Eugene F Lynch

E. Robert Wallach, longtime friend and former lawyer of Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, was awarded an unusually large legal fee in 1981 by a San Francisco judge who was seeking Wallach's help in obtaining a federal judicial appointment, government sources said Tuesday. In a matter likely to be examined by an independent counsel already investigating Meese on several other grounds, Wallach and David B.

E. Robert Wallach, longtime friend and former lawyer of Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, was awarded an unusually large legal fee in 1981 by a San Francisco judge who was seeking Wallach's help in obtaining a federal judicial appointment, government sources said Tuesday. In a matter likely to be examined by an independent counsel already investigating Meese on several other grounds, Wallach and David B.

Berkeley Systems Inc. said a federal judge stopped Delrina Corp. from using the disputed "Flying Toaster" symbol in Delrina's Opus 'n Bill Screen Saver computer software. Berkeley Systems said in a statement that U.S. District Judge Eugene F. Lynch ruled Berkeley Systems had a valid copyright on the symbol and issued a preliminary injunction against Delrina, a Toronto-based software developer.

Richard J. Meyer, former chairman and majority owner of an Anaheim bank, will start serving a five-year federal prison term in February for defrauding a failed Northern California savings and loan he owned. Meyer, 58, had pleaded guilty 11 months ago to looting Cal America Savings & Loan in Walnut Creek in what prosecutors said was a "wide-ranging scheme" to turn the thrift into "his personal piggy bank."

A judge hearing the case of a veteran FBI agent who claims he was fired because he is gay ordered the agency to turn over any records indicating whether it denies security clearances to homosexuals. U.S. District Court Judge Eugene F. Lynch also ordered several top FBI officials to submit to pretrial questioning by attorneys for the San Diego agent who sued the agency. Lynch gave the FBI until Dec.

Ronald McIntosh, the prison escapee who commandeered a helicopter and freed his sweetheart from the Pleasanton federal penitentiary, was sentenced Friday to 25 years in prison, and his companion, Dorinda Lopez, was sentenced to five years. U.S. District Judge Eugene F. Lynch called the crime "very, very serious," and seemed unmoved by Lopez's tearful plea for mercy for McIntosh. McIntosh, a twice-convicted con man, tried to speak to the judge, but broke into tears and could not continue.

A jury found prison lovers Ronald McIntosh and Dorinda Lopez guilty Tuesday of their dramatic helicopter escape, rejecting the defense that she was being threatened with death and that McIntosh thought he had to "rescue" her. The jury took two hours to reject their so-called necessity defenses--that Lopez uncovered corruption and was threatened by prison officials, and that McIntosh thought he had no choice but to escape and return to rescue her.

A federal judge on Thursday set the stage for a replay of one of the juiciest libel trials in recent history but dismissed a key defendant--the New Yorker magazine--from the case. Capping weeks of speculation, U.S. District Judge Eugene F. Lynch granted psychoanalyst Jeffrey M. Masson a retrial of his lawsuit against writer Janet Malcolm, whom he accused of libeling him in a profile in the New Yorker in 1983.

U.S. Commerce Department officials have dropped their controversial effort to restrict the California Coastal Commission's authority over offshore oil drilling in federal waters, state officials reported Wednesday. The agreement came in an out-of-court settlement of the commission's lawsuit against the Commerce Department. According to Deputy Atty. Gen.

California has won two significant court victories in recent weeks that should send a strong signal to federal authorities: Californians must have a major role in determining the conditions for oil and gas company operations in federal offshore waters. In the first case, a federal judge enjoined the U.S. Department of Commerce from its attempt to deny the California Coastal Commission federal funds for ongoing implementation of the coastal-zone management plan. U.S. District Judge Eugene F.

For the last two years, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan's mandatory system for arbitrating legal disputes with its members has been the focus of news media scrutiny, complaints from lawyers, legislators and consumer groups, and, last month, a stinging rebuke from the California Supreme Court.