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They settled for $9.8 million in 2004. But the lesson must not have sunk in at this for-profit higher education company. This time around, the University of Phoenix and its parent, Apollo Group Inc., should have to write on 78.5 million dollar bills, “I will not illegally recruit students, I will not illegally recruit students.” In 2004, Apollo Group settled with the Department of Education for nearly $10 million after a disparaging report from the Department that, among many other things, found a corporate culture overly focused on boosting enrollment....

An intrepid phone thief likely thought he got away with his crime - except he failed to take into account the recently-installed taxi dash cameras, outfitted on numerous San Francisco cabs that captured the entire event on film. It all happened at around 7 p.m. last month. A woman was walking through the Russian Hill neighborhood in San Francisco, and was chatting on the phone. That’s when a robber, identified as Brandon West, moved in....

After three months of investigation, a Georgia grand jury has indicted rapper Young Vito in the December 2011 shooting death of fellow artist Slim Dunkin. Young Vito, born Vinson Hardimon, has been charged with murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. When news of the Slim Dunkin murder first broke, reports tied the altercation to a stolen piece of candy. But it now appears the real dispute may have been a battle over studio space....

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that over the next few months, victims of the 2008 salmonella outbreak will begin to see their money from the $12 million dollar settlement struck with the insurer of the now defunct Peanut Corp. of America. The Lynchburg, Va., based company was found to be responsible for the outbreak that affected more than 700 people in 44 states between September 3 and December 31, 2008....

Did you know that, in Illinois, the crime of threatening a public official receives a lesser punishment than the threatening of a private individual? Upset about his pending sex offender registration, Maurice Pennington filed a suit challenging the state’s rules. In that filing, he made violent threats against Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Charged with threatening a public official, he faces a maximum of 5 years. If he had threatened a private person, he would face a maximum of 10 years....

Comedian Tracy Morgan has filed a negligence lawsuit against Walmart, claiming the retailer is responsible for last month’s truck crash that injured Morgan and killed another comedian. Morgan’s lawsuit claims Walmart Stores and its subsidiary, Walmart Transportation, should have known big rig driver Kevin Roper was on too little sleep when he crashed into the tour bus carrying Morgan and his entourage, reports The New York Times. What are the facts behind this crash, and what will Morgan need to prove in court in order to prevail?...

The suspect of Jewish center shooting in Kansas has been charged with premeditated murder, but some groups believe that the killings were hate crimes. Frazier Glenn Cross, 73, is accused of going on a shooting spree at a Jewish community center and nearby Jewish retirement home in Overland Park, Kansas. A 14-year-old boy, his grandfather, and an unrelated woman were killed, according to Reuters. Cross allegedly has a long history of racism and anti-Semitism, but police say it’s too early to determine if the killings were motivated by those factors....

A Las Vegas jury is in deliberations over punitive damages totaling $2.5 billion against Nevada’s largest health management organization and another provider for the worst U.S. outbreak of hepatitis C. The plaintiffs’ attorneys, The Associated Press reports, want the stunning punitive damages to send a strong message to corporations and Wall Street: No more putting profits ahead of patient safety. The jury last week awarded $24 million in compensatory damages – but do the punitive damages go too far?...

Season 11 (ELEVEN!!) of ‘Keeping Up with the Kardashians’ aired this week, and for the past eight years TV’s new First Family has been keeping its legal department busy. They’ve sued for defamation, been sued for false advertising, and been ‘swatted’, and that’s all without getting to the divorces. So what kind of legal shenanigans can we expect from Kris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloe, Kendall, and Kylie, (and Kanye!) this season? Let’s take a look:...

Arizona’s law banning abortions after 20 weeks will go forward says U.S. District Judge James Teilborg. The law is a change from the current system in Arizona. Under the previous law, abortions were permitted up until viability which occurs around 24 weeks. Starting Thursday, abortions after 20 weeks will not be allowed unless there is a medical emergency. Arizona is not the first state to ban abortions around 20 weeks but it’s still a tricky decision, legally speaking, for a state to ban abortions before viability....

The Brangelina divorce has been a hot topic for a full year at this point, and the roller coaster of emotions has come through loud and clear in the media and court filings. Despite the couple’s wealth and power (or maybe in spite of it), they still have not finalized the process. However, recently, it was discovered that Brad Pitt’s attorneys are planning to file a motion with the court to hopefully speed things along....

Welcome to FindLaw’s DUI Law series. If you have been charged with a DUI, know someone who has, or just want to know about the law and how to protect your rights during a DUI stop, please come back each week for more information. A future with self-driving or autonomous cars can be a bright one: less traffic, fewer accidents, and hopefully no more road rage. One of the many problems self-driving cars can help to solve is drunk driving....

Giving a cat piercings to make it look like a “goth” cat is animal cruelty, at least according to the court in Pennsylvania. Holly Crawford is a dog groomer who thought she would try to make her cats look more “gothic” by giving them piercings, reports The New York Times. The piercings were on a variety of the kittens’ bodies, including piercings through the cat’s ears and the scruffs of their necks....

The D.C. Council voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use on Tuesday, leaving the mayor to sign the bill into law. If approved by Mayor Vincent Gray, the pot bill will have to weather a congressional review period before going into effect. But according to Washington’s WRC-TV, Congress has “rarely used” its powers to veto D.C. laws. But with legal pot possession on the line, the odds seem hardly relevant....

From freedom of speech to the right to a fair criminal trial, a number of fundamental rights enjoyed by all Americans can be found in the Bill of Rights. December 15th is Bill of Rights Day, an occasion to celebrate the fundamental freedoms guaranteed in the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, and a time to encourage awareness of the role that the Bill of Rights plays in the everyday lives of all Americans....

Why is this man smiling? Perhaps because that man, responsible for those catchy male enhancement commercials staring Smilin’ Bob, and also for fraud, money-laundering and conspiracy, might spend a bit less time in jail. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the trial court overseeing the prosecution of Enzyte mogul Steve Warshak to reconsider his sentence. The appellate court has requested the trial court review the dollar amounts Warshak was convicted of illegally gaining....

Effective today, the federal minimum wage is now $6.55 per hour – up from $5.85 – and a number of states’ minimum wages will see a corresponding increase. Today’s seventy-cent hike in the federal minimum wage is the second of three provided for in the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. The third increase will take place on July 24, 2009, when the rate will rise to $7.25 per hour....

Frances Bean Cobain, daughter of deceased Nirvana lead Kurt Cobain and Hole’s Courtney Love, is all grown up and getting a divorce. The young woman, 23, cited irreconcilable differences in her split from Isaiah Silva after only 21 months of marriage. Cobain’s divorce filing requests that she be allowed to keep the entirety of her father’s $450 million estate, reports People. She is however reportedly open to paying Silva – a rocker, like her father – spousal support....

One of the precepts of the rule of law is that the laws apply to everyone equally. And the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S Constitution prohibits states from denying “any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” So when you have a law that only applies to women (like, for instance, Fort Collins’s statute saying, “No female who is ten (10) years of age or older shall knowingly appear in any public place with her breast exposed below the top of the areola and nipple”), that might be a red flag that a law doesn’t apply to everyone....

Not quite sure how many readers are going to be surprised by the headline “Heidi montag calls off divorce from husband Spencer Pratt,” but here’s to hoping. The 24 year-old Montag and her 27 year-old husband have decided to give love another chance. ABC News quotes the reality star on her decision to dismiss her divorce: “We do love each other and we realized we do want to spend the rest of our lives together....