A ruling by a federal magistrate judge could open the door for Warner Bros. to gain access to confidential documents the studio insists support its claims against the attorney representing the heirs of creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in their fright for the rights to Superman. Variety reports that U.S. Magistrate Judge Ralph Zarefsky Keep Reading…
MARTINEZ — One thousand acres of ranchland owned for 146 years by a pioneering Contra Costa County family changed hands this week before a group of attorneys and a handful of interested spectators in Superior Court. Judge Barry Goode approved the sale arranged by a receiver of two of the three parcels in question to Keep Reading…
In a recent column, I discussed the often-outrageous attorney fee claims in class action lawsuits, where lawyers pocketed huge sums while achieving little, if anything, for the consumers in whose names they waged war in the legal trenches. Sometimes, it’s not consumers who are taken advantage of, but corporations that are victimized by the devastating Keep Reading…
Our friend Jonathan Okray will join host Gary Johnson on Live and Let Live at 9 p.m. CDT Sunday, May 29. Jonathan is the organizer of a recent effort to recall the Killeen (TX) city council. Six of the seven current members are facing recall after one former member lost a recent re-election bid. Background Keep Reading…
AUSTIN – The Texas Senate unanimously passed the Citizen Participation Act, anti-SLAPP legislation aimed at curbing lawsuits intended to silence critics. SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits against public participation, are lawsuits brought in retaliation for someone exercising his or her freedom of speech. The plaintiff’s goal is not necessarily to win the lawsuit, but to intimidate Keep Reading…
Estate of Denial® provides news, analysis and commentary on abusive practices occurring in probate courts and via probate instruments (wills, trusts, guardianships, powers of attorney). We provide original perspective to educate the public regarding this growing threat to both individual freedoms and property rights.An estate lawyer accused of a “wrongful scheme” to steer money to himself from the estates of the late June M. Farrington and her surviving brother will pay back $410,000 as part of a settlement. Estate lawyer Stephen M. Newman also resigned as executor and trustee of all of the estates and trusts he set Keep Reading…
Shannon Price failed to prove that she and Gary Coleman had a common-law marriage after their 2009 divorce. Fourth District Judge James R. Taylor ruled Monday that while Price had lived in the former “Diff’rent Strokes” star’s home after their marriage ended, the relationship failed to meet the state’s standard for a common-law marriage. “There Keep Reading…
Police Detective Jason Takacs has two thick files filled with paperwork supporting charges that a local deli owner bilked three elderly siblings of more than $200,000. Takacs credits cooperation among police, People’s United Bank, the Fairfield Probate Court and a forensic accountant from the chief state’s attorney’s office with the Thursday arrest of Carmella Jamshidian, Keep Reading…
Here’s more big government “smoke and mirrors” from the state of Texas. In watching media postings across the country, it’s highly trendy to decry the need to protect the elderly and the vulnerable. It makes people feel good to think “someone” is out there with an eye on things. Problem comes in that those “someones” Keep Reading…
Two of Don Barden’s siblings have alleged “gross irregularities” in the handling of the late casino mogul’s estate, including a potentially phony trust agreement. “It quite simply appears to be a fraud,” Farmington Hills attorney Steven Cohen charged in court papers last month. He represents Helen Robinson and Douglas Barden, who are challenging the validity Keep Reading…
