Michigan Lawyers Weekly articles from June 2004

Michigan Lawyers Weekly archives from June 2004

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: June 7, 2004.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Armed Robbery. Right To Counsel. Defendant argues that his right to counsel "was violated when he was interrogated by police officers without counsel present after his arrest...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: June 7, 2004.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Lack Of Service - Motion To Dismiss Where plaintiff sued defendant-college and others on various theories after he was expelled from the college, the case is dismissed for lack...

Commentary: Maximizing your business development time.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Nicole D. Bothwell & Erin Watterson Hawk A goal without a plan is simply a wish. If you are looking to meet your business development goals, you need a plan, a map to help you traverse the obstacles and reach the destination you...

Deadbeat dad's conviction affirmed by Michigan Court of Appeals.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Lynn Patrick Ingram A deadbeat dad's conviction of felony failure to pay child support was valid, even though most of the conduct for which he was convicted occurred before the pertinent statute was amended, the Michigan Court of...

Insurer can't void settlement based on policy limits error, rules Michigan Court of Appeals.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Even though an insurer settled a claim for $100,000 above policy limits under the mistaken belief that it was actually settling for policy limits, it was not entitled to subsequently rescind the...

Michigan Supreme Court to decide if med-mal damages cap applies to death cases.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Karen M. Poole The Michigan Supreme Court will soon decide whether wrongful death cases based on medical malpractice are subject to the medical malpractice damages cap. Pursuant to the Michigan Court of Appeals' 2003 decision...

Plaintiffs' bar sees Michigan cases as testing textualist court.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Denise G. Callahan Specialists in no-fault insurance torts are anxiously awaiting the Michigan Supreme Court's ruling in two companion cases that plaintiffs' lawyers and some others say will test the conservative majority's...

Michigan Lawyers In The News: June 7, 2004.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Hon. Lita M. Popke has been appointed, and Michael J. Day, Denise Chambers and Daniel J. Wright have been reappointed, to the Child Support Leadership Council Elections James...

Detroit native William E. Bufalino II dies at 57 years of age.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff William E. Bufalino II, a lawyer known for representing some of the area's most infamous defendants, died from complications of lymphoma. He was 57. The eastside Detroit native lived in Grosse...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: June 7, 2004.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Mortgages - Avoided Where three creditors challenge the federal district court's order, which allowed the bankruptcy trustee to avoid mortgages held by defendants, the trustee was...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: June 7, 2004.
June 7, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Communications Law Zoning Variance - Granted Where the Sixth Circuit determined that defendant-city's denial of plaintiff-communications company's request for a non-use zoning variance to...

City can force restricted duty officer's retirement, rules Michigan Supreme Court.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Even though a police officer was on restricted duty due to a heart condition, his employer did not violate the law by forcing him to retire when he could not perform the "essential functions" of the...

Michigan Supreme Court Case Summaries: June 21, 2004.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Law Pipeline Construction - Local Government Approval Where a company seeks to construct a pipeline in the right-of-way adjacent to an interstate highway, it must obtain the...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: June 21, 2004.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Court Rule Amendments Michigan Code of Judicial Conduct ADM File No. 2003-25 Amendment of Rule 7.204 of the Michigan Court Rules By orders dated March 30, 2004, and April 2, 2004, the...

U.S. Court of Appeals 6th Circuit Case Summaries: June 21, 2004.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Procedure Development Disabilities Act - Brain Injury Where plaintiff-advocacy group wishes to obtain a copy of an individual's nursing-home records without the permission of his...

Verdicts & Settlements June 21, 2004: Michigan legal malpractice suit settles for $255K.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Defendant attorney allowed workers' compensation redemption to proceed, which statutorily precluded the plaintiff from receiving certain pension benefits pursuant to the Michigan Public School...

Background circumstances not required in reverse bias case, rules Michigan Supreme Court.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Lynn Patrick Ingram A white police officer suing his employer for reverse discrimination is not required to present background circumstances to bolster the suspicion that his employer is the unusual employer who discriminates...

Michigan Attorney General Opinion Summaries: June 21, 2004.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Communications Michigan State Police - Operation Of Communications System While the Department of Information Technology has responsibility for the day-to-day technical operations of the...

Verdicts & Settlements June 21, 2004: MI. judge awards $500K verdict for 'minor' rear impact.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The first- and third-party cases were consolidated for purposes of discovery. Plaintiff's counsel asserted that closed-head injuries were caused by the minor rear-end impact and that the plaintiff was...

Referee's custody ruling is not binding, rules Michigan Supreme Court.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Karen M. Poole A Friend of the Court referee's child custody determination was not binding, even though the parties agreed to have the referee resolve their dispute, the Michigan Supreme Court has ruled. The father argued that...

Michigan Lawyers In The News: June 21, 2004.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Appointments Robert B. Labe has been appointed chairperson of the Oakland County Bar Association Probate, Estate and Trust Committee. Labe is an equity partner with Williams, Williams, Ruby &...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: June 21, 2004.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Assault With Intent To Do Great Bodily Harm; Armed Robbery. Guilty Plea. "Defendant first contends that the trial court erred in denying him the opportunity to withdraw his...

Verdicts & Settlements June 21, 2004: Michigan court awards landlord $19K.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff/landlord leased a commercial space to G&M Plastics. G&M went out of business, leaving the premises occupied by heavy equipment in which Comerica Bank held a security interest. The...

Verdicts & Settlements June 21, 2004: Michigan med-mal claim settles for $1.6M.
June 21, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff presented to defendant hospital with the worst headache of her life. She had no history of migraines and the headache occurred suddenly while she was brushing her teeth. Rather than going...

United States District Court for Western District of Michigan: Proposed Amendments to Rules.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN Administrative Order Re: Proposed Amendments to Local Civil Rules 5.2, 5.7, 10, 16 and 83.3 and Local Criminal Rules 12.7 and...

Verdicts & Settlements June 28, 2004: Michigan slip & fall suit settles for $500K.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff On Oct. 2, 2001, the plaintiff's decedent, a 72-year-old unmarried female, was attempting to board defendant St. John's bus. The step to the bus was too high and the steps were poorly maintained with a...

Grandparent visitation compromise still pending in Michigan Legislature.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Denise G. Callahan The Michigan Legislature reacted quickly to last summer's Michigan Supreme Court ruling in DeRose v. DeRose -- which rendered grandparent visitation null and void -- but after many months of trying to come up...

Verdicts & Settlements June 28, 2004: Michigan negligence case settles for $2M.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff The 12-year-old victim suffered from severe mental and emotional impairments resulting from his birth mother's abuse of alcohol and drugs. The child was adopted as an infant by a couple who had adopted...

Verdicts & Settlements June 28, 2004: Michigan auto crash suit settles for $250K.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff This case involved a clear liability motor vehicle accident resulting in a fractured talus with no surgery. Traumatic arthritis developed after two years. The case settled prior to case evaluation...

Verdicts & Settlements June 28, 2004: Michigan first-party no-fault case settles for $1.2M.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff In March 1978, Russell Grant was a high school senior when he was involved in a serious head-on automobile accident. He suffered a massive open-head injury requiring a craniotomy and a frontal...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Michigan: Request for comments on proposed procedures.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff UNITED STATED BANKRUPTCY COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN REQUEST FOR COMMENTS ON PROPOSED NEW AND AMENDED PROCEDURES FOR CHAPTER 11 AND OTHER CASES The Rules Committee of the Bankruptcy...

Plaintiff can't sue for failure to medicate, rules Michigan Court of Appeals.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Karen M. Poole A medical malpractice plaintiff who claimed his doctor's failure to administer the proper medication within three hours of his stroke cost him an opportunity to achieve a better result could not sue because he failed...

Michigan Supreme Court Case Summaries: June 28, 2004.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Law Perjury - Materiality Of Statement Where defendant was charged with perjury for giving false testimony during a hearing on a default divorce judgment, the trial court properly...

U.S. 6th District Court of Appeals Case Summaries: June 28, 2004.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Attorney Fees - Remand Where plaintiffs challenge the attorney fees awarded to them for their services in a civil rights action that led to the desegregation of Tennessee's public...

Employee failed to state sexual harassment claim, rules Michigan Supreme Court.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Lynn Patrick Ingram An employee who had been dating her boss and was later subjected to threats by the boss and offensive remarks by his new girlfriend, a coworker, did not state an actionable claim of sexual harassment, the...

Michigan Lawyers In the News: June 28, 2004.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Jay L. Welford has been elected to the board of directors of Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss for a two-year term. Welford centers his practice on bankruptcy, finance, creditors' rights and corporate...

Michigan Court of Appeals Case Summaries: June 28, 2004.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Felonious Assault. Effective Assistance. "With regard to trial counsel's failure to provide a timely notice regarding the possible alibi witness, defendant never created a...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Michigan: Notice regarding compliance with Rule 2016(b).
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff UNITED STATES BANKRUPTCY COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MICHIGAN NOTICE REGARDING COMPLIANCE WITH BANKRUPTCY RULE 2016(b) Counsel for debtors are reminded that Bankruptcy Rule 2016(b) requires the...

Transsexual can sue employer for Title VII sex discrimination, rules 6th Circuit.
June 28, 2004... Byline: David M. Benson A transsexual diagnosed with Gender Identity Disorder (GID) can sue his municipal employer and various city officials under Title VII for allegedly discriminating against him on the basis of sex, the 6th U.S....

Michigan Court of Appeals Unpublished Case Summaries: June 28, 2004.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Affirmed Convictions Sex Registration Act. Sufficient Evidence. "Defendant first argues that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction for willful failure to provide notice of a...

Michigan Supreme Court Orders: June 28, 2004.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Orders Proposed Administrative Orders ADM File No. 2002-09 Administrative Order No. 2004-3 Video Proceedings (Family Division of Circuit Court and Probate Court) ...

U.S. Eastern District Court Case Summaries: June 28, 2004.
June 28, 2004... Byline: Michigan Lawyers Weekly Staff Chapter 7 Loan Guaranty - Dischargeable Where plaintiff-company seeks to have defendant-debtor pay for damages incurred in an underlying lawsuit -- alleging that defendant breached his...