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One of the apparent perks of being a judge, apart from the satisfaction of wielding a gavel, is the ability to copy the work of others without getting in trouble.
On Friday, Canada’s highest court ruled that it was OK for a trial judge to crib from “large portions” of briefs filed by plaintiffs in a medical malpractice ruling.
The Canada Supreme Court said too much cutting and pasting “may raise problems,” but said judicial copying was a “long‑standing and accepted practice.” (It’s also a common and sometimes frowned upon one in America, too.)
Denying the defendants’ bid for a new trial, the Canadian court said :
...The fact that a judge attributes copied material to the author tells us nothing about whether she put her mind to the issues addressed in that copying. … To set aside a judgment for failure to attribute sources or for
Citing an "unconscionable" retainer agreement, a New York appeals court has reduced an estate's legal bill from $44 million to what a lawyer for the winning side estimates will be a $3 million final tally.
It also is requiring three members of Graubard Miller to return $5 million in gifts they received 15 years ago from the firm's then-client, Alice Lawrence, because they cannot prove the wealthy widow gave them the money willingly and knowingly, reports Reuters .
At issue in the appeal is a $44 million legal fee claimed by Graubard Miller under a retainer agreement signed by Alice Lawrence in 2005. The underlying representation concerned the estate of her husband, commercial real estate magnate Sylvan Lawrence, who died in 1981 leaving assets of some $1 billion.
Alice Lawrence, who was the main beneficiary, had battled with the executor of her husband's estate over control of his holdings
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Philip Hammond, the defence secretary. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP
The high court has called for a new approach to an inquiry into allegations that British troops committed "terrifying acts of brutality" following the invasion of Iraq .
The defence secretary, Philip Hammond, is investigating the claims of human rights violations through the Iraq historic allegations team (Ihat).
On Friday two judges in London rejected accusations from lawyers for 180 Iraqis that Ihat was not independent. But they concluded that the present investigation did not fulfil the UK's obligations under article 2 of the European convention on human rights, which covers the duty to investigate suspicious deaths, and said changes needed to be made.
Phil Shiner, of Public Interest Lawyers, which represent the Iraqis, said: "The court has expressed its very serious concerns about allegations in these cases of the most serious kind involving murder, manslaughter, the wilful infliction of serious bodily
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...In the dust-up between Norm Coleman and Al Franken over Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat, state Supreme Court Justice Paul H. Anderson quoted from Tom Stoppard’s play “Jumpers” in the high court’s ruling: “It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the counting.”
In other rulings, he’s illustrated his point by quoting Shakespeare, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis Carroll, Richard Nixon and Humpty Dumpty.
The masterful author and amanuensis has reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 and will leave the high court May 31. But he promised more illuminating literary allusions in the coming weeks.
His dissent in a ruling released Wednesday was a classic.
The case involved a woman who altered a doctor’s prescription for cough syrup with codeine in Worthington, Minn., in 2006. It was her one and only crime. In 2011, the woman’s records were expunged, or sealed, by a Nobles County judge to help her achieve her “lifelong
...But companies such as Amazon.com didn't have to collect the tax because they did not have a physical presence in Illinois.
In order to draw more tax revenue and end an advantage some Internet retailers have over others, legislators in Illinois redefined the term "physical presence" to include marketing affiliates based in Illinois - typically coupon or deal websites whose operators earn commissions for driving shopping traffic to an online retailer.
It is a novel
...Connecticut's seven-week-old gun law, passed in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook School in Newtown in December, has been challenged in federal court. A coalition of individuals, gun retailers, sports shooters, and gun rights activists entered a suit in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport Wednesday, asking for a declaration that the law is unconstitutional and both a preliminary and a permanent injunction against its enforcement.
The suit lists six individuals by name as plaintiffs, along with Hiller Sports, LLC, MD Shooting Sports LLC, the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, and the Connecticut Citizens' Defense League. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and the state attorneys for Connecticut's 11 judicial districts are named as defendants. A press release issued by Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, and Brian Stapleton, the Hartford attorney who filed the suit, said the plaintiffs include "an elderly widow who lives alone in a rural area
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