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******* Quotes from Justice Blackmun - New York Times - March 5 1999 *******

Abortion - Roe v. Wade - "The Court has recognized that a right of personal privacy or a guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy, does exist under the Constitution...."

Gay rights - Bowers v. Hardwick, in dissent - "The Court claims that its decision today merely refuses to recognize a fundamental right to engage in homosexual sodomy; what the Court really has refused to recognize is the fundamental interest all individuals have in controlling the nature of their intimate associations with others."

BRIEF RELIEF - Matters In Progress

Applicable statute of limitations in Georgia for defendant driver who dies prior to expiration of statute of limitations and possible defendants.

New York liability for falling tree branches.

New York, New Jersey and Connecticut cases issue of equitable distribution of property obtained prior to marriage as joint tenants and distribution on divorce.

New York real estate contract and Statute of Frauds and equitable estoppel.

Effect of U.C.C. Section 2-207 in New York transaction.

Obtaining copies of bankruptcy cases.

Liability of delivery service and their responsibility in delivery of cash.

Effect of Fed.R.Crim.Proc. 33 and Fed.R.App.Proc. 4.

Appeal Federal Criminal conviction of mail fraud and tax violations.

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

Leslie Melanie B. Enforcing Family Promises: Reliance, Reciprocity, and Relational Contracts. North Carolina Law Review: January 1999 Vol. 77, No. 2, pgs. 551-636.

Emerson Robert W. Franchise Termination: Legal Rights and Practical Effects When Franchises Claim the Franchisor Discriminates. American Business Law Journal: 1998, Vol. 35, No. 4, pgs. 559-645.

Cole, David. No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System. The New Press. Inequality in criminal justice may be a good thing for the favored classes.

Bezanson, Randall P. Speech Stories: How Free Can Speech Be? New York: New York University Press, 1998. This book tells the stories of seven landmark cases that deal with the "peripheries" of free speech.

Joseph, Gregory P. Federal Practice: Computer Evidence and Computer Evidence II (N.J.L.)

Bakst and Waks. Employment Law: Sexual Harassment (N.J.L.)

MATTERS OF INTEREST

U.S. Supreme Court - All expert testimony must meet the standard for "scientific" evidence set forth in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993). Kunho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, No. 97-1709 (3/23/99).

U.S. Supreme Court - Police officers with probable cause to search a car may inspect passengers’ belongings found in the car that are capable of concealing the object of the search. Wyoming v. Houghton (4/5/99).

U.S. Supreme Court - Where a prosecutor causes a defense attorney to be searched at the same time his client is testifying before a grand jury, this does not violate the attorney’s 14th Amendment right to practice one’s calling. This is true even where the search is calculated to annoy or even to prevent consultation with a grand jury witness. Conn v. Gabbert (4/5/99).

Provisions of the New York capital punishment statute violate the Fifth and Sixth Amendments by imposing death only on those who proclaim their innocence and are subsequently granted a jury trial. Hynes v. Tomei; Relin v. Mateo 1998 N.Y.Int. 0171 (12/22/98).

Statute of limitations is tolled from motion to add party until entry of order granting it. Perez v. Paramount Communications, Inc....N.Y.2d....,....N.Y.S.2d....(2/18/99).

Even though a non-citizen had his state conviction for possession of marijuana "expunged," this still constitutes a "conviction" for deportation purposes says the Board of Immigration Appeals in a 11-4 en banc decision. In re Roldon-Santoyo, A-90-286-629 (3/3/99).

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York - Where a police officer paraded a burglary suspect in handcuffs in front of news cameras from a local television station, this violated the Fourth Amendment and the suspect can sue the officer and the city under 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. It was "a seizure that intruded on plaintiff’s privacy interests and personal rights..." Lauro v. City of New York, No. 95 CIV. 8908 (AGS) (2/25/99).

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit - Under Florida law, a franchise has no independent cause of action against a franchisor for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing arising from a franchise agreement. Burger King Corp. v. Weaver, No. 96-5438 (3/9/99).

The New York Court of Appeals ruled against the insurance industry holding that the standard incontestability clause bars insurers from denying benefits to policyholders who knowingly failed to disclose a preexisting medical condition when they bought their policy. New England Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Doe, No. 39.