Overlawyered » scandals http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:28:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 “‘I’ll take care of it’ — with five words, a billionaire transformed into a felon” http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/ill-take-care-of-it-with-five-words-a-billionaire-transformed-into-a-felon/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/ill-take-care-of-it-with-five-words-a-billionaire-transformed-into-a-felon/#comments Thu, 03 Dec 2009 05:09:38 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14992 Kings of Tort, the new book on Mississippi’s Dickie Scruggs and Paul Minor scandals by Alan Lange (YallPolitics) and Tom Dawson, is now out. Its website links to reviews and other angles of interest.

P.S. A blog reaction from Tom Freeland.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/12/ill-take-care-of-it-with-five-words-a-billionaire-transformed-into-a-felon/feed/ 0 Gene Cauley gets seven years http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/gene-cauley-gets-seven-years/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/gene-cauley-gets-seven-years/#comments Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:05:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14878 The Arkansas plaintiff’s lawyer says he was too embarrassed to make layoffs as his finances turned sour, which is why he stole the $9.3 million in class-action settlement funds [WSJ Law Blog, ABA Journal] Earlier here, here, and here.

More from Kevin LaCroix:

An earlier WSJ.com Law Blog post reported (here) that Cauley was in fact a protégé of Bill Lerach. Today’s article on Bloomberg (here) about Cauley’s criminal sentencing notes that Cauley joins a growing list of plaintiffs’ securities class action attorneys who have “been jailed for felonies,” including Bill Lerach himself and his former law partners, Mel Weiss, Steven Schulman and David Bershad, and including even Marc Dreier.

These gentlemen of course made their living for many years accusing corporate officials of fraud. Ahem. Yes, well…isn’t ironic, don’t you think?

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/gene-cauley-gets-seven-years/feed/ 0 Mississippi: Judge DeLaughter sentenced to 18 months http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/mississippi-judge-delaughter-sentenced-to-18-months/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/mississippi-judge-delaughter-sentenced-to-18-months/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:17:59 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14767 Bringing to a close another chapter in the Scruggs scandals. [WSJ Law Blog]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/mississippi-judge-delaughter-sentenced-to-18-months/feed/ 0 Two books set to hit on Scruggs scandal http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/two-books-set-to-hit-on-scruggs-scandal/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/two-books-set-to-hit-on-scruggs-scandal/#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:22:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14519 One is co-written by Alan Lange of YallPolitics blogging fame. [Freeland] More: Joe Palazzolo, “Scruggs Prosecutor Writes Tell-All Book”, Main Justice.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/two-books-set-to-hit-on-scruggs-scandal/feed/ 0 “Attorney toppled diet-drug case Goliaths” http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/attorney-toppled-diet-drug-case-goliaths/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/attorney-toppled-diet-drug-case-goliaths/#comments Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:45:11 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=13558 The Louisville Courier-Journal profiles Angela Ford, who took the lead in exposing Kentucky’s massive fen-phen settlement fraud.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/09/attorney-toppled-diet-drug-case-goliaths/feed/ 0 “Gallion gets 25 years, Cunningham 20 in fen-phen fraud case” http://overlawyered.com/2009/08/gallion-gets-25-years-cunningham-20-in-fen-phen-fraud-case/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/08/gallion-gets-25-years-cunningham-20-in-fen-phen-fraud-case/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 04:03:24 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=13219 Stiff sentences for the two lawyers most closely identified with the Kentucky fen-phen settlement scandal. [Louisville Courier-Journal, Lexington Herald-Leader, Bloomberg, ABA Journal]. More: Howard Erichson, Mass Tort Lit Blog.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/08/gallion-gets-25-years-cunningham-20-in-fen-phen-fraud-case/feed/ 0 The rise and fall of Gene Cauley http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/the-rise-and-fall-of-gene-cauley/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/the-rise-and-fall-of-gene-cauley/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:36:30 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=11512 Who would have dreamed that a protege of Bill Lerach would wind up later copping to a felony rap resulting from ethical infractions? (Wait, don’t answer.)

At a barbershop in 1994, [Cauley] says, he picked up Forbes magazine and saw a profile of Lerach; it was the famous article, where the attorney was quoted as saying, “I have the greatest practice . . . I have no clients.”

Cauley approached Lerach and was soon launched in a thriving class action practice (”His usual way to deal with things was to yell and bang things and threaten,” said a fellow plaintiffs lawyer, Glen DeValerio of Boston.) It came crashing down under revelations that the Little Rock, Ark.-based lawyer took $9 million from clients’ settlements to spend on firm overhead and unrelated investments. [Koppel/WSJ, ABA Journal, interview-based WSJ Law Blog story first, second]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/06/the-rise-and-fall-of-gene-cauley/feed/ 0 “Prominent Arkansas Lawyer Probed Over Missing $9 Million” http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/prominent-arkansas-lawyer-probed-over-missing-9-million/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/prominent-arkansas-lawyer-probed-over-missing-9-million/#comments Sat, 09 May 2009 04:03:48 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=11044 “Prominent Arkansas plaintiffs’ lawyer Gene Cauley has landed in some hot water due to his apparent inability to produce more than $9 million in settlement money he was overseeing for clients, according to federal court records.” His lawyer, John Wesley Hall, told Judge Jed Rakoff at a hearing “that the missing settlement funds ‘are presently unavailable,’ but Hall declined to elaborate, citing Cauley’s privilege against self-incrimination.” He says, however, that Cauley is working to “find the money and pay it in 90 days” and expects to “make everyone 100% whole”. [WSJ Law Blog].

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/prominent-arkansas-lawyer-probed-over-missing-9-million/feed/ 4 Grand jury probes John Edwards-Rielle Hunter payments http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/grand-jury-probes-john-edwards-rielle-hunter-payments/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/grand-jury-probes-john-edwards-rielle-hunter-payments/#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 12:51:05 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=10914 What with all the money in Edwards’ own name from his legal career, not to mention the late Texas trial lawyer Fred Baron’s generosity in solving the housing needs of Edwards’ girlfriend, it wouldn’t seem necessary to use campaign or charitable funds for her benefit, too, but a U.S. attorney is said to be pursuing allegations along those lines. Hunter was paid $100,000 to do documentary filmmaking about the Edwards campaign, which gave the couple many opportunities to be close to each other. [New York Daily News, CBS News, Raleigh News & Observer] More: Althouse, Kaus.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/grand-jury-probes-john-edwards-rielle-hunter-payments/feed/ 2 U.K.: Another miners’-health lawyer disbarred http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/uk-another-miners-health-lawyer-disbarred/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/05/uk-another-miners-health-lawyer-disbarred/#comments Sun, 03 May 2009 17:18:25 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=10905 From the Times Online:

A former television presenter who became one of Britain’s highest-earning solicitors has been struck off for “disgraceful” misconduct in his handling of sick miners’ compensation claims.

Andrew Nulty, who earned £13 million from the claims in one year, joins a growing list of solicitors punished for their role in the coal health scandal, exposed by The Times.

Earlier: Feb. 3, 2009; Feb. 19 and Dec. 12, 2008; May 8, 2007.

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