Volume 9, Number 4 Our 20th Year April, 2001
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Volume 9, Number 4 Our 20th Year April, 2001 |
“The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six
months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the
evidence,” H.L. Mencken
1.
Illinois
research on collection practices and harassment.
2.
Liability
of business broker in Illinois for breach of fiduciary duty.
3.
Credit for
time served in foreign jurisdiction when state fails to act on interstate
detainer.
4.
New York-
ability to have police report in evidence and rear end liability cases.
5.
New York-
discovery in traffic matter and procedure on suspension for point accumulation.
6.
Massachusetts
Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act.
7.
New York-
Appropriateness of conveyance by description without subdivision approval.
8.
Federal
Rule of Evidence 703 and use by expert of report by non-testifying doctor.
9.
Brief in
opposition to D.A.’s motion for joinder of complaints and in support of
severance.
Whenever
future dangerousness is at issue, the defendant in a capital case has a right to
inform the jury that he would not be eligible for parole if sentenced to life
imprisonment. Shafer v. South Carolina,
No. 00-5250.
Where
a husband never replaced his ex-wife as the beneficiary of his life insurance
and pension plans, she is entitled to the benefits. After a divorce, beneficiary
designations of an ex-spouse were automatically revoked was preempted by ERISA. Egelhoff
v. Egelhoff, No. 99-1529.
A
state hospital’s performance of a diagnostic test to obtain evidence of a
patient’s criminal conduct for law enforcement purposes is an unreasonable
search if the patient has not consented to the procedure. Ferguson
v. Charleston, No. 99-936.
Section
504(a)(16) of the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of
1996, which excludes LSC representation in cases which “involve an effort to
amend or otherwise challenge existing law,” violates the First Amendment and
distorts the legal system by altering the traditional role of the attorneys. Legal
Serv. Corp. v. Velazquez, No. 99-603.
2nd Circuit
Injury and Tort Law: An employer who sends email
that is eventually forwarded to other employees, stating that employee was fired
for defrauding the company, may face employee claims of defamation for libel per
se. Meloff v. New York Life Ins. Co., No.
99-9033.
5th Circuit
Even
though a non-citizen was convicted of drunk driving and sentenced to five years
in prison, he can’t be deported. The court said that drunk driving does not
constitute an “aggravated felony” for which deportation is mandatory under
strict new federal immigration laws. U.S.
v. Chapa-Garza, No. 99-51199.
Appellate Division,
First Department: Five
justices voted 3-2 against adopting a cause of action for a tortious breach of
an implied covenant of good faith between the HMO and its subscribers. Decision
to allow a class action to go forward on the issue of whether the plaintiff’s
health plan committed fraud and breached contractual obligations by assigning to
non-doctors the task of making decisions on medical necessity of treatment. Batas
v. Prudential Ins. Co.
Judge strikes law
giving grandparent’s right to seek custody: Court
said that the New York law is “helplessly flawed and unredeemable.” Levy
v. Levy, 38897/99
Is the use of Thermal
Heat Imaging a “Search” Governed by then Fourth Amendment? How the Supreme Court should
resolve the Kyllo Case. By Sherry F. Colb
New Technologies and
the Fourth Amendment: The Trouble
with Defining a “Reasonable Expectation of Privacy.” By Barton Aronson.
Drafting ‘Time is of
the Essence’ Clauses By Eric C. Rubenstein and
Denise A. Menikheim, New York Law Journal
‘Doing Business’
Jurisdiction: Some Unresolved Issues By Vincent C. Alexander, New
York Law Journal
Ladies and Gentlemen of
the Jury “Greatest Closing
Arguments in Modern Law,” By Michael S.
Leif, H. Mitchell Caldwell, and Ben Bycel