A Portsmouth law firm and a Portsmouth contracting firm are tangled in Supreme Court litigation after serving as each other's unhappy customers two years ago.

The high court heard oral arguments Wednesday in a Consumer Protection Act claim by the Becksted Associates construction firm against the Nadeau law firm for using alleged deceptive and coercive business practices against them.

That's just one of several lawsuits between the two companies in the past year.

Attorney J.P. Nadeau and his son, Justin Nadeau, an attorney and former Democratic Congressional candidate, won a directed verdict for the firm in Rockingham County Superior Court in 2006 dismissing the consumer protection charge. The Becksteds appealed to the Supreme Court.

Both sides agree William Becksted Sr. and his son, William Becksted Jr., were renovating the second floor of the Nadeau law firm into an apartment for Justin Nadeau. The Nadeau court brief says the Becksteds were still billing Justin for more than $39,000 after he had paid $166,000 for a project he had understood would cost no more than $100,000, and later would cost no more than $154,000.

Nadeau refused to pay the balance because he was disappointed with the cost overruns and the work he was getting. According to both sides, he sent the contractors a letter March 4, 2005, on law firm letterhead threatening litigation unless they stopped dunning him. The Becksteds hired a different lawyer and sued the Nadeau firm on March 28.

Amid these mounting tensions, J.P. Nadeau was still representing the Becksteds in two unrelated legal cases on behalf of the construction firm. The elder Nadeau had sent his client no bills between the summer of 2004 and that December. In January 2005 he finally gave them an invoice for $12,001.50. It had obvious arithmetic errors, which Becksted Sr. picked up on. The total should been around $5,000, based on the hours and hourly rate.

Becksted asked the New Hampshire Bar Association for help resolving the billing issue. The elder Nadeau found out about it, rechecked his time log, changed the billable hours slightly, and sent a corrected bill for $5,335. He soon sent a bill for another $3,234 in legal fees for the second case he was working on. Eventually the combined legal bill reached $15,000.

Attorney Philip Pettis argued the Consumer Protection case for the Becksteds. He told the high court it was improper for the Nadeau firm to keep representing them as lawyers. Pettis also noted the legal bills arrived only after the contracting dispute had flared up.

Justice Richard Galway asked why this case is any different from the average contract dispute. Pettis said the lawyers were using their position of relative power as unfair leverage. It's hard to change lawyers in the middle of litigation. He also called the incorrect billing "inflated and deceptive."

Chief Justice John Broderick said a billing error is a foolish way to intimidate someone.

"Why would you do that if you weren't innocent?" he asked.

Pettis agreed that might not have been the best tactic.

Broderick grilled attorney Anna Barbara Hantz, the lawyer for the Nadeaus, the same way.

"You're working on my house," Broderick said. "I'm representing you in a legal case. I'm trying to use the bills you owe me to get you to drop claims against me over my house. We now have a personal dispute that's not going away. Does that bother you?"

Hantz said it certainly would.

"But the Consumer Protection Act doesn't have a different standard for lawyers," she added.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based company and three executives admitted that they falsely claimed OxyContin was less addictive, less subject to abuse, and less likely to cause withdrawal symptoms than rival pain medications.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration had not approved those claims.

"Purdue (Frederick) put its desire to sell OxyContin above the interests of the public," Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler said in a statement. "Purdue abused the drug approval process which relies on drug manufacturers to be forthright in reporting clinical data and, instead, misled physicians about the addiction and withdrawal issues involved with OxyContin."

OxyContin, prescribed for patients with moderate to severe pain, is now regulated as a controlled substance with the same addictive potential as morphine.

Of the $634.5 million settlement, $276 million will be forfeited to the United States, $160 million allocated to federal and state government agencies to resolve false claims for government healthcare programs and $130 million will go to resolving private civil claims.

Additional amounts will be paid to the Virginia Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the Virginia Prescription Monitoring program.

The guilty pleas follow a $19.5 million settlement the related manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma LP, made with 26 states and the District of Columbia this week over allegations it failed to adequately disclose abuse risks posed by the powerful narcotic.

Purdue Pharma had also settled a civil case brought by its insurer in June for $200 million.

Randi Collotta, who worked for Morgan Stanley's compliance division in New York, admitted to giving information about upcoming mergers and acquisitions to her husband, who is in private practice.

Christopher Collotta told the court he shared some of the insider information with Florida broker Marc Jurman, who agreed to share part of his profits with the Collottas and also passed the information along to others.

The couple sat at opposite ends of a long table at the hearing, flanked by their lawyers and occasionally glancing at each other. Randi Collotta wept softly as she read a statement admitting her guilt.

"Randi Collotta accepted responsibility for what she did, and today she took a significant step in putting this behind her," her lawyer Kenneth Breen said after the hearing.

The Bayport, New York couple were among 13 people charged criminally in March with participating in the scheme. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed separate, civil charges against 11 people, including the Collottas.

Six of the 13 defendants, including Jurman, have pleaded guilty.

Christopher Collotta's lawyers released a statement after the hearing saying, "Mr. Collotta recognizes that these are serious offenses, deeply regrets his actions in participating in these offenses, and realizes that he will have to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life."

Both defendants agreed to forfeit $9,000 in profits they made through the scheme. Randi Collotta agreed not to appeal a sentence of 18 months or less in prison, while her husband agreed not to appeal a sentence of 16 months or less, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Fish said. Both face a maximum 25 year prison term.

The couple were released until sentencing, scheduled for Sept. 7. They have been free on $250,000 bond each.

Katona, 56, was charged in January with siphoning money from an investment pool belonging to the rural Lake Huron county where he was treasurer - an elected post - from 1993 until his dismissal last year.

State police said he authorized wire transfers totaling $186,500 last summer to overseas accounts linked to the well-known Nigerian scam. They suspect he lost more than $1.2 million in county funds altogether - plus $72,500 of his own money, despite a warning from his bank that he might be getting swindled.

"I'm sure if you were to ask Mr. Katona how did this happen, he'd just shake his head and say, 'I don't know how I let it happen, but I did,"' White said in a telephone interview.

Variations of the scheme have been around for years. They begin with unsolicited letters - or, increasingly, e-mails - seeking help in transferring millions of dollars from Africa to overseas accounts.

The recipients are typically offered a generous share of the money if they pay what they are told are upfront costs such as taxes, fees and bribes. Those who play along can lose large sums before realizing they've been fleeced.

Katona entered his pleas during a routine hearing ahead of a trial that was to begin later this month.

The Michigan attorney general's office, which is prosecuting the case, offered no plea bargain. White said Katona pleaded guilty to all charges to avoid wasting the court's time and money "proving what is very apparent."

Matt Frendewey, spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox, said Katona's decision was "a testament of the strength of the case the state had against him."

Sentencing was scheduled for June 12. A count of forgery is punishable by up to 14 years in prison, while the maximum is 10 years for embezzlement and five years for attempted embezzlement.

"If he gets a long enough sentence, I think the county can start healing," said Kevin Boyat, chairman of the Alcona board of commissioners. "There's still going to be people mad for a long time."

Katona pleaded guilty to two felonies in 1998 after falsifying documents for private accounting clients. Under his plea bargain, the charges were dismissed after he stayed out of trouble for a year.

Voters re-elected him in 2000 and 2004.

Boyat said he hoped Katona would provide a detailed accounting of where the money went. The attorney general's office will seek restitution, Frendewey said.

It won't be clear how the thefts will affect Alcona finances until the state treasurer's office finishes auditing the county's books, Boyat said.

"It doesn't look real good," he said, adding that spending cuts might be needed.

A slender man of medium height with short brown hair, Mr Woodroffe-Hill had his head bowed and remained expressionless throughout the hearing.

Described by homicide detectives as a resident of Tenterfield, police told the court he had been arrested at the Banksia unit about 10.30am (AEST) today after being questioned by detectives at Tamworth police station.

It is believed the arrest was carried out as a result of the work of Strike Force Penfold, a special task force set up within hours of the discovery of Mr Hutchinson's headless body.

Mr Woodroffe-Hill did not lodge a bail application.

Police applied to the court for forensic procedures to be carried out, asking permission to conduct a buccal swab and remove a hair sample to test his DNA.

Mr Woodroffe-Hill's Armidale lawyer David Clifton did not oppose the requests and permission was granted on condition they were completed at Tamworth police station by 9pm today.

The court was told Mr Woodroffe-Hill had not been a voluntary patient at Banksia.

It is understood that although he was not being held under section eight of the Mental Health Act, he had not been scheduled for release from the unit until May 31.

The matter was adjourned to Armidale Local Court for mention on May 23, but police said it may be up to six weeks before the results of the forensic tests were known.

Mr Clifton said outside the court that "this (the arrest) is tragic for him (Woodroffe-Hill), tragic for his family and for the wider family of the victim".

Mr Hutchinson was a former artillery gunner who served in Papua New Guinea and Borneo.

He had lived alone in his Markham Street home since 1985 and was known to his local community as a quiet but friendly man respected for his work with the local RSL and legacy war widows.

The crime initially baffled police, with robbery being ruled out early on as a possible motive.

Schilt will be sentenced on August 6th, and is expected to serve between 32 and 48 years.

Amy Schilt, Frank Schilt's oldest daughter, stated that the new plea was agreed on by all involved, and was intended to spare the family the drama of a trial.

"We support the fact that he is pleading guilty to second-degree murder" Amy told reporters, "because it would be better for everyone, so that we could kind of move on with our lives, and get over a lot of these things without it coming back in our faces."

Terri Schilt was reported missing in March 2006, and was believed to have been killed in late February of that year.

Superior Court Judge James Mulvihill immediately revoked the defendant's bail and ordered him held pending sentencing in New Brunswick on June 29.

Cibelli looked back at his father, Paul Cibelli Sr., before being led away in handcuffs.

Outside court, Silva's parents, Moises and Elvira Silva, said they were pleased with the verdict and thanked the jury, the judge and Middlesex County First Assistant Prosecutor William Lamb, who presented the case against the defendant.

At one point, the victim's mother broke into tears. ''We were sure all the time that he was the murderer,'' the victim's father said. ''In my heart, I knew this.''

During a three-week trial, Lamb said Cibelli was angry that Silva was planning to leave him and plotted her murder.

The defendant beat the woman with a roofer's staple gun and then strangled her, on a second-floor deck at the Robert Place house they shared with Cibelli's father in South Plainfield.
Cibelli subsequently wrapped the victim in trash bags and dumped her body somewhere in Pennsylvania, Lamb said.

Police began an investigation after the woman's remains were discovered at a recycling center in Philadelphia, Lamb said.

He credited Sgt. Ivan Scott of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office and Detective Gene Bataille and Sgt. James Foran, both South Plainfield police officers, with solving the crime.

Cibelli's attorney, Alan Zegas, said his client had no role in the slaying. Cibelli did not testify during the trial.

He faces 30 years to life in prison when he is sentenced at the Middlesex County Courthouse.