Paul Elias

August 12, 1999 | Law.com

A federal judge on Wednesday barred Keker & Van Nest from defending Genentech Inc. at the retrial of a $1.2 billion patent infringement case brought by the University of California, citing a conflict of interest. Keker partner Ragesh Tangri, while an associate at Howard, Rice, Nemerovski, Canady, Falk & Rabkin five years ago, logged 2,000 hours on the case on behalf of the university which represents "a direct conflict," Judge Charles Legge ruled from the bench.

By Paul Elias

3 minute read

May 11, 1999 | Law.com

The judicial confirmation process before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is once again paralyzed. Last year, a stalemate between President Bill Clinton and Republican senators over judicial appointments was broken in the wake of a harsh rebuke by Chief Justice William Rehnquist. This time, a political conflagration in the home state of Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch has halted the entire federal judicial confirmation process.

By Paul Elias

3 minute read

March 30, 1999 | Law.com

On Friday, a California federal judge slammed NBA superstar Latrell Sprewell and his legal advisers with rarely invoked Rule 11 sanctions for bringing a frivolous suit against the National Basketball Association. Back in July, judge Vaughn Walker warned Sprewell and his lawyers that the complaint was perilously close to being deemed frivolous. They refiled the case, anyway. Walker's Friday order implied that he would include the defendants' legal fees in the award.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

May 13, 1999 | Law.com

A federal appeals court Wednesday handed Microsoft Corp. yet another loss in its long-running battle to keep free-lancers and agency workers from participating in its lucrative employee stock purchase plan. In 1993, a group of free-lance and agency workers sued Microsoft alleging that they were, in fact, employees of the company and deserving of the related benefits. The ruling Wednesday expanded a class that Microsoft is liable to from about 500 workers to more than 5,000.

By Paul Elias

2 minute read

December 06, 2010 | The Legal Intelligencer

An attempt to oust a liberal judge from hearing a landmark gay marriage case in California ended Thursday almost as quickly as it began.

By Paul Elias

2 minute read

July 01, 1999 | Law.com

Despite outraged objections from the plaintiffs bar and Democratic lawmakers, Congress today is expected to pass a sweeping law that will make it exceedingly difficult to file class actions against high-tech companies because of so-called Y2K problems. But it remains to be seen if President Clinton will sign the law. The White House is unhappy with two of the bill's provisions relating to proportional liability and punitive damages.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

September 14, 1999 | Law.com

In a ruling that will almost certainly renew debate over the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals' political leanings, the court on Monday ruled that seriously ill people with doctor recommendations are entitled to legally traffic in marijuana. The ruling, if allowed to stand, would probably allow Northern California marijuana clubs to re-open. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer last year ordered the clubs padlocked after the U.S. Department of Justice filed suit to shut them.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

November 03, 1999 | Law.com

By Paul Elias

1 minute read

August 09, 1999 | Law.com

Come January, hacker Kevin Mitnick will be a free man. The Los Angeles district attorney's office on Friday dropped its six-year-old hacking case against Mitnick and removed a hold that had prevented Mitnick from being released. In 1993, the DA charged Mitnick with one count of illegally accessing a DMV computer and retrieving confidential information. But, Mitnick didn't personally connect to the computer, he simply picked up a telephone and duped an employee accessing the DMV computer for him.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read

July 21, 1999 | Law.com

U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer sentenced Pius Ailemen to 292 months in prison Tuesday for his role as head of an international heroin ring. Then Breyer referred Ailemen's two defense lawyers to a disciplinary committee for possible sanctions because of their actions during the trial. A jury convicted Ailemen in April after a contentious seven-week trial that had defense attorneys Harold Rosenthal and Robert Bloom constantly bickering with each other and Breyer over trial tactics and strategy.

By Paul Elias

4 minute read