"It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life, we get nothing, save by effort." -- Theodore Roosevelt 32% - percentage of U.S. professionals who work and eat lunch at the same time 17% -
percentage of U.S. professionals who say work causes them to lose sleep -- Oxford Health Plan

49 minutes - average amount of time employees spend each day managing e-mail -- Gartner Group

MATTERS OF INTEREST

New York Court of Appeals
LIGHTMAN v. FLAUM, 11/27/01 - No. 2 No. 144 CPLR 4505 does not impose a fiduciary duty upon members of the clergy and does not subject them to a civil liability for disclosing confidential communication between a congregant and a cleric. To read the full text of this opinion, go to: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=ny&vol=I01&invol=0134

2nd Circuit
LORIA v. CITY OF ROCHESTER, 9/26/02 - No. 01-7964 A police officer was entitled to qualified immunity to claims of false arrest and false imprisonment, but not to Fourth Amendment claims to the extent they arise out of a warrantless entry into a home and warrantless seizure. Additional immunity claims analyzed. To read the full text of this opinion, go to: http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/2nd/017964.html

8th Circuit
LEE-THOMAS INC. v. HALLMARK CARDS, INC., 1/2/02 - No. 01-1611 Asset purchase agreement where buyer agreed to assume "all" seller's business liabilities except tax liabilities is sufficient to make buyer liable as a successor-in-interest to seller's product liability claims. To read the full text of this opinion, go to: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/011611P.pdf

California Supreme Court
ORTEGA v. KMART CORP., 12/20/01 - No. S091888 If the plaintiff has no evidence of the source of the dangerous condition or how long it was there, he may rely solely on the premises owner's failure to inspect within a reasonable period of time to establish that the defective condition existed long enough for a reasonable person exercising ordinary care to have discovered it. To read the full text of this opinion, go to: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/data2/californiastatecases/s091888.doc

Pennsylvania Supreme Court
J.S. v. BETHLEHEM AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT On September 25th, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the Bethlehem Area School District did not violate a student's First Amendment rights when it expelled him for creating a derogatory web site. The court found that the student's web site created a significant enough disturbance at the school to warrant the student's expulsion, especially because the web site created an actual and substantial interference with the work of the school. http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/pennsylvaniastatecases/supreme/j-111-2001co1.pdf

Florida Supreme Court
SIEGLE v. PROGRESSIVE CONSUMERS INS. CO., No. SC01-1219 (Fla. May 23, 2002) An automobile collision policy providing that the insurer must repair or replace the vehicle with "other of like kind and quality," does not obligate the insurer to compensate the insured for any diminution in market value after repair which returns the vehicle to its pre-accident condition. To read the full text of this opinion, go to: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/floridastatecases/5_2002/sc01-1219.pdf

Florida Bankruptcy Court
IN RE WHITEHEAD, No. 01-2024-9P7, 2002 WL 1160726 (Bankr.M.D.Fla. Mar. 29, 2002) A chapter 7 trustee failed to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that a debtor was not a bona fide resident of Florida for the 180 days preceding the petition filing and, thus, was ineligible to assert a homestead exemption under Florida law.

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

Mark Allenbaugh. "Patents, Pedophilia, and Punishment: Should Intelligence, Good Acts, and Achievements Have Helped David Westerfield Avoid the Death Penalty?" Attorney and former Sentencing Commission staffer discusses a jury's recent recommendation that David Westerfield, the convicted abductor and killer of second-grader Danielle van Dam, receive a death sentence. Westerfield's lawyers tried to argue that the jury should not recommend death in part because of Westerfield's past positive achievements. Were the lawyers right or wrong?

"Midnight Client," New York Law Journal. The after-midnight call comes in on your home phone. Your best friend/client/ brother-in-law has been arrested and is in police custody. The charge is DWI (Driving While Intoxicated) or maybe felony assault or drug possession. What now? There are several things that a lawyer with little background in criminal law should do during this unexpected call. Follow this guide to make the best of a bad situation. For a copy of this article, contact RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, jmf@researchassociates.net

"The Interstate Practice of Law: Are You Crossing the Line?" Defense Counsel Journal, Vol. 67, No. 4, Oct. 2000.

"A Minimalist Approach to the Presentation of Expert Testimony," Stetson Law Review, Vol. 31, No. 1, Fall 2001.

"Narrowing the Nation's Power: Deconstructing Recent Supreme Court Decisions," The New York Times, August 18, 2002. Judge John T. Noonan Jr. of the Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco - A stinging and even startling critique of recent decisions that have shifted the balance of power in the country away from Congress toward the states and the court itself.

BRIEF RELIEF MATTERS
1. New York - memo on interpretation of contract and oral modification
2. Ohio - appeals court error in reversing lower courts finding on forum non conveniens
3. Arizona - landlord/tenant and duty to mitigate damages plus damages subsequent to reletting
4. California - issues of privacy and harassment
5. South Carolina - probate action, complaint and rules
6. New York - preparation of contract of sale
7. New York - causes for removal of attorney on motion of attorney