Free Republic

Legendary singer Willie Nelson will be featured at a high-dollar fundraiser for Democratic governor nominee Wendy Davis. The event will be held April 27 in the Houston backyard of plaintiff’s lawyer Steve and Amber Mostyn, featuring barbecue, Nelson and — for those who stay overnight at the Hotel ZaZa — a campaign briefing on Monday morning.

A man named Webster Lucas is so upset with McDonald's that he has decided to file a lawsuit against them for $1.5 million, but it's not for any reason you could possibly imagine. TMZ reported on Feb. 27, 2014, that the California man is suing McDonald's because they gave him only one napkin with the meal that he ordered and received. Lucas contacted the general manager via email and said that he was suffering from "undue mental anguish" and that stopped him from going to work. He also says that the general manager tried to make amends by offering him...

Not satisfied with President Obama for appointing record numbers of gay, female and minority judges, liberal groups and labor unions are now pressuring the president to nominate more jurists who have backgrounds working for unions and public-interest organizations. The Alliance for Justice, a coalition of more than 100 liberal groups, is lobbying the White House to “broaden the bench” with more judicial nominees who represent what it calls “professional diversity” — judges who are more likely to be aligned with the coalition’s liberal agenda. “We face a federal bench that has a striking lack of diversity,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts...

(CNSNews.com) - "We're still a country very much addicted to tobacco," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told a news conference last Friday, as she urged communities, schools and businesses to "help make the next generation a tobacco-free generation." A transcript of that news conference runs around 8,300 words, but there isn't a single word about the adverse health effects of marijuana smoking -- even as more states jump on the pot-legalization bandwagon. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, marijuana smoke is an irritant to the lungs, and "frequent marijuana smokers can have many of the same...

State Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, has reported two million-dollar donors to her campaign for governor: Austinite Carolyn Oliver and Houston’s Mostyn Law Firm.

The US Justice Department is intervening in a private lawsuit against H&R Block for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. H&R Block is a large provider of American tax services and informational services for tax payers.

Do you think the Koch brothers and other super-rich conservatives are the ones spending more money than anyone else to influence elections in states across the country? You’re wrong.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wanted to send a “message” by fining a department store almost $4 million after they failed to “report immediately” to the federal government that they were selling children’s clothing with drawstrings. Ross Stores, Inc. settled with the agency in June, agreeing to pay a $3.9 million civil penalty after they “knowingly failed to report to CPSC immediately, as required by federal law, that it sold or held for sale, about 23,000 children’s upper outerwear garments with drawstrings at the neck or waist.” The company said it settled to avoid costly litigation and denies...

The American Association for Justice Convention at the Hilton in San Francisco this week has brought hords to town — hords of politicians. And we’re betting they’re not so much interested in AAJC’s panel discussions on more kinds of litigation than you ever thought possible — from Super Storm Sandy to bladder cancer, antidepressants to motorcycle lawsuits — than they are in being here in the Mother Lode of political fundraising. After all, the convention is conveniently located just a stone’s throw from Google, Facebook, Twitter, and all that Silicon Valley money — not to mention America’s Cup action that...

Former FBI Director Louis Freeh will investigate possible misconduct by a lawyer involved in making payments to settle claims by people and businesses affected by the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, the judge in the spill damages case said on Tuesday.

Disgraced lawyer Melvyn Weiss violated his parole by drinking and driving but a federal judge isn't sending the sad sack back to jail as reported by Dana Feldman and Nate Raymond for Reuters: "Weiss, 77, reached a deal with federal prosecutors on the eve of a Friday hearing in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on whether to revoke his release following an arrest in December for driving under the influence in Boynton Beach, Florida. The agreement came after Weiss pleaded guilty to the DUI charge on April 18 in Florida and was sentenced to 12 months probation and 50...

The Association of Corporate Counsel is challenging the apparent practice by at least some plaintiffs' firms of using temporary attorneys as profit centers in class actions as reported by Daniel Fisher for Forbes. The 30,000-member trade group has filed a letter with a Manhattan federal court which must approve a $100 million fee request by trial lawyers who negotiated a $590 million settlement in a securities action against Citigroup, and contends that the high rates sought for the temporary lawyers are "beyond what a reasonable, paying client would be willing to pay." In class action lawsuits a substantial portion of...

A man who has spent more than four decades in prison for a Tucson hotel fire that killed 29 people, including some who jumped from windows to escape the searing heat, is expected to be released Tuesday as part of a deal with prosecutors. Louis Cuen Taylor of Tucson was convicted of murder as a teen but has maintained his innocence in the December 1970 fire at the Pioneer Hotel. The fire came during a Christmas party for employees of an aircraft company and left many guests trapped in their rooms. The building had no sprinkler system, exits were locked...

Houston trial lawyers Steve and Amber Mostyn say they’re giving $1 million to a gun-control group formed by former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly. Steve Mostyn is a major Democratic campaign contributor, backing candidates in Texas and nationally. He gave $3 million to Priorities USA Action, a super PAC aiding President Obama’s re-election. He’s perhaps best known in Texas for launching a media campaign against Rick Perry two years ago in which he chided the Republican governor for his reluctance to debate in his 2010 reelection race with a full-page newspaper ad depicting Perry and...

The nation’s largest gas can manufacturer has closed its doors due to frivolous lawsuits at a time when Hurricane Sandy victims urgently need the containers. The company's closure has resulted in a shortage of gas cans for purchase or use in the disaster areas of the northeast, and in the US as a whole. The company, Blitz U.S.A., is a 50-year-old American business that has closed its doors and laid off all 117 employees. Blitz U.S.A. provided 75% of all gas canisters to the US, a feat which industry insiders say is only possible when a company does everything right....

Just saw this in breitbart.com. You may want to check your gas can supply.

George Louie is a West Sacramento man who has sued hundreds of Northern California cities and businesses for failing to comply with the federal Americans with Disability Act. This week, Yuba City announced it has agreed to pay Louie $15,000 to leave the city and its businesses alone for good. Louie's lawsuits targeting local governments and small-business owners have usually ended in out-of-court settlements in his favor, because the cases are expensive to fight, said Cris Vaughan, a Loomis attorney who has defended dozens of clients against Louie's lawsuits. Critics have called the suits "frivolous," alleging that they are motivated...

Ain’t that America! A greedy New Jersey woman is trying to cash in on a clutzy Little League catcher — claiming he intentionally beaned her in the face with a baseball during a warm-up session with his pitcher.

The family of a Georgia man who died when his heart couldn’t take a three-way sex romp was awarded a hefty $3 million payout by a jury, according to reports. William Martinez’s estate was originally seeking $5 million in a medical malpractice case that claimed a cardiologist failed to warn the 31-year-old to stay away from physical activity. While Gwinnett County jurors sided with the family Tuesday, they agreed to a lesser amount after finding Martinez was 40% liable for his own death, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday. Martinez, a husband and father of two, was engaged in a threesome...

The last few years have revealed an ugly underbelly to the plaintiffs’ bar, and some of the biggest trial lawyers across the country have been brought down in criminal prosecutions for their sharp practices. Bill Lerach and Mel Weiss, two legal eagles who made a fortune in bringing security fraud class actions against publicly traded companies, pleaded guilty in October 2007 and April 2008, respectively, for their roles in an alleged decades-long conspiracy pursuant to which serial plaintiffs were paid kickbacks from their court-awarded attorneys’ fees in the cases. The Milberg Weiss firm at which both men once were partners...