Daily Record (Rochester, NY) articles from May 2007

Daily Record (Rochester, NY) archives from May 2007

Wiretaps up slightly in 2006.
May 2, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record Rochester Staff A total of 1,839 orders were issued by federal and state courts in 2006 authorizing or approving the interception of wire, oral or electronic communications, also known as wiretaps, according to a...

New $14M Webster community center in the works.
May 2, 2007... Byline: Danielle Derringer The current community center, a 50-year-old elementary school, is in need of major mechanical and structural repairs, according to Webster's Commissioner of Parks and Recreation Mark Yaeger. "The town board...

Rochester Legal Briefs: May 2, 2007.
May 2, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record Rochester Staff Fourth Department decisions reviewed the denial of a college professor's tenure as well as intentional tort suits and addressed litigation involving medical practices. EMPLOYMENT Higher...

Rochester attorney prepared to tackle new challenges.
May 2, 2007... Byline: Tara E. Buck Chief grievance counsel isn't a career typically aspired to in law school, attorney Gregory J. Huether admitted recently. But Huether anticipates his latest career move -- to the post of chief counsel for the Fourth...

'Pro se' litigant agrees to control his over-active client.
May 3, 2007... Byline: Caryn Tamber For years, non-lawyer Arthur W. Robinson has filed dozens of crisp, professional-looking -- and, his critics say, completely frivolous -- lawsuits against major banks and other businesses. Sometimes, companies settled...

What if an electronic image is as good as it gets?
May 3, 2007... Byline: Mary Jo S. Korona Recently, over a salad at lunchtime, a colleague asked me if I thought a decision, made on behalf of one of his clients, to maintain promissory notes solely in electronic format could present evidentiary issues in...

Female lawyers in U.S. opt for women-only client outings.
May 4, 2007... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher One evening last fall, 19 women lawyers from a large Chicago law firm got together with 60 women clients to browse designer shoes at the Cole Haan store on Michigan Avenue. They sipped cocktails, snacked on...

N.Y. State Bar Assn. presents Howard A. Levine Awards.
May 4, 2007... Byline: Daily Record The New York State Bar Association's Committee on Children and the Law will presented the 21st annual Howard A. Levine Award for excellence in juvenile justice and child welfare on Thursday at the State Bar Center in...

Commentary: Early presidential handicappers are clueless.
May 4, 2007... Byline: Jerry Kremer It's time for the truth to be told: The contest for the job of president of the United States in 2008 has barely begun, and anyone who thinks it is over is either a cockeyed optimist or totally misinformed. The...

Commentary: Tax-planning strategies for keeping it all in the family.
May 4, 2007... Byline: Kenneth J. Burke The 2006 filing season is over, with the exception of extended returns, so now is the appropriate time to consider tax planning strategies for 2007. Family employment If you own a closely held business, you have...

Commentary: NYS Sex Offender Registration Act hearings.
May 4, 2007... Byline: Gary Muldoon The state's Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders must notify an offender 30 days before its recommendation that a case is under review and allow an offender to submit information to the board, Correction Law s....

U.S. Supreme Court considers car passengers' rights.
May 9, 2007... Byline: Kimberly Atkins In the last week of oral arguments this term, the U.S. Supreme Court heard one of the most anticipated cases of the year -- one that could expand the constitutional protections afforded passengers in vehicles during...

National Association of Realtors: It's time for higher lending standards.
May 9, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is calling on bank regulators to adopt higher lending standards while providing lenders with more flexibility in determining whether buyers can afford to meet loan...

Second Circuit Court rules court can adjust rates for out-of-district attorney.
May 9, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff While a U.S. district court should generally use the prevailing hourly rate in the district where it sits to calculate a presumptively reasonable hourly rate for attorney fees, it may adjust the rate to account...

U.S. Supreme Court tackles environmental cleanup.
May 10, 2007... Byline: Kimberly Atkins For decades, federal environmental law allowed companies sued by the federal government over contaminated industrial waste sites to sue another responsible party in an effort to get the other party to assume part of...

New York State bar gift to benefit low-income taxpayer clinics.
May 10, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record Staff The New York Bar Foundation has received a gift of $20,000 from the Tax Section of the New York State Bar Association to provide financial support for low-income taxpayer clinics through the restricted "Tax...

U.S. Supreme Court rules ban on partial-birth abortion constitutional.
May 11, 2007... Byline: Daily Record staff The federal Partial-Birth Abortion Act is facially constitutional and does not impose an undue burden on a woman's right to abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled recently in a pair of consolidated cases...

Can estate planners add value to prenuptial agreements?
May 11, 2007... Byline: Jeffrey A. Baskies Should estate planners be more involved in drafting prenups? Because such agreements can fix rights not only on divorce but also at death, and because they may have significant and complex tax issues, more...

U.S. Department of Justice, FTC report on real estate brokers.
May 11, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) earlier this week issued a joint report entitled "Competition in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry." The report is designed to inform...

DHS: Monroe County needs more senior housing.
May 15, 2007... Byline: Danielle Derringer With more adult home facilities being built in Monroe County, the County's Department of Human Services Office for the Aging is recognizing some trends in adult living. More options are available for retirees and...

Monroe County Bar Association releases judicial evaluations.
May 15, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff Last week, the Monroe County Bar Association released the results of its evaluation of six candidates seeking judgeships for New York State Supreme Court and Monroe County Family Court. The MCBA uses a...

Brenna named president-elect of New York Academy of Trial Lawyers.
May 15, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff Robert L. Brenna Jr. recently was designated president-elect of the New York Academy of Trial Lawyers. In a ceremony conducted in Albany as part of the Law Day celebration on May 1, the Academy installed the...

Finding 'fault' with New York State divorce laws.
May 16, 2007... Byline: Claude Solnik Jeffrey and Paula E. Molinari had the best intentions when they took their wedding vows, but like so many couples they discovered that intentions don't always make for strong unions, and "'til death do us part" is a...

Vineyard farm grows in Rochester community.
May 16, 2007... Byline: Danielle Derringer The NorthEast Neighborhood Alliance (NENA) and the NorthEast Block Club Alliance (NEBCA) are resident-driven planning initiatives committed to the revitalization of the northeast neighborhood in Rochester. The...

New law firm in Buffalo.
May 16, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff Attorneys Donna L. Burden, Philip M. Gulisano and Jon-athan S. Hickey recently founded the law firm of Burden, Gulisano & Hickey, LLC. All three trial attorneys are formerly of Hurwitz & Fine, PC. Their new...

Editorial: D'Amato joins the anti-Gonzalez chorus.(Editorial)
May 16, 2007... Byline: Alfonse D'Amato Washington consumes headlines with the voracious appetite of a prehistoric raptor. Stories pop up and dominate media coverage for days, perhaps a week, and then recede, making room for the next shattering headline....

Commentary: Mister Bull, meet Mister Bear.
May 16, 2007... Byline: William Rutherford Is this the year the consumer stops spending? This is an important question because the consumer makes up about 70 percent of the economy. The remaining 30 percent is government spending and capital spending....

Summer associates: Get ready to start your legal career.
May 17, 2007... Byline: Joyce Manna Janto Law students who are starting summer associate positions often need a reality check. Whether these aspiring lawyers are moving from the casual summer employment of their college days, or switching professional...

Greater Rochester Assn. for Women Attorneys releases judicial candidate evaluations.
May 17, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record Staff The Judicial Evaluation Committee (JEC) of the Greater Rochester Association for Women Attorneys convened recently to review the qualifications of judicial candidates. Candidates are rated "highly qualified,"...

Bausch & Lomb, Warburg Pincus agree to merge.
May 17, 2007... Bausch & Lomb on Wednesday announced its entry into a merger agreement with affiliates of Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, in a transaction valued about $4.5 billion, including about $830 million of debt. Bausch & Lomb officials...

Bausch & Lomb, Warburg Pincus agree to merge.
May 17, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record Staff Bausch & Lomb on Wednesday announced its entry into a merger agreement with affiliates of Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm, in a transaction valued about $4.5 billion, including about $830 million...

Who are the new office tenants of the future?
May 17, 2007... Byline: The Daily Record Staff A new study by the National Association of Realtors predicts employment related to office-based occupations will rise by 6.5 percent nationally through 2009 and grow nearly the same amount from 2010-2014. The...

How to ... Choose your financial advisor.
May 17, 2007... Byline: Bernadette Starzee Life takes financial planning -- for future concerns such as college and retirement, as well as for the here and now. But when it comes to dealing with finances, many people feel intimidated by what they have to...

New York Attorney General alleges deception by Dell.
May 18, 2007... Byline: NYDR Staff New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced earlier this week that his office has filed a lawsuit against computer giant Dell and Dell Financial Services, LP (DFS), an affiliate that is a joint venture between...

May means home improvement.
May 18, 2007... Byline: Danielle Derringer It is estimated that more than a million homes undergo major renovation or remodeling each year according to The National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI). NARI represents a group of companies and...

Commentary: Technology trends that make lawyers' lives easier.
May 18, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll I have written before about the risk of "technology malpractice" -- violating the duty of care by failing to use technology effectively in your practice, so that you are perceived as willfully less competent than your...

NY Court of Appeals filings for March 30 through April 5.
May 18, 2007... Byline: NYDR Staff A list of appeals with short title, jurisdictional predicate, subject matter and key issues is prepared each week. Some of these filed appeals may never reach decision on the merits because of dismissal on motion, sua...

Decision of the Week: Interest is no penalty, says New York State Court of Appeals.
May 21, 2007... Byline: Bruce Freeman CPLR 5001 generally allows the winner of a lawsuit to collect interest on the amount awarded. In a recent ruling, the New York State Court of Appeals reversed the Appellate Division, Fourth Department, holding that...

New York State Court of Appeals: Law firm liable for malpractice despite successful settlement.
May 22, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff A plaintiff who won a $750,000 settlement in a personal injury case after hiring new counsel can still recover malpractice damages from his previous law firm. This was the finding of New York's highest court,...

National Association of Realtors: Commercial real estate still strong.
May 22, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff Respectable job growth, improving fundamentals, favorable interest rates and limited speculative construction suggest strong investor appetite will continue in 2007, according to a recent commercial market update...

Brad and Dave Norbut of Norbut Construction in Rochester focus on family values.
May 22, 2007... Byline: Danielle Derringer Growing up in the construction field has paid off for Brad and Dave Norbut of Norbut Construction in Rochester. The company started in 2002, but the Norbut brothers first were introduced to the business at an...

Recorded evidence keeps family lawyers on their toes.
May 23, 2007... Byline: Kimberly Atkins When it comes to nasty divorces and custody disputes, the tale is often in the tape, much to the chagrin of family law attorneys and their clients. Two recent, high-profile cases highlight this point quite publicly....

OSHA rule would significantly limit contractor liability.
May 23, 2007... A new ruling from the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, the group that decides contested OSHA citation cases, indicates a shift in worksite safety responsibility from general contractors to subcontractors in some situations. The...

Proposed sprinkler rule: Bad news for new homes in N.Y.?
May 23, 2007... Byline: Danielle Derringer The International Code Council Forum is meeting at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center through Saturday and will vote on a proposed fire sprinkler requirement in single and multi family homes and...

It's family first for University at Buffalo School of Law Dean Nils Olsen.
May 24, 2007... Byline: Tara E. Buck University at Buffalo School of Law Dean Nils Olsen's family is a priority for him. Olsen, 60, has a 91-year-old father-in-law and an 86-year-old father who both live in Wisconsin, and he wants to spend more time with...

Is a law firm by any other name still the same?
May 24, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll I strongly believe in the ethical and economic correctness of selling a law practice. Central to that belief is my conviction that a law practice has goodwill that can be sold. Goodwill in this sense is the client base...

House flipping scheme in Buffalo flops.
May 25, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff The state Attorney General's Office has initiated the area's first major house flipping lawsuit against an investment company that targeted over 50 properties throughout Buffalo. The AG's suit accuses East Coast...

N.Y. State Court of Appeals rules adoption agency not liable for punitives.
May 25, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff An adoption agency that intentionally concealed information about a child's background is not liable for punitive damages, New York's highest court recently ruled in Ross v. Louise Wise Services. The adoptive...

Attention sellers: A look at spring market trends in Rochester.
May 25, 2007... Byline: Danielle Derringer The number of homes listed for sale increased by 7.3 percent compared to last month, and the median sale price increased by 7.5 percent to $113,000 compared to last year's median, according to the Greater...

Decision of the Week: No dominion and control, no conversion.
May 29, 2007... Byline: Bruce Freeman One lender sued another for conversion and unjust enrichment based upon secured interests in farm equipment. The causes of action survived a summary judgment motion before New York State Supreme Court, Monroe County...

Former NY State Supreme Court Judge Kehoe entering a new phase.
May 30, 2007... Byline: Tara E. Buck When New York State Supreme Court Judge L. Paul Kehoe failed to win election in the fall, his 14-year career on the bench ended. The former Seventh Judicial District judge and Appellate Division justice, however,...

What the recruiting process tells potential hires about your firm.
May 30, 2007... Byline: Stephen E. Seckler Due diligence is a critical component of an effective job search. It is ego gratifying to receive a job offer. But before accepting, there are important questions that most people ask. For example, does the new...

2007 Patent Reform Act could bring needed changes.
May 30, 2007... Byline: Maya Eckstein The 2007 Patent Reform Act is the latest in several recent attempts to reform the patent system. While previous attempts languished, the Act is a bipartisan and bicameral effort that, thus far, appears to have the...

Hon. Ann Pfau appointed NYS Chief Administrative Judge.
May 30, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff New York State Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye on Tuesday announced the appointment of the Hon. Ann Pfau to the position of Chief Administrative Judge. She fills the role following Judge Jonathan Lippman's recent...

Rochester realtor Jeff Scofield sure can sell.
May 31, 2007... Byline: Danielle Derringer Jeff Scofield is partner/associate of RE/MAX Plus in Brighton, which was formed by some top agents in the area about two months ago who wanted to start a partnership-owned company. According to Scofield, in the...

NY State Bar, National Center for State Courts united against judicial pay stalemate.
May 31, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff New York State Bar Association President-Elect Kathryn Grant Madigan earlier this week urged lawmakers to end the stalemate over judicial pay adjustments. Madigan, speaking at a press conference held on Tuesday...

New York State Court of Appeals lists May 4-10, 2007 filings.
May 31, 2007... Byline: Daily Record Staff A list of appeals with short title, jurisdictional predicate, subject matter and key issues is prepared each week. Some of these filed appeals may never reach decision on the merits because of dismissal on...