Fri 6th Jan 2023, Blog, Case Successes
After nearly a year and a half of contested litigation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California abruptly moved to dismiss all criminal charges against BKLW’s client, a prominent pain management physician from the Washington, D.C. area. U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton signed the dismissal order the next day, ending a painful ordeal for the client and his family. “This misguided prosecution should never have been brought in the first place. It …
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Thu 20th Oct 2022, Blog, Case Successes
A BKLW trial team consisting of attorneys Whitney Z. Bernstein, Thomas H. Bienert, Jr., and Carlos Nevarez and paralegal Leah Thompson secured a misdemeanor and no-jail time resolution in the middle of a multi-felony complex trial on behalf of the firm’s client, a non-resident technology professional working in the United States on an employment visa. The client and three others were charged in the indictment with one felony count of conspiracy, four felony counts of …
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Thu 30th Jun 2022, Blog, Case Successes
Former Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry will serve no jail time following convictions for making false statements to federal agents and concealing material facts said Judge Stanley Blumenfeld Tuesday morning. Mr. Fortenberry faced up to 15 years in prison. In his sentencing, Judge Blumenfeld recognized that “by all accounts,” Mr. Fortenberry is a man of “exceptional character.” “I was humbled today when the Judge noted that the testimony, including from government witnesses, established my honesty and …
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Tue 12th Oct 2021, Blog, Case Successes
Bienert Katzman Littrell Williams LLP scored a major victory by negotiating a misdemeanor plea deal, on the eve of trial, for a licensed medical professional who was charged with ten felonies alleging insurance fraud. The criminal case arose from a years-long investigation spearheaded by several agencies in Riverside County, exposing the client to hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution, the revocation of his professional license, and a substantial prison sentence. Momentum shifted in the …
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Wed 15th Sep 2021, Blog, Case Successes
After nearly four years of litigation, U.S District Judge Susan Brnovich declared a mistrial in the Backpage.com matter pending in the District of Arizona. The Judge found that the government repeatedly flouted the Court’s orders by presenting inflammatory testimony not related to charged offenses in an attempt to play to jurors’ emotions. The Court held that the cumulative effect of the inflammatory child sex trafficking references made by prosecutors in opening statements and by its …
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Tue 28th Jul 2020, Blog, Case Successes
On June 29, 2020, the Supreme Court adopted Bienert | Katzman’s arguments and held in Seila Law v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) violates constitutional separation of powers by having a single director removable only for cause. Bienert | Katzman represented the prevailing party at the Supreme Court and through all stages of the litigation, spanning several years. In 2017, as a continuation of litigation arising …
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Mon 27th Jul 2020, Blog, Case Successes
In July 2019, Bienert | Katzman’s client obtained a judgment and attorney’s fee award under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 of more than $3 million against a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detective after a jury trial. Bienert | Katzman’s client presented evidence at trial, including video recordings, demonstrating that the baseless arrest was orchestrated by the detective and the culmination of a multi-year campaign of harassment against Bienert | Katzman’s client. A few months after …
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Tue 16th Jun 2020, Blog, Case Successes
A little over a year after issuing a 69-page sealed Order Finding Government Misconduct in a tax evasion prosecution, the Court unsealed an Order calling out prosecutors and IRS employees for willfully withholding evidence and making misrepresentations to the defense and to the Court. The order followed dogged requests and multiple days of evidentiary hearings and briefing by B|K attorneys Ariana Seldman Hawbecker and John Littrell. A copy of the order is available here. The …
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Mon 27th Apr 2020, Blog, Case Successes
After five years of contested litigation the Supreme Court granted our petition, vacated our client’s conviction, and remanded to the Ninth Circuit. At issue was the constitutionality of the National Firearms Act (“NFA”), a 1934 law that strongly discouraged, but did not outright ban, machine guns and other particularly dangerous weapons. At the time the law was passed Congress believed, based on the advice of the U.S. Attorney General, that the federal government had no …
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Tue 28th Jan 2020, Blog, Case Successes
Bienert | Katzman, representing a whistleblower, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the federal government claiming that three computer part suppliers wrongly sold various federal agencies disguised Chinese products, including computer mice. One of the three defendants agreed to settle for $1.2 million. In order to support domestic manufacturing and business with favored trading partners, Congress enacted the Trade Agreements Act (“TAA”). The TAA requires that government suppliers ensure that products sold to federal …
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