Michigan Lawyers Weekly articles from December 2005

Michigan Lawyers Weekly archives from December 2005

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: December 5, 2005.(Michigan Universal Health Care Action Network v. State of Michigan)(Paris v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan)(Evans v. Evans)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Health Care Challenge - No Standing Plaintiffs lack standing to seek a court order to require the state to establish a statewide health care plan. "Plaintiffs rely on MCL...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: December 5, 2005.(People v. Cerney)(People v. Marion)(People v. Minter)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery. Effective Assistance. Defendant's claim that counsel did not provide adequate pretrial representation is belied by counsel's appearance at all pretrial hearings...

MI Court of Appeals rules that HIPAA pre-empts state law.(Belote v. Strange)(Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Legal analysis Practitioners tell Lawyers Weekly the ground rules for defense lawyers who want to meet ex parte with plaintiffs' treating physicians may be about to change as evidenced by a recent unpublished...

Michigan Leaders in the Law: Judge Kurtis T. Wilder.(Biography)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Sheryl M. Vassallo Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Kurtis T. Wilder knew from his senior year in high school that he wanted to become a lawyer and, eventually, a judge. Upon being nominated in high school for the "Buckeye Boys...

MI Lawyers in the News: December 5, 2005.(Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel)(Michigan Strategic Fund)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Craig S. Neckers has been appointed chairman of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel's Commercial Litigation Section. Neckers is with Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge in...

Michigan state Rep. Herb Kehrl of Monroe dies after short battle with liver cancer.(Obituary)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff State Rep. Herb Kehrl of Monroe, a longtime educator who realized his dream of serving in government this year, died after being diagnosed in October with a tumor on his liver. He was 63. Kehrl, a...

Commentary: Valuing professional practices differs from valuing other businesses.
December 5, 2005... Byline: Norman K. Baczkiewicz Professional practices are primarily service businesses and do not usually offer a tangible product. Thus, their primary assets revolve around people. This also means that their most valuable assets are...

Verdicts & Settlements December 5, 2005: Class action matter yields $1.75M settlement.(Beaushaw v. Monitor Sugar Company)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff In July 2003, certain plaintiffs instituted a class action lawsuit against Monitor Sugar Company in the Bay County Circuit Court alleging that, as a result of the defendant, the property rights of the...

Verdicts & Settlements December 5, 2005: $2.5M verdict for breach of contract.(Baum Research and Development Company Inc. v. University of Massachusetts at Lowell)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff A federal jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan returned a $2.5 million verdict in favor of the plaintiffs, Baum Research & Development Company, Inc., and Charles S. Baum...

Verdicts & Settlements December 5, 2005: Automobile negligence claim nets $1.25M.(Thomas v. Messina Trucking Inc.)(Brief Article)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff This case involved a rear-end collision with a claim of sudden emergency. The plaintiff suffered a traumatic brain injury with disability from work as a maintenance supervisor. The plaintiff used...

Verdicts & Settlements December 5, 2005: $1.4M awarded in auto negligence matter.(Patton v. Farmers Insurance Exchange)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff In this case, the plaintiff was broadsided by an uninsured drunk driver who was traveling 88 mph and ran a stop sign. The plaintiff possessed a $500,000 uninsured motorist underlying policy with a $1...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: December 5, 2005.(United States v. Adkins)(United States v. Smith)(United States v. Henry)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Sentencing - Presentence Report Facts contained in defendant's presentence investigation report were properly used to enhance his sentence because defendant did not object to the...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: December 5, 2005.(People v. Girard)(Wilcox v. Elk Rapids Twp.)
December 5, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Motion To Sever Charges - Related Offenses The trial court properly denied a defense motion for separate trials of first-degree criminal sexual conduct charges and charges of...

Award-winning legal writers share secrets to effective high court advocacy.
December 12, 2005... Byline: Denise G. Callahan Winning legal writing is an art form and it takes much more than just a practiced pen. Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford W. Taylor said every good brief isn't or at least shouldn't be about...

Leaders in the Law: Professor David A. Moran.(Interview)
December 12, 2005... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. The next time you're on trial, take a good look at the gallery. A future U.S. Supreme Court advocate may be watching. According to Professor David A. Moran of Wayne State University Law School, that's...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: December 12, 2005.(appointments)
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Margaret M. Van Houten has been re-appointed to the Judicial Qualifications Committee of the State Bar of Michigan. Van Houten, of Evans & Luptak, P.L.C., in Bloomfield Hills,...

New federal transportation act impacts rented, leased vehicles.(Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act)
December 12, 2005... Byline: David N. Campos and Aaron D. Wiseley Recently, President Bush signed into legislation the "Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act" (SAFETEAU-LU), which will have a dramatic effect on state and federal...

Verdicts & Settlements December 12, 2005: 'No cause' verdict reached in no-fault case.(Ference v. American Fellowship Mutual Ins. Co.)
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was injured in 1994 at age 18 in a severe car accident. He suffered a real brain injury, was in a coma for six weeks and had four years of intensive rehab at Rainbow Rehab. Between 1995...

Verdicts & Settlements December 12, 2005: FELA suit settles for $135K.(Doe v. XYZ employer, Federal Employer's Liability Act of 1908)
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Plaintiff's counsel said the defendant failed to provide the plaintiff with a safe place to work by assigning him to work activities alone, placing excessive stresses on his lower back resulting in...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: December 12, 2005.(administrative law, breach of contract)
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Law No- Fly Zone - No Waiver For Air Show We affirm the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) order, denying The Cleveland National Air Show's request for a waiver that would...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: December 12, 2005.(civil rights, insurance)
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Stripping Of Pretrial Detainees - Class Action Certification The court's previous holding, that a policy of stripping unruly pretrial detainees and sending them to administrative...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: December 12, 2005.
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Chapter 11 Motion To Compel - Denied The debtor's motion to compel Ace Hardware to comply with the confirmed Chapter 11 plan is denied. Facts At the time the debtor filed for Chapter...

Michigan Supreme Court Decisions: December 12, 2005.(Mitan v. Campbell)(Brief Article)
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Tort Defamation - Statute Of Limitations The statute of limitations in a defamation case begins to run when the defamatory statement is first made, and not later when the statement is...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: December 12, 2005.
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Orders Oral Argument Ordered ADM File No. 2004-04 Administrative Order No. 2005-3 Adoption of Concurrent Jurisdiction Plan for the 45th Circuit Court and the 3B...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: December 12, 2005.(isurance policy cases)
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Material Misrepresentation - Smoking Plaintiff cannot collect life insurance benefits for her husband's death because the couple materially misrepresented the husband's tobacco use...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: December 12, 2005.
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Arbitration Agreement - Incorporated Terms Even though the blanket order at issue in this contract dispute did not contain an arbitration provision, the order expressly incorporated...

Qui tam health care suits on the rise.(False Claims Act)
December 12, 2005... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson "Qui tam" may not sound like a billion-dollar industry, but it is. The Latin phrase for the federal False Claims Act provision allowing whistleblowers to bring suit on behalf of the U.S. government and...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: December 12, 2005.
December 12, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Retail Fraud, First Degree. Double Jeopardy. "We find that the trial court did not clearly err when it found that the prosecutor did not deliberately intend to cause a...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: December 19, 2005.(re: U.S. Flow Corp.)(re: Comps)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Chapter 7 Attorney Fees - 'Carve- Out' Funds Where this court approved an interim financing order, which included a $55,000 "carve-out" to benefit court-appointed attorneys in the debtor's...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: December 19, 2005.
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Court Rule Amendments Oral Argument Ordered ADM File No. 2004-56 Amendment of Rule 3.925 of the Michigan Court Rules On order of the Court, notice of the proposed changes and an...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: December 19, 2005.(John J. Fannon Co. v. Fannon Products L.L.C.)(Crawford v. Washington)(People v. Bauder)(Killingbeck v. Killingbeck)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Sanctions - Frivolous Action An attorney and his law firm (Ehrlich) are jointly and severally liable with another attorney (Heitsch) for $113,119.88 in costs and attorney fees...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: December 19, 2005.(Ervin v. Trimmer)(Macomb County Prosecuting Attorney v. Masters)(Crump v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co.)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Two Cases - Same Underlying Action Because the principle question to be decided in both the 2003 and 2004 underlying cases relates to the operations of Biotherapies, Inc. (BI)...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: December 19, 2005.(People v. Lewis)(People v. Lanning)(People v. Ralston)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery. Harmless Error. A detective's testimony about defendant's accomplice implicating defendant in the robberies violated defendant's Confrontation Clause rights but...

MI Court of Appeals rules man seeking parenting time can't assert equitable parent doctrine.(Killingbeck v. Killingbeck)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. A man was not entitled under the equitable parent doctrine to parenting time with the boy he had raised as his own son where the man was not the boy's biological father, was not married to the boy's mother at...

Wal-Mart hiring memo sparks controversy.
December 19, 2005... Byline: Nora Lockwood Tooher Plaintiffs' attorney Douglas Wigdor did a double-take when he read a confidential memo from a top Wal-Mart executive aimed at curbing soaring health care costs by discouraging unhealthy people from applying for...

MI Lawyers in the News: December 19, 2005.(Mental Illness Advisory Council)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Michelle Huerta has been appointed to the Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness Advisory Council. Huerta is with Nichols & Eberth, P.C., in Dearborn. Dr....

Commentary: Immunize your clients from avian flu.
December 19, 2005... Byline: Brian Levine Most everyone has heard about the avian flu and the doomsday predictions of a future pandemic. If the apocalypse really is now, and your clients are forced to break contracts as a result, they may find themselves...

Verdicts & Settlements December 19, 2005: Nursing negligence matter nets $205K.(Harris v. Botsford Continuing Care Center)(Brief Article)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was a 75-year-old rehabilitation patient at the Botsford Continuing Care Center. The day before a scheduled surgical reversal of her colostomy, she underwent a "bowel prep" to prepare her...

Verdicts & Settlements December 19, 2005: Breach of contract settles for $900K.(Colony Arms Limited Dividend Housing Association v. City of Detroit)(Brief Article)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Colony Arms owns subsidized housing in Detroit. According to an agreement with the Detroit Housing Commission and federal regulations, Colony Arms was entitled to certain "housing assistance payments,"...

Verdicts & Settlements December 19, 2005: $165K settlement for breach of contract.(Lyon v. Allstate Insurance Co.)(Brief Article)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The 80-year-old plaintiff had lived in the same house since 1943. She had medical issues and was taken to a rehabilitation/assisted living facility in March of 2003. Her homeowners insurance came due,...

Verdicts & Settlements December 19, 2005: Premises liability ruled 'no cause'.(Pickvet v. Szostak)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff This case arose out of a birthday party paintball "war" involving a group of young boys at the rear of the defendants' large rural premises, well behind their home. Defendants Conway and Szostak were...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: December 19, 2005.(United States v. Hadley)(Untalan v. City of Lorain)(White v. Mitchell)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Felon In Possession - No Evidentiary Error The trial court's rulings regarding the several alleged evidentiary errors defendant raises on appeal are affirmed but the case is...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: December 19, 2005.(Anglers of the Au Sable v. United States Forest Service)(Brief Article)
December 19, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Environmental Law Oil And Gas Exploration - Site Preparation In 'Mason Tract' Enjoined A preliminary injunction is issued to prevent preparation of a site from which to conduct exploratory oil...

Non-resident of state of Michigan lands $16M settlement in truck accident case.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Denise G. Callahan Can a person who was injured in a truck accident successfully settle his case for a significant amount, even though he was a non-resident of the state? A $16 million settlement - one of the largest in...

MIchigan Lawyers in the News: December 26, 2005.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Scott Holmes has been appointed co-chair of the Young Lawyers Section of the Michigan Defense Trial Counsel. Holmes, of Foley & Mansfield in Detroit, focuses his practice on...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: December 26, 2005.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Offer Of Judgment - Sanctions MCR 2.405, the offer of judgment rule, applies in this quiet title case where only equitable remedies were sought because plaintiffs (Knues)...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: December 26, 2005.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Law Career Rehabilitation - Services Properly Withdrawn The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan properly concluded that the Michigan Rehabilitation Services,...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: December 26, 2005.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Discharge - Union Representation An employer is not entitled to summary judgment on its claim that there was good cause to discharge an employee who was on "decision-making leave"...

U.S. District Court Western District Case Summaries: December 26, 2005.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff False Claims Act Settlement - Disposition Of Attorney Fees Plaintiff's settlement proceeds from a qui tam suit under the False Claims Act will be paid to the court for distribution to her...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: December 26, 2005.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Court Rule Amendments ADM File No. 2005-16 Amendment of Rule 4.101 of the Michigan Court Rules On order of the Court, the following amendment of Rule 4.101 of the Michigan Court Rules,...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: December 26, 2005.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Frivolous Action - Liability For Costs And Fees Where the parties agreed that plaintiffs could participate in a farmers' market after plaintiffs sued the market and the city...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: December 26, 2005.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Criminal Sexual Conduct, First And Second Degree; Assault With Intent To Commit First-Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct; Habitual Offender, Fourth Offense. Effective Assistance....

Michigan's 2005 Lawyers of the Year.(law and practice)(Brief Article)
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Every day, the more than 30,000 practicing lawyers in Michigan contribute to the profession in one way or another, largely without recognition. In this special issue, Lawyers Weekly has selected 10...

Michigan's 2005 Lawyers of the Year: G. Allen Bass, Detroit.(law and practice)(Interview)
December 26, 2005... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. You're the City of Detroit and your actuaries have just told you the present value of the city's accrued liability for its general retirement and police and fire pension systems exceeds the assets for those two...

Michigan's 2005 Lawyers of the Year: Mariza Gamez-Garcia, Grand Rapids.(law and practice)(Interview)
December 26, 2005... Byline: Denise G. Callahan Grand Rapids attorney Mariza Gamez-Garcia grew up in a family of 14, migrant workers all, picking blueberries in the fields of Michigan under the summer sun and attending school in Florida so her father could...

Commentary: Early dispute resolution saves time, money & business relationships.
December 26, 2005... Byline: John A. Hubbard and Gavin J. Fleming Attorneys who help corporate clients achieve business objectives through finesse, rather than fighting, build a solid a foundation for long-term relationships and loyalty. An increasingly...

Michigan's 2005 Lawyers of the Year: Erika S. Julien , Ann Arbor.(Interview)
December 26, 2005... Byline: Sheryl M. Vassallo Erika S. Julien never knew that public service ran in her bloodline. It wasn't until this past September when she was awarded the State Bar Young Lawyers Section Outstanding Young Lawyer Award for her...

Federal bankruptcy court in MI rules bankruptcy estate was not entitled to recover carve-out funds.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Lynn Patrick Ingram, Esq. A bankruptcy estate was not entitled to recover carve-out funds earmarked for attorneys in the case, even though the case was converted from Chapter 11 to Chapter 7 when the debtor was deemed...

Verdicts & Settlements December 26, 2005: Breach of contract yields $62K settlement.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff In March 2001, a fire destroyed a large section of the defendant/homeowner's home. She, and her now deceased husband, filed a claim with their insurance company. The insurance company authorized the...

Verdicts & Settlements December 26, 2005: $58M verdict in general negligence matter.
December 26, 2005... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff William Hattan was employed by IRD which fabricates electronic traffic control devices for use in highway construction. This experimental system, called DLMS, was mandated for use in a roadway...

Michigan's 2005 Lawyers of the Year: Kurt D. Yockey, Farmington Hills.(Interview)
December 26, 2005... Byline: Denise G. Callahan Farmington Hills attorney Kurt D. Yockey seized on a rare opportunity this year, one not many defense attorneys ever have: He was able to protect literally untold numbers of patients from potential injury by...