|  | | 2007 News and Press Releases | | |
HEADLINE NEWS:
Milberg Weiss Trial to Remain in L.A., Judge Rules
Anthony Lin - New York Law Journal
Law.com. December 21, 2007
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EXCERPT: A Los Angeles federal judge has denied a motion by class action firm Milberg Weiss and its senior partner, Melvyn I. Weiss, to have their upcoming trial on conspiracy charges transferred to New York. Weiss, who is charged with orchestrating a scheme by which Milberg Weiss paid kickbacks to named plaintiffs in securities class actions cases, had argued that the case should be moved because it would be an enormous hardship for him to be away from his New York home, family and friends while he was on trial. He also noted that New York was where many of the events at issue in the indictment took place. But Judge John F. Walter of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California said the convenience of the government needed to be weighed against that of Weiss and added that it was not a "case in which jurors might benefit from a trip to the crime scene or might require some understanding of the local geography or culture." The judge further noted that he had overseen the case for 17 months, during which he had accepted seven guilty pleas and decided numerous motions. The guilty pleas include those of former Milberg Weiss name partners William Lerach, David Bershad and Steven Schulman, as well as former class action plaintiffs who received kickbacks from the firm. Walter said "it would be a waste of judicial resources and against the interest of justice for a Judge in a different district to spend the time necessary to learn the intricacies of what Defendants admit is an extremely complex case." |
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