F. Lee Bailey won an unexpected victory in Florida this week. A judge overturned a $9 million verdict against him. The Court also ordered the Government to pay Bailey's legal fees.

[Bailey] got into trouble with the government in 1998 while defending television infomercial pitchman William McCorkle and his wife, Chantal, on fraud charges. At the time, the McCorkles transferred $2 million to Bailey and other attorneys for their legal defense. After the government claimed the money should be forfeited to the U.S., Bailey sought to keep it by filing a claim to a superior title, according to court records.

...The judge tossed the summary judgment in favor of the government, finding that Bailey was "entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the government's claims of conversion and civil theft." She also set aside the punitive damages as "unwarranted by the evidence."

Bailey was disbarred in 2001 over his handling of money in the case of a major drug defendant.