After four children and almost five years of marriage, the legendary Shaquille O’Neal filed for divorce from his wife Shaunie back in September.

O’Neal also said in his petition that Shaunie had been “secretive about her assets … particularly with respect to certain properties owned or titled in either [her] name alone or in other entities.” He requested that the court require his soon-to-be ex-wife to give a “correct accounting of all money, funds, stocks, bonds, and other securities (including bearer securities)” obtained during the marriage.

As part of the divorce, O’Neal, who makes approximately $1.8 million a month (yes, a month!), released his private financial records to the Palm Beach Post in January. He makes a ton of money, yes, but also spent a lot of it on expenses. The breakdown is as follows:

$156,116 on mortgages (for three properties)

$110,505 on trips and vacations

$31,299 on homeowners insurance

$26,500 on childcare

$24,300 on gas

$17,220 on clothing

$14,905 on electricity, phone bills and cable

$12,775 on food

…and the list continues.

This week, the two have finally reached a divorce settlement outlining all terms of the divorce including child custody and property division. Under their agreement, Florida courts will now have jurisdiction to officially divorce the couple and a judge will handle any issues that come about involving their spousal support and property division.

California courts, however, will have jurisdiction to handle any issues involving custody of their children.

All in all, Shaunie’s a very lucky lady and will most likely be walking away with about half of O’Neal’s overall worth.

Pearson was arrested on Wednesday after he sent Dr. Drew threatening messages on the web, including one that said he would kill Dr. Drew’s children and make the doctor’s wife “eat them.”

Police took Pearson into custody and was being held on $150,000 bail.

During his arraignment – which took place this afternoon – prosecutors set his bail up to $400,000 and a restraining order was issued which states that Pearson must stay at least 500 yards away from Dr. Drew and his family.

Pearson is due back in court on March 18.

Back in November, Bristol, the daughter of former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, filed a petition in accordance with Alaska law seeking sole custody of Tripp with visitation rights for

Johnston. The 19-year-old (then 17 years old) also requested $1, 7000 of child support a month from Johnston.

The judge eventually ruled that Johnston must pay $1, 688.42 a month in support, extending back to when the child was born in December 2008.

Bristol’s lawyer, Thomas Van Flein, told TMZ, “Bristol is pleased with the court rulings today and looks forward to resolving the remaining issues with Levi.”

Everyone’s sick of hearing about these two already. Johnston needs to take responsibility and pay his support and Bristol needs to move on. Enough is enough!

The 10th Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit against John Grisham and others for the book, The Innocent Man. The book details the wrongful conviction of Williamson and Fritz for the rape and murder of Debra Sue Carter. Both men were later exonerated after spending over a decade in jail.

(OK, “this isn’t an insurance case, but I found it interesting”)

The plaintiffs were Oklahoma District Attorney William Peterson; former Shawnee police officer Gary Rogers; and former Oklahoma state criminologist Melvin Hett each of whom played a role in the investigation or prosecution and conviction of Williamson and Fritz. The book did not portray these folks in a positive light, so they sued Grisham and others, claiming defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false light invasion of privacy. The district court dismissed the suit for failure to state a claim and the Tenth Circuit affirmed, finding that since the plaintiffs were public officials, any statements critical of them were privileged, so long as there was no accusation of criminal activity.

Because no special damages were claimed, the plaintiffs had to allege libel per se; but 12 OS § 1443.1 applied because the plaintiffs were public officers and states that “[a]ny and all criticisms upon the official acts of any and all public officers” are privileged and cannot be considered libelous, unless a defendant makes a false allegation that the official engaged in criminal behavior. To fall into this category, “the words alleged to have been spoken of the plaintiff, when taken in their plainest and most natural sense, and as they would be ordinarily understood, [must] obviously import the commission of crime punishable by indictment.”

The court states:

Plaintiffs point to no statement in which defendants directly accuse any plaintiff of a crime.

Plaintiffs expect us to scale a mountain of inferences in order to reach the conclusion that defendants’ statements impute criminal acts to plaintiffs and render the statutory privilege of § 1443.1 inapplicable. We decline to engage in such inferential analysis, or to take a myriad of other analytical leaps plaintiffs ask us to make. Any connection between defendants’ statements and an accusation of criminal activity is far too tenuous for us to declare them as unprivileged for purposes of § 1443.1.

Since the statements were privileged for defamation purposes, the court found them privileged for claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and for false light invasion of privacy.

See, Peterson v. Grisham

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tulsa insurance lawyer, Jody R. Nathan received a Juris Doctor degree with honors from the University of Oklahoma College of Law, where she was also a member of the Oklahoma Law Review. During law school, she clerked for the Oklahoma Supreme Court.   Jody has extensive experience in both federal and state appeals, has an active motion practice and is AV rated. Attorney Nathan is admitted to practice in all federal and state courts in Oklahoma, as well as the Eighth and Tenth Circuit Courts of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court. She has served as a judge on the Oklahoma Temporary Emergency Court of Appeals.

LA Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg went over all of the papers sent from authorities in Virginia and since Brown complied with what she originally ordered him to do, the singer was granted an order that permits him to travel out of town between May 18 and June 27 for his concert performances, only if he gets permission from her in advance.

Brown has to show up back in court on May 11 for the next progress hearing.

For those of you who don’t know – Brown plead guilty on June 22, 2009 to attacking and assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna after a pre-Grammy Awards ceremony in LA. The singer was sentenced on August 25 to five years probation and 180 days of community labor, which is currently fulfilling.

We all hope he learned his lesson.

Beyonce (Bonnie) & Jay Z(Clyde)

Notorious Bonnie and Clyde
Did you know that one of the most notorious criminal couples met in Texas?  Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow met in 1930.  The star-crossed criminals, ages 19 and 21 respectively, went on a three year crime spree until their death at the hands of FBI agents in 1934.  Between the both of them, Bonnie and Clyde murdered at least 13 people, and were involved in numerous robberies, burglaries, car thefts, and kidnapping.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

The Texas Cadet Murder Case
Two bright Texas students, Diane Zamora and David Graham, were arrested for the murder of 16 year old sophomore Adrianne Jones of Manfield High School in Tarrant County.

In 1995, Zamora was jealous of a sexual encounter she thought Graham had with Jones.  She ordered Graham to kill Jones.  Although the body was found soon after the murder, the couple’s involvement was not discovered until Zamora boasted to fellow students at the Naval Academy in Annapolis that she was responsible for someone’s death.  The students reported the murder to their superiors and that started the ball rolling and the couple was arrested shortly thereafter.  At the time, Graham was a cadet at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and both had very promising futures.  Both Zamora and Graham were charged with capital murder and in need of a criminal defense lawyer.

The judge who granted this custody also issued a restraining order against Love.

For years Cobain’s family members have stated Love has been an unfit parent to Frances and their effort to take custody of her daughter hasn’t ceased for a number of years.

Yesterday an LA judge extended the existing order restricting Love’s contact with her daughter until April 9.

Once Frances turns 18 in August, however,  it will be up to her to decide the kind of relationship she wants to have with her crazy mother.

Her father, 70-year-old Daniel Kerrigan, died on January 24 after what police said was a physical struggle with his 45-year-old son Mark, who was charged with assault.

Two days ago, District Attorney Gerry Leone said that a medical autopsy determined the cause of death for Kerrigan’s father was “cardiac dysrhythmia” — an interruption or lack of a normal heartbeat that can lead to cardiac arrest. This, however, occurred after a physical dispute with reported neck compression that damaged his windpipe.

Supporting accused Mark, the Kerrigans family issued a statement disagreeing with the autopsy findings and stayed that Daniel had a pre-existing heart condition before the altercation.

Mark is undergoing a psychiatric evaluation after pleading “not guilty” to a charge of assault and battery on an elderly person.

In a letter released yesterday, Nancy said her father was her “safety net,” and “the ultimate role model” for her two brothers — “the guy they continue to try to emulate.”

It’s amazing that not everybody in school these days doesn’t want to be a criminal defense lawyer.  These celeb’s will keep them in business for years to come if they follow the act of our TOP 10 DUI’s stories of recent times:

10. Gary Collins Pleads Guilty to DUI after Fatal Accident
9. Rebecca De Mornay Arrested for DUI
8. Mickey Rourke Arrested for DUI on a Scooter
7. Kirsten Storms Arrested for DUI after Littering Stop
6. Michelle Rodriguez Arrested for DUI Again…and Again..
5. Kurt Angle Arrested for DUI Based on Telephone Call
4. Ty Pennington DUI Case Closes Quickly
3. Vivica A. Fox DUI – Shades of Mel Gibson?
2. Kiefer Sutherland Designs His Own DUI Sentence
1. Lindsay Lohan – Let me count the ways…

So what is the take away from this list?  Well – don’t drink and drive.  According to the CDC: “In the United States, motor vehicle–related injuries are the leading cause of death for people ages 1–34, and nearly 5 million people sustain injuries that require an emergency department visit. The economic impact is also notable: motor vehicle crashes cost around $230 billion in 2000.”

End result:  Don’t drink and drive people it’s the law – or are celeb’s above the law?  Only time will tell.

Some of the targets? Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Megan Fox and Orlando Bloom, to name a few.

The six “Bling Ring” members – Nick Prugo, Rachel Lee, Courtney Ames, Alexis Neiers, Diana Tamayo and Roy Lopez are headed back to the courtroom and some of them are willingly speaking out.

Prugo, the 19-year-old who was arrested last September is one of them.

“There was a definite thrill to it,” he told People magazine. “I don’t think any of us realized how severe it was until we actually got caught. It didn’t seem as bad as it was.”

The group’s leader, 19-year-old Rachel Lee, plead “not guilty” to a number of theft charges in an LA courtroom on Wednesday. The charges included receiving stolen property.

The rest of the accused group have entered not-guilty pleas to charges related to the alleged crime spree.