Ann Woolner

December 22, 2011 | Daily Report Online

The evidence that Russell E. Weston Jr. walked into the U.S. Capitol one July day and shot two police officers dead may have no bearing on whether he'll ever be tried, convicted or punished.Wounded and arrested at the scene in 1997 and diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, Weston was found mentally unfit to stand trial and lives in a federal hospital.

By Ann Woolner and Laurence Viele Davidson

5 minute read

March 02, 2009 | Daily Report Online

UBS AG has only itself to blame for landing in a vise, squeezed by Swiss banking secrecy law on one side and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on the other. If it hadn't been so hungry for American wealth and brazenly offered to hide it, the Swiss bank might have rocked along for years without ever getting pinched. But, no.

By Ann Woolner

5 minute read

August 29, 2005 | Daily Report Online

I'm thinking of calling a lawyer to see if I can file a Vioxx suit. Mark Lanier in Houston is probably busy on other calls, having won a $253 million Vioxx verdict against Merck Co. this month. No matter. The Internet is full of lawyers offering free consultations, online case evaluations and toll-free telephone numbers.

By Ann Woolner

5 minute read

October 21, 2010 | Daily Report Online

A federal judge in Pensacola, Fla., gave enemies of the national health care reform law reason to rejoice last week when he said it looks sort of unconstitutional. "This ruling is a victory for the states, small businesses and the American people," crowed Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, one of the leaders behind the challenge.

By Ann Woolner

5 minute read

July 02, 2002 | Daily Report Online

Ann WoolnerYou can call the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the wackiest court in the land, and some legal scholars would agree. They would have concurred even before the San Francisco-based court declared the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional.You can say the court's decision from San Francisco Wednesday was dead wrong politically, and your point would be proved by the outcry from Washington.

By Ann Woolner

4 minute read

August 15, 2005 | Daily Report Online

by Ann WoolnerStockbrokers who believe they work hours too long and bear overhead costs too high can take heart. They may have a few extra bucks coming their way. The second-largest brokerage house in the world, Merrill Lynch Co. Inc., decided to settle a suit rather than risk a court order that it pay California brokers overtime and pick up their business expenses.

By Ann Woolner

5 minute read

May 08, 2009 | Daily Report Online

You can call the plan to merge Chrysler and Fiat good for the economy. You can think it creative.You can say it's the start of "a vibrant new company," as Chrysler LLC Chairman Robert Nardelli did last week.But there's one word that you can't call the Chrysler bankruptcy package: legal.The plan would overturn basic rules of bankruptcy by setting up a sort-of sale to sidestep pesky legal requirements.

By Ann Woolner

5 minute read

May 03, 2004 | Daily Report Online

By Ann Woolner

5 minute read

December 31, 2008 | Daily Report Online

When Manhattan lawyer Marc Dreier needed to apply a patina of reality to allegedly bogus promissory notes he was pitching to hedge funds, he used Mission Impossible-type tricks. As the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan tells it, he would lie his way into an accounting firm's or real estate developer's office as if he had business there.

By Ann Woolner

6 minute read

September 09, 2009 | Daily Report Online

Pfizer Inc. sales folks had one tough customer in psychiatrist Stefan Kruszewski. He didn't buy their pitch to prescribe the anti-psychotic drug Geodon to children, a use that hadn't been approved by federal regulators. Nor did he go for the so-called off-label uses they suggested, such as treating dementia in the elderly.

By Ann Woolner

5 minute read