"Perhaps of all the creations of man language is the most astonishing." - Giles Lytton Strachey (1880-1932), Words and Poetry.

"The law is good, if a man use it lawfully." - The Bible-New Testament, "1 Timothy. I, 8"

BRIEF RELIEF

Domain name registration, trade mark infringement - rights and obligations.

Florida insurance policy, application, fraud - rights of policy holder.

Defamation and qualified privilege to notify police.

Accountant malpractice complaint counts for fraud, negligent management.

Obtaining copies of recent out-of-state and federal decisions and statutory references.

New York - status of wrongful death action for death of still born infant.

New York - determine existence of indemnification fund for uninsured hit-and-run accident.

New York - rights of grandparents to visitation - statutes and cases.

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

Visser, Chris K. Without a Warrant, Probable Cause, or Reasonable Suspicion: Is There Any Meaning to the Fourth Amendment While Driving a Car? Houston Law Review: Spring 1999, Vol. 35, No. 5, pgs. 1683-1728.

Ellis, Nicole M. State v. Lovejoy: Hung Juries and Retrial vs. Double Jeopardy and Collateral Estoppel. Cleveland State Law Review: 1998, Vol. 46, No. 1, pgs. 197-208.

Scott, Sherry L. Fairness to the Victim: Federal Rules of Evidence 413 and 414 Admit Propensity Evidence in Sexual Offender Trials. Houston Law Review: Spring 1999, Vol. 35, No. 5, pgs. 1729-1774.

Edelman, Daniel A. Payday Loans: Big Interests Rates and Little Regulation. Loyola Consumer Law Review, Vol. 11, No. 3, pg. 174.

Andrews, Ross P. and Richard A. Maroko. Employment-at-Will in New York Remains Essentially Unchanged After a Century of Refinements. New York State Bar Journal, September/October 1999, pg. 8.

Zuckerman, Richard K. and Sharon N. Berlin. Romance in the Workplace: Employers Can Make Rules if They Serve Legitimate Needs. New York State Bar Journal, September/October 1999, pg. 43.

MATTERS OF INTEREST

New York Appellate Division

Out-of-state media buyers may routinely be subject to the long-arm jurisdiction of New York state courts. The Appellate Division, First Department held that a California company with no presence in New York could be sued in a lawsuit over its alleged failure to pay for advertising time it purchased on behalf of a client on a cable television network based in New York. Courtroom Television Network v. Focus Media, Inc.

Tenth Circuit

Where an employer didn’t provide training to its managers about the requirements of the ADA, t can be vicariously liable for punitive damages even though it had a written discrimination policy. EEOC v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., No. 98-2015.

Ninth Circuit

Border Patrol agents may consider the race of a motorist, but this fact alone does not justify an investigatory stop. U.S. v. Montero-Camargo, Nos. 97-50643, 97-50645 (8/25/99).

The Court has ruled that a social services caseworker and police officer who assisted are not immune from liability in a warrantless, non-emergency search of a home on a stale report of abused children. The reasonable expectation of privacy of individuals in their homes includes the interests of both parents and children in not having government officials coerce entry in violation of the Fourth Amendment and humiliate the parents in front of the children. An essential aspect of the privacy of the home is the parent’s and the child’s interest in the privacy of their relationship with each other. Calabretta v. Floyd (8/26/99).

The warrantless use of a thermal imaging device was not a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. The Court followed the Supreme Court’s reasoning in Dow Chemical Co. v. U.S., 476 U.S. 227 (1986), in holding that this technology revealed no "intimate details" and was thus a permissible warrantless search. U.S. v. Kyllo, No. 96-30333 (9/9/99).

California Supreme Court

The Safety Appliance Acts (49 U.S.C. sec. 20301 et seq.) precluded state regulation of guardrails on rail freight cars whether consistent, complementary, additional or otherwise. Carrillo v. AFC Industries, No. S072065 (7/7/99).

Fifth Circuit

A defendants’ Web site is insufficient to subject it to personal jurisdiction where it only maintains a passive advertising site that posts information about its products and services. Mink v. AAAA Development, Inc., 9/17/99.

Counsel’s closing argument being little more than a plea to the religious morals of the jury did not constitute ineffective assistance of counsel. Kitchens v. Johnson, 9/28/99.

Failure to allow the defendant to use trustworthy eyewitness accounts constitutes a fundamental miscarriage of justice. Fairman v. Anderson, 9/28/99.