Free Republic

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Tarla Makaeff has had enough of Donald Trump after spending six years fighting him in court. The Southern California yoga instructor wants to withdraw from a federal class-action lawsuit that says Trump University fleeced students with an empty promise to teach them real estate. Her lawyers said the Republican presidential front-runner and his team have put her "through the wringer" and made the prospect of a trial unbearable. A judge will consider the request Friday, four days before Florida and Ohio hold their primaries. Trump's attorneys say the lawsuit should be dismissed if Makaeff is allowed...

The day after a judge upheld Pennsylvania's new voter identification law, the lead plaintiff in the suit seeking to block the law went to a PennDot office and was issued the photo ID card she needs to vote.

A man who has filed well over a hundred lawsuits against local small-business owners says he's an advocate for the disabled. His critics say what he does is harassment and extortion. James Farkus Cohan says he's disabled with end-stage emphysema. He sues small businesses, claiming those businesses are violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Cohan has filed at least 161 lawsuits... Eyewitness News caught up with Cohan after his daily hike up a steep hill near his Sun Valley home. He was hiking without a wheelchair, walker or oxygen tank.

Rick Paul, owner of Rick's White Light Diner, was found in contempt of court Monday and must pay $1,000 to a charity of his choice, for again infringing on the Derby-Pie trademark. Before U.S. District Judge Joseph Hood in a Lexington courtroom, Paul was found in contempt of court for violating a 1997 permanent injunction signed by Hood, ordering Paul not to infringe on Kern's Kitchen Inc.'s trademark Derby-Pie. Paul also must pay Kern's Kitchen's attorney fees and costs. "I am disappointed with the judge's ruling and I accept it," Paul said today. "Our proof was considerably different than Derby...

Powerhouse plaintiff securities firm Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman and two of the firm’s name partners were indicted Thursday in an ongoing investigation into an alleged fee-sharing scheme, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles announced. A 20-count grand jury indictment accuses the 120-lawyer, New York City-based firm and partners David J. Bershad and Steven G. Schulman with participating in a conspiracy whose objects were obstructing justice, perjury, bribery and fraud. The purpose of the conspiracy, according to prosecutors, was to conceal the fact that some $11.3 million in illegal kickbacks had been secretly paid by Milberg Weiss to lead plaintiffs in...

U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack issued a stinging rebuke of doctors and plaintiff lawyers involved in a massive set of silicosis lawsuits, a move that could send re-verberations throughout the nation in other tort class actions. In a 249-page ruling made public Friday, Jack determined the plaintiffs' attorneys and the doctors involved in diagnosing about 10,000 potentially sick workers hatched a scheme aimed at making money and had no interest in protecting their clients. "These diagnoses were about litigation rather than healthcare," she wrote. "It is apparent that truth and justice had very little to do with these diagnoses...

NEW YORK - McDonald's has so far prevailed in the lawsuits that have asserted it is partly to blame for its customers' bulging waistlines. But a new lawsuit filed in federal court in San Francisco insists the burger giant has failed in its promise to move to a healthier cooking oil, and it is being brought not by fry-eaters but by Kathy Fettke, a "personal coach" and infomercial pitchwoman who "is living her dream by helping others live their dreams." Fettke, who has also worked as a television host and actor--she played a bridesmaid in Flubber--is married to the similarly...

Jim Long, Commissioner North Carolina Department of Insurance Investigations Division 1201 Mail Service Center Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1201 COMPLAINT RE: Mr. John Edwards, Raleigh, North Carolina August 23rd, 2004 Dear Mr. Long: I am filing a complaint with your office regarding John Edwards. Mr. Edwards has litigated several cases in the state of North Carolina in the past several years. These cases involved alleged medical malpractice. As will be outlined below, these cases were presented to juries in a fraudulent manner, in order to obtain vast payments from insurance companies doing business in North Carolina in the field of medical...