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News Roundup Weekly Briefs: Accused 'my guns are bigger' judge resigns; Texas district attorney resigns, takes the Fifth

By Debra Cassens Weiss

December 2, 2022, 3:02 pm CST

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Judge who displayed gun on bench resigns

Judge David W. Hummel Jr. of West Virginia has resigned from the bench after a video confirmed that he placed a gun on the bench during a hearing. Hummel had been accused of taking out the gun after refusing to let a lawyer’s personal security guard accompany her into the courtroom. According to the lawyer, Hummel said, “Aren’t me and my guns and security enough? My guns are bigger than your security’s guns!” (The West Virginia Record, Law.com)

Texas district attorney takes the Fifth after resignation announcement

El Paso, Texas, District Attorney Yvonne Rosales announced Monday that she plans to resign Dec. 14, resolving a lawsuit seeking to remove her from office for alleged incompetence and misconduct. Judges had tossed nearly a thousand cases brought by Rosales’ office because of missed deadlines to file charges. Lawyers for Rosales have said the criticisms are politically motivated. After the resignation announcement, Rosales invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in a hearing into whether her office violated a gag order in the case against an alleged Walmart mass shooter. (The El Paso Times, the Texas Tribune, Law360)

Columnist sues Trump for alleged rape under new law

Magazine columnist and author E. Jean Carroll is relying on a new law to sue former President Donald Trump for an alleged raped in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Carroll filed a battery and defamation suit Nov. 24 under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which gives victims a one-year period to sue for alleged sexual assault—no matter when the abuse happened. Carroll has already sued Trump for alleged defamation based on his denials of the claim. In the former suit, Trump claims that he is protected because as president, he was a government employee acting within the scope of employment when he denied the allegations. The new suit targets denials by Trump after his presidency. (Law.com, Courthouse News Service, the Nov. 24 lawsuit)

RD Legal Funding pays $1 to settle allegations of predatory lending

RD Legal Funding has paid $1 to settle claims that it misrepresented terms of its settlement advances to Sept. 11, 2001, first responders. RD Legal Funding also agreed that it won’t try to collect additional interest from the first responders that totals at least $600,000. The deal settles allegations by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the New York attorney general’s office. RD Legal Funding did not admit wrongdoing. (Law360, Reuters)

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