A Los Angeles judge has blasted one of the nation's leading plaintiffs firms in asbestos litigation for attempting to obtain an upper hand in the case through what he called a "type of judicially sanctioned extortion."

The judge's statements came in a lawsuit filed by Waters & Kraus on behalf of a Los Angeles man who died of mesothelioma in December 2007. Six months before, the man had been deposed in Texas, where the case was first filed. The case has since been re-filed in California. During the past month, industrial product manufacturer Crane Co. sought to exclude the man's deposition from the case. In court papers, Crane argued that the information gleaned from the deposition, which under Texas law is limited to six hours, was insufficient to obtain summary judgment in California.

On April 7, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz, while refusing to grant summary judgment, concluded that Waters & Kraus had re-filed the case in California intentionally as a means to force a settlement. Calling such tactics a "waste of the court's time," Munoz noted that Waters & Kraus has played the same "grisly game of asbestos litigation" in at least nine cases.

Peter Kraus, managing partner of Dallas-based Waters & Kraus, told The National Law Journal that the judge "got it 180 degrees wrong." While not denying the firm's actions, Kraus said that its attorneys must file asbestos cases in jurisdictions where ailing clients don't have to endure lengthy depositions.

"And if they die, the facts necessary to prove their case die with them," he said.

Lawyers for Crane, in an April 24 appellate petition, said that the dispute could affect "potentially hundreds of pending and future asbestos personal injury and wrongful death actions in California."

"I definitely think this is something the defense and plaintiff's bar are going to watch very, very closely, and it will have very important ramifications regardless of whichever way it goes," said Alexandra Epand, a partner in the Los Angeles office of Nixon Peabody who handles asbestos litigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Krause outlined the government's position while requesting the maximum sentence for Lori Drew. Probation officials have recommended Drew receive a year of probation and a $5,000 fine.

Krause argued that Drew "coldly conceived of a scheme to humiliate" Megan Meier, a neighbor in a St. Louis suburb, by helping create a fictitious teenage boy on the social networking site and sending flirtatious messages in his name to the girl.

The fake boy then dumped Megan in a message saying the world would be better without her. She hanged herself a short time later.

Drew used her then-13-year-old daughter and a business assistant in the scheme, which played on Megan's insecurities, Krause said.

"Both the callousness of defendant's criminal conduct and the extraordinary harm it caused mandate a sentence of more than probation," Krause wrote.

Drew was convicted in November of three counts of accessing computers without authorization. Besides up to three years in prison, she could face a $300,000 fine at sentencing set for May 18.

Drew's attorney, Dean Steward, has asked U.S. District Court Judge

Vincent Cantu, who served eight years with the Pasadena Police Department, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court.

Cantu admitted robbing two La Habra banks last year and was suspected of robbing three others in 2005 and 2006. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to pursue the other alleged robberies.

The FBI called Cantu the "Polite Bandit" because he allegedly apologized to his victims. In one instance, prosecutors say, Cantu told a weeping bank teller that he is sorry but needed to take $10,000 for his son.

Cantu pleaded guilty to robbery and using a firearm during a crime of violence, which carries a sentenced up to life in prison.

The court ruled Monday that undocumented workers who use phony identification can't be considered identity thieves unless they knew they were using ID numbers from real people. Some officials at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, where hundreds of illegal immigrants were arrested in a raid last year, face identity theft counts.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Linda Reade allowed former human resources employee Laura Althouse to drop the guilty plea to identity theft she made in October. She still faces sentencing May 13 on a charge of conspiracy to harbor undocumented immigrants for financial gain.

Former Agriprocessors vice president Sholom Rubashkin also faces identity theft-related charges and has pleaded not guilty. His attorney Guy Cook said he will file "very soon" a motion to dismiss some of the counts against his client based on the Supreme Court ruling.

The high court's decision limits federal authorities' use of a 2004 law designed to get tough on identity thieves.

Authorities charged 270 illegal immigrants with identity theft following the raid at the Postville plant on May 12, 2008. They all accepted plea deals in which they agreed not to fight deportation.

Reid on Tuesday paid tribute to Obama's past experience as a law professor and said he's confident he'll send a very qualified nominee to the Senate. The Nevada Democrat also said he doesn't expect Republicans to filibuster Obama's choice.

He said he hopes Obama goes outside the existing legal system and finds a former governor or senator, or someone who has "real life experiences."

Reid said that "I feel comfortable that his choice will be as good as his Cabinet choices."

Lawyers for John Odgren say he was legally insane when he fatally stabbed 15-year-old James Alenson at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in January 2007.

A judge ruled last year that prosecutors improperly obtained more than 30 hours of Odgren's jailhouse conversations.

But prosecutors say they obtained the recordings lawfully. They want to play the recordings at Odgren's trial because they believe the conversations show a lucid boy who was not in the throes of mental illness.

The Supreme Judicial Court will hear prosecutors' appeal on Monday.

Trustee Irving Picard says in a complaint filed Friday in Bankruptcy Court that Stanley Chais and his family made more than $1 billion in false earnings off Madoff's scheme. He claims the money came from the pockets of burned investors. He wants the money back.

Chais lawyer Eugene Licker says the Chais family has suffered "astounding and ruinous losses from the Madoff scheme."

Madoff pleaded guilty in March to charges his secretive investment advisory operation was a pyramid scheme. He faces up to 150 years in prison.

Picard is overseeing the liquidation of Madoff's assets. He says he plans to use sale proceeds to pay Madoff's victims.