Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly articles from April 2005

Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly archives from April 2005

R.I. Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: April 4, 2005.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Benefit Award - Closed Period - Medical Evidence Where an employee has appealed a decision awarding him workers' compensation benefits for only a closed period of...

U.S. magistrate judge rules bank is liable as credit furnisher under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
April 4, 2005... Byline: John O. Cunningham A man who informed a credit card issuer that he refuted joint responsibility with his bankrupt ex-wife for an account in their names could sue for damages he suffered from not having his name removed from the...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules debtors can't claim parochial school tuition.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Jason M. Scally A married couple could not include parochial school tuition payments for their children in a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The couple argued that a U.S. Bankruptcy...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 4, 2005.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Untimely Rejection - Excusable Neglect Where a Superior Court judge confirmed an arbitration award in a dispute between a plaintiff contractor and defendant homeowners, the...

R.I. Superior Court Case Summaries: April 4, 2005.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Commercial Loan And Buy- In Claims Where (1) a plaintiff contends that the defendant owes him $26,650 on a loan and (2) the defendant denies the plaintiff's contention, maintaining that...

Computer conversion in R.I. courts is progressing.(WANG system being replaced by Affiliated Computer Services Inc. Justice Information System)
April 4, 2005... Byline: Natalie A. Herron Calling it a major milestone in ongoing efforts to modernize the courts' computer system, the Rhode Island judiciary announced that the Workers' Compensation Court has converted its civil records from the outdated...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 4, 2005.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Retaliation - Title IX The high school coach of a girls' basketball team who claimed he was fired in retaliation for complaining that his team received less funding than the...

1st U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: April 4, 2005.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Reciprocal Discipline Where a respondent attorney (1) was ordered disbarred by the New Hampshire Supreme Court in February 2004, (2) was thereafter disbarred, in reciprocal...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: April 4, 2005.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Commercial Fair Credit Reporting Act - Accuracy Defense Where (1) the defendant issuer of a credit card has been charged by the plaintiff with violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act and...

R.I. Supreme Court issues rules for bar admission.
April 4, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff RULES AND PRACTICES OF THE SUPREME COURT AND BOARD OF BAR EXAMINERS OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND GOVERNING ADMISSION TO THE BAR Practices of Board of Bar Examiners State of Rhode Island...

Rhode Island Supreme Court rules workers' comp claim should not have been dismissed.(Impulse Packaging Inc. v. Sicajan)
April 11, 2005... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno An employee's appeal of a workers' compensation claim should not have been summarily dismissed as lacking the specificity required by statute where the employee also submitted a lengthy memorandum that fleshed out her...

1st Circuit rules PLO cannot avoid default judgment.(Palestine Liberation Organization, case of sovereign immunity)
April 11, 2005... Byline: Jason M. Scally The Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority could not escape default judgments entered against them in a case brought by the estates of two Americans killed in a terrorist attack while in...

Rhode Island Superior Court issues third period judges' assignments.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS PROVIDENCE, SC. SUPERIOR COURT ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2005-6 RE: ASSIGNMENTS THIRD PERIOD April 3, 2005 through July 2,...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 11, 2005.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy IRA Accounts A couple who filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy can exempt their individual retirement accounts from their bankruptcy estates. Rousey v. Jacoway (Lawyers Weekly USA...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 11, 2005.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Legal Malpractice Claim Where "undisputed and exhaustive" evidence presented by the chapter 7 trustee for a bankrupt estate demonstrates (1) that counsel, who previously served...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 11, 2005.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Family Dispute - Salvage Yard Where plaintiffs, engaged in a family dispute over a salvage yard, filed a civil rights complaint against their nephew, the town of Johnston, its...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 11, 2005.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Corporate Veil - Dischargeability Where a bankruptcy judge found that a debt owed to an investor was nondischargeable and that the corporate veil should be pierced so as to hold...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: April 11, 2005.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Handicap - Accommodation Where a plaintiff alleges that the defendant employer failed to provide her with a reasonable accommodation for the plaintiff's handicap, the defendant...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 11, 2005.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Reasons Of Appeal - Specificity Where the petitioner in a workers' compensation appeal submitted (1) reasons of appeal lacking the specificity required by G.L. 1956...

Verdicts & Settlements-April 11, 2005: Car crash victim sues insurance co. for coverage.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff The plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle insured by Allstate Insurance Co., with $25,000 per person in liability limits. The Allstate vehicle, while exiting a parking lot to proceed north on Post...

Verdicts & Settlements-April 11, 2005: Laborer falls in uncovered hole at work site.
April 11, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff $500,000 Settlement The plaintiff fell into an uncovered hole at a worksite and suffered a herniated disk. He remained on the jobsite that day, but sought medical treatment the following day....

Homeowners shouldn't lose right to redeem, Rhode Island Supreme Court rules.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Jason M. Scally A couple should not have lost the right to redeem ownership of a house sold at a tax sale, even where they failed to appear at a scheduled hearing over a breach of the redemption agreement, the Rhode Island Supreme...

Minors cannot bring federal lead paint suit, 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Natalie A. Herron Minor children could not sue their landlords for lead paint violations under federal law, even where they had high levels of lead in their blood, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. A U.S....

Still new to bench, Judge Jeffrey A. Lanphear in 'awe' of job.(Interview)
April 18, 2005... Byline: Tony Wright Judge Jeffrey A. Lanphear, who is finishing his second year on the bench, says that being the "new guy" has been a great experience, with court employees and fellow judges all stepping up to teach him the ropes....

Public defender, others invited to submit amicus briefs.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Court No. 2003-353-C.A. State of Rhode Island v. David Russell ORDER This case came before a single justice of the Court pursuant to Rule 12A(3) of the Rules of Appellate...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 18, 2005.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Rule 11 - Sanctions - Statements In Memorandum Where a judge, in a case involving a police shooting, sanctioned plaintiff's counsel for submitting a memorandum which the judge...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 18, 2005.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Settlement - Enforcement Where a defendant has moved for enforcement of a $21,250 settlement agreement, the motion should be allowed in light of the plaintiff's failure to...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 18, 2005.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Domicile - IRA Where a debtor claimed that his Independent Retirement Account was exempt under Florida law, an objection to that exemption claim was properly sustained based on...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: April 18, 2005.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Default - Removal Where a defendant has moved to set aside an entry of default, the motion should be allowed because the defendant has established good cause for failing to...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 18, 2005.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Postconviction Relief - Lack Of Transcript Where a petitioner has appealed an order denying his request for postconviction relief, the appeal must be rejected because of the...

Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: April 18, 2005.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Alternative Employment - Abandonment Where an injured employee's workers' compensation benefits were ordered reduced, this was proper in light of the fact that the...

State Ethics Commission Case Summaries: April 18, 2005.
April 18, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Conflict Of Interest Town Councilman - Wife's Employment As Teacher - Budget Where the petitioner, a member of the Portsmouth Town Council, is married to an elementary school teacher in the...

Pres. Bush signs bankruptcy overhaul law; national experts predict rush of filings.(Geroge W. Bush, Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005)
April 25, 2005... Byline: Reni Gertner, LW News Service A sweeping consumer bankruptcy bill that will make it more difficult for debtors to file for bankruptcy has been signed into law by President Bush. The bulk of the provisions in the new law go into...

1st Circuit rules exclusion of evidence in ERISA case was proper.(Employee Retirement Income Security Act)
April 25, 2005... Byline: Jason M. Scally An employee who was denied long-term disability benefits by his insurance carrier was not entitled to a trial in federal court based on evidence not contained in the plan administrator's final ruling, the 1st U.S....

Commentary: Partner track: No longer a straightforward path?
April 25, 2005... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno Making partner. It's the clear mark of achievement in the legal profession, the Holy Grail, the brass ring. Even non-lawyers know about it and its significance. But the path to becoming a partner, towards the...

R.I. Supreme Court posts hearing calendar for May 10-17, 2005.
April 25, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff CONTINUOUS ARGUMENT CALENDAR MAY 10, 2005 9:30 A.M. STATE OF RHODE ISLAND v. DAVID N. GORDON 2004-148 Weisman, Aaron L., Iannitelli, Susan B. ALBERT E. HAGENBERG ET AL....

Rhode Island Lawyers in the News: April 25, 2005.
April 25, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff New Associations Steven M. Richard has joined the Providence office of Nixon Peabody in the business litigation practice group. He focuses his practice on complex trials and appellate arguments...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 25, 2005.
April 25, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Securities Fraud - Inflated Purchase Price An inflated purchase price by itself is not sufficient to show "loss causation" for plaintiffs alleging securities fraud. Dura...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 25, 2005.
April 25, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Airline - Reimbursement Where a U.S. District Court judge upheld an arbitration panel's decision to reduce an airline employee's punishment from discharge to a 90-day...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: April 25, 2005.
April 25, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration AAA - Union Dues Where defendants have filed a third-party claim in a dispute over unpaid union contributions, the matter should be submitted to the American Arbitration...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: April 25, 2005.
April 25, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Limitations - Discovery Rule Where (1) a plaintiff pediatrician, alleging that carpeting installed in her office in 1996 emitted noxious vapors, filed suit in Superior...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 25, 2005.
April 25, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Misdemeanor Stalking Where a defendant has appealed his conviction for misdemeanor stalking, we hold that the appeal must fail because (1) the defendant has not substantiated his...