BRIEF RELIEF

Who Owns Death?, Capital Punishment, the American Conscience, and the End of Executions, by Robert J. Lifton and Greg Mitchell. Two authors argue that the death penalty may be on the way out.

Police Clearances, A Poor Way to Measure the Impact of Miranda on the Police, by Floyd Feeney, Rutgers Law Journal, vol. 32, iss. 1.

How Much Freedom for Racist Speech?, Transnational Aspects of a Conflict of Human Rights, by Friedrich Kubler, Hofstra Law Review, Winter 1998, vol. 27, iss. 2.

Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law & Procedure: Washington State’s Community Protection Act of 1990 (Act), which authorizes the civil commitment of "sexually violent predators," cannot be deemed punitive "as applied" to a single individual in violation of the Double Jeopardy and Ex Post Facto Clauses. Selling v. Young, No. 99-1185, (January 17, 2001).

Criminal Procedure: Under Due Process state must prove all elements of a crime. Fiore v. White, No. 98-942.

Second Circuit Constitutional Law, Criminal Law & Procedure, Legal Malpractice: While closed-circuit televising of child’s testimony in sexual abuse and rape case did not violate petitioner’s rights under the Confrontation Clause, his trial attorney’s cumulative errors were prejudicial and amounted to constitutional ineffectiveness of counsel. Lindstadt v. Keane, No. 99-2002, (2d. Cir. January 4, 2001).

Civil Procedure: Dismissal with prejudice under Rule 41(b) for plaintiff’s silent, unobtrusive failure to prosecute following non-compliance with the district court’s order to file reply to defendant’s summary judgment motion was too harsh a remedy to impose upon pro se plaintiff. Lesane v. Hall’s Security Analyst, Inc., No. 99-9421 (2d Cir. January 4, 2001).

Attorney’s Fees, Civil Procedure, Contracts: An unambiguous general release of a party’s obligations under a contract relieves that party of an obligation to pay attorneys’ fees under such a provision in the contract. Krumme v. Westpoint-Pepperell, No. 99-9442, (2d Cir. January 11, 2001).

Criminal Law & Procedure: Police stop of suspect for violation of section New York City Admin. Code Section 19-176(b), prohibiting riding a bicycle on the sidewalk, is sufficient to support probable cause for suspect’s arrest and subsequent discovery of gun in his possession. US v. McFadden, No. 00-1254, (2d Cir. January 18, 2001).

Washington Supreme Court: Contract Law: Insurance: An insurer acted in bad faith when it hired an expert to aid in an insured’s liability representation, then retained that expert to aid in its defense of the insured’s underinsured motorist (UM) claim. Ellwein v. Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, No. 68230-5.

Minnesota Supreme Court: Court found that a broken window did not give the officers an objective basis upon which to believe that the vehicle was stolen. The existence of possible innocent explanation negates probable cause. State v. Britton, #C9-98-968, (January 13, 2000).

New York Trial Court: Contracts: Plaintiff contended that he and defendant entered into a legally enforceable agreement. Defendant argued that the parties had an agreement to agree. The court noted that the issue was whether three writings and the parties’ conduct considered together satisfied the statute of frauds. After reviewing the case, the court concluded all the parties had was an agreement to agree in the future. Strain v. Strain, Supreme Court, Dutchess County.

Family Law: The panel ruled that it was an error for the lower court to dismiss petitioner’s application for a modification without conducting a hearing to ascertain the amount of respondent’s income and determine what percentage of the income would be payable as additional child support. The level of support was negotiated by the parties, but the respondent’s income had allegedly increased. Burnett v. Student, App. Div.