Michigan Lawyers Weekly articles from February 2008

Michigan Lawyers Weekly archives from February 2008

Keep licensing all drivers in Michigan.(Letter to the editor)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff To the Editor: Once again, our government has allowed mean-spirited and misguided emotion to override reason and the best interests of the people of Michigan. Does Attorney General Michael Cox...

Next stop for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick: Disbarment?
February 4, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Attorney Discipline Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick may pay a hefty price for his attempts to cover up an illicit affair when the dust from his text message scandal finally settles. He could be...

Text messages from City of Detroit Whistleblower case at center of controversy.(Kwame Kilpatrick)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Attorney discipline The most controversial text messages in Michigan's history could spell trouble for more than Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his ex-chief of staff. The messages -- which...

Michigan judge wants bill passed to exempt justices, judges from "no-carry zone" restrictions.(Fred L. Borchard)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. Legislative Update "I'm going to kill you." The day that someone decides to act on those words, Judge Fred L. Borchard wants to be ready to protect himself and his family. That's why he wants the...

Michigan law firms see drop in bottom lines due to lower lawyer-to-partner ratio.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Managing Your Practice With a lower lawyer-to-partner ratio in 2007, Michigan law firms may have experienced a similar dip in their bottom lines. The same could be said for law firms across the country,...

Michigan nonprofit believes that animals should be more than just 'property'.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo If animals were treated as more than just "property," then animal abuse laws might have more bite. That's according to some animal rights experts. Enhanced legal status of animals would give attorneys and...

Has Detroit mayor exposed city to liability beyond Whistleblower case?(Kwame Kilpatrick)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. When news broke of the text messages that confirmed reports of an extramarital affair between Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and then-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, questions began to swirl. Among...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: February 4, 2008.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Stacy R. Wallace of Butzel Long has been appointed to the board of directors of the Lansing Principal Shopping District. She concentrates her practice in the area of design and...

Michigan Attorney Discipline Board Case Summaries: February 4, 2008.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Final Notice Of Suspension Case No. 05-79-GA Notice Issued: Jan. 16, 2008 Carl M. Weideman, III, P 47032, Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, by the Attorney Discipline Board, increasing a...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: February 4, 2008.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Consolidated Appeals - Sentencing And Assault Where defendants were convicted of assault with intent to rob while armed, one defendant's (Davis) sentencing was not flawed by the...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: February 4, 2008.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Fee- Splitting - Agreement Upheld In this attorney fee dispute, we hold that a pending contingent-fee case taken by defendant-terminating attorney was an asset of the originating...

Michigan Court Of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: February 4, 2008.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery; Habitual Offender, Fourth Offense. Other Bad Acts. "Defendant's identity as the robber was particularly at issue because defendant argued that he was not the...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: February 4, 2008.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Scope Of Arbitration Agreement - Petition To Compel The federal district court erred by denying in part plaintiff's petition to compel arbitration because the arbitration agreement...

U.S. District Court Eastern District Case Summaries: February 4, 2008.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Involuntary Chapter 7 - Improper Transfers The bankruptcy court correctly that the debtor's pre-petition transfer was a preference, and that three postpetition transfers were...

Don't let forces behind ghostwriting lead your credibility astray.
February 4, 2008... Byline: Ed Poll Few, if any, of us today expect politicians to write their own speeches, or CEOs to write their own shareholder letters in the annual report. Ghostwriting is a fact of modern communication. But where does that leave...

Lawyer cocktail party need not be predictable soiree if you make an effort.(Column)
February 4, 2008... Byline: David Yas Some people think the most important thing to bring to a cocktail party is a stack of business cards. Wrong. The most important thing? Breath mints. Trust me on this. No one is going to want your business cards...

Verdicts & Settlements February 4, 2008: Road worker injured by drunken driver.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff On May 3, 2006, at approximately 11:14 a.m., plaintiff Guy Gerdes was working road construction, when he was struck by a vehicle driven by defendant Nathan Dubridge. The plaintiff had loss of...

Verdicts & Settlements February 4, 2008: Botched surgery leads to severed bile duct.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff During a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (gall bladder removal), the defendant severed the plaintiff's common bile duct. As a result, the plaintiff had to undergo two additional surgeries to repair the...

Verdicts & Settlements February 4, 2008: Stranded SUV driver struck, killed by city bus.(Brief article)
February 4, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff On June 4, 2005, the plaintiff was traveling westbound on Interstate 94 in his sport utility vehicle when he lost a tire. Specifically, the rear-driver's side tire fell off of the vehicle, so the...

The 'paperless' chase: Detroit Bar Assn. encourages attorneys to embrace the digital age.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Managing Your Practice 9,415 miles. That's the distance the data from an average 80-gigabyte laptop would stretch if it were printed out in text pages and laid end-to-end, according to Kurt D....

Changes to doctors' 'markup' rules may be trap for unwary.(medical billings)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Health Care Law The rules have changed for doctors' price markups for diagnostic tests on Medicare patients. That's according to Andrew B. Wachler, a Royal Oak attorney specializing in health care law, who...

Michigan Court of Appeals:: Automobile searches incident to arrest of passenger are permissible.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Michigan Court of Appeals -- Criminal Procedure Unique circumstances have allowed the Michigan Court of Appeals to offer new insight into New York v. Belton -- the U.S. Supreme Court case that has long...

Changing tide? Michigan Legislature may again consider repealing its product liability statute.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Legislative Update One year ago, the Michigan House of Representatives passed a package of bills aimed at repealing a 1996 amendment to the product liability statute that gave near blanket immunity to...

Visualizing guilt: Utilizing courtroom technology is a growing trend across the nation.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Litigation How do you convince a jury that a career criminal is a credible witness? You bring in courtroom-technology guru Patrick M. Muscat, an assistant prosecutor in the Wayne County Prosecutor's...

One drug deal too many: U.S. District Court in Michigan sentences drug dealer to life in prison.(Eric Cornell Foster )
February 11, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Criminal Law U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson of the Eastern District of Michigan recently sentenced Eric Cornell Foster to life in prison without parole. The federal drug statute, under which...

'You're on the air': How to run a successful "ask the lawyer" radio show.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Douglas J. Levy Managing Your Practice The trick to running a successful "ask-the-lawyer" radio show is giving people answers about the law without actually giving them "legal advice" that would create an attorney-client...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: February 11, 2008.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Acquisition Wright Penning & Beamer, PC has acquired the Suttons Bay-based Law Office of Stuart J. Hollander. Appointments Radhika P. Drake of Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, PC has been...

Michigan Attorney General Opinion Summaries: February 11, 2008.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Real Property Plats - Use of Road Ends While the Legislature has the authority to modify the law, any legislative modification of the judicially established rules of property law that have...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 11, 2008.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Family Law Jurisdiction - Property Division And Child Support Establishing residency in a county for 10 days to satisfy statutory jurisdiction requirements for filing a divorce complaint does...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: February 11, 2008.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Damages - Award Affirmed Where plaintiffs obtained an arbitration award for breach of a residential building contract, they were not entitled to a separate damage award for their...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: February 11, 2008.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery; Assault With Intent To Murder; Kidnapping; Extortion; Carjacking; Carrying A Dangerous Weapon With Unlawful Intent; Felon In Possession Of A Firearm; Felony...

Michigan Supreme Court Case Summaries: February 11, 2008.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Taxation Subdivision Development - Public-Service Improvements A developer's installation of public-service improvements (access roads, streetlights, utility services and such) to a residential...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: February 11, 2008.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Leave Denied People v. Goodwin. (Lawyers Weekly No. 06-65299) (1 pages). Kelly, J. dissenting. "Defendant pleaded guilty of assault with intent to murder and possession of a firearm during the...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: February 11, 2008.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Chapter 7 Stock Redemption - Statute Of Limitations The trustee's claim that defendants were the beneficiaries of allegedly fraudulent transfers and unauthorized shareholders distributions...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: February 11, 2008.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Choice Of Law - Damage Limitations As a matter of federal common law, Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA) liability rules, which contain a $500-per-package liability limitation,...

Verdicts & Settlements February 11, 2008: Missed diagnosis yields permanent disability.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff $1.7 million This was a medical negligence case where defendant Dr. Leo Murskyj failed to timely treat plaintiff Jun Parks' life-threateningly low blood pressure with Dopamine after abdominal...

Verdicts & Settlements February 11, 2008: Whistleblower claim saved by in pro per appeal.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff $690,000 Plaintiff Thompson filed suit alleging violations of the Whistleblower Protection Act against defendant Aramark School Support Services, Inc. Specifically, she claimed she suffered lost...

Verdicts & Settlements February 11, 2008: Land contract gone bad nets 6-figure verdict.
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff $365,000 Wilbur D. Chard Trust, the owner of a resort property in Cheboygan County, sold the property on a land contract to Jones and Adams as tenants in common with ownership at 18 percent and 82...

Verdicts & Settlements February 11, 2008: Police brutality allegations end with settlement.(Brief article)
February 11, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff $480,000 Defendant Gregory Tourville and his partner were on a routine patrol in the area of Meyers and Lyndon in the City of Detroit when they noticed a parked van. They approached the van,...

Michigan medical-malpractice lawyers talke about their "tricks of the trade".
February 18, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Business of Law Tort reform and Michigan's rueful economic condition have made it harder for many personal injury attorneys to make a buck. Yet, some medical-malpractice lawyers have thrived. ...

Inside the mind of a sex offender.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Criminal Law To properly defend a client, defense attorneys must know what really happened. And in criminal sexual conduct cases, knowing the profile of a sexual offender can help defense attorneys pursue...

DNA test proves to be both blessing and curse in Michigan Court of Appeals decision.(deoxyribonucleic acid)
February 18, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Michigan Court of Appeals -- Family Law The lesson of the Michigan Court of Appeals decision in Brooks v. Brooks is that a DNA test can be both a blessing and a curse. For men who don't want to be fathers,...

Rx: Transparency: Michigan attorney implements transparency approach for medical-malpractice claims.(Interview)
February 18, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Practice Profile For Ann Arbor attorney Richard C. Boothman, transparency is a matter of principle, not money. As chief risk officer for the University of Michigan Health System (UMHS), Boothman...

Detroit-based nonprofit offer a less taxing tax experience for low-income people.(Accounting Aid Society)
February 18, 2008... Byline: Douglas J. Levy As wrenching as it is to hand Uncle Sam a cut of your paycheck each year, getting to that point can be just as grueling. For a family on a low income, the expense of having its returns prepared can be the...

Having it all? State Bar of Michigan hosts Taking Charge! of Your Career.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Managing Your Practice As part of its ongoing mission to shape young lawyers into successful practitioners, the Young Lawyers Section of the State Bar of Michigan recently hosted Taking Charge! Of Your...

'Out of Africa': Michigan attorney and his family have life-changing experience in Uganda.(Interview)
February 18, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Compelled by a needy, yet beautiful, Third World country, Kenneth T. Watkins recently put his demanding work as a medical-malpractice and personal injury attorney on hold. He and his family traveled to Uganda...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: February 18, 2008.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Joseph Voss of Warner Norcross & Judd LLP has been named to the board of Hospice of Michigan. He chairs the firm's Entertainment Law Practice Group and concentrates his practice in...

Mass. Attorney Discipline Board Case Summaries: February 18, 2008.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Notice Of Automatic Reinstatement Case No: 07-141-GA Notice Issued: Feb. 7, 2008 Thomas Lazar, P 22878, Bingham Farms, Michigan. Effective Feb. 1, 2008 Respondent was suspended...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 18, 2008.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Parental Rights Termination - Provision Of Services Where the child's putative father was ordered to establish paternity within 14 days and did not do so until 17 months later, the Department...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: February 18, 2008.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Costs - Improperly Awarded An arbitration panel improperly awarded plaintiff arbitration costs under MCR 3.602(m) because the arbitration agreement "clearly stated that each party...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: February 18, 2008.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery; Felony Firearm. Photographic Identification. The officer in charge testified that he resorted to a photo array "because he was unable to obtain enough persons...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: February 18, 2008.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Judicial Tenure Matters In re: The Honorable Norene S. Redmond, Judge, 38th District Court, Eastpointe, Michigan. (Lawyers Weekly No. 06-65579) (9 pages). On order of the court, the Judicial Tenure...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: February 18, 2008.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Preferential Transfer - Credit Card Loan Where the debtor obtained a loan from one of her credit card companies (by writing a convenience check the company provided) and used it to...

Commentary: The digital paper trail often has many hidden spaces found along the way.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Vince Nalin When I tell my daughters that they can't use the phone or computer or go anywhere until their room is clean, it's amazing how fast I get results. Within the scope of 20 minutes, the floor that was once covered with...

Verdicts & Settlements February 18, 2008: T-Mobile settles class action filed under MCPA.(Michigan Consumer Protection Act)(Brief article)
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff obtained a full refund of overcharges for class members after filing a class action under the Michigan Consumer Protection Act (MCPA). The lawsuit alleged T-Mobile overcharged its...

Verdicts & Settlements February 18, 2008: Child suffers brain damage during surgery.
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Minor was 3 years old when he had a tonsillectomy performed by ENT A for chronic infections. Surgery was uneventful; however, four days later, he coughed up some blood clots. His mother took him to...

Verdicts & Settlements February 18, 2008: Man attacked when dog escapes yard.(Brief article)
February 18, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff When the defendant's dog escaped through a fence into an alley, he attacked the plaintiff. He bit the plaintiff on his arms and legs, and the plaintiff suffered permanent scarring. Subsequently,...

What was life like before ...? Michigan's new rule for deciding "serious impairment" claims.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Todd C. Berg, Esq. No-Fault Act -- Analysis Cynics might say the Michigan Court of Appeals new rule for deciding "serious impairment" claims arising from multiple car accidents is "pro-plaintiff." And, based on a review of...

Managing your practice: Off on their own.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Douglas J. Levy Managing Your Practice Practicing law is difficult enough without having to manage software and server problems, office rent expenses, billing disputes and making administrative decisions on behalf of the firm....

'You're too fat to eat here' proposal would never fly in Michigan, say legal experts.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Legislative Update In legislation laden with discrimination, a Mississippi lawmaker is aiming to ban restaurants in his state from serving food to obese people. Michigan civil rights leaders, however, say...

Tell the world you're here: Law firms advised on how to market themselves.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Douglas J. Levy Law firms need to market themselves aggressively, yet personally, said Larry Bodine, a Glen Ellyn, Ill.-based marketing and business development advisor for law firms across the country. And that's especially...

Michigan attorney feels called to serve.(Timothy A. Dinan)
February 25, 2008... Byline: Melissa P. Stewart, Esq. Practice Profile For Grosse Pointe Park attorney Timothy A. Dinan, failing the bar exam by just two points turned out to be a blessing in disguise. He successfully appealed his score, and then...

Defense attorneys must do more, says attorney at Macomb County Bar Association seminar.(Lisa B. Kirsch Satawa)
February 25, 2008... Byline: Natalie Lombardo Criminal Law Regardless of limited time and financial resources, defense attorneys need to do more pre-trial interviews to properly try a sexual abuse case, one expert says. "Everybody already believes the...

Michigan Lawyers in the News: February 25, 2008.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Marcus R. Jones of Warner Norcross & Judd LLP has been named to the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth. He concentrates his practice in international...

Michigan Attorney Discipline Board Case Summaries: February 25, 2008.(Brief article)
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Final Notice Of Revocation and Restitution Case Nos. 06-182-AI; 07-105-JC Notice Issued: Feb. 11, 2007 Charles M. Zwick, P 33762, Charlotte, Michigan, by the Attorney Discipline Board...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: February 25, 2008.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff No-Fault Underinsured Motorist Claim - Limitations Period A contractual one-year limitations period in a no-fault insurance policy does not apply to a cause of action for underinsured motorist...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Civil Case Summaries: February 25, 2008.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Accounting Malpractice Statute Of Limitations - Last Treatment Rule Defendant-accounting firm was entitled to summary disposition on plaintiff-client's malpractice claim under the two-year...

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Criminal Case Summaries: February 25, 2008.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery; Bank Robbery; Habitual Offender, Fourth Offense. Other Acts. "We agree with the trial court that the evidence concerning the unarmed robbery of the grocery store...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: February 25, 2008.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Remand People v. Morse. (Lawyers Weekly No. 06-65676) (1 pages). On order of the Court, the application for leave to appeal the Oct. 26, 2007, order of the Court of Appeals is considered and,...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: February 25, 2008.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Law Telecommunication Rates - MPSC Authority To Alter The Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) had the authority to order two telecommunications providers to amend their...

Commentary: Internet offers networking, marketing opportunities without boundaries.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Ed Poll How should small law firms and solos "entice" prospects into using their services? From the smaller firm's perspective, the number of contacts that you make and the number of people you talk to will have the biggest...

Commentary: Climate change, energy consumption have impact on buildings - and banks.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Mark J. Bennett Although the rate and intensity of global climate change will be subject to much debate for the foreseeable future, its impact on stakeholders in the business community -- including major corporations, financial...

Verdicts & Settlements February 25, 2008: Flagpole co. employee alleges WPA violations.(Brief article)
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff On Sept. 29, 2006, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against Rocket Enterprise, Inc., a local, small...

Verdicts & Settlements February 25, 2008: Driver suffers permanent injuries in collision.(Brief article)
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was traveling eastbound on 23 Mile Road when he collided with the defendant's commercial vehicle, as it attempted to pass through a line of stopped cars. Following the accident, the...

Verdicts & Settlements February 25, 2008: Finance director resigns, claims WPA violation.(Whistleblower Protection Act)(Brief article)
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff worked for two months for the defendant before he resigned as finance director. He was asked to stay on in transition to the new finance director. Therefore, the plaintiff continued...

Commentary: Justice's sacred oath of telling the truth deserves revivification.
February 25, 2008... Byline: Michael Warren The importance of telling the truth while under oath during court proceedings has been splashed across the front page recently. Putting aside any commentary on any particular case, this heightened public awareness is...