"Judges who follow the philosophy that capital punishment is morally wrong should resign." U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia "I have yet to see a death case among the dozens coming to the Supreme Court on eve-of-execution applications in which the defendant was well represented at trial." Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg

MATTERS OF INTEREST

Supreme Court Swierkiewicz v. Sorema, No. 00-1853 Employees suing for on-the-job discrimination do not have to initially provide detailed proof of their allegations. http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/00-1853.html

Lee v. Kemna, No. 00-6933 Prisoner was entitled to federal habeas corpus review of lower court judge's decision to deny continuance when alibi witness failed to appear. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&navby=case&vol=000&invol=00

Ragsdale v. Wolverine World Wide, Inc., No. 00-6029 Even though an employer failed to notify employee that her sick leave and FMLA leave would run concurrently, she could be fired for failing to return to work after her sick leave expired. http://laws.findlaw.com/us/000/00-6029.html

Department of Housing v. Rucker, No. 00-1770 A public housing tenant can be evicted if a guest or family member is involved with drugs, even if the tenant does not know about it. http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/00-1770.ZS.html

Wisconsin Dept. of Health and Family Service v. Blumer, No. 00-952 Upheld the way 30 states calculate Medicaid eligibility for nursing home residents. Justices ruled that states can use a formula that takes into account the incomes of a nursing home resident and a spouse who still lives at home.

Florida Supreme Court Malicki v. Doe, (3/14/02) No. SC01-179 The First Amendment does not provide a shield to third-party tort claims behind which a church may avoid liability for harm caused to an adult and a child parishioner arising from the alleged sexual assault or battery by one of it clergy. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/floridastatecases/3_2002/SC01-179.pdf

New York Court of Appeals Shauna Alami v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., 2002 NY 2 No. 15 A manufacturer of an alleged defective design may not obtain summary judgment dismissal where the decedent was intoxicated at the time of the accident, if triable issues of fact could lead a jury to conclude that any injuries sustained were caused by design defects in the product. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=ny&vol=I02&invol=0018

People v. Brown, 1 No. 14 (3/19/02) Trial court did not abuse its discretion in permitting expert testimony by police officer with reference to general operating methods and terminology used in street level narcotics transactions. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=ny&vol=I02&invol=0026

11th Circuit Court of Appeals Lee v. Ferraro, (3/5/02) No. 00-16054 Where the female defendant was stopped by a male officer for excessive honking of her car's horn, the officer was entitled to qualified immunity on a wrongful arrest claim, however, he was not entitled to qualified immunity on excessive force claim. http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/11th/00-16054

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

Robert Jan van Pelt, The Case for Auschwitz: Evidence from the Irving Trial (Indiana Univ. Press, 2002). An expert witness' report on the Holocaust and its deniers. The finest expert witness report ever to reach publication.

Wen Ho Lee, My Country Versus Me (Hyperion, 2002). A tale of espionage or a

government witch hunt?

Robyn L. Ginsberg, "Grandparents' Visitation Rights: The Constitutionality of New York's Domestic Relations Law Section 72 After Troxel v. Granville," 65 Albany Law Review 205 (2001).

Laura W. Morgan, "Update: Stock Options as Income for Purposes of Child Support." Support Guidelines.com http://www.supportguidelines.com/articles/art200201.html

"The Five Habits: Building Cross-Cultural Competence in Lawyers." Clinical Law Review, Vol. 8, No. 1 (2001) http://clinic.law.cuny.edu/clea/multiculture/index.html

Basis Legal Citation (2001-2002 ed.) Peter W. Martin-Legal Information Institute. http://www2.law.cornel.edu/cgi-bin/foliocgi.exe/citation/query="/doc/{t2}?

BRIEF RELIEF MATTERS IN PROGRESS

1. Authority to file lis pendens in N.Y. arbitration proceeding. 2. Ohio law and Warsaw Convention-damages to goods in shipment. 3. Use of bloodhound scent evidence. 4. Effect of bankruptcy stay on non-bankrupt defendant. 5. Appeal 2nd Circuit on Younger abstention, substantive due process and Rule 12 (b). 6. Motion for remand and to file amended complaint. Judicial District Court. 7. Authority of court to remove partner and appoint a new managing partner in isolation of partnership agreement in N.Y.