Posts

Deion Sanders gets custody! And a restraining order against his wife. These are just the latest legal decisions in the highly publicized and bitter divorce battle between Deion and Pilar Sanders. The estranged couple found themselves in court on Monday to deal with an April 24 altercation. The former NFL star famously tweeted a photo of himself and his kids filling out police reports last month, after Pilar attacked him in front of their children....

Donald Sterling has formally responded to the NBA’s lifetime ban, claiming it was illegal under California law to oust him based on a “lover’s quarrel” that was “illegally recorded.” In Sterling’s response (attached below) he says the racist, hateful remarks were uttered in private settings and that he never had knowledge nor provided consent to have them recorded. Sterling is not going to go down without a fight, it seems. Sterling’s lawyer, Max Blecher, told ESPN that his client “is going to fight to the bloody end....

On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Melinda Harmon ended one more suit which ignited as a result of that atom bomb known to all as Enron. Plaintiffs in the Enron class action suit, Newby, et al v. Enron Corp, et al, were persuing recovery from the banks involved with Enron including among others, B of A’s Merrill Lynch unit, Barclays, and Credit Suisse. Defendants in this case also included usual suspects Jeff Skilling, Richard Causey and Mark Koeing....

A former IRS agent hired a hitman to kill two key witnesses in a federal fraud trial, prosecutors say. FBI agents arrested ex-IRS agent Steven Martinez, 51, at an office in San Diego where he ran a private tax-preparation business, the Associated Press reports. The FBI also found $41,000 in cash for the alleged hits, hidden in a cereal box at the home of Martinez’s limo driver. Martinez was already facing 49 criminal counts in connection with allegedly stealing $11 million in tax payments from more than a dozen wealthy clients, San Diego’s KNSD-TV reports....

A Honda recall of 2.5 million cars (some 1.5 million in the U.S.) will affect small SUVs and minivans worldwide, including its popular Accord sedan, to repair a software problem that could damage the automatic transmission. Honda’s recall includes 1.5 million vehicles in the United States, about 760,000 in China and 135,142 in Canada, the automaker said on Friday. This week, Consumer Reports said it was not recommending the 2012 Honda Civic....

High school football coaches around the country are probably cheering tonight after a Kentucky jury acquitted Jason Stimson of the reckless homicide and wanton endangerment he was charged with in the death of a 15-year-old sophomore whom he had run sprints on a hot day of football practice in August 2008. The larger question, however, is what – if anything – coaches and players will learn from the tragedy and its aftermath....

Mila Kunis can now rest easy. A few years ago, Stuart Lynn Dunn was arrested after he broke into Mila Kunis’ unoccupied condominium. He was hit with a restraining order to stay away from Kunis. But, only months later, Dunn was arrested again for waiting for Kunis outside her gym for three days in violation of the restraining order. Last Saturday, Dunn escaped. The Search Authorities suspect that Dunn escaped from the Olive Vista Behavioral Health Center in Pomona, California by climbing out of a bathroom window and over a barbed wire fence....

Louis Vuitton protects its monogrammed image like a mama bear protects its cubs. Earlier this year, Louis Vuitton successfully sued Hyundai for including a Louis Vuitton basketball in one of its car commercials. Piggybacking on that success, another Louis Vuitton lawsuit was brought, this time suing Warner Brothers for its Hangover movie for including a scene with knockoff Louis Vuitton luggage and a common American mistranslation of the name “Louis.” But in this case, Louis Vuitton lost....

Peter Cammarano, III, the Hoboken, New Jersey Mayor (inset, left and center), and Dennis Elwell, Mayor of Secaucus, New Jersey (inset, right), face high-level political corruption charges, along with more than 40 other people who were also charged with crimes ranging from corruption, extortion, money laundering, illegal money transmitting, to conspiracy to transport human organs. Cammarano was allegedly caught by the FBI on tape in June telling a government cooperating witness, Solomon Dwek, “I stopped being a lawyer last month, um, hopefully for good....

Samsung is recalling about 160,000 of its cell phones because of a software flaw that may leave the devices unable to connect with 911 emergency operators in certain no-service areas. The affected cell phones are Samsung’s “Jitterbug” version, model numbers SPH-a110 and SPH-a120, sold at stores and online from March 2008 through May 2009, according to a News Release from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The problem is that when the phones are in a no-service area, they may display a message that reads “out of range, try again later,” even when callers are trying to connect to 911 in an emergency....

For decades, illicit drug makers have been attempting to skirt drug laws by altering the chemical composition of illegal drugs in order to change the chemicals that make the drugs illegal. While the new compounds usually do not remain legal for very long after their discovery, the makers just alter the chemical until it is legal again. Over the past few years, two synthetic drugs, spice and bath salts, have wreaked havoc on their users....

A hurricane just hit. An earthquake just rattled the earth. A protest just turned into a riot. The police are busy. Inevitably, you will see reports of stores being broken into, trashed, and looted. Looting Laws Not all states have laws that specifically address looting. Only Alabama, California, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina have laws specifically addressing looting. Of the states that do, the laws do vary....

You bought a fancy mattress online and were very excited but now you’re finding that there is no rest for the weary. You toss and turn and are burning with a desire to send this mattress back to wherever it came from. Can you? The answer is most likely yes, but it depends. Returns are governed by the law and by seller policies. There is no blanket prohibition on returning mattresses, but retailers may put prohibitions on returns for particular items if those limitations are in line with state law....

In a famous Seinfeld episode, Kramer and Newman concoct an elaborate plan for how to cash in on bottle recycling fees: As you can see, the Seinfeld bottle scam started off full of snags, until Newman came up with a cost cutting measure that make their plan seemingly perfect. He could use a mail truck on Mother’s Day to transport the bottles. NEWMAN: (peering at bottle label) What is this ‘MI, ten cents’?...

The “Sister Wives” lawsuit against Utah’s polygamy ban has led a federal judge to partially strike down the law. U.S. District Court Judge Clark Waddoups threw out a section of the anti-polygamy law prohibiting “cohabitation,” while keeping intact the ban on “bigamy.” Although the law wasn’t struck down in its entirety, it seems “Sister Wives” star Kody Brown and his four wives now have something to celebrate during the holidays....

“I like things simple.” Sorry, Jason Crouse, but it’s The Good Wife’s complicated world, and you’re just living in it. And that complicated world includes everyone investigating everybody, and everyone trying to manage and use what they learn against everybody else. Lockhart, Agos & Lee are investigating Chumhum. Alicia and Lucca are investigating Chumhum’s employees. Eli is investigating Jason and Alicia’s relationship (as well as Alicia’s political chances) and Ruth Eastman is investigating Jason himself....

Soon after in-app purchases became a “thing,” parents were subjected to shock, at random, in the form of unexplained credit card charges due to a lack of restrictions on in-app purchases. Both Apple and Google settled similar claims almost immediately in 2014 and implemented changes to safeguard against unauthorized in-app purchases. On most new digital devices, software developers can submit programs, including games, news readers, social media, entertainment media, tools, and more, to be made available for purchase or free download on what’s called an app store, or app marketplace....

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) filed an administrative complaint against the makers of Buckyballs aiming to stop the sale of the magnetic toys due to safety concerns. Buckyballs are aimed at adults and are basically small powerful magnets that can be manipulated into different shapes. The CPSC says that while the toys are meant for use by adults, young children have been getting a hold of them and swallowing them....

It’s a bitter irony but you can be made to pay prosecution costs and the costs for your jail stay in many states. In other words, you fund your conviction and punishment, and that’s not necessarily all. The practice of demanding payment from defendants is increasingly popular as state budgets shrink and courts look for ways to pay for the criminal justice system. It’s been fought by some civil rights groups, who have argued in courts and by the press that constitutional protections for the poor have eroded....

Rhonda Costigan, from Garden City, Michigan, has filed a lawsuit against Delta after going through an experience that would likely make Dr. David Dao quiver. On a flight from South Carolina to Michigan in 2016, Ms. Costigan was sexually assaulted by another passenger, Christopher Finkley, who was sentenced to one week in jail for simple misdemeanor assault on a plea bargain as a result of the incident. Ms. Costigan’s lawsuit alleges that Delta could have stopped the conduct as Finkley had been found by flight crew exposing himself earlier on the flight, and was left to roam free....