Law Roundtable

Applying a recently passed New York state law to a "questionable" transaction, a judge has halted a foreclosure to give the homeowners a chance to prove their claim that they were "defrauded" into signing over ownership of the home where they still live. The judge noted that the state's Home ...

Defendants in a high-profile Texas trial involving Holy Land Foundation, a now-defunct Muslim charity that federal prosecutors allege funded terrorists in the West Bank and Gaza, have filed a joint motion to postpone a retrial. The defendants allege that the 5th Circuit has not paid most of the legal fees ...

As more units go into foreclosure, condominium communities -- especially newly built or converted projects -- are struggling with rising nonpayment of association fees. Beleaguered board members are ratcheting up legal pressure on lenders who've launched foreclosure action against units but are slow to take title to the properties -- ...

A Florida appellate judge should be publicly reprimanded for criticizing a colleague in a written opinion, the state Judicial Qualifications Commission has recommended to the Florida Supreme Court. The commission concluded that 1st District Court of Appeal Judge Michael Allen violated judicial ethics by writing a concurring opinion that suggested ...

In a major win for the business community, a California appeal court ruled Tuesday that employers are only required to provide meal and rest breaks for their workers, not ensure they're taken. The ruling also said employers can't be held liable for working employees off the clock unless they knew ...

A New York court has held that a $248 billion nationwide settlement with tobacco companies bars the estate and husband of a New York woman who died of lung cancer from bringing a punitive damages claim against Philip Morris and other tobacco-industry giants. Rejecting the couple's role as "private attorneys ...

After a false start, a settlement was reached Tuesday in the $10 billion trade secrets dispute in Florida between Motorola and a defunct Fort Lauderdale-based company. The confidential agreement was reached hours after an earlier hearing to discuss a settlement was canceled. At the earlier hearing, an attorney representing Motorola ...

The Child Online Protection Act suffers from a slew of fatal flaws that render the law unconstitutional under the First Amendment, the 3rd Circuit ruled on Tuesday. The court found that numerous terms in COPA were not "narrowly tailored" and that the law therefore failed a strict scrutiny test. The ...

Lauded just a year ago as one of the hottest legal markets in the country, Phoenix has cooled into an economic downturn, leaving many law firms that muscled up during the boom with some time on their hands. Though one recruiter paints a bleak picture for Phoenix, most law firms ...

A New York federal judge has ordered a patent holder and his lawyers to pay attorney fees for bringing an infringement suit based on "nothing more than a tissue of lies." Judge Paul A. Crotty invalidated Irving Bauer's patent, writing that he refused to believe that Bauer, "lacking any training ...