What's better than Vegas? Hearing the legendary Jim Perdue, Sr. in Vegas on Friday, Feb 22! | 2013 Vegas CLE, February 21-23,Bellagio Hotel,Las Vegas. Don't gamble with your cases. 48 hours in Vegas can change your practice forever! Join some of TTLA's battle-tested veterans and emerging superstars in Las Vegas for a CLE experience that'll change your luck in the courtroom. Our most popular destination CLE, Sin City plays host to legendary TTLA speakers, including Jim Perdue, Sr. and Jim Perdue, Jr. in a special joint presentation. Click on the headline to learn more. | Saints Defamation Suit Against NFL Dismissed | | A federal judge in Louisiana has dismissed a lawsuit filed by New Orleans Saints player Jonathan Vilma against NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Vilma had filed a defamation suit against Goodell related to the Saints bounty scandal, but the judge ruled that the evidence Vilma brought against Goodell was insufficient. The judge, however, did chastise Goodell and his initial investigation, calling it "procedurally flawed." Mike Garafolo, USA Today 01/17/2013 | Read Article: USA Today | Plaintiffs Withdraw Settlement in Hospital Lawsuit | | Plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit against the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center have requested a proposed settlement be withdrawn, saying the information they received included "misrepresentations." The lawsuit argues the hospital and its insurer use their market dominance to inflate healthcare charges. The plaintiffs say the insurer, Highmark, misrepresented concessions in the settlement. Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 01/18/2013 | Read Article: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Suit: Police Forced False Murder Confession | | A lawsuit in Forrest County, Miss., accuses local police of beating and threatening three black men to coerce false confessions to a 1979 murder. The suit contends that authorities targeted the plaintiffs "despite the complete lack of evidence" connecting them to the crime. DNA evidence from the crime scene exonerated the plaintiffs in 2010. Jerry Mitchell, The Jackson Clarion-Ledger 01/17/2013 | Read Article: The Jackson Clarion-Ledger | Oilman's Family Sues Lawyers, Firms, Accountants | | The beneficiaries of a multimillion-dollar trust have sued an estate-planning attorney, his firm and an accounting firm, alleging professional malpractice related to a tax plan that led to litigation with the Internal Revenue Service. But in an unusual twist, the beneficiaries also sued the firm and lawyers to whom their estate-planning attorney referred them for representation in that litigation before the U.S. Tax Court against the IRS. That Tax Court litigation allegedly cost the plaintiffs more than $1 million in legal fees. "As a result of the Defendants' representations, negligence and misconduct, Plaintiffs have incurred exorbitant fees and costs in the tax transactions, legal fees in pursuing litigation before the Tax Court, other expenses, and taxes, penalties and interest that otherwise would not have been owed,"according to the petition in G. Michael Hurford, et al. v. Joseph B. Garza, et al. John Council, Texas Lawyer 01/21/2013 | Read Article: Texas Lawyer | Pennsylvania Veteran Awarded $3.7 M in Suit Against VA | | When Stanley Laskowski, a combat veteran of the war in Iraq, dressed himself from head to toe in black and broke into a pharmacy in Scranton, Pa., to steal drugs in summer 2007, it had been four months since he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder at the Wilkes-Barre Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The charges stemming from that incident were dropped and purged from his record and a federal judge last week awarded Mr. Laskowski and his wife $3.7 million in the medical malpractice suit they filed afterwards. The lack of appropriate care given to Mr. Laskowski at the VA hospital for those few months led to the break-in, his decline and his now permanently-disabled status, the judge ruled. Saranac Hale Spencer / The Legal Intelligencer , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 01/21/2013 | Read Article: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | Honda Pilots, Odysseys Recalled | | Honda has issued a recall of almost 750,000 Pilot and Odyssey vehicles due to problems with the driver's-side airbags. The company said that issues during assembly may keep the airbag from deploying properly in the event of a crash. There have been no crashes or injuries reported related to the recalled vehicles. Wire Report, Detroit Free Press 01/21/2013 | Read Article: Detroit Free Press | Suit Against Harvard over Student's Death Dismissed | | A wrongful death lawsuit against Harvard University over the murder of a student by a non-student guest in a school dorm has been dismissed. The judge concluded that under state law, Harvard cannot be sued for the boy's murder and did not owe him a "duty of care to protect him from the criminal acts of non-student, third parties." The non-student is serving life in prison without parole for the murder. John R. Ellement, Boston Globe 01/14/2013 | Read Article: Boston Globe | Arizona Police Targeted in Wrongful Death Suit | | A trial began Tuesday in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Pima County, Ariz., Sheriff's Department over the death of a man in a police chase. The victim was struck and killed by a shoplifter who had run a red light fleeing from police. The suit claims police should have stopped chasing the shoplifter, saying that police violated a department policy that "the safety of the public must take a priority over the arrest of a suspect." Kim Smith, Arizona Daily Star 01/16/2013 | Read Article: Arizona Daily Star | | |