When it comes time to pay out life insurance benefits, a number of companies have found a way to do their duty and yet keep the money in their own hands, too. They send the beneficiary a checkbook for what might seem to be a checking account. But in fact the money isn't in a bank, and the account isn't insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. It's in an investment account from which the insurer profits, by paying the beneficiary only a small portion of the interest it is earning on the money, Bloomberg reports. Such retained-asset accounts are…

A University of Pittsburgh law student was shot and killed Wednesday night while talking on his cell phone on a park bench outside a bar in York, Pa. The victim, 28-year-old James Wallmuth, had worked as a summer associate with York lawyer John Hamme and would have been a 2L this year, Hamme told the York Dispatch. Wallmuth formerly worked as a case manager in the York County District Attorney’s office. "He went into law not to make money—he did it to help people,” Hamm told the publication. “He was just a great guy, and brilliant." York County District Attorney…

Can the government obtain a terrorism suspect’s Internet browser history without a court order? That’s a possibility under a bid by the Obama administration to make it easer for the FBI to obtain Internet data in terrorism probes, the Washington Post reports. Currently, the FBI can issue so-called national security letters without a judge’s approval requiring telecommunications companies to turn over billing and other records about their customers. But some telecoms have resisted requests for Internet data, saying the law does not permit it. The administration hopes to clear up any confusion by adding the words “electronic communication transactional records”…

Justice Antonin Scalia linked the “living Constitution” doctrine with politically charged U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings in a speech in Bozeman, Mont., on Wednesday. Scalia said that Supreme Court appointments have become political events since justices began acting as arbiter’s of the nation’s morals, the Associated Press reports. He speculated that if a vote were held today on his confirmation, he would not get the needed 60 votes. Scalia maintains unelected judges shouldn't rely on the living Constitution theory to make moral judgments, and said he refers to an 1848 Noah Webster dictionary to define words in the Constitution, AP…

Two men with ties to state politics are involved in separate alienation of affection lawsuits in Mississippi, one of seven states that still allow the tort. In one of the suits, a county schools superintendent is making a pre-emptive strike with a declaratory judgment suit against Democratic Party chairman Jamie Franks. The suit by Lee County Schools Superintendent Mike Scott seeks a court ruling that he is not liable for alienation of affection for having an affair with Franks’ now ex-wife, a school district employee, WLBT.com reports. Scott claims Franks tried to commit extortion by pressuring him to resign over…

The founder of a Chicago-area bankruptcy law firm says cleaning workers may be to blame for putting sensitive client documents in a Dumpster shared by other businesses. The documents included client information sheets with Social Security numbers, names and addresses, driver's license numbers and signed debit card authorizations, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The information was provided by clients of Robert J. Semrad & Associates, also known as DebtStoppers USA. Semrad told the Sun-Times that the documents had been transferred from the firm's Joliet office to a Chicago office serviced by a shredding company, and were in bags with a “do…

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox is questioning the timing of an affidavit that claims he received a lap dance at a party at the mayor’s mansion. Cox is campaigning for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, and he says he wasn’t at any party, and has never even been to the mansion, MLive.com reports. Cox said reports of a lap dance at a never-proven party are desperate fantasies promoted by people who want to "make money ... or play politics,” the Detroit Free Press reports. “It is absolutely ridiculous,” Cox told Click on Detroit. The affidavit, provided by a Dearborn man who…

A former West Virginia lawyer accused of beating a client with a baseball bat has been sentenced to one to five years of home confinement. Joshua Robinson of Charleston, 38, was sentenced Wednesday after entering a Kennedy plea to unlawful wounding, a felony, in April, according to the Charleston Gazette and the Charleston Daily Mail. In a Kennedy plea, a defendant doesn’t admit guilt but acknowledges there is no genuine defense to the charge. He spent 45 days in jail as the case was pending, but was released to home confinement after he was attacked in jail. Robinson apologized at…

Celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is vowing to go on an all-liquid diet for 30 days to promote women’s rights. Allred, 69, thinks the Equal Rights Amendment should be passed, and she’s passing up solid food to publicize the cause, according to the Daily Mail and TMZ. The TMZ story is headlined, “Gloria Allred Starving for Attention … Literally.” Allred plans to end her hunger strike on Aug. 26, the 90th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

The Recording Industry Association of America is defending more than $17 million spent on legal fees in 2008 after bloggers claimed the organization’s aggressive pursuit of damages for illegal downloading was yielding little legal in the way of legal recoveries. Two blogs, Recording Industry vs The People and ITProPortal, had written that the RIAA managed to recover only $391,000 that year despite the large payout to lawyers. But Jonathan Lamy, senior vice president for communications for the RIAA, says victories aren’t always measured in dollars and cents. Sometimes the organization obtains injunctions shutting down file-sharing websites, and sometimes recoveries go…