Michigan Lawyers Weekly articles from April 2008

Michigan Lawyers Weekly archives from April 2008

Michigan Attorney Discipline Board Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Notice Of Automatic Interim Suspension Case No. 08-32-JC Notice Issued: March 28, 2008 Philip E. Chaffee, P 30419, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Effective Jan. 7, 2008. Respondent pled...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Contract Action For Unpaid Fees - Accrual Of Claim A law firm's breach-of-contract claim against a client for unpaid legal fees accrued when the firm's motion to withdraw as counsel...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Indemnification - Enforceable Where third-party defendant's (Cimarron's) employee was injured when he fell from scaffolding while installing drywall at a construction site and sued...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery. Due Process. "Defendant first contends that the trial court denied him due process when it failed to order the prosecution to specifically perform the plea...

Michigan Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.(Case overview)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Taxation Charitable Institutions - Property Tax Exemption The requirement in MCL 211.7o(1) that a charitable institution has "occupied" the property to be entitled to a property-tax exemption...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: April 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Leave Denied People v. Appenzeller. (Lawyers Weekly No. 06-66085) (1 pages). On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the Oct. 18, 2007, order of the Court of Appeals is...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Retaliation - Third- Party Protection Where plaintiff and his fiancee worked for the same employer, and plaintiff was discharged after his fiancee filed a gender-discrimination...

Insurance industry not all to blame on policy limits.(Letter to the editor)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: I read with interest Michael J. Butler's article "Look at policy limits, and you'll find disrupted lives holding the line on inflation" (March 10, 2008). While I agree with Mr....

Price check on Detroit mayor's legal team.(Kwame Kilpatrick )
April 7, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Criminal Law Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has brought out the big guns. In an effort to avoid up to 80 years in prison, the mayor has assembled a veritable dream team to defend him against charges...

Missouri Supreme Court issues ruling on residential lease agreement.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. MI Supreme Court -- Real Property Law If Betty Homer had waited to say anything until she was absolutely sure she wanted to sell, she might not be under a court order to sell her 75-acre farm. But once...

Thomas M. Cooley Law School launching course on DUIs.(driving under influence)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Legal Education The Thomas M. Cooley Law School is set to launch a course that's believed to be the first of its kind in the entire country. The course covers the law as it relates to driving under the...

Wayne County prosecutor assembles heavy hitters in case against Detroit mayor.(Kym Worthy )(Kwame Kilpatrick )
April 7, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Criminal Law Much has been made of the legal powerhouses Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has retained to defend him against charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. But,...

Detroit mayor's attorney files motion to suppess text messages.(Kwame Kilpatrick; Dan K. Webb)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Criminal Law Less than two hours after Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that eight criminal charges had been filed against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the mayor's own lawyer, Dan K....

Thomas M. Cooley Law School joins in trend of specializing legal education.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Legal Education The Thomas M. Cooley Law School is offering a groundbreaking course on the law relating to driving under the influence (DUI). The move puts the school on the cutting edge of a new trend in...

Wayne State University law professor blogging for The New Yok Times.(Steven M. Davidoff)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Practice Profile With a current volatile capital market, companies are regularly being purchased and sold wholesale. But the deep-pocketed, gigantic personalities involved can make the world of mergers and...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: April 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Elections Jennifer Van Horn of Miller Canfield was elected to the advisory board of the Jane Hibbard Idema Women's Studies Center at Aquinas College. Albert Vincent Y. Yu Chang of Warner...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Age Discrimination Claim - Federal Applicant A former air traffic controller who claimed he was not rehired due to his age should not have had his Age Discrimination in Employment...

Commentary: Agreements for Web site development put both sides in right place.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Charles A. Bieneman, Esq. As countless business owners and Web site developers have learned the hard way, a failure to implement a few simple protections when creating or updating a site can cause untold heartache later. All too...

Commentary: Wikipedia's influence, convenience spills over into courts.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Liisa R. Speaker Many of you have heard of Wikipedia, and maybe even some have used it. But have you cited to Wikipedia in a brief, motion, or letter to the client? Michigan courts have taken the lead in the nation in using...

Lawyers are not immortal, so plan ahead.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Ed Poll A while back, I learned of a story that is all too common in our profession. The widow of a California attorney sought to work through the problem of closing her husband's practice after his death. She had found little...

Verdicts & Settlements April 7, 2008: Cyst goes undetected, results in mastectomy.(Case overview)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff On Jan. 23, 2003, defendant Alpena Surgical Associates saw plaintiff Gail Ballard for bilateral breast masses. An ultrasound and mammogram concluded that the masses were consistent with cysts, but it...

Verdicts & Settlements April 7, 2008: Fired executive claims shareholder oppression.(Brief article)(Case overview)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff Gary Madill was a minority shareholder in a closely held family business. He was terminated from his position as co-president, which triggered a buy-sell agreement that would have required him...

Verdicts & Settlements April 7, 2008: Man in 8-month coma dies from brain injuries.(Brief article)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff was a 52-year-old married father of two. Following discharge for minor goiter surgery, he took a prescribed painkiller and developed swelling in his throat. He drove himself to the emergency...

Michigan Supreme Court issues ruling on common-law setoff rule.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. MSC -- 'Vehicle-Owner Vicarious Liability' The common-law setoff rule survived tort reform in vehicle-owner vicarious liability cases. And, as a result, it's cost Roland Kaiser $100,000 in his wrongful...

'Loss of consortium' claims against government agencies often losing proposition.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Part I Loss-of-consortium claims against governmental agencies are now losing propositions in some cases. In Wesche v. Mecosta County Road Commission and its companion case, Kik v. Sbraccia, et al., the...

Verdicts & Settlements April 14, 2008: Doctor cleared in despondent woman's suicide.(Brief article)
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff After becoming despondent when her boyfriend left her, decedent Elizabeth Kitchen overdosed on Xanax and Vicodin. She was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at Oakwood Hospital, where she was seen...

Michigan Supreme Court says no 'wrongful death' loophole for loss-of-consortium claims.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Part II Rebecca and Robert Kik can't accomplish through the Wrongful Death Act what is prohibited by the motor-vehicle exception to governmental immunity. In particular, they can't sue Kinross Charter...

Michigan Supreme Court says govt. employee doesn't receive same immunity as govt. agency.(government)
April 14, 2008... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Part III The governmental agency that employed him is in the clear, but John-Christopher Sbraccia may still be on the hook for loss-of-consortium damages. That's because the "Legislature has prescribed...

State Bar of Michigan's Young Lawyers Section gives back to community.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. According to section chair Robert K. Fergan and council member Jennifer M. Harvey, the State Bar of Michigan's Young Lawyers Section (YLS) is charged with serving the bar and the community at large. ...

Edward Peters faces wide variety of issues as a canon lawyer.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Practice Profile Was a bishop negligently supervising a priest who has been accused of sexual abuse? Can Rudy Giuliani receive communion because he's married outside of the Roman Catholic Church? Those are...

Q&A with Edward Peters, canon lawyer and professor at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit.(Interview)
April 14, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Many people ask prominent canon lawyer Edward Peters why the Roman Catholic Church, which is "based on love and grace," needs a legal system. He replies that like every human society, the church needs rules,...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Nelson Miller was named associate dean of the Grand Rapids campus of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Brian Trumbauer of Bodman LLP was named co-chair of the Debtor-Creditor...

Michigan Attorney Discipline Board Case Summaries: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Notice Of Automatic Reinstatement Case No: 07-78-GA Notice Issued: April 7, 2008 John F. Mertz, P 25200, Lansing, Michigan. Effective March 26, 2008 Respondent was suspended from...

Attorney General.(Brief article)
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Taxation - Transfer tax An exemption from the requirement imposed by the State Real Estate Transfer Tax Act, MCL 207.521 et seq, to pay state real estate transfer taxes upon the...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Family Law Custody Dispute - Evidentiary Hearing Even though plaintiff-mother's proposed move of the parties' child, of whom she had custody, would be less than 100 miles, an evidentiary...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Race Discrimination - No Pretext An African-American plaintiff may not sue Genesee County for discrimination for failing to hire him for a license enforcement position because...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery. Sufficient Evidence. "Defendant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction because the testimony was inadequate to show that he was...

Michigan Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Governmental Immunity Motor- Vehicle Exception - Loss Of Consortium Loss-of-consortium claims are not authorized under the motor-vehicle exception to governmental immunity, nor does the...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Oral Argument Ordered People v. Mercer. (Lawyers Weekly No. 06-66133) (1 pages). On order of the Court, the motion for immediate consideration is GRANTED. The application for leave to appeal the...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Qualified Immunity - Excessive Force Claim A police officer who shot a man who attacked him and another officer during a routine traffic stop should have been granted qualified...

Think 'SMART' when mapping out marketing plan.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Ed Poll For too many lawyers, the idea of marketing is daunting. There are so many potential clients, so little time to reach them and so many options for pursuing them. Marketing can only be approached practically with a...

Commentary: Lack of true relationships explains why lawyers hate asking for work.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Mark Gilman Do you wonder why some marketing dollars never grow new revenue? A few years ago, while serving as an in-house legal marketer, I engaged in a common discussion with a senior attorney at a Detroit area law firm named...

Verdicts & Settlements April 14, 2008: Jury finds for city in Whistleblower case.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiffs Wanda Darrow and Donna Hannahs were employed by the City of Potterville as treasurer and deputy treasurer. They were terminated after audits by the Michigan State Police and independent...

Verdicts & Settlements April 14, 2008: Breach of contract not proven in lawsuit.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff Netwerkes.com, a company specializing in electronic practice management for the health care field, filed a $3.1 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court for breach of contract. The suit...

Into the past cautiously.(historical dictionary )(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: There can be a problem with using historical dictionary definitions. (See, "High court ignores 'era of enactment' rule," April 21, 2008.) That is because it is not always easy...

Dictionary definitions play important role in Michigan Supreme Court cases.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. MSC -- 'Statutory Interpretation' Analysis Know your statutes. Know your caselaw. And, know your dictionaries. Yes, your dictionaries. That's because these reference books, which are filled...

LEED certification becoming more important in Michigan real estate.(Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Douglas J. Levy Emerging Trends In a few years, when that new skyscraper is in the process of being built, passers-by just might find themselves saying, "Now there's another great way to make our environment better." And...

'Sustainability' in the Michigan law firm.(Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn L.L.P.)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Douglas J. Levy Practice Management The office sector leads all other property types in adopting "sustainable" practices, according to Ellen Sinreich, president of Green Edge LLC, a New York-based environmental consulting firm...

6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issues ruling on joint employment.(United States. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Employment Law Information technology consultant Rosalyn Grace worked as a contracted employee with automotive researcher USCAR for nine years. During that time, her placement agency changed...

Livonia attorney T. Joseph Seward is the policeman's advocate.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Practice Profile T. Joseph Seward is not one for meekly presenting his case behind a podium. The Livonia attorney is known for his abundance of energy and bold creativity in the courtroom. And in...

Michigan Supreme Court ruling leads to debate over dictionary definitions.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. MSC -- 'Statutory Interpretation' Analysis Never one to mince words, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Michael F. Cavanagh was true to form in his dissenting opinion in Liberty Hill Housing Corporation v. City...

Traverse City civil attorney discusses stereotypes of negotiating attorneys.(W. Peter Doren)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Mediation Track Attorneys with quirky negotiating habits may impede an agreement in mediation. But identifying such habits can enable a mediator to work toward an amenable conclusion, says W. Peter Doren,...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: April 28, 2008.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments David A. Robson has been appointed chief operating officer for Miller Canfield. Kurt D. Dykstra of Warner Norcross & Judd LLP has been named chairman of the West Michigan Airport...

Michigan Attorney Discipline Board: April 28, 2008.(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Notice Of Automatic Interim Suspension Case No. 08-41-AI Notice Issued: April 17, 2008 John Stephan Check, P 42520, Dearborn, Michigan. Effective June 4, 2007. Respondent pled...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.(Case overview)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Medicaid Fraud - No Federal Pre-emption Where defendant and his dental practice were convicted under Michigan's Medicaid False Claims Act (MFCA) for filing 11 false claims...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery. Sufficient Evidence. "Defendant left the store without paying for the items, and Barnes testified that, when she approached him at his vehicle, he dropped the...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: April 28, 2008.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Judgment Affirmed Braverman v. Garden City Hosp. (Lawyers Weekly No. 06-66275) (2 pages). By order of Sept. 26, 2007, we granted leave to appeal the June 5, 2007, judgment of the Court of Appeals...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.(United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Great Lakes Shipwreck - Location And Federal Jurisdiction A private underwater salvage company can be compelled to reveal the exact location of a shipwreck to the state of Michigan so...

Commentary: Every day can be a like a roller coaster -- here's how to make the ride smoother.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Charlene M. Tope This business us paralegals are in has the uncanny ability to drain a legal staff of their energy without notice. We look up from the stacks, and there it is -- the realization that no matter how fast we go, we're...

Staying loyal to clients means setting a 'reasonable' price for it.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Ed Poll The foundation of any lawyer's life and practice is the relationship with the client. Without clients there is no reason to be a lawyer. Lawyers don't just practice law, they serve clients. One brief story brings that...