Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly articles from April 2008

Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly archives from April 2008

Commentary: Corporate America's challenge to 'big law'.(Column)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Edward Poll I recently witnessed the start of a revolution -- or, at least, a self-proclaimed one. The occasion was a panel discussion that included the current Association of Corporate Counsel's general counsel and its former...

Rhode Island lawmakers approve prisoner release plan.(Brief article)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff House lawmakers struggling with a financial crisis have voted to save money by letting prisoners leave state prison sooner if they behave and work. The bill passed 56-9. The proposal must still...

Bus co. violated labor law by rejecting 'disloyal' applicants, rules 1st Circuit.(Case overview)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Thomas E. Egan A bus company committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to hire, or even consider for hire, six drivers who wrote critical letters and e-mails urging a school district not to award a contract to the company, the...

Wiretap case ensnares city of Providence, two former officials.(Carolyn A. Mannis and Maureen Sousza)(Interview)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Five years ago, several firefighters approached Providence attorney Mark J. Fay with a problem: They had just learned that their phone conversations had been secretly recorded as part of a system in...

Free court decisions, voice-mail text, camera-phone PDFs and more.(PDF documents)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Dick Dahl The following review of tech products of interest to practicing lawyers looks at handy new subscription services that convert voice-mail to text and camera-phone images to PDF documents. It also reports on the latest...

State employee's pension bid time-barred, rules Rhode Island Supreme Court.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Eric T. Berkman A state employee who applied for an accidental disability pension nearly six years after her injury was not entitled to an equitable tolling of the five-year limitations period for such claims, the Rhode Island...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.(Rhode Island)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Voluntary manslaughter Where a defendant has appealed his voluntary manslaughter conviction, we hold that the appeal must fail because the trial justice (2) did not commit...

Rhode Island Superior Court Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Motion to amend - Mesothelioma Where a plaintiff (1) has filed suit against a number of defendants, claiming that he is suffering from malignant mesothelioma due to his...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.
April 7, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Exhaustion - Medicare regulation Where a plaintiff group of medical doctors brought suit in U.S. District Court challenging a federal regulation precluding Medicare payment...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 7, 2008.(Brief article)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Jurisdiction Original - Interstate suit The U.S. Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over a suit brought by the state of New Jersey against Delaware over Delaware's plan to build a...

Commentary: True to life, Grisham's latest has great 'Appeal'.(John Grisham)
April 7, 2008... Byline: Peter Elikann What was purported to be John Grisham's triumphant return to the legal thriller after a hiatus of several years turns out to be something that remarkably transcends that genre and enters a realm of fiction much larger...

Commentary: A gripping tale of a jailhouse lawyer who made a difference.(Fred Cruz)
April 14, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff I get a lot of mail from prison inmates. And, quite frankly, I throw out a lot of it. Why? Well, my brain tells me that there is a very small chance that the pleas of an incarcerated person...

Commentary: How do you sue a client? Very carefully!(Column)
April 14, 2008... Byline: Edward Poll Regular readers of this column know that I consider the client intake process to be the most important step in the collection process. An appropriate conversation and written agreement with your client about payment of...

1st Circuit rules switch of jurisdictional basis OK.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Matthew C. Harper-Nixon An amended complaint that switched the basis for subject-matter jurisdiction from diversity of citizenship to the existence of a federal question must be given effect, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...

Pair who prevailed in SLAPP case can't later bring 'SLAPP-back' suit, rules R.I. Supreme Court.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Eric T. Berkman Two individuals who successfully invoked the anti-SLAPP law to dismiss a defamation suit against them could not then bring a "SLAPP-back" action against the person who had sued them in the first place, the Rhode...

Latinos ponder their legal rights in confrontation in Providence refrigeration store.(Interview)
April 14, 2008... Byline: David E. Frank An ugly encounter in a Providence refrigeration store last month could land the owner of that business in legal hot water for allegedly violating the civil rights of two of his customers. On March 1, David...

Florida-based business consultant advises anxiety-prone attorneys on keeping their cool.(Jeffrey Miller)(Interview)
April 14, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff In Expert Opinion, Lawyers Weekly interviews specialists in the management of law firms. This week, Lawyers Weekly reporter Julia Reischel speaks with Jeffrey Miller, a Florida-based business...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Murder in first degree Where a jury found a defendant guilty of first-degree murder, the verdict should be affirmed, as the trial judge that the trial justice did not err in...

Rhode Island Superior Courts Case Summaries: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Banks and banking Mortgage liens - Priority Where a bank has requested a declaration that its mortgage lien claims have priority over a number of other claims, I find that its request must...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 14, 2008.
April 14, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative NRC - State appeal Where the commonwealth of Massachusetts has sought to participate as a party in nuclear plant license renewal proceedings, the Nuclear Regulatory...

Commentary: Ruling limits review of legal errors in arbitration.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Gordon P. Katz The bloom is off the arbitration rose -- or at least off some of the petals. Arbitration holds out the promise of a speedy and less costly dispute resolution mechanism. To some degree, the use of arbitration is...

Commentary: Risky business: lawyers and insurance ethics.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Edward Poll Most law firms are familiar with the concept of insurance, if for no other reason than because of the issues involved with carrying professional liability insurance in the event of malpractice litigation. However,...

Mistaken pension estimate not binding on employer, rules 1st Circuit.(United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Matthew C. Harper-Nixon A corporate employer could not be bound by erroneous estimates of a retiree's pension benefits made by its human resources representative, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has found. The plaintiff...

No 'double jeopardy' in post-suspension firing, rules 1st Circuit.(United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Eric T. Berkman An employer did not violate principles of "industrial double jeopardy" by suspending an employee pending an investigation into the alleged falsification of his work record and then firing him, the 1st U.S. Circuit...

Mass. lawyers try R.I. case in Mass., with positive results for their client.(Massachusetts; Rhode Island)(Interview)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff The 2005 accident occurred at a condominium development under construction in Cumberland, but the personal injury case eventually found its way to Suffolk County Superior Court in Boston where,...

R.I. Commissioner of Education Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.(Rhode Island )
April 28, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Education Educational placement Where a school's board of trustees determined a student's alternative education program, rather than having his placement determined by his IEP team, this...

R.I. District Court Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.(Rhode Island)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Unemployment compensation Availability Where an application for unemployment benefits has been denied, that decision should be upheld based on evidence that the applicant was not...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.(Rhode Island )
April 28, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Discipline - Suspension Where the Disciplinary Board of this court has recommended that an attorney be suspended from the practice of law for one year and one day, that...

R.I. State Ethics Commission Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.(Rhode Island)(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Conflict of interest City Director of Administration - Service on House commission Where the petitioner is Director for Administration of the city of Providence, it is our opinion that the...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.(Brief article)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Automatic stay - Probate order Where a debtor claims that an order obtained by his ex-wife in the Massachusetts Probate & Family Court is in violation of the automatic stay, the...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.(United States Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit)
April 28, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Rehearing en banc Where (1) a petition for rehearing was denied by the panel of judges who decided the case, (2) a petition for rehearing en banc was submitted to the active...

Rhode Island Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: April 28, 2008.
April 28, 2008... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' compensation Doctor - Rate of reimbursement Where a physician seeks a higher rate of reimbursement for office visits than he has received, the physician's request must be rejected...