Tort Report: Nuked 'Nuclear Verdict' Stays, Texas Justices Say

By Y. Peter Kang

The fate of a "nuclear verdict" that was used to jump-start tort reform campaigns across the country and a settlement of a suit over a Kiss guitar technician's death lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Weinstein Says Jurors Traded Threats, Tainting Verdict

By Cara Salvatore

Harvey Weinstein's legal team said his June sexual assault convictions were tainted by juror misconduct, including physical threats and an unfounded bribery claim, arguing in a motion for a new trial that a judge refused to properly investigate.

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Ill. Judge Blocks Trump's Deployment Of National Guard To Chicago

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge Thursday partially granted a temporary restraining order over the objection of the Trump administration blocking the deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois, saying the presence of those officers would "only add fuel to the fire defendants themselves have started."

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Analysis

False-Statement Case Puts Comey In Rare Company

By Phillip Bantz

Former FBI director James Comey is the latest addition to the relatively short list of government officials who have been criminally charged over the past several decades with making false statements to Congress.

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Menendez Witness Avoids Prison After 'Honest' Testimony

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge allowed a former insurance broker from New Jersey to avoid prison Thursday, after prosecutors said his "extensive" cooperation helped secure the conviction of former U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez on corruption charges.

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Megan Thee Stallion Wins Sanctions Over Deleted Messages

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida magistrate judge Thursday sanctioned online personality Milagro "Mobz World" Cooper for deleting thousands of text messages and WhatsApp data after being told to preserve evidence in rapper Megan Thee Stallion's defamation and cyberstalking suit against her.

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Biotech Wins $367K From Ex-CEO In Conn. Conversion Suit

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut jury has ordered the fired CEO of a flavoring and aroma firm, who is also a tax attorney, to pay the company more than $367,000 plus punitive damages after agreeing that he improperly sent himself money around the time of his termination and breached his fiduciary duties.

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Fintech Exec May Claim Double Jeopardy Amid Judge Shuffle

By Julie Manganis

A former executive of payment processor Allied Wallet has filed a double jeopardy motion after the initial Massachusetts federal judge overseeing the fraud case recused himself, a second declared a mistrial and exited due to a family emergency, and a third flagged a potential conflict with a prosecutor.

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Conn. Official Pushed Firm That Hired Family, Witnesses Say

By Aaron Keller

Two local Connecticut officials on Thursday testified that Kosta Diamantis, a former state budget official accused of corruption, pushed them to hire a construction management firm they considered expensive and unnecessary without disclosing that the firm had hired his daughter and was allegedly paying him kickbacks.

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Mich. Justice Eyes Scope Of Judge-As-Grand-Jury Issue

By Danielle Ferguson

Michigan's chief Supreme Court justice on Thursday pondered the real-world implications of retroactively applying a 2022 ruling that judges cannot act as a one-person grand jury to issue indictments, saying the practice seems to have grown more prevalent.

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Mich. Justices Urged To Restore Diminished Capacity Defense

By Carolyn Muyskens

A lawyer for a man awaiting trial for murder told the Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday that a jury deserves to hear that his client was mentally ill and possibly suffering from delusions, urging the court to lift a decades-old bar on so-called diminished capacity evidence.

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Ineffective Counsel Claim Could Afford Immigrant Legal Status

By Elizabeth Daley

A Guatemalan man who lost his path to U.S. citizenship after being convicted of breaking into a car has been offered another chance at a new trial if he can show his attorney failed to inform him of his right to appeal, Massachusetts' intermediate appeals court said Thursday.

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Judge Narrows Evidence Ahead Of Boeing 737 Max Trial

By Ben Adlin

A Washington federal judge on Thursday ruled on which evidence will be allowed in a Nov. 3 trial in LOT Polish Airlines' lawsuit against Boeing, in which LOT accuses the aerospace giant of tricking it into leasing defective 737 Max jets that were later grounded after two fatal crashes.

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Va. Panel Nixes $2.5M Med Mal Verdict Over Jury Instruction

By Mike Curley

A Virginia state appeals court has overturned a $2.5 million verdict awarded to a woman who sued an anesthesiologist because he did not provide anesthesia before her cesarean section, finding that the jury should have been given an instruction on superseding cause.

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Justices May Decide Whether Restitution Is A Punishment

Forthcoming oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in Ellingburg v. U.S. will focus on whether criminal restitution qualifies as criminal punishment under the U.S. Constitution — a key question as restitution has expanded in reach and severity, while providing little meaningful compensation for victims, says Lula Hagos at George Washington University Law School.

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Series

Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Painting trains me to see both the fine detail and the whole composition at once, enabling me to identify friction points while keeping sight of a client's bigger vision, but the most significant lesson I've brought to my legal work has been the value of originality, says Jana Gouchev at Gouchev Law.

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Sullivan & Cromwell Impersonators Hit With NY Fraud Claims

By Emily Sawicki

New York Attorney General Letitia James is attempting to take down a slew of businesses whose names are variants of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, accusing them of attempting a scheme to fraudulently redirect checks meant for the global corporate law firm.

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NY Atty General Indicted Following Pressure From Trump

By Lauren Berg

New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted in Virginia federal court Thursday on charges related to mortgage fraud, three weeks after President Donald Trump wrote a social media post encouraging U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action because James and two other political opponents were "guilty as hell."

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Jenn Mascott Of WH Counsel's Office Confirmed To 3rd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 50-47 on Thursday to confirm Jenn Mascott, currently serving in the White House Counsel's Office, to the Delaware seat on the Third Circuit.

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7th Circ. Nominee Taibleson Advances To Full Senate

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced on party lines the nomination of Rebecca Taibleson, a federal prosecutor in Wisconsin, to serve on the Seventh Circuit, as well as four district judicial nominees and five U.S. attorney nominees.

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Baldoni Atty Faces LA Malpractice Suit Over Client 'Betrayal'

By Emily Sawicki

Entertainment attorney Bryan Freedman has been accused in Los Angeles County Superior Court of turning his back on a former client, allegedly convincing him to sign an unfavorable settlement on trademark claims against "It Ends With Us" star Justin Baldoni, only to later begin representing the actor and director.

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Calif. Supreme Court Justice Martin Jenkins To Retire

By James Mills

California Supreme Court Justice Martin J. Jenkins, the first openly gay man and the third African American man to sit on the bench, will retire at the end of October, the court announced Thursday.

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