Lawyer who invested in friend’s company wins $116 million verdict over failure to disclose fraud 
By:
Sylvia Hsieh
Published: January 17, 2012
Tags: fraud, investment fraud, Top Ten Jury Verdicts, Top Ten Jury Verdicts of 2011
Plaintiff D. Bobbit Noel Jr.
A Houston attorney who invested roughly $28,000 in his billionaire friend’s oil and gas company and cashed out for over $6 million won a $116 million verdict against his friend and the company for their failure to disclose that the investment was worth far more.
The many faces of law firm financial impropriety
By:
Ed Poll
Published: December 16, 2011
Tags: ethics, fraud, practice management
Financial fraud should, in theory, never be a concern for a law firm, where ethical considerations must predominate.
‘First-filed’ False Claims suit not subject to tougher standard
Published: November 8, 2011
Tags: False Claims Act, fraud, qui tam
A “first-filed” qui tam complaint was sufficient to bar a later-filed complaint regarding the same matter, even though the earlier filing may have failed to satisfy the heightened pleading standard for fraud under the federal rules, the D.C. Circuit has decided in affirming a dismissal.
Former employee wins $5.2 million for racial harassment
Published: October 26, 2011
Tags: California, failure to investigate, fraud, malice, oppression, racial harassment
A jury panel awarded a former Sears employee $5.2 million in damages for racial harassment, including $2.2 million to compensate for lost earnings, pain and suffering and $3 million in punitive damages. The jury found that Sears’ policymakers and managers conducted themselves “with malice, oppression or fraud” in failing to investigate or to act on ’s complaints about slurs and other racist acts.
College sued over accreditation
Published: October 17, 2011
Tags: college, fraud, Mississippi, nurses
For-profit Virginia College in has asked a Hinds County, Miss. judge to dismiss a suit filed by 14 people who allege they participated in a pilot program at the college’s Jackson campus to become licensed practical nurses only to find out the program was never accredited by the state.
Developers can be sued for risky home sales
Published: September 23, 2011
Tags: foreclosures, fraud, misrepresentation, real property
Developers could be sued for allegedly injuring homeowners by causing a drop in property values through sales to individuals with a high risk of foreclosure, the 9th Circuit has ruled in reversing a dismissal.
Defrauded former auto dealership owner wins $65.4M
By:
Correy Stephenson
Published: September 8, 2011
Tags: fraud
The former owner of an auto dealership has been awarded more than $65 million by an Oklahoma jury for fraud committed by the purchasers of the dealership as well as the bank that loaned the buyers money for the purchase.
San Diego sued for alleged pension fraud
Published: September 7, 2011
Tags: California, fraud, pension
More than 300 current and former city workers have accused San Diego of pension fraud.
Foreclosing lender may be liable for consumer fraud
Published: September 6, 2011
Tags: Consumer Fraud Act, consumer protection, foreclosures, fraud, mortgage
A home lender may be liable for consumer fraud law based on its allegedly breaching of agreements to forbear on foreclosure proceedings, the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled in reversing a dismissal.
Laboratory testing firm agrees to $49.5 million settlement for overcharging
Published: September 1, 2011
Tags: California, fraud, kickbacks, Medi, overcharging
Laboratory testing firm LabCorp will pay $49.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the firm overcharged Medi-Cal for years and funneled kickbacks to hospitals and physicians who sent business to its clinics, state attorney general’s officials have announced.
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