American Lawyer Survey: What Do You Like Least About The Practice of Law?

1. Competing for new clients --- 36%
2. Clients pace the business --- 28%
3. Clients treat lawyers as fungible technical help --- 27%
4. I am at the beck and call of clients --- 22%

Matters In Progress

Locate Emergency Medical Treatment Act 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1395DD and cases.

Memorandum in opposition to plaintiff’s Notice of Verified Petition to Stay Arbitration - New York.

Effect of living wife on "marital property" in Tennessee.

New York disciplinary rule DR-9-102(c)(4) and cases.

Issue of joint account and removal of executor.

Promissory note and gift between family members.

California cases on custody.

Memorandum on New York late notice of tort claim.

Opposition to summary judgment - Federal court action.

Appellate Division Appeal - New York.

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

Grasso, Laura. Cellular Telephones and the Potential Hazards of RF Radiation: Responses to the Fear and Controversy, Virginia Journal of Law and Technology: Spring 1998.

Malloy, Elizabeth Wilborn S. Beyond Misguided Paternalism: Resuscitating the Right to Refuse Medical Treatment, Wake Forest Law Review, 1998.

Dixon, Rod. Windows Nine-to-Five: Smyth v. Pillsbury and the Scope of an Employee’s Right of Privacy in Employer Communications, Virginia Journal of Law and Technology: Fall 1997.

Imwinkelreid, Edward J. Issues Once Moot: The Other Evidentiary Objections to the Admission of Exculpatory Polygraph Examinations, Wake Forest Law Review, Vol. 32, Iss. 4, 1998.

Walter, Paula. His, Hers, or Theirs -- Custody, Control and Contracts: Allocating Decisional Authority Over Frozen Embryos, 29 Seton Hall L. Rev. 937 (1999).

MATTERS OF INTEREST

Connecticut Supreme Court - Where a zoning change was denied because of the animosity of two zoning board members, the landowners can sue under 42 U.S.C. Sect. 1983. Mistreating a property owner because of personal dislike violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, the court said. Thomas v. City of Westhaven, 249 Conn. 385.

Supreme Court of Indiana - A college fraternity owed a common law duty of reasonable care to an invitee who was sexually assaulted at a fraternity party. Delta Tau Delta, Beta Alpha Chapter v. Johnson, No. 49S01-9601-CV-40.

U.S. Court of Appeals (3d Cir.) - A trial court erred by failing to hold a hearing to assess the admissibility of expert testimony in products liability case that ended in summary judgment for the defendant. Padillas v. Stork-Gamco, Inc., No. 97-1853.

Fifth Circuit

The Death on the High Seas Act (DOHSA) does not allow recovery for decedent’s pre-death pain and suffering, and courts may not supplement DOHSA with general maritime law or state law to permit that recovery. Jacobs v. Northern King Shipping Co. Ltd. (7/27/99).

Personal jurisdiction is lacking over Westin Mexico where there is insufficient evidence that Westin Mexico was an alter ego of Westin or that the two corporations are so integrated as to constitute a single business enterprise. Gardemal v. Westin Hotel Co. (8/17/99).

Defendant’s counsel rendered deficient assistance by failing to cite directly controlling precedent, and the district court committed plain error that affected the defendant’s substantial rights by not following Bellazarius, which was controlling circuit precedent. United States v. Williamson (8/17/99).

(Criminal) Excluding expert witness testimony which would have been helpful to the jury in determining defendant’s guilt was reversible error. State v. Gherasim, SC S45379.

An exercise of the Court’s inherent equitable authority to award attorney fees to a prevailing party is not justified when the prevailing party’s brief and argument gives no attention to the basis on which the Court’s ultimate disposition of the case turned.

******* NEW LAWS *******

Teens caught smoking in South Dakota can be fined once for every cigarette they light up, as can the merchant who sold them the pack.

In Utah, the marriage age was raised from 16 to 14.

In Idaho, lawmakers rescinded a $1,000 limit on prize money that can be awarded in charity rubber duck races.

Hula, once banned by missionaries as a "heathen practice," was declared the official state dance of Hawaii.