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Treasury risks overpaying law firms
Breaking Legal News |
2011/04/16 09:51
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The Treasury Department paid out more than $27 million to law firms overseeing the financial bailouts without requiring detailed bills or questioning the incomplete records that the lawyers provided, a government watchdog says.
Treasury's "current contracts and fee bill review practices create an unacceptable risk that Treasury, and therefore the American taxpayer, is overpaying for legal services," the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said in a report issued Thursday.
Treasury could not have adequately gauged whether the fees were reasonable because the records are so sparse, the report says.
The report criticizes so-called "block billing," in which law firms submit "vague and inadequate descriptions of work, and administrative charges — all of which should have been questioned before payment," the report says.
Treasury staff failed to question the charges for work that was described vaguely, the report says.
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Split over union law reaches Wis. court race
Breaking Legal News |
2011/04/06 09:40
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The slim margin between Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser and his challenger, JoAnne Kloppenburg, has grown slightly in favor of the incumbent as late election numbers are tallied. But the race that reflected Wisconsin's fight over union rights is still too close to call Wednesday morning. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, conservative-leaning Prosser is leading Kloppenburg by 835 votes. Final, official results could vary and a recount appears likely. The race highlights the divide in the state over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's collective bargaining law, which would strip public workers of nearly all their union rights. The issue, which could ultimately be decided by the state Supreme Court, has propelled the relatively unknown Kloppenburg into prominence and heightened voter interest in the election. |
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2 charged with insider trading involving law firms
Breaking Legal News |
2011/04/06 02:41
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Federal authorities have charged two men with running an insider trading scheme that netted more than $30 million with information stolen from law firms.
Garrett Bauer is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Newark, N.J., on Wednesday afternoon. Matthew Kluger will make his first appearance in federal court in Alexandria, Va. They're accused of trading on inside information stolen from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong. Authorities also allege the decades-long scheme used information stolen from prominent New York law firms Cravath Swaine & Moore and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. |
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2 women sue Eaton over alleged discrimination .
Breaking Legal News |
2011/04/05 09:40
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Two women who had sales jobs with Eaton Corp. have sued the Cleveland-based manufacturer alleging gender discrimination. The two filed the class-action lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in New York City. They worked in Eaton offices in New York and New Jersey. The women allege they were paid less than male counterparts, were passed over for promotions and suffered harassment that led to one woman having a heart attack. Spokesman Scott Schroeder (SHROH'-dehr) says the company generally doesn't comment on pending lawsuits but is committed to fair and equal treatment of employees. He says Eaton doesn't discriminate. The lawsuit seeks $150 million in damages for what could be hundreds of current or former employees. The suit also seeks changes in the alleged discriminatory pay and promotion policies. |
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Judge OKs class-action against Tribune ESOP trustee
Breaking Legal News |
2011/03/11 12:46
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Tribune Co. employees at the time of company’s 2007 leveraged buy-out are eligible to join a class action lawsuit against the ESOP trustee that represented their interests in the takeover by billionaire Sam Zell, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Any Tribune Co. employee or beneficiary who received or were entitled to an allocation to their employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) stock or ESOP cash accounts are now automatically members of the class suing Lisle-based GreatBanc Trust Co. for failing to fulfill its fiduciary responsibility in the deal, said Daniel Feinberg, an attorney representing the employees and other plaintiffs in the lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer’s ruling is the second set-back in less than a week for GreatBanc, the remaining defendant with significant liability in a 2008 lawsuit brought by Dan Neil and other Los Angeles Times staffers against the architects of the ill-fated going-private transaction. |
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Halliburton case could bring flood of class action suits
Breaking Legal News |
2011/03/10 12:46
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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a securities class action case with particularly important implications for public companies based in Texas. At issue is a 2007 court of appeals ruling that made it more difficult for shareholders to bring securities fraud class actions in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. If the Supreme Court sides with the shareholder plaintiff, companies in Texas could face a flood of cases that plaintiffs previously would not have filed.
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Horizon Lines to plead guilty to fixing prices
Breaking Legal News |
2011/02/25 09:05
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U.S. authorities say the shipping company Horizon Lines LLC has agreed to plead guilty to fixing prices and to pay a $45 million fine. A Justice Department statement Thursday says the company was accused of conspiring to fix rates and surcharges for freight transportation between the United States and Puerto Rico from May 2002 until April 2008. Five former executives have been sentenced after pleading guilty in 2008 to charges related to the shipping conspiracy. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based company has a fleet of 20 U.S.-flagged cargo ships that carry items including heavy equipment, medicines and consumer goods. In June 2009, the company agreed to pay $20 million to settle a class action price-fixing lawsuit. |
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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