A federal court has given groups suing the state broad access to computers used by the Republican-controlled Legislature to redraw political boundaries in 2011.
A Cedarburg man who defrauded two Illinois lawyers in a three-year investment scheme must pay them $30 million in punitive damages, a Polk County, Mo., jury decided Tuesday.
An eastern Wisconsin business owner will spend about a year in prison for failing to pay taxes that had been withheld from employees’ wages.
The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation has filed a federal lawsuit alleging the Internal Revenue Service is giving unconstitutional preferential treatment to churches and other religious organizations.
A federal lawsuit filed by a Wisconsin-based group representing atheists and agnostics argues that the Internal Revenue Service is violating the U.S. Constitution by allowing tax-exempt churches and religious organizations to get involved in political campaigns.
A lawsuit on behalf of two Hamilton County residents seeks to stop the County Commission from praying at its meetings.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to clearly answer the question of whether plaintiffs can bring First Amendment-based retaliatory arrest claims despite the existence of probable cause.
Secret Service agents are protected by qualified immunity from being sued for retaliatory arrest where it was not clearly established that an arrest supported by probable cause could violate the First Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
The decision paves the way for the case, which has been winding its way through the federal courts, to be heard by the Supreme Court as early as next year.
A defendant that prevailed in a personal injury case filed in federal court could not recover its costs for translating documents from Japanese to English, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 6-3 decision.
Jailhouse strip searches of inmates arrested for non-indictable offenses are constitutional as long as the policy for conducting such searches strikes a reasonable balance between inmate privacy and the needs of the institutions, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
A U.S. District Court has the authority to order that a federal criminal sentence run consecutively to an anticipated state sentence that has yet to be imposed, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
The federal Defense of Marriage Act could not be enforced to deny a federal employee the right to have her same-sex spouse covered under her health insurance plan, a U.S. District Court in California has ruled in granting summary judgment.
Because the Credit Repair Organizations Act is silent on whether claims can proceed in arbitration, the Federal Arbitration Act mandates that the parties’ arbitration agreement be enforced, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Barbara Houser’s job is a lot harder than it used to be, and she is not afraid to admit it.
An Arizona woman has filed a product liability lawsuit alleging that she suffered bone fractures in her feet as a result of taking popular heartburn drugs made by AstraZeneca, Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies.
A blogger isn’t entitled the statutory and constitutional protections of a journalist when sued for defamation, a U.S. District Court in Oregon has ruled in entering a $2.5 million judgment.
The nation’s two biggest tobacco companies, Philip Morris USA Inc. and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., have agreed to pay $6.25 million to support the country’s largest online collection of internal tobacco industry documents, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court kicked off its October 2011 Term with oral arguments in a case that considers whether private plaintiffs can sue to enjoin a state from deviating from federal Medicaid program requirements.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Freedom From Religion Foundation wants a federal tax provision that allows church ministers tax breaks on money spent on housing declared unconstitutional. The Wisconsin State Journal reports the Madison-based organization filed a lawsuit Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Madison. It claims the provision violates the Constitutional provision separating church [...]
Congress does not have the authority under the Commerce Clause to require individuals to purchase a minimum level of health insurance coverage, a U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania has ruled in granting summary judgment.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A federal judge who studied in Madison and was appointed by President Jimmy Carter is scheduled to speak at her alma mater this week. U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb will speak Friday at the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison. She’ll discuss her views on how to bridge the [...]
The Milwaukee-based law firm of Gonzalez Saggio & Harlan LLP confirmed Tuesday that former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler Jr. will be joining the firm, starting Thursday. Butler, a University of Wisconsin Law School grad, served as an assistant state public defender from 1972 to 1992, when he joined the Milwaukee Municipal Court. He [...]
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha meatpacker denies supplying tainted beef to Cargill Meat Solutions Corp. that sickened dozens of people in 2007. According to a statement issued Saturday by Greater Omaha Packing Co. President Henry Davis, all products shipped to Cargill tested negative for E. coli. Cargill filed a federal lawsuit Friday, saying the [...]
Almost 1,500 cases tied to the defective hip implants produced by Indiana-based DePuy Orthopaedics Inc. have been funneled into a federal court in Ohio, but Wisconsin personal injury lawyers now have the option of keeping claims closer to home. That is potentially good news for plaintiffs looking for a quicker resolution to claims against Johnson [...]
By EILEEN AJ CONNELLY AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) – A federal judge on Wednesday approved a settlement between the Justice Department and MasterCard and Visa that requires the card processing networks to allow retailers to offer discounts or rebates to customers for using a particular kind of card. American Express Co. has refused [...]
By JIM SALTER Associated Press ST. LOUIS (AP) — A nationwide motorcycle gang was responsible for killings, robberies, drug distribution and other crimes, according to a federal indictment unsealed in St. Louis on Tuesday. The Wheels of Soul motorcycle club, with a “Mother Chapter” in Philadelphia, orchestrated violence and mayhem that included at least three [...]
By SCOTT BAUER Associated Press MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two unions representing about 2,700 public workers in Madison and Dane County have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s new law restricting collective bargaining rights. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, is the second federal challenge to the law that was [...]
By DAVE GRAM Associated Press MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Deanna Jones says she might like to devote her legal career to representing people with disabilities. But it appears she’ll have to win her own fight first. The 44-year-old Vermont Law School student, who is blind, is suing the National Conference of Bar Examiners and the [...]
When Beth Odian takes her oath as an attorney today, she does so knowing she has a job. The new Marquette Law School graduate wasn’t alone in her job security, but neither was it guaranteed, considering that about half of her 173 classmates sworn in at the state Capitol started their legal careers unemployed. But [...]
