INADMISSIBLE

Lawyers representing the family of the late Washington lawyer Robert Wone said they were ready to go to trial in the family’s wrongful death suit. They liked their chances, after the three defendants, who lived in the house where Wone died in 2006, refused to answer deposition questions like, “Did you kill Robert Wone?” The defendants’ use of the Fifth Amendment would be admissible in court. But the family, including widow Kathy Wone, decided to settle last week and avoid the emotional pain of a trial. Advising the family were Patrick Regan of Regan, Zambri & Long and Covington & Burling partner Benjamin Razi. “It’s a very personal question,” Regan said, on whether to settle. The family decided there was nothing more to be gained from litigation. “For Kathy, after weighing everything, she had gotten the answers she sought,” Regan said. The settlement further ensures the defendants’ insurance coverage will apply, whereas it might not have if the case had gone all the way to a verdict. “Through this settlement, we’ll be able to recover assets that would not have been available if we went to trial,” Razi said. The civil suit asked for $20 million. Settlement terms weren’t disclosed. — David Ingram

You could hardly blame Steven Bradbury if he wanted to keep his head down. When he was George W. Bush’s nominee to head up the Justice Department’s influential Office of Legal Counsel, Bradbury was the target of stalling tactics by Senate Democrats because of legal opinions he wrote about interrogation techniques and torture. Bradbury worked in the office from 2004 to 2009, serving for a time as acting chief of the unit, but he was never confirmed. He joined the Washington office of Dechert after leaving the administration.