Legal Costs

NEW YORK - EBay Inc. will pay about $316,500 to Louis Vuitton Malletier for legal costs and damages and stop using Internet search terms the luxury goods maker protested, following a ruling yesterday by Paris District Court. The online auction site was found liable for harming the reputation of Louis Vuitton trademarks, the company name, and domain name - all held by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. EBay said it will appeal. EBay had been buying keywords such as “Viton,’’ “Vitton,’’ and “Wuiton’’ so online shoppers entering such misspellings into a search engine would be...

Officials in a Rhode Island city have agreed to pay $150,000 in legal costs to the state American Civil Liberties Union to end a court dispute stemming from a prayer banner at a high school. The Providence Journal reports (http://bit.ly/zgzunGschool) Cranston school district chief operating officer Raymond Votto disclosed the settlement Tuesday. ACLU lawyers who had sued on behalf of teenage atheist Jessica Ahlquist had sought $173,000 from the city. A federal judge earlier ruled the prayer banner at Cranston High School West was unconstitutional and ordered it removed.

PITTSBURGH - The parents of a Pittsburgh boy who has health aversions to sunlight can add a retractable awning to the front of their home in settling a federal lawsuit against their neighborhood homeowner's association. The association will also pay about $42,000 in legal costs and $10,000 in damages. Dan and Jaime Snyder say they needed a shady place for their son, Jonah, 2, to play. The boy has glaucoma and another disease affecting his skin that is aggravated by sunlight.

PITTSBURGH - The parents of a Pittsburgh boy who has health aversions to sunlight can add a retractable awning to the front of their home in settling a federal lawsuit against their neighborhood homeowner's association. The association will also pay about $42,000 in legal costs and $10,000 in damages. Dan and Jaime Snyder say they needed a shady place for their son, Jonah, 2, to play. The boy has glaucoma and another disease affecting his skin that is aggravated by sunlight.

Officials in a Rhode Island city have agreed to pay $150,000 in legal costs to the state American Civil Liberties Union to end a court dispute stemming from a prayer banner at a high school. The Providence Journal reports (http://bit.ly/zgzunGschool) Cranston school district chief operating officer Raymond Votto disclosed the settlement Tuesday. ACLU lawyers who had sued on behalf of teenage atheist Jessica Ahlquist had sought $173,000 from the city. A federal judge earlier ruled the prayer banner at Cranston High School West was unconstitutional and ordered it removed.

DENVER - Trial lawyers and a judicial think tank are suggesting major changes in the way courts hear civil suits, saying current rules allow attorneys to drag out disputes by demanding irrelevant and hard-to-find data. The current rules for "discovery" - the sharing of information ahead of a trial - in civil suits are antiquated and too broad, according to a report yesterday by an American College of Trial Lawyers task force and the Denver-based Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.

Wells Fargo & Co. said Tuesday it has agreed to pay at least $37 million in a lawsuit which alleges several banks rigged bidding competitions to win business from state and local governments. Banks help municipalities invest the money they raise from bond offerings to earn interest before paying for projects. They compete by submitting to state and local governments the best yield they can offer. The lawsuit alleges several banks rigged the process and deprived governments of a true competitive process that would produce the best returns on their investments.

LOS ANGELES - The group representing the US recording industry said yesterday it has abandoned its policy of suing people for sharing songs protected by copyright and will work with Internet service providers to cut abusers' access if they ignore repeated warnings. The move ends a controversial program that saw the Recording Industry Association of America sue about 35,000 people since 2003 for swapping songs online. Because of high legal costs for defenders, virtually all of those hit with lawsuits settled, on average for around $3,500.

LONDON - A former tabloid editor who was once the British prime minister's media aide is suing News International over its refusal to pay his legal fees, his lawyers said yesterday. Andy Coulson's law firm DLA Piper said in a statement that it has begun proceedings against Rupert Murdoch's News International for reneging on an agreement to pay legal costs. Coulson is among those who have been arrested in the phone hacking scandal. Coulson, a former News of the World editor who later went on to serve as Prime Minister David Cameron's top media aide, resigned as the phone...

LONDON — What’s a tweet, between friends? The law says sometimes it’s a threat. One man thought he was just bantering with his pals when he joked about blowing an airport sky-high. Another was reacting to a radio phone-in when he mused about stoning a journalist to death. Because they made their throwaway comments on Twitter, both are in legal trouble. Their cases have outraged civil libertarians and inflamed debate about the limits of free speech in a Web 2.0 world.

Wells Fargo & Co. said Tuesday it has agreed to pay at least $37 million in a lawsuit which alleges several banks rigged bidding competitions to win business from state and local governments. Banks help municipalities invest the money they raise from bond offerings to earn interest before paying for projects. They compete by submitting to state and local governments the best yield they can offer. The lawsuit alleges several banks rigged the process and deprived governments of a true competitive process that would produce the best returns on their investments.

LONDON - A former tabloid editor who was once the British prime minister's media aide is suing News International over its refusal to pay his legal fees, his lawyers said yesterday. Andy Coulson's law firm DLA Piper said in a statement that it has begun proceedings against Rupert Murdoch's News International for reneging on an agreement to pay legal costs. Coulson is among those who have been arrested in the phone hacking scandal. Coulson, a former News of the World editor who later went on to serve as Prime Minister David Cameron's top media aide,...

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent Hingham officials decided against hiring an in-house lawyer for the upcoming year despite the large amount money the town has recently had to pay contracting out legal work. Selectmen discussed potentially hiring an in-house counsel at their meeting Monday morning, but took no action on the matter after Town Administrator Ted Alexiades guessed that, in the end, a staff lawyer would cost the town more than outside counsel was costing them now. “We’ve been carrying a legal budget close to...

LONDON — What’s a tweet, between friends? The law says sometimes it’s a threat. One man thought he was just bantering with his pals when he joked about blowing an airport sky-high. Another was reacting to a radio phone-in when he mused about stoning a journalist to death. Because they made their throwaway comments on Twitter, both are in legal trouble. Their cases have outraged civil libertarians and inflamed debate about the limits of free speech in a Web 2.0 world.

NEW YORK - EBay Inc. will pay about $316,500 to Louis Vuitton Malletier for legal costs and damages and stop using Internet search terms the luxury goods maker protested, following a ruling yesterday by Paris District Court. The online auction site was found liable for harming the reputation of Louis Vuitton trademarks, the company name, and domain name - all held by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. EBay said it will appeal. EBay had been buying keywords such as “Viton,’’ “Vitton,’’ and “Wuiton’’ so online shoppers entering such misspellings...

DENVER - Trial lawyers and a judicial think tank are suggesting major changes in the way courts hear civil suits, saying current rules allow attorneys to drag out disputes by demanding irrelevant and hard-to-find data. The current rules for "discovery" - the sharing of information ahead of a trial - in civil suits are antiquated and too broad, according to a report yesterday by an American College of Trial Lawyers task force and the Denver-based Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System.

By Jessica Bartlett, Town Correspondent Hingham officials decided against hiring an in-house lawyer for the upcoming year despite the large amount money the town has recently had to pay contracting out legal work. Selectmen discussed potentially hiring an in-house counsel at their meeting Monday morning, but took no action on the matter after Town Administrator Ted Alexiades guessed that, in the end, a staff lawyer would cost the town more than outside counsel was costing them now. “We’ve been carrying a legal budget close to $300,000 … but it’s...

MANSFIELD -- The replica parquet floor -- a tribute to the famous hardwood he long graced with his game at the Garden -- still shimmers in the Dana Barros Sports Complex. But Barros is gone, abruptly walking away from a failed business venture that cost him more than $2.5 million and plunged him into a legal jam in which a judge has granted one of his creditors a $650,000 attachment on his real estate holdings, including his Milton home. Little more than a year after Barros realized a dream by opening his multipurpose sports...

LOS ANGELES - The group representing the US recording industry said yesterday it has abandoned its policy of suing people for sharing songs protected by copyright and will work with Internet service providers to cut abusers' access if they ignore repeated warnings. The move ends a controversial program that saw the Recording Industry Association of America sue about 35,000 people since 2003 for swapping songs online. Because of high legal costs for defenders, virtually all of those hit with lawsuits settled, on average for around $3,500.