Attorney General Barr

Morning Docket: 12.22.20

* Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, is arguing for early release from home confinement. To be completely fair, most of us are confined to our homes right now... [Hill] * Google is facing two more antitrust lawsuits filed by four publishers. [Fox Business] * The L.A. City Attorney is warning against driving under the influence this holiday season because hospitals are filling up with COVID-19 patients. [KTLA] * Attorney General Barr has unveiled new charges over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing. [USA Today] * Netflix has settled a lawsuit with the Conan Doyle estate over the film Enola Holmes. Elementary! [Hollywood Reporter]

Morning Docket: 12.08.20

* Facebook could be hit with antitrust litigation as soon as this week. Don't get it, people still use MySpace...right? [Washington Post] * A former lawyer and an active attorney have been charged with allegedly writing fraudulent opinion letters. [ABA Journal] * More than 1,500 attorneys from across the country have signed a letter condemning the Trump Campaign's legal team. [Hill] * A New York lawyer is accused of steeling eight properties from unsuspecting clients through deed fraud. [New York Daily News] * Kamala Harris's sister is allegedly advancing the name of Kamala's brother-in-law to be Joe Biden's Attorney General. There is some precedent for nepotism in the Attorney General position... [Politico]

Morning Docket: 12.04.20

* A man in prison for tax fraud is accused of using a smartphone to continue committing more tax crimes. Hope he wasn't doing the guards' taxes like Andy Dufresne... [New York Times] * A Florida lawyer is in hot water for allegedly telling people to move to Georgia to vote in the upcoming runoff elections. [Fox News] * Sources say that President Trump has not ruled out firing Attorney General Barr before the end of his term. [NBC News] * A Maryland attorney has been charged for allegedly trying to steal funds from the Somali government. [U.S. News] * A lawsuit alleges that a newly-hired correctional officer was fired for wearing a "Black Lives Matter" shirt after guards wore "Police Lives Matter" shirts. [Seattle Times] * A new lawsuit against coffee-maker Folgers alleges that the plaintiff can't make the cups of coffee advertised on the container. If true, maybe Folgers will change their jingle to "the best part of waking up is Folgers in your mini cup"... [Crain's Chicago Business]

Morning Docket: 11.02.20

* A North Dakota lawyer has been disbarred for trying to sell drugs. This might be the perfect mix of Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad. [Bloomberg Law] * Attorney General Barr has reportedly told friends he would like to remain Attorney General if President Trump wins reelection. [Washington Post] * A former Virginia lawyer has been indicted on federal charges related to financial misconduct. [ABC News] * The Attorney General of New York is reportedly preparing a list of Trump actions for Joe Biden to undo if he wins the upcoming election. [NBC News] * Canada Dry has settled a lawsuit alleging that the company falsely claimed health benefits for its ginger ale. They should have advertised how it makes a good chaser instead... [Fox News]

Morning Docket: 10.21.20

* The Department of Justice has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. Don't get it, people still use Ask Jeeves, AOL Keywords, and Prodigy, right...? (I'm really dating myself here!) [Wall Street Journal] * Lawyers at Jones Day have purportedly donated far more money to Joe Biden than President Trump, even though the firm is working on President Trump's re-election campaign. [Reuters] * The Los Angeles District Attorney and her husband are being sued over an incident earlier this year in which the husband of LA's district attorney allegedly pointed a gun at protesters. [Fox News] * President Trump has requested that Attorney General Barr investigate Hunter Biden for alleged improprieties. [Bloomberg Law] * New Hampshire is suing Massachusetts in the Supreme Court of the United States for taxing New Hampshire residents even though they are working remotely. This is going to be a "wicked" interesting case. [Fox News]

Morning Docket: 10.15.20

* Britney Spears scored a small victory in her conservatorship battle with her father after a judge allowed her to hire her own counsel. Guess now "she is that innocent"... [Variety] * President Trump has refused to say whether he will keep Attorney General Barr if Trump wins reelection. [CNBC] * A medical device company will pay millions and submit to monitoring as a result of allegations that the company paid kickbacks to doctors. This would have been a boring ending to Love and Other Drugs... [Salt Lake Tribune] * Bernard Cohen, the lawyer who argued Loving v. Virginia at the Supreme Court, and was instrumental in eliminating interracial marriage bans, has passed away at the age of 86. [U.S. News & World Report] * A Texas attorney has been charged for allegedly using his smartphone to record a coworker in a bathroom. [New York Post] * The Missouri lawyer couple in hot water for allegedly pointing guns at protesters is purportedly handing out autographs. Soon, we may see them on Cameo... [Yahoo News]

Morning Docket: 10.05.20

* Steve Barnes, co-founder of New York personal injury powerhouse Cellino and Barnes, was killed in a plane crash along with his niece this past Friday. [New York Times] * Joe Bornstein, one of Maine's best-known personal injury lawyers, also passed away late last week. [Press Herald] * Attorney General Barr will self quarantine after he had close contact with several Trump associates who tested positive for COVID-19. [Boston Globe] * Several aides are accusing the Attorney General of Texas of bribery, abuse of office, and other illicit conduct. [CNN] * The Attorney General of Michigan will no longer enforce certain executive orders issued by Michigan's governor after the state's highest court found that the governor exceeded her powers in issuing many executive orders related to COVID-19. [ABC News] * A boxing champion is facing a lawsuit after allegedly failing to pay for around $500,000 in jewelry. This would have been a much less dramatic ending to the Adam Sandler movie Uncut Gems. [New York Post]

Morning Docket: 10.02.20

* A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the federal government against John Bolton for publishing a memoir without prior approval. Guess the government doesn't celebrate the guy's entire catalog... [New York Times] * A group of former Department of Justice lawyers are accusing Attorney General Barr of illicitly helping President Trump win reelection. [Hill] * A Texas judge who admonished and grabbed at a paralegal for sitting in a seat designated for lawyers has been disciplined. [Texas Lawyer] * Check out this primer on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, which is being discussed after President Trump announced he has COVID-19 earlier this morning. [NPR] * A new lawsuit accuses Kris Jenner of committing sexual harassment against a former bodyguard. [Fox News] * A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed after a fan suffered a heart attack at a Philadelphia Eagles game. If he ate any Philly cheesesteaks, that probably also didn't help... [Philadelphia Business Journal]

Morning Docket: 09.23.20

* A lawyer has been censured for telling a female judge that after she returned from vacation, "I better be able to see your tan lines." [CBS News] * Attorney General Barr has announced around $100 million in Department of Justice grants to combat human trafficking. [Albany Herald] * An Arizona lawyer, who helped orchestrate the failure of a Toby Keith restaurant chain, has been sentenced to jail. [Arizona Republic] * HBO has picked up a documentary about a lawyer on the frontlines of the fight for immigrant rights. [Variety] * A new lawsuit alleges that YouTube did not do enough to protect video moderators from viewing grotesque content. Guess they can't watch cat videos all day... [CNBC]

Morning Docket: 09.10.20

* A Rhode Island woman is accused of stealing around $740,000 from her godmother's law firm. Maybe this could form the basis of a spinoff to the Francis Ford Coppola classic... [WPRI.com] * A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit against the WWE over brain damage allegedly sustained by former wrestlers. [Chicago Sun Times] * George Bizos, an anti-apartheid lawyer who represented Nelson Mandela, has died of natural causes at 92. [BBC] * Attorney General Barr is claiming that the increase in violent crime in New York recently is a result of the state's new bail reform law. [New York Post] * President Trump announced 20 more people he may select to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Happy to say I have had a beer with one person on the list... [Fox News]

Morning Docket: 07.29.20

* Rapper Master P's lawsuit against a marijuana investment firm has gone up in smoke. Guess the chances at success were just a pipe dream, and the arguments were half baked (I can go all day). [GeekWire] * Although Mitch McConnell may be nervous about a large amount of COVID-19 personal injury lawsuits, only a small number of such cases have been filed to date. [Politico] * Check out the list of Billboard's top music lawyers for 2020. [Billboard] * Attorney General Barr had some heated exchanges with House Democrats at hearings on the Hill yesterday. [USA Today] * A criminal defendant may receive a new trial because a juror who is a lawyer did his or her own legal research on the case. This attorney should know better... [ABA Journal]

Morning Docket: 06.03.20

* Carole Baskin has been awarded the zoo once owned by Joe Exotic to satisfy a judgment from long-standing litigation between the two. Baskin should go after Exotic's country music songs next. [BBC] * A government lawyer says that the number of prisoners with COVID-19 at a federal lockup is likely seven times higher than previously reported. [ABC News] * A Florida man has been convicted of fraud for claiming he represented The Village People and fleecing a casino out of $12,000. "It's fun to stay at the 'J.A.I.L.'" [Fox News] * Google faces a $5 billion class action for tracking the internet usage of users even though browsers are set in "private" mode. [Reuters] * Attorney General Barr is purported to have personally ordered protesters removed so President Trump could visit a church near the White House earlier this week. [CNN] * A company has been ordered to pay $3.6 million in attorneys' fees for their adversary on top of a $600,000 judgment and paying their own lawyers $5 million. Bet they wish they just settled the case earlier. [Chicago Law Bulletin]

Morning Docket: 06.02.20

* The Supreme Court has declined to hear a case about mandatory bar membership. Looks like all of us will be shelling out money for bar dues for the foreseeable future. [Bloomberg Law] * Attorney General Barr looked on as people protested over the death of George Floyd outside of the White House yesterday. [Fox News] * New York is predictably experiencing a spike in litigation filings now that new cases can be initiated. [Advance Local] * The two Brooklyn attorneys accused of firebombing an NYPD police car have been granted bail. [New York Times] * The Second Circuit has rejected claims of qualified immunity over the shooting of a mentally ill man. [New York Law Journal] * A lawyer who had his client's case dismissed due to failure of service of process, and falsely claimed he had malpractice insurance, has been suspended from practice. Maybe this lawyer should get malpractice insurance for real if he ever practices law again... [Virginia Lawyers Weekly]

Morning Docket: 05.12.20

* A strip club owner has sued New York Governor Andrew Cuomo over closures related to COVID-19. Cuomo should pay any settlement in dollar bills. [New York Post] * The Georgia Attorney General has asked the Department of Justice to investigate the Ahmaud Arbery case. [CNN] * The Federal Circuit wouldn't give a lawyer a mulligan and affirmed a lower tribunal's ruling that the attorney did not have the right to a golf patent. [Reuters] * Almost 2,000 former employees of the Department of Justice have called on Attorney General Barr to resign. [Washington Post] * A college that is accused of being a "sham" has recieved millions of dollars of relief related to COVID-19. Sounds like a bad sequel to the movie Accepted. [NPR]

Morning Docket: 04.22.20

* A lawyer who got ejected from the Second Circuit last year is asking the Supreme Court to hear his case. Since the high court is conducting arguments by phone currently, maybe he'll just get hung up on. [New York Law Journal] * A lawyer who stole $128,000 from a mentally ill client has been suspended from practice. [Bloomberg Law] * Missouri has become the first U.S. state to sue China over the COVID-19 pandemic. Not sure this is a distinction to be proud of. [U.S. News and World Report] * A Texas judge has been forced to take down a rainbow flag after an attorney filed a complaint and compared the symbol to a swastika and Confederate flag. [Hill] * Attorney General Barr has called stay-at-home orders "disturbingly close to house arrest" and the Justice Department might take actions against states that go too far. [NBC News] * Lawyers are having a difficult time determining if COVID-19 is an act of God. Maybe they should subpoena the Almighty to get more clarity... [Bloomberg Law]