Michael Kunzelman

December 16, 2010 | Daily Report Online

By HARRY R. WEBER and MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

6 minute read

September 25, 2009 | Daily Report Online

NEW ORLEANS AP - A federal jury on Thursday rejected a New Orleans family's assertions that the government-issued trailer they lived in after Hurricane Katrina exposed them to dangerous fumes, in the first of several trials that could lead to hundreds of similar claims being resolved.Five men and three women decided that a trailer made by Gulf Stream Coach Inc.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

5 minute read

October 07, 2009 | Daily Report Online

NEW ORLEANS AP - Louisiana's attorney general said Tuesday he has stepped up an investigation into embezzlement at ACORN nearly a decade ago, but the prosecutor and community activist group clashed over how much money was taken.Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell claimed the figure was $5 million, but ACORN said the sum hadn't changed from slightly less than $1 million.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

4 minute read

February 04, 2011 | Law.com

The judge who struck down the Obama administration's moratorium on deepwater drilling after the Gulf spill has held a federal agency in contempt and ordered it to pay attorney fees for several oil companies.

By Michael Kunzelman

2 minute read

July 01, 2010 | Law.com

BP's practice of burning off spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico is probably killing endangered sea turtles, several wildlife protection groups claim in a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit filed Wednesday by the Animal Welfare Institute and other groups asks a federal district court judge to restrict BP's controlled burns of oil. The judge is scheduled to hear arguments Friday on the groups' request for a temporary restraining order. The lawsuit accuses BP of violating the Endangered Species Act.

By Michael Kunzelman

2 minute read

October 19, 2010 | Law.com

BP PLC informed a federal judge Monday that the company is waiving a $75 million cap on its liability for certain economic damage claims spawned by the massive Gulf oil spill. In a court filing, BP lawyers said the company is waiving the statutory limitation on liability under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act even though it denies engaging in any gross negligence in connection with the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig and resulting spill.

By Michael Kunzelman

2 minute read

November 20, 2007 | National Law Journal

A 5th Circuit panel has refused to bar prominent attorney Richard Scruggs from representing a Mississippi resident in a suit against State Farm Fire & Casualty over Hurricane Katrina damage. The panel found that State Farm failed to show "extraordinary circumstances" justifying Scruggs' disqualification based on claims that he improperly used internal State Farm records. The case is one of hundreds Scruggs' firm has filed against the insurer for denying policyholders' Katrina-related claims.

By Michael Kunzelman

2 minute read

April 18, 2011 | New York Law Journal

By Michael Kunzelman

2 minute read

May 05, 2011 | New York Law Journal

By Michael Kunzelman

2 minute read

May 30, 2008 | Law.com

A federal appeals court on Wednesday revived lawsuits against military contractors over a deadly ambush that killed civilian truck drivers in Iraq. The suits accuse Halliburton and former subsidiary KBR of knowingly sending a convoy into a dangerous area where six KBR drivers were killed and others wounded in 2004. A federal judge threw out the lawsuits in 2006, saying the judiciary can't second-guess the military's battlefield decisions, but the 5th Circuit reversed that judge's ruling on Wednesday.

By Michael Kunzelman

3 minute read