Lynn Boyd Stites

One of the odd things about Robert Allen Newman was the way his mind seemed to wander. Felix Gonzalez, owner of the Miami boatyard where Newman kept his 65-foot yacht, the Christl Dolphin, and four other vessels, found it hard to get Newman's attention. "Robert," he would say, but Newman did not answer, staring off as though lost in thought. He told people he was a former government scientist, a background that seemed to fit his distracted air.

Erma L. Miller struck her first blow for disability rights in 1997. She sued Coco's after one of its restaurants refused to serve her when she showed up with an assistance dog. Coco's settled the case, but Miller was just getting started. The Marriott hotel chain and a string of McDonald's restaurants, among other defendants, would soon feel her wrath.

One of the odd things about Robert Allen Newman was the way his mind seemed to wander. Felix Gonzalez, owner of the Miami boatyard where Newman kept his 65-foot yacht, Christl Dolphin, and four other vessels, found it hard to get Newman's attention. "Robert," he would say, but Newman would not answer, staring off as though lost in thought. He told people he was a former government scientist, a background that seemed to fit his distracted air.

The State Bar of California has temporarily suspended a Canoga Park attorney who was convicted on criminal racketeering and mail fraud charges after spending months in hiding. Lynn Boyd Stites, 49, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison Jan. 13 for masterminding "the Alliance" insurance fraud, which ended in the conviction of 13 lawyers in one of the largest such prosecutions in U. S. history.

State Farm Insurance is asking to join a multimillion-dollar civil lawsuit against a network of Southern California attorneys accused of bilking insurance companies. The Illinois-based company is seeking to collect about $8.1 million from "the Alliance." State Farm on Friday filed legal papers in a bid to join an existing $30-million suit against the Alliance, which was filed in federal court in San Diego by the Fireman's Fund and Allstate Insurance companies.

The State Bar of California has temporarily suspended a Canoga Park attorney who was convicted on criminal racketeering and mail fraud charges after spending months in hiding. Lynn Boyd Stites, 49, was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison Jan. 13 for masterminding "the Alliance" insurance fraud, which ended in the conviction of 13 lawyers in one of the largest such prosecutions in U. S. history.

Federal authorities Friday filed their first criminal charge in an investigation of a purported scheme by Los Angeles lawyers to bilk insurance companies out of millions of dollars in legal fees. Suzanne Rubin, 29, former operator of a court reporting business in Reseda, was charged in federal court with a single count of mail fraud. She pleaded not guilty at her arraignment, but prosecutors said she is expected to enter a guilty plea next week as part of a plea agreement.

Lynn Boyd Stites, the central figure in the "Alliance" insurance fraud and legal corruption case whose colorful odyssey as a fugitive ended last year in a speed trap, was convicted Thursday of 13 felony charges in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

When a crime ring is broken, the testimony of small fish is often used to net the big ones. But the usual pattern has been reversed in the "Alliance" insurance-fraud and legal-corruption trial, where closing arguments are scheduled to begin today. Whether the eight lawyers on trial are innocent or guilty, prosecution testimony has shown that they weren't part of the inner circle of fugitive attorney Lynn Boyd Stites, the alleged mastermind and prime beneficiary of the Alliance scheme.

Lynn Boyd Stites, the central figure in "the Alliance" insurance fraud and legal corruption case whose colorful odyssey as a fugitive ended last year in a speed trap, was convicted Thursday of 13 felony charges in U. S. District Court in San Diego.

Former fugitive attorney Lynn B. Stites was sentenced Thursday to more than 12 years in prison for his role as mastermind of "the Alliance" insurance fraud and legal corruption scheme. Stites was convicted in October of racketeering and mail fraud charges stemming from his involvement with a secret network of Los Angeles area lawyers. Even with credit for 14 months in custody, Stites must serve at least 10 years in prison under federal sentencing guidelines that limit time off for good behavior.

Former fugitive attorney Lynn B. Stites on Thursday was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for his role as mastermind of "the Alliance" insurance fraud and legal corruption scheme. U.S. District Judge Clarence C. Newcomer imposed a prison term of 12 years, 7 months for Stites' October conviction on racketeering and mail fraud charges stemming from his involvement with a secret network of Los Angeles-area lawyers.

Lynn Boyd Stites, the central figure in "the Alliance" insurance fraud and legal corruption case whose colorful odyssey as a fugitive ended last year in a speed trap, was convicted Thursday of 13 felony charges in U. S. District Court in San Diego.

Lynn Boyd Stites, the central figure in the "Alliance" insurance fraud and legal corruption case whose colorful odyssey as a fugitive ended last year in a speed trap, was convicted Thursday of 13 felony charges in U.S. District Court in San Diego.

Former Woodland Hills attorney Lynn B. Stites directed a ring of corrupt lawyers in an elaborate scheme to cheat insurance companies "and defraud the judicial system" by rigging and prolonging litigation, a federal prosecutor said in closing arguments Friday at Stites' mail fraud and racketeering trial in San Diego. Assistant U.S. Atty. William Q.

Former fugitive attorney Lynn B. Stites directed a ring of corrupt lawyers in an elaborate scheme to cheat insurance companies "and defraud the judicial system" by rigging and prolonging litigation, a federal prosecutor said Friday at Stites' mail fraud and racketeering trial. Assistant U.S. Atty. William Q.

Former Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert H. London failed to disclose his ties to attorney Lynn Boyd Stites, the alleged mastermind of the "Alliance" insurance scam, before awarding Stites more than $100,000 in legal fees in an arbitration dispute with an insurance company, according to testimony before a federal grand jury. The 1987 episode is detailed in a civil deposition and secret grand jury testimony in the Alliance insurance fraud and legal corruption case.

Steve Waisbren's baby was just learning to talk in April when Waisbren and seven other attorneys went on trial in San Diego in the "Alliance" insurance-fraud and legal-corruption case. For more than two months, the Woodland Hills lawyer only got home on weekends and the boy became confused, always saying, "Bye-bye, Daddy," as though that had become Waisbren's name. Last week, the 33-year-old Waisbren came home for good.

Jurors at the criminal trial of Lynn B. Stites were offered starkly different portraits Monday of the former fugitive attorney, who was described by a federal prosecutor as the brains behind "the Alliance" insurance scheme, and by his defense lawyer as an innocent victim of an insurance industry vendetta. Stites, 48, who practiced law in Woodland Hills and West Los Angeles, faces 36 counts of mail fraud and a racketeering charge in a trial expected to last three months.

Nearly a year after a speeding ticket ended his fugitive odyssey, the central figure in "the Alliance" insurance fraud and legal corruption case goes on trial today on charges of masterminding a scheme that used the court system to bilk insurance companies of millions of dollars in legal fees. Lynn B.