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Week Of Monday June 29, 2009
White Firefighters Win Reverse Discrimination CaseFREE
The U.S. Supreme Court handed white New Haven firefighters a clear-cut victory Monday, ruling that the city was wrong to throw out the results of a promotional exam in which no black applicants scored well enough to win captains’ or lieutenants’ positions.
The case of Frank Ricci v. John DeStefano Jr. focuses on a seeming contradiction in federal civil rights law, which forbids race-based job discrimination, but also prohibits promotion tests that favor one race.
Decision Could Affect Private EmployersFREE
Private employers with workplace diversity programs are among those who could be affected by a Monday U.S. Supreme Court ruling, according to legal experts.
One Man’s Battle Against GM’s Bankruptcy 
The way Radha R.M. Narumanchi had it planned, he was supposed to have retired by now. But that was before General Motors’ bankruptcy earlier this month wiped out a $400,000 nest egg that he had invested in bonds sold by the automobile giant. Now, at 73, Narumanchi has no alternative but to return to work as an accounting professor at Southern Connecticut State University.
Student’s Vulgar Word Continues To EchoFREE
In the spring of 2007, then-Burlington high school senior Avery Doninger sat at her home computer and typed a scathing blog entry that referred to school administrators as “douchebags.” One might imagine that the outburst would have earned her a couple days of detention or suspension. But no one could have predicted that the insult would still be reverberating two years later – in federal court, in the state legislature, and even in the debate over the merits of Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a U.S. Supreme Court nominee.
Help For Legal Aid, Higher Bills For Others FREE
The price of using the state’s court system has gone up, with a variety of higher filing fees kicking in July 1. The added money – in general, $50 to $75 per case – will go to what most everyone agrees is a good cause: helping out legal services agencies that had suffered massive reductions in aid from their main funding source, Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts. But although the Connecticut Bar Association endorsed the measure, not everyone is 100 percent happy with the bill signed last week by Gov. M. Jodi Rell. That’s because the higher fees will have to be passed through to clients in the form of higher legal bills.
Autism Rulings Offer Hope To Advocates
As a lawyer who focuses on disability law for schoolchildren, Sherman solo Jennifer Laviano has several new reasons for optimism. On June 9, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed a bill that makes it clear that new behavioral treatments for autism are as much an educational responsibility as a medical one. Laviano fears that without such language, school districts would attempt to avoid responsibility for such treatments under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
Legal Tech
Taking Advantage Of Your Summer AssociatesFREE
Firms with summer associates have a tremendous opportunity over the next couple of months to leverage the power of the millennial generation. Today’s law students are more proficient with technology and in organic self-marketing than most organizations realize. Harness that talent and allow your summer hires to demonstrate their potential in these areas, particularly in a down market when everyone must increase their business development initiatives. A collaboration of this type between the generations is the ideal solution for law students seeking to distinguish themselves to employers and lawyers interested in raising their profile among prospects.
Anticipating A Legal Boom In Stamford
Murtha Cullina isn’t taking this recession sitting down. The law firm is using a shift in industry thinking and an availability of legal talent to enhance its presence in Stamford, the hotbed of business activity in the state.
Public Defender Cleared Of ChargesFREE
Supervisory Public Defender Elisa Villa was cleared of all charges last week stemming from her arrest after an unusual confrontation in a Bristol courthouse earlier this year.
Verdicts & Settlements
Plaintiff Gets Nothing After Dance Floor FallFREE
Marianne Varunes v. Janet Battey, et al.: A Hamden bookkeeper who broke her ankle in a fall at a restaurant lost her lawsuit after she was unable to prove there were problems with the establishment’s dance floor.
After Hours
Losing A Son, Gaining A Purpose
On Labor Day 2006, attorney Pamela Levin Cameron received the phone call that every parent fears. She was told her 24-year-old son had died in a boating accident in Africa. “I was devastated,” said Cameron, a personal injury lawyer at Sinoway, McEnery, Messey & Sullivan in North Haven. “My whole world was crushed when I got that call.”
Some Firms Are Rockin’ The Fee World
Attorney Bruce Raymond knew there was a better way of doing business. For two decades, he practiced at a Hartford law firm of about 100 lawyers where every year the M.O. was similar to thousands of other firms—increase billing rates and billable hours.
Prosecutors Can’t Say When Suspect Hired LawyerFREE
After someone is arrested, he’s informed that he has a right to a lawyer and a right to remain silent. But what if that same defendant had decided to “lawyer up” and remain silent before the arrest? Can the prosecutor inform the jury of that behavior? Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen J. Sedensky III did just that during a 2006 trial in which a jury ultimately convicted a man of sexual abuse.
Elite List Under Scrutiny
To most Connecticut foreclosure attorneys, it’s known as “the list.” Inclusion is supposed to guarantee not only prestige in the legal community but, more importantly, a massive flow of foreclosure cases at a time when there’s money to be made in volume work. Mortgage giant Fannie Mae maintains the primary list, called the retained attorney network, and it includes about 140 select law firms in 31 states. Many of those chosen firms also comprise the Freddie Mac designated counsel list of about 50 members.
Diocese Tries Again To Stop Document ReleaseFREE
In a bid to prevent public disclosure of more than 1,200 pages of sealed court filings from 23 priest sex abuse cases that were settled in 2001, the Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese is seeking new arguments before a full seven-member Supreme Court. On June 2, in a 4 to 1 decision, the high court adopted a broad definition of “judicial” court filings that the public is allowed to see because the documents form the basis of court rulings. In making the ruling, the majority ordered the release of nearly all of the priest sex abuse files.
Probable Cause Hearings Fall From Favor
To some criminal defense lawyers, it’s a free opportunity to get a glimpse of the state’s evidence in a murder case. To others, the probable cause hearing is a potential minefield that can end up making the eventual trial even tougher to win. Defense attorneys have waived probable cause hearings in several recent high-profile Connecticut cases. That, according to members of the defense bar, is consistent with a trend that has evolved in recent years. Monroe defense attorney John T. Walkley described waiving the probable cause hearing as the defense bar’s current “default” position.
Public Defender Cleared Of ChargesFREE
Supervisory Public Defender Elisa Villa was cleared of all charges Wednesday morning stemming from her arrest after an unusual confrontation in a Bristol courthouse earlier this year.
Shock Jock May Have Stepped Over Line FREE
He’s been described as a white supremacist and a shock jock. But those extremist views have only helped New Jersey’s Harold “Hal” Turner develop a cult following for weekly radio webcasts – and an accompanying blog – that often include vitriolic criticism of political figures. But is Turner a criminal? Connecticut State Capitol Police say yes, his lawyers say no and First Amendment experts are watching a case that seems to test the limits of free speech. In early June, Turner urged listeners and readers of his blog to “take up arms” against state Rep. Michael Lawlor and Sen. Andrew McDonald, the co-chairs of the Connecticut legislature’s Judiciary Committee.
Q&A
Risk Management Takes Center StageFREE
f not for a tragedy in 1989, Patricia A. McCoy likely would be partner at a high-powered law firm. She was on that track at Mayer Brown in Washington, D.C., where she created a fulfilling practice representing major accounting firms in professional liability lawsuits stemming from the savings and loan crisis. But before she earned the promotion, an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals judge for whom she clerked, Robert Smith Vance, was murdered by a mail bomb sent by a vengeful litigant. “It took Judge Vance’s death for me to grasp how precious and short life is,” McCoy said. After months of reflection, she realized teaching law and engaging in policy analysis were her true callings. She joined the faculty at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University.
Legal Tech
Judicial Web Site To List Foreclosure Sales
Looking to buy a house cheap? One might look at newspaper classified ads, visit a real estate agent or … check out the state Judicial Branch web site. In a move that could slightly ease the pain of homeowners going through foreclosure, but add to the financial woes of already struggling newspapers, the state is moving forward with plans to place free foreclosure notices on the Judicial Branch web site. In a move that could slightly ease the pain of homeowners going through foreclosure, but add to the financial woes of already struggling newspapers, the state is moving forward with plans to place free foreclosure notices on the Judicial Branch web site.
Detainee Wins Right To Push Legal ClaimFREE
New Haven civil rights lawyer Jonathan Freiman won a striking federal court victory this month against John Yoo, a former lawyer for the Bush Administration and author of the 2002 “torture memos.” Those controversial legal opinions justified terrorism suspect José Padilla being held without charges, paved the way for his allegedly harsh interrogation in a military brig and ultimately led Padilla to file a suit claiming Yoo had violated his constitutional rights.
Wife Signed Away Right To Discuss Divorce
Establishing a new point of Connecticut case law, the state Supreme Court concluded that private waivers of First Amendment free speech rights are “presumptively enforceable.” Decisions on the validity of such waivers should be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the background and abilities of the person waiving the rights, the Supreme Court ruled. The decision, written by Chief Justice Chase T. Rogers, came in a case involving a multi-millionaire skin doctor and his ex-wife, who wanted to talk about their divorce on a television news magazine show.
Verdicts & Settlements
Rear-Ended Nurse Collects $1.4M Verdict
Donna Yeager v. Maria Alvarez, et al: A licensed practical nurse won a $1.4 million jury award after a car accident in a case that was complicated by workers’ compensation law and a judge’s unusual striking of an offer of compromise. Nurse Donna Yeager was injured in a rear-end collision while she was working for Patient Care Inc. She sued the driver of the other vehicle, Maria Alvarez, who carried a $300,000 liability insurance policy. The policy wasn’t offered in settlement immediately because Yeager’s injuries were not immediately apparent. She previously had lower back injuries, and the accident complicated those problems. Yeager also sustained new injuries to the part of her spine within her neck.
Elite List Under ScrutinyFREE
To most Connecticut foreclosure attorneys, it’s known as “the list.”
Inclusion is supposed to guarantee not only prestige in the legal community but, more importantly, a massive flow of foreclosure cases at a time when there’s money to be made in volume work.
Mortgage giant Fannie Mae maintains the primary list, called the retained attorney network, and it includes about 140 select law firms in 31 states. Many of those chosen firms also comprise the Freddie Mac designated counsel list of about 50 members.
So what’s the big deal?
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are government-sponsored entities and the largest buyers of home loans in the nation, holding about $5 trillion worth of mortgages. And based on their rules, any lender whose loan is linked to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac must refer all of foreclosure and post-foreclosure cases to a law firm on the list.
A Do-It-Yourself Cruise Into RetirementFREE
Attorney John Milici and his wife, Jerie, took a major step toward their retirement plans three years ago when they sold their home in Southport. All three children were out on their own, so they bought a custom-made, 52-foot Diesel Duck trawler and moored it in Stamford where they have been living ever since. And now with John winding down his practice at Bove & Milici in Norwalk at the end of this month, the Milicis are prepared to take their houseboat on a really long tour of the world. “It’s been a boat that’s easy to live on and very comfortable,” said John Millici, noting the cabin and living areas feature heating and air conditioning.
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