conspiracy involving Pitino, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Simpson III and multiple people involved in the case. Prosecutors have called Sypher's claims meritless.
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IRS agents testify in Pa. judge corruption case
Legal Career News |
2011/02/14 15:57
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Federal prosecutors have rested in the corruption trial of a former northeastern Pennsylvania judge charged with taking part in a $2.8 million kickback scheme involving privately-owned juvenile detention centers.
Two IRS agents testified Monday morning in the trial of ex-Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella. Prosecutors say Ciavarella and another judge disguised extortion payments as rent on a condo in Florida. IRS agent Ray Eppley testified that the judges failed to pay nearly $500,000 in taxes on illicit income. The state Supreme Court threw out thousands of juvenile convictions issued by Ciavarella, saying he disregarded the constitutional rights of the defendants. He has denied breaking any laws. The second judge pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy and awaits sentencing.
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Fixodent The Subject Of Class Action Lawsuit
Headline News |
2011/02/14 15:05
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A class action lawsuit is alleging that Fixodent denture cream may have caused serious problems. ABC News reported that lawyers for two former denture cream users are accusing Proctor & Gamble of manufacturing a product that made their clients extremely ill. Mark Jacoby, a 41-year-old construction worker who wore dentures for 20 years, told ABC News that he believes his debilitating neurological illness is due to the high zinc content in his Fixodent. "I started getting tingling in my fingertips. And then it started happening in my toes," he told ABC News' 20/20 anchor Chris Cuomo, who is the Chief of the Law & Justice Unit. "I started getting weaker and, you know, I couldn't walk right, off balance and I'm at this point now." He said his doctors searched for years for the cause of his debilitating neurological illness that robbed him of his independence. |
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Voters to narrow Supreme Court candidate field
Lawyer Blog News |
2011/02/14 12:56
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Wisconsin has focused on the Green Bay Packers and Gov. Scott Walker for the last month, but another fight with perhaps just as much impact on the state is about to take center stage -- the state Supreme Court primary. Justice David Prosser faces three challengers. Voters on Tuesday will choose two survivors who will face off in April's general election. The winner gets a 10-year term on the court. The primary has played out in the background as the Packers charged to a Super Bowl title and Walker proposed doing away with state workers' unions. But the general election could ultimately tilt the ideological balance of the court for years to come. State election officials expect about 10 percent of the state's voters will venture to the polls Tuesday. |
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Class Action Lawsuit Filed by Eagan Avenatti, LLP
Class Action News |
2011/02/14 10:04
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Eagan Avenatti, LLP, a law firm specializing in consumer rights, filed a class action lawsuit earlier today in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division (Case No. 3:11-cv-00248-M), alleging breach of contract, fraud and deceptive sales practices by Jerry Jones, the National Football League, the Dallas Cowboys Football Club and related defendants in connection with Super Bowl XLV held last Sunday in Arlington, Texas. The complaint, which seeks compensatory damages of over $5 Million, claims that the unlawful acts of Jones, the NFL and the Cowboys resulted in approximately 400 fans who purchased tickets and traveled to the game being denied a seat, despite having spent thousands of dollars in tickets and travel expenses to attend the Super Bowl. The complaint also alleges that Jones and the Cowboys deceived Cowboys season ticket holders known as the “Founders” into paying $1,200 a seat for Super Bowl tickets that turned out to be temporary seats with obstructed views. The “Founders,” who collectively account for over $100 Million in personal seat licenses sold to help fund construction of the stadium, each paid at least $100,000 per seat for their seat license, which the Cowboys and Jones promised would entitle them to the “best sightlines in the stadium” and the right to purchase a ticket to Sunday’s Super Bowl at face value. Instead, they arrived at the stadium Sunday to discover that they had been assigned to sit in obstructed view, temporary metal seats, which had only recently been installed in an effort to meet Jones’ goal of breaking NFL Super Bowl attendance records. “You don’t have to own the Cowboys or run the NFL to know that you cannot lawfully treat people like this,” stated lead attorney Michael Avenatti. “At an absolute minimum, Jones, the Cowboys and the NFL need to accept full responsibility and reimburse fans one hundred percent for their expenses and damages. Anything short of that is a slap in the face to the fans of the NFL and the Cowboys.” |
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Super Bowl class action lawsuit is coming
Class Action News |
2011/02/11 16:52
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As it scrambled to placate the 400 ticketholders who didn't get a seat to Super Bowl XLV, the NFL has a second group of angry fans on its hands. Eagan Avenatti, LLP, a law firm specializing in consumer rights, launched an investigation into claims that the Cowboys deceived season ticket holders into buying $1,200 seats with obstructed views. While the NFL took the blame for the 400 fans whose temporary seats weren't ready for Sunday's game, Avenatti took aim at Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. "These season ticket holders are rightfully irate at Jones and the Cowboys," attorney Michael Avenatti said in a statement. "Jones sold the very fans that helped finance the construction of the stadium on the idea of attending the Super Bowl, took their money, and then put them in illegitimate seats with obstructed views. What team or owner on the planet would treat its best fans like this?" Known as the "Founders," the fans helped finance the $1.2 billion stadium, contributing more than $100 million in personal seat licenses and another $3 million in annual season ticket sales. Each paid at least $100,000 in PSLs. "We will get to the bottom of this," Avenatti said. "And when we do, I expect we will find that greed and ego had a lot to do with what happened." Meanwhile, the NFL expanded its makeup offerings to the 400 fans who had tickets but didn't even get a seat on Super Sunday. The league's offering includes the option of a free ticket to next year's Super Bowl game plus a cash payment of $2,400 (triple the original face value of Sunday's ticket) or a ticket to a future Super Bowl, including next year's if so desired, plus round-trip airfare and hotel accommodations, but not the $2,400. They can wait until after the conference championship games each season to see whether their favorite team reaches the Super Bowl.
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