Washington lawyer Leicester Stovell says a federal judge should not dismiss his lawsuit trying to prove that basketball star LeBron James is his son. In his filing last week, Stovell says a motion to dismiss his suit is partly a “diatribe” accusing him of “crawling out of the woodwork after the child he never gave a thought to became an NBA star.” Stovell’s filing says the judge in the case is the only one who can give him the final answer he’s looking for about paternity — as well as money for “mental anguish.”

A federal appeals court has upheld the tax fraud conviction of real estate magnate Charles Kushner’s brother-in-law, finding use of a “willful blindness” jury charge satisfied a criminal tax offense’s willfulness element. The instruction may, where warranted by trial evidence, “properly apply to a defendant’s knowledge of his legal duties,” the 3rd Circuit held.

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has asked a judge to nullify the lone conviction in his mostly deadlocked corruption trial, saying the jury’s decision was underpinned by errors at trial and prosecutor misconduct.

A bankruptcy action can be considered “commenced” even when a debtor has failed to meet a requirement imposed by Congress that he first receive credit counseling, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. Interpreting a “statutory tangle” of bankruptcy provisions, the circuit said the counseling requirement under 11 U.S.C

High-profile entertainment attorney Ed McPherson of McPherson Rane has filed suit against former client Prince and several of his enterprises in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming the artist failed to pay nearly $50,000 in legal fees. The complaint alleges that McPherson made “countless attempts” to collect his fees, but that Prince — initially identified as Prince Rogers Nelson in the filing — failed to pay or even respond to his requests.