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Transocean has settled its first lawsuit filed on behalf of Karl Kleppinger Jr.’s family. Karl was one of the 11 oil rig crew members killed on the night of April 20, 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Karl Kleppinger Jr.’s family was one of the first to sue over deaths and injuries suffered by the 126 crew members who were on the rig when it blew out while drilling a well for BP Plc off the Louisiana coast. The explosion caused the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history, with more than 4.1 million barrels of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. Read Full Story

PORTLAND, OR – The Portland Police Bureau has released an audio recording of the interview between a detective and the massage therapist who accused former Vice President Al Gore of groping her in 2006.

Al Gore accused of sexual misconduct by Portland massage therapist

The woman spoke with Detective Molly Daul in January 2009 – two years after she canceled three appointments to meet with investigators. Read Full Story

SAN FRANCISCO – The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that prosecutors may not present positive urine samples and other vital evidence that the government says shows that the slugger knowingly used steroids.

Laboratory records alleged to show that former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs are inadmissible in the court case against him, a federal appeals court ruled Friday… Read Full Story

Joran van der Sloot, the suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama teenager Natalee Holloway in Aruba, is now wanted for the killing of a woman in Peru, Peruvian police officials said Wednesday.

The father of the murder girl told Peruvian reporters Wednesday he is certain Dutch national Joran van der Sloot killed his daughter, 21-year-old Stephany Flores Ramirez. Ricardo Flores, a race car driver and well-known businessman in Peru, told reporters, “This is my daughter’s assassin.”… Read Full Story

LOS ANGELES, CA -  Dr Conrad Murray’s criminal defense lawyers will argue that due to Michael Jackson’s long-time Propofol addiction, Michael Jackson grabbed the bottle from the nightstand, injected himself and then dropped the bottle, according to reports by TMZ. One source told TMZ that Jackson liked the sensation of Propofol being administered by IV, adding, “Michael liked to push it.”

Defense lawyers will argue that Michael Jackson's Propofol addiction caused him to inject himself

L.A. County Coroner’s investigators took a picture in the room, showing an empty Propofol bottle on the floor, underneath the nightstand by Jackson’s bed. The defense will argue Jackson grabbed the bottle from the nightstand, injected himself and then dropped the bottle… Read Full Story

The National Enquirer is reporting that John Edwards is about to be indicted by a federal grand jury. Edwards has been under investigation by the Grand Jury for alleged misuse of campaign finances since April 2009.

Edwards, who has been in the media for his sexual scandal involving his mistress Rielle Hunter, is said to have illegally paid Hunter using campaign funds. Read Full Story

SEATTLE, WA – Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna filed suit against California Corporation, DirecTV over the company’s ‘unconscionable business practices.’ The AG’s office recieved hundreds of complaints this year alone. In fact, the number of complaints were ‘off the chart’ – 355 complaints so far this year.

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Customers respond to an ad saying that they can get 150 channels for 29.99 per month for 12 months. But in order to get this price customers must mail in a rebate form right away (within 60 days). If they don’t, then they will be charged a higher price. The contract with DirecTV is for 2 years. If customers cancel before 24 month period they get slapped with a $480 cancellation fee.

McKenna says that the terms and conditions are in the ads but you’d need a magnifying glass to read them because they are buried in the fine print at the bottom of the page.

Assistant Attorney General Paula Selis has been preparing this case for more than a year. She says you only get that $29.99 price if you mail in for a rebate, and only if you do it right away. But when customers miss the 60-day deadline she says that people lose the right to do that at all. If they don’t do it in 60 days then they don’t get the rebate price plus they they get the higher price for the full 24 months of their contract.

McKenna says that this is what they call unconscionable business practices, where you’re not treating your customers fairly, adding that “The contract is so one-sided that it shouldn’t be permitted under the law.”

The Attorney General wants to hear from DirecTV customers who are unaware that they could file a claim with the AG’s office. Customers can learn more about filing a complaint from their website: http://www.atg.wa.gov/FileAComplaint.aspx

Readers can view the court documents from this link: download the PDF

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Robert Halderman’s lawyer, Gerald Shargel, in an interview on CBS “The Early Show” yesterday, said David Letterman was offered a $2 million deal for first rights to a “screenplay” by his client, Robert Halderman. Shargel said it was a business transaction, the way Hollywood works, not extortion.

Gerald Shargel, attorney for Robert Joe Halderman. (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

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Documents filed by Halderman’s lawyer claim David Letterman was having an affair with his former personal assistant, Stephanie Birkitt, much more recently than Letterman’s rep said.

The legal papers filed by the defense state that Robert Halderman confronted Stephanie Birkitt in December 2008 with evidence of the affair and she promised to end it. But Gerald Shargel, Halderman’s lawyer, claims the relationship continued “unabated” into this past summer.

Letterman’s rep has said the affair ended before Letterman’s marriage in March. Letterman came forward with the alleged extortion plot in early September.

Letterman’s attorney refused to say when the talk show host broke off his affair with Birkitt. Halderman’s lawyer did not elaborate about the sexual relationship and said he was looking forward to cross examining Letterman.

Shargel asked the judge to dismiss the extortion case, on grounds authorities were swept up in “the sensationalism surrounding the indictment” and the grand jury didn’t have enough evidence to target Halderman.

The lawyer claims the $2 million demand was “a pure commercial transaction” over a screenplay.

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Studio City resident, Steven Krell, a 61 year old ex-accountant and Los Angeles lawyer, who pleaded no contest to state grand theft charges in 2008, was sentenced on Monday to probation and house arrest. Krell was sentenced for filing federal false tax returns after embezzling nearly $1.5 million from two of his clients, including an elderly woman with dementia.

Krell, a former partner in the Los Angeles firm of Green, Hasson and Janks, pleaded guilty in June. He told U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson he used the stolen money for his own use and lied to the government.

Krell admitted in his plea agreement that he embezzled $1,476,900 from the elderly woman, her trust and a physician starting in 1997 and continuing through 2003, says Michael Moriarty of the Internal Revenue Service.

The Daily News Wire reports that to accomplish his scheme, Krell had signature authority over bank accounts belonging to the trust and the woman, facilitating withdrawals, according to court papers. In the second case, Krell falsely told the doctor he was investing his funds.

Anderson sentenced Krell on Monday in downtown Los Angeles to three years of probation, including 30 hours of community service per month and eight months of house arrest, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Rochmes said.

Krell’s attorney, Michael Proctor, told the court his client had already paid about $500,000 in restitution.

In February 2008, Krell was sentenced in Los Angeles Superior Court to seven years and four months behind bars for the same underlying conduct – grand theft.

The judge stayed the prison term on the condition that Krell comply with the terms of his probation and continue long-term psychiatric treatment after he made “significant” restitution payments, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Krell also served less than a year in county jail and was placed on supervised release for seven years.

In the state case, Krell, who was also once a licensed attorney, admitted helping himself to nearly $1 million from the trust of a 90-year-old woman, who was mentally incapacitated, and looting about $400,000 from the physician’s account he was managing.

As part of his plea, Krell agreed to file amended tax returns, reflecting $514,125 in illegally obtained proceeds, Moriarty said. In addition to the tax due, Krell is liable for the fraud penalty, which amounts to 75 percent of the tax due on the proceeds he embezzled.

The thefts were discovered in 2003 after a business manager became suspicious when he learned Krell was staying in expensive suites in Las Vegas and gambling at high-roller tables.

Rochmes said Monday’s sentence would have no effect on Krell’s stayed sentence for grand theft since those crimes were addressed in 2008, and the current federal case involves a separate issue.

The Daily News Wire contributed to ths story.

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HOUSTON, TX – John O’Quinn, a prominent Houston truck accident attorney,  was killed Thurday morning around 8:00 am, Oct 29, 2009 when his Chevy Suburban SUV struck a tree along the Allen Parkway in Houston, TX. There was also a second person in the SUV at the time who was also killed. It is not clear whether O’Quinn was the driver or not.

Houston truck accident attorney, John O'Quinn, killed in SUV crash on Allen Parkway

The SUV  was apparently travelling westbound in the 2000 block of the Allen Parkway when it skidded out of control and crashed. The Chevy  Suburban jumped two curbs before crashing head-on into a tree on the service road to the westbound Allen Parkway.

An Eyewitness  reported , “I was one of the people this suburban cut off… I was going about 50 and the suburban passed me like I was sitting still. He had to have been doing 80 minimum.  Wet roads going 80+ on the curviest part of allen parkway.  I saw him hit the curb because he couldn’t recover from his triple lane change.  I was amazed there was no oncoming traffic.”

Read full story at TruckAccidents360