According to Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery's lawyer, the justice has been cleared by the FBI in an investigation about fees paid to McCaffrey's wife and chief judicial aide, Lise Rapaport, by law firms for case referrals, The Legal Intelligencer's Gina Passarella reports. The revelation came as part of arguments held on whether preliminary objections should be granted in a defamation lawsuit brought by McCaffery and Rapaport against the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News for coverage of the referral-fee issue. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the FBI did not confirm or deny the status of the investigation.
The plaintiffs argue that the articles falsely suggest that McCaffery's decisions on the court were tainted by the referral fees, while the defense argue that the press' job is to highlight potentially problematic actions of public officials, The Legal further reports.
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