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Supreme Court Sides With Texas in Dispute With Bush

Legal Times

In a landmark decision at the intersection of state, federal and international law, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that neither the World Court nor President George W. Bush can mess with Texas when it comes to that state's enforcement of its own criminal laws. The justices ruled that neither the international court nor a directive by the president, both aimed at enforcing a consular rights treaty signed by the United States, amounted to "enforceable federal law" that could be imposed on Texas.

2nd Circuit Strikes Down N.Y. 'Passenger Bill of Rights'

New York Law Journal

A federal appeals court Tuesday upended a New York law ordering airlines to provide food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers confined in planes that have been unable to take off after three hours. The 2nd Circuit found New York's statute -- the first "passenger bill of rights" in the nation -- had been pre-empted by the federal Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which reserves to federal authorities the regulation of matters concerning the "price, route or service" provided by airlines.

Parody of Wal-Mart Trumps Its Trademark

Fulton County Daily Report

Computer store owner Charles Smith has won a two-year legal battle with Wal-Mart, which has demanded he stop making and selling T-shirts and other items with slogans such as "Wal-ocaust" and "Wal-Qaeda." U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. found that Smith's products qualified as protected noncommercial speech because his goal was to criticize Wal-Mart, not to make a profit from his products. The judge noted that Smith had sold only 62 T-shirts, including 15 to one of Wal-Mart's outside law firms.

General Motors Class Action Settlement Could Drive Big Attorney Fees

The Recorder

A 49-state class action settlement with General Motors could be worth from $80 million to $150 million to car owners, and up to $16.5 million to plaintiffs attorneys. Under the proposed settlement in the auto-repair litigation, the class would be split into three groups based on the cars they drive, the type of engine and the kinds of repairs performed. Plaintiffs would collect $50 to $800 per repair, with speedier repairs generating larger reimbursements.

Kmiec Explains His Support for Obama

Legal Times

Not long ago, Douglas Kmiec was an active campaigner for Mitt Romney for president -- a plausible fit for the conservative Pepperdine law professor who once served in the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. But now, Kmiec has switched his support to none other than Sen. Barack Obama. In this Q&A with Legal Times' Tony Mauro, Kmiec explains how he reached his decision to back Obama.

Bear Stearns GC Cashes In

The American Lawyer

Three months before the stock price of Bear Stearns plunged below $3, general counsel Michael Solender unloaded 2,087 stock options at $89 per share. Solender pocketed a nifty $186,000 on Dec. 21, 2007, according to a form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Solender wasn't the only one to cash in shares last December: Five other Bear Stearns insiders also exercised their stock options, with director Paul Novelly selling the most: 50,000 shares, for which he collected $4.34 million.

Mukasey Argues Case Before High Court

Legal Times

As a former federal judge, Attorney General Michael Mukasey must have grown to appreciate terseness in the lawyers who appeared before him. Mukasey certainly took it to heart when he appeared before the Supreme Court on Tuesday for the first time. His answers to justices' questions were brief, to the point, and seemed to hit the right notes.

9th Circuit Pulls Judge Off Case, Accusing Him of 'Biased Interventions'

The National Law Journal

A federal appeals court removed U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real of Los Angeles from another case, accusing him this time of "excessive and biased interventions" that denied two defendants a fair trial. The 9th Circuit said, "Taken together, the trial court's biased evidentiary rulings, disparaging remarks, and lengthy interrogations of witnesses, 'created an atmosphere in which an objectively fair trial could not be conducted.'" Real has run afoul of the 9th Circuit for his handling of cases for years.

No Coercion in KPMG Case, Prosecutor Says

New York Law Journal

Prosecutor Karl Metzner insisted Tuesday that the government did not force KPMG to stop paying legal fees for former employees charged in an illegal tax shelter case and urged the reinstatement of the indictments against 13 former defendants. Arguing before the 2nd Circuit, Metzner claimed that Judge Lewis Kaplan was wrong to dismiss the indictments based on a finding that government pressure on the firm over fees violated the defendants' rights to a fair trial under the Fifth and Sixth amendments.

Nixon Peabody Goes to China

Legal Times

Nixon Peabody has opened an office in Shanghai, the firm's first China location and its second international shop, after the London office that Nixon Peabody opened last year. The Shanghai office is currently staffed with two attorneys on a rotational basis, but the firm has plans to hire more attorneys in the near future.

Hot Market for International Energy Sparks Exits From Paul Hastings

The National Law Journal

Paul Hastings will see four attorneys handling international energy and infrastructure legal work exit the firm as the market for lawyers with project development know-how heats up. The departures of the lawyers, who work on everything from energy facilities to highways to oil pipelines, will have the biggest impact on the group's Latin America team. "One of the reasons these guys are leaving is because they're in a hot market," says John Hawkins, who leads the global project development and finance group.

Former Top Lawyer Faces Life in Jail for Phony Deal

Corporate Counsel

Robert Graham, former associate GC at General Re Corp., could spend the rest of his life in jail. On Feb. 25 a federal jury convicted Graham and four other defendants for aiding a sham deal at American International Group. Graham's conviction is further proof that in-house lawyers can't do something that they suspect may be wrong just to please company executives, says one former federal prosecutor, who notes that being an in-house counsel is not a "9-to-5, rubber-stamp, do-what-I'm-told kind of job."

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Defendant Dodges an EDD Bullet

New York Law Journal

A timely e-discovery request might not always be enough. In Toussie v. County of Suffolk, in the Eastern District of New York, a defendant dodged substantive sanctions for losing or destroying e-mails because there was no evidence that the missing e-mails were relevant to the case.

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Law Firm Associates, Bear Stearns and BS Work

Fulton County Daily Report

When humor columnist The Snark heard about JPMorgan Chase buying Bear Stearns at a fire-sale price, his second thought -- after realizing his retirement plan was going to be walloped by a dip in the stock market -- was, "The poor associates working on that deal." After all, the sale of one of the nation's oldest and largest investment banks was, seemingly, thrown together and finalized over one weekend. The Snark speculates how that weekend went: a lot of back and forth over five-sentence press releases.

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