Michigan Lawyers Weekly articles from August 2007

Michigan Lawyers Weekly archives from August 2007

Commentary: 'Tort reform' -- A failed experiment in legal-social engineering.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Robert M. Raitt Michigan has "tort reform" coming out of its ears and it has failed to deliver on a single one of its promises Recently the big business lobbying group, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, issued a widely...

Two Michigan judges introduce identical bills proposing to amend the Concealed Weapons Act.(District Court Judges Keith P. Hunt and Robert J. Turner)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Todd C. Berg Legislative Preview Some folks are gunning for Michigan judges and that's got at least two lawmakers springing into action. Rep. Kenneth B. Horn, R-Frankenmuth, and Sen. Roger Kahn, M.D., R-Saginaw, have...

Black letter law trumps Michigan's common law, once again.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart In the Michigan Supreme Court's latest decision involving statutory analysis, black letter law has once again trumped the common law. This time, the high court tackled statutes of limitation in a wrongful...

Michigan law firms announce staffing changes: August 6, 2007.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Elections Thea D. Davis, an attorney with the Grand Rapids-based Varnum, Riddering, Schmidt & Howlett LLP, recently joined the Granville Avenue Arts & Humanities Board of Directors. Honigman...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: August 6, 2007.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Sentencing - Effect Of Civil Settlement On Restitution Where defendants pleaded no contest to embezzling money from a school district, one defendant's settlement with the school...

Michigan Unpublished Court of Appeals Case Summaries: August 6, 2007.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery. No 180-Day Rule Violation. "The 180-day rule 'expressly provides that the Department of Corrections must deliver a written notice of incarceration and request...

Michigan Supreme Court Case Summaries: August 6, 2007.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Standing - Benefits For Same-Sex Partners Of School Employees Taxpayers' letters to a public official to "investigate and halt" the alleged illegal expenditure of public funds,...

U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: August 6, 2007.
August 6, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Jurisdiction - Declaratory Judgment Where the federal district court exercised declaratory judgment jurisdiction in this insurance coverage dispute, this was error because our...

Till death do us part?
August 6, 2007... Byline: Reni Gertner Most couples wait until the going gets tough in their marriage to head for the lawyers. But recently some high wage earners — hedge fund managers in particular — are going to the bargaining table when...

Verdicts & Settlements August 6, 2007: Michigan wrongful death claim settles for $725K.(Brief article)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff On November 19, 2003, the decedent -- a 63-year-old female -- was a passenger in a vehicle traveling northbound on a two-lane unlit road. Unbeknownst to the decedent and to the driver of the vehicle, a...

Verdicts & Settlements August 6, 2007: Michigan jury awards $130K verdict for sewer defect claim.(Brief article)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The grinder pump on a low pressure main sewer system froze and broke, causing 1200 gallons of raw sewage to back up into the plaintiffs' home. The township was aware of the propensity of the pump to...

What's in a name?(Michigan Supreme Court releases Michigan judiciary salary information)(Reprint)
August 6, 2007... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. With all the talk about cuts to the judiciary's budget, mandatory furloughs and "closed for business" days at the Michigan Court of Appeals, the selling of state-owned cars, and the prospect of "downsizing" the...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Section 1983 - Reasonable Police Action Where a police officer shot a suspected car thief who was trying to avoid capture, the officer's actions were objectively reasonable under...

Commentary: Maximizing the 'admin claim'.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Barbara Rom, Esq. For various reasons, the enhanced right of reclamation under the Bankruptcy Code has proven to be largely illusory due to the priority of secured lenders. However, what has proven to be of much greater value...

Verdicts & Settlements August 13, 2007: Church-goer's fall garners $313K verdict.(Brief article)
August 13, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff fell and was injured when she was "slain in the spirit" at a function at the defendant church. No ushers caught her even though attendees were told that people should not be afraid to get...

Verdicts & Settlements August 13, 2007: Wrongful termination nets $45K verdict.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff, Donald Barrett, was a header for defendant, Detroit Heading, LLC, a manufacturer of screws, nuts, and bolts for the automotive industry. Mr. Barrett suffers from hypertension. He had...

Why make it so difficult?(Letter to the editor)(Brief article)
August 13, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To The Editor: The release of the State Court Administrative Office's Judicial Resources Recommendations and its attendant publicity caused me to look for it on the Michigan Supreme Court's...

Judicial excesses in Michigan.(Interview)
August 13, 2007... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Analysis -- Judicial Resources Recommendations Michigan's got 70 too many trial court judges. Which means that one out of eight of the 586 trial judges in Michigan are unnecessary. Which also means...

Been there, done that: Analysis of Michigan Judicial Resources Recommendations.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Analysis -- Judicial Resources Recommendations If the State Court Administrative Office's (SCAO) recommendations for downsizing the Michigan Court of Appeals are followed, the court may return to a time of...

Church-goer awarded $315,000 in closed-head injuries, slander, and libel case.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Verdicts and Settlements Plus What started as a church conference -- and spiraled into closed-head injuries and accusations of slander and libel -- recently ended with a $315,000 verdict in an Eaton...

Michigan officials quickly respond to judicial downsizing recommendations.(Brief article)
August 13, 2007... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. In less than four months, the issue of downsizing the trial and appellate judiciary has gone from "just talk" to recommendations. Things started officially on April 23, 2007 when Michigan Supreme Court Chief...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Kalyn D. Redlowsk, an associate with the Kalamazoo office of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, P.L.C, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Michigan Labor-Management...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Governmental Immunity Medical Malpractice Exception - Inmate's Death Where plaintiff's decedent fell from the top bunk of his jail cell and later was taken to the jail's clinic, the medical...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Construction Law Common Work Area - Fall From Balcony A subcontractor who fell from an unguarded balcony at a construction site owned and operated by defendants cannot sue for his injuries....

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: August 13, 2007.
August 13, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery; Conspiracy To Commit Armed Robbery; Jail Escape While Awaiting A Felony Trial; Conspiracy To Commit Jail Escape; Felony Firearm. Directed Verdict. "Defendant...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Sentencing - Spitting HIV- Positive Blood The trial court, when sentencing an HIV-positive prisoner who spat his blood at a corrections officer, properly assessed the prisoner 20...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Settlement - Breach Where the court resolved the parties' shareholder dispute by requiring defendants to sell their shares to plaintiff, the court did not force a settlement on terms...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery. Identification Evidence. "Defendant's brief incorrectly states, 'The sole direct evidence allegedly connecting Appellant to this offense [was] the testimony of...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Court Rule Amendments ADM File No. 2006-33. Amendment of Rule 2.116 of the Michigan Court Rules. (Lawyers Weekly No. 06-63182) (2 pages). Effective September 1, 2007. ADM File No. 2006-29....

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Rule 4(a)(1) - Docket Monitoring The federal district court did not abuse its discretion by denying plaintiffs' motion under Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a)(1) to reopen the...

Commentary: Professional and ethical concerns affect e-mail use.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Sharon D. Nelson and John W. Simek We have finally reached the point where virtually all lawyers have succumbed to our times and now use e-mail. There were a lot just five years ago who swore they never would. We are down to a...

Verdicts & Settlements August 20, 2007: Fired court clerk garners $200K settlement.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff On August 2, 2007, a settlement agreement was reached in the case of Horton v. Law. In the case, Horton alleged that Law -- elected Clerk of Bloomfield Township -- illegally interfered with...

Verdicts & Settlements August 20, 2007: Wrongful death claim settles for $725K.(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff On Nov. 19, 2003, the plaintiff, a 62-year-old female, was a passenger in a vehicle traveling northbound on a two-lane unlit road. Unbeknownst to her and the driver of the vehicle, a truck driver in the...

Verdicts & Settlements August 20, 2007: $2.5M settlement reached in birth trauma case.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff was pregnant with twins. She began prenatal care at the Defendant health clinic when she was 12 weeks pregnant. She was noted to be smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day. An ultrasound...

Commentary: MLW missed the boat on 'Judicial Resources Recommendations'.(Michigan Lawyers Weekly)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Carl L. Gromek, Esq. In its August 13 coverage of the State Court Administrative Office's Judicial Resources Recommendations ("Judicial excesses" and "Been there, done that," Aug. 13, 2007), Michigan Lawyers Weekly disappoints by...

Trading fairness for profits is unacceptable.(Letter to the editor)(Brief article)
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To The Editor: Kudos to Michigan Trial Lawyers Association President Robert M. Raitt for exposing the sham of tort reform ("'Tort reform': A failed experiment in social engineering, Aug. 6, 2007)....

Michigan Supreme Court cherry-picks its way through asbestos exposure case.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Michigan Supreme Court -- Analysis The Michigan Supreme Court cherry-picked its way through Carolyn Miller's case. With surgeon-like precision, a four-justice majority picked and chose only the law, the...

Michigan Supreme Court affirms that Blakely does not apply to state's sentencing scheme.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. As it turns out, once a jury renders its verdict in a criminal case, the work is just beginning for the trial judge. That's because as soon as a conviction has been made -- or a guilty plea has been...

Saving face: Fired Michigan township court clerk garners $200K settlement.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Verdicts and Settlements Plus How does a 14-year veteran of the court fall from "employee of the year" to "fired" in less than 12 months? Well, if a federal jury verdict and two subsequent...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Kupelian Ormond & Magy, P.C. associate D. Randall Gilmer has been appointed to the City of Trenton Planning Comission. Gilmer practices in Southfield, and he focuses on municipal law....

Michigan Attorney Discipline Board Case Summaries: August 20, 2007.
August 20, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Final Notice Of Reinstatement Case No. 07-35-RP Notice Issued: July 25, 2007 Jeffrey A. Dulany, P 26768, Monroe, Michigan, by Attorney Discipline Board Tri- County Hearing Panel #20. ...

'Gimme five': Is downsizing the Michigan Supreme Court from 7 to 5 justices warranted?
August 27, 2007... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Michigan Supreme Court -- Analysis Sure, it'd save Michigan about $329,000 annually. And, yes, there's precedent for having a state court of last resort with fewer than seven justices. But the...

U.S. District Court E. District rules government grant to religious organization is not illegal.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. With both the Super Bowl and Major League Baseball's All-Star Game coming to town, the City of Detroit decided that some of its neighborhoods needed a facelift. So, its downtown Development Authority...

Mich. COA rules family practitioner may swear out affidavit of merit and testify as expert.(Michigan Court of Appeals; Tilak Garg)(Case overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Michigan Court of Appeals As a longtime patient of general practitioner Dr. Tilak Garg, Ilene Robins was often seen for conditions stemming from heart trouble. In fact, when Robins first presented...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: August 27, 2007.(awards, appointments)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Miller Johnson associate Sara G. Lachman has been appointed to a three-year term on the State Bar of Michigan's Standing Committee on Civil Procedure. Lachman practices with the firm's...

Verdicts & Settlements August 27, 2007: Cab driver injured in traffic accident.(Case overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff, a 55-year-old taxi driver in Jackson, was injured when the defendant failed to yield and attempted to turn out in front of the plaintiff's cab. Dairyland Insurance paid for an...

Brooks Kushman P.C. president, founder dies.(Ernie L. Brooks)(Obituary)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Ernie L. Brooks, president and founding partner of Brooks Kushman P.C., died Aug. 2, 2007. He was 64. Brooks founded Brooks Kushman in 1983 together with four other attorneys. Since then, Brooks...

Michigan Attorney Discipline Board Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.(Public notice)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Final Notice Of Reinstatement Case No. 07-36-RP Notice Issued: August 9, 2007 Mark A. Ambrose, P 46233, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, by Attorney Discipline Board TriCounty Hearing Panel...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.(Case overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Family Law Child Support - Credits Against Arrearages A disabled father's child support overpayments, resulting from the receipt and distribution of Social Security payments that exceeded his...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Hostile Work Environment - Not Established We affirm the trial court's order denying plaintiff's motion to vacate an arbitration award in this employment case because the...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Aggravated Stalking; Felon In Possession Of A Firearm; Felony Firearm. Sufficient Evidence. "Witnesses testified that defendant admitted going to the marital home and removing...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Jurisdiction - Rooker-Feldman Where plaintiff, a medical malpractice attorney admitted to practice law in Colorado, Michigan, and Missouri, sued the seven then-members of the...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: August 27, 2007.(City of Detroit Downtown Development Authority)(Case overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Constitutional Law Establishment Clause - No Per Se Violation Where plaintiffs claim that the City of Detroit Downtown Development Authority (DDA) violated the First Amendment Establishment...

Hanging a shingle on a 'shoestring'.(starting your own law firm)(Reprint)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Edward Poll Law Firm Management You've decided to open your own practice. You've heard that it takes up to five years to get a new practice established. You know the rule of thumb that you need six months of living expenses...

'Black belt' quality control may give small firms an edge.(Six Sigma &mdash principles)(Reprint)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Dick Dahl Law Firm Management Richard J. Sabat knows what it feels like to be seen as a traitor. For years, general counsel have been emphasizing the need for more cost-efficient delivery of outsourced legal services...

Commentary: Paralegal training.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Linda S. Jevahirian The Lawyer's Paralegal The constant demand for specialized paralegals is becoming more difficult to satisfy. At the same time, a steady surplus of entry level candidates is being passed over because they...

Verdicts & Settlements August 27, 2007: Mold infiltrates homeowners' new house.(G & M Home Builder)(Case overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiffs moved into a new home built by defendant G & M Home Builder. Upon moving in, they purchased a Direct TV system, and Direct TV subcontracted out the installation to defendant Scott...

Verdicts & Settlements August 27, 2007: Whistleblower suit nets $90K settlement.(Case overview)
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff, a municipal building inspector, refused to issue a building permit. The application for the building permit was submitted 15 days after the effective date of the new Michigan building code....

Verdicts & Settlements August 27, 2007: Home destroyed by faulty sewer.
August 27, 2007... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff A grinder pump in a low-pressure main sewer system froze and broke, causing 1200 gallons of raw sewage to back up into the plaintiff's house. The Township was aware of the line's propensity for freezing...