When Chief U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno first saw the bonus requested by the court-appointed receiver in charge of collecting assets for investors who lost some $837 million in the Mutual Benefits viaticals fraud, he thought it was just over $1 million. Then Moreno realized that he'd misread the figure. It was actually $11 million, reports the Daily Business Review in an article reprinted by New York Lawyer (reg. req.). “I needed a defibrillator,” joked the judge at a recent hearing in the Southern District of Florida case. “We’re talking about a lot of money.” Receiver Roberto Martinez says the…

In a legal malpractice suit filed against Seyfarth Shaw and four current and former lawyers of the law firm, a former client is seeking not only standard-issue relief but treble damages and attorney fees under a Massachusetts consumer protection statute. Plaintiff PCG Trading contends Seyfarth withdrew from its representation of another client, Converge Inc., in a manner that put PCG, a supply chain management company, at risk, when it acquired the assets of Converge, reports the National Law Journal in an article reprinted in New York Lawyer (reg. req.). The Suffolk Superior Court suit also contends that Seyfarth didn't adequately…

The U.S. Department of Labor is seeking to impose a record-breaking $87.4 million in penalties on oil giant BP for safety violations at a refinery it operates in Texas. Of that amount, $56.7 million relates to a 2005 explosion at the Texas City refinery that killed 15 people and injured well over 150. The other $30.7 million concerns 439 subsequent safety violations that the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration described as willful, reports Reuters. The monster sanction is more than four times as large as any previous OSHA fine, reports the New York Times. “Fifteen people lost their lives…

The owner of a California radio station must pay $16.6 million to the survivors of a woman who died of water intoxication after participating in a "Hold Your Wee for a Wii" contest. The winner of the 2007 contest promoted by KDND, also known as "The End" due to the station's position on the FM dial, was to receive the Nintendo video game for drinking the most water without either urinating or vomiting. Lawyers for the family of Jennifer Lea Strange, who died at age 28, leaving her husband and three children, had asked for between $34 million and $44…

Drinker Biddle & Reath has reportedly laid off 22 associates and has scheduled a meeting to announce the elimination of lockstep compensation. Above the Law broke the news, reporting that most of the layoffs are in Chicago, and some are in Philadelphia. A law firm spokesman declined to comment on the report to the ABA Journal. A memo sent to associates today announced a firmwide associates meeting next Wednesday to discuss a new merit-based compensation system. Associates will be reorganized into four levels and will be promoted based on certain competencies instead of law firm tenure. The program will begin…

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is the 10th most influential person in Washington, D.C., beating out Attorney General Eric Holder, who comes in at No. 13. GQ magazine said it ranked Roberts 10th on its list of the 50 most powerful people in D.C. because of his apparent influence in moving the court to the right. “A fact: Under Roberts, the Supreme Court has become more conservative than at any point in the past three decades,” the magazine says. Harvard law professor and bankruptcy expert Elizabeth Warren is 30th on the list for her position as chair of the…

In honor of Halloween, the blog Bitter Lawyer is revealing “the spooky truth about real law school monsters.” The blog designates five types of law school monsters, and says only one—the werewolf—is worth knowing. “By day, he’s your average law student—overstressed and overworked,” Bitter Lawyer says. “But at night it’s a different story. More beast than man, the werewolf is one monster worth knowing, because he knows how to blow off steam. While everyone else is crammed into the library, the werewolf is bending the ear of a local bartender or organizing a midnight rally to an area casino.” Other…

The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that the state’s public records law requires disclosure of metadata embedded in the electronic records. The Supreme Court ruled in the case of a demoted police officer who wanted access to metadata to see whether notes written by his supervisor were backdated to justify the job action, according to the Associated Press and the Arizona Republic. Metadata can show when an electronic document was created or revised, and how it was altered. The ruling is believed to be the first state supreme court ruling on public records and metadata, AP says. Additional coverage: The…

Is the appointment of pay czar Kenneth Feinberg constitutional? Stanford law professor Michael McConnell, a former federal appeals judge, thinks not. In a Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) opinion column, McConnell argues that Feinberg’s appointment violates the appointments clause requiring Senate approval of all officers of the United States. Feinberg was appointed to the pay czar position by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner under the law establishing the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The law authorized Geithner to require TARP recipients to meet “appropriate standards” for executive compensation. “Because he is not a properly appointed officer of the United States, Mr. Feinberg's…

Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Craig Wright got a rude awakening by intruders—twice in the same week. In the first incident on Oct. 20, two men entered the home of the 80-year-old judge, awakened him in his bedroom, and demanded money, the Columbus Dispatch reports. Wright said the two men "took off like big rabbits" when he warned that his son-in-law was on the way over. In the second incident two days later, two intruders awakened Wright and asked him to make out a check for them, the story says. They also stole jewelry and other items. Wright walked out…