Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly articles from January 2006

Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly archives from January 2006

R.I. Supreme Court announces amendment to bar examination fees.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Court In Re Bar Examination Fees ORDER Article II, Rule 4 of the Supreme Court rules, captioned "Fees and notice," is hereby amended to read as follows: Rule 4. Fees and...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 9, 2006.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Fees - Criminal defendant - Contempt Where a district court judge issued a civil contempt order requiring criminal defense attorneys to turn over to the government fees paid by a...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: January 9, 2006.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Stay - Motion for reconsideration Where (1) a plaintiff filed a complaint in this court naming as a defendant a corporation that had already initiated a suit in Georgia...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: January 9, 2006.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Supervised release Where a defendant has violated the terms of his supervised release, he should be incarcerated for eight months, to be followed by 28 months of supervised...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 9, 2006.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Prior crime of violence - Out-of-state arson conviction Where a defendant filed a motion to dismiss a G.L. Sect. 11-47-5 criminal charge, the motion should have been denied on the...

Superior Court Case Summaries: January 9, 2006.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Licenses and permits Lightning protection installation - Electricians Where a plaintiff, in the business of installing lightning protection systems, has been cited for employing technicians...

Insurance co.'s demand waives refusal right.(Imperial Casualty and Indemnity Co.)
January 9, 2006... Byline: David E. Frank An insurance company waived its right to refuse coverage when it demanded and subsequently received a deductible payment during the pendency of a coverage dispute, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has ruled. The...

Commentary: Getting the most out of web marketing.
January 9, 2006... Byline: Amy Johnson Conner Your firm has spent a great deal of time and money perfecting its website. But so did every other firm in your region and practice area. And now your site is as distinct as an emperor penguin in a huddle during a...

R.I. Lawyers in the News: January 16, 2006.(Rhode Island )(Ralph R. Papitto been named as memeber of Association of American Law Schools)(Brief Article)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Honors Roger Williams University's Ralph R. Papitto School of Law has been named a member of the Association of American Law Schools.

1st U.S. COA rules SOX claim fails against U.S. parent company.(Court of Appeals)(Sarbanes-Oxley Act)
January 16, 2006... Byline: David E. Frank A foreign employee who claimed he was fired in retaliation for disclosing fraudulent work practices could not sue his employer's Massachusetts-based parent company under the whistleblower provision of the...

R.I. Human Rights Comm. Case Summaries: January 16, 2006.(Rhode Island)(case regarding racial discrimination)(case regarding employment discrimination)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil rights Racial discrimination - Refusal of service Where a complainant alleges that she was refused service at the respondent's business establishment on account of her race, the...

1st U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: January 16, 2006.(slip and fall accidents case)(Paparo v. M/V Eternity)(cocaine trade case)(United States v. Pho)(fraudulent transfer case)(United States v. Verduchi)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Admiralty Fall on vessel - LHWCA Where (1) a plaintiff was injured in a fall while working as a line handler securing a large tanker to a dock, (2) he sued the defendant vessel owner under...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Court Case Summaries: January 16, 2006.(compensatory and punitive damages case)(disability rights case)(disability insurance and social security case)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Interpleader - Deposit Where the plaintiff in this interpleader action has filed a motion for leave to deposit funds into the court registry and for other relief, the motion...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 16, 2006.(Rhode Island )(domestic violence case)(divorce case)(termination of parental rights case)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Domestic assault Where a defendant has been convicted of simple domestic assault, the conviction should be affirmed because the judge below committed no reversible error. "On...

R.I. Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: January 16, 2006.(Rhode Island)(Brief Article)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' compensation Assault claim Where a trial judge denied a plaintiff's workers' compensation claim, the judge acted permissibly based on her finding that the credible evidence did...

Top Jury Verdicts of 2005: R.I.'s largest verdicts continue growth spurt.(Rhode Island, tort reform)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Tony Wright For the second year in a row, Rhode Island's top five jury verdicts were larger than the verdict in the corresponding position the previous year, with the largest award in 2005 coming in at $2 million double that of the...

$2M R.I. tort case leads top verdicts of 2005.(Rhode Island)(contributory negligence case)(accident insurance case)(breach of contract case)
January 16, 2006... Byline: Tony Wright 1. $2 million Dulac v. Historic Wharves Associates, Inc. d/b/s Newport Yachting Center Newport County Superior Court, No. 03-0117 Date of verdict: May 13, 2005 Plaintiff's attorneys: Mark J. Brice,...

Comments sought on judge's reappointment.(David L. Martin )(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT District of Rhode Island PUBLIC NOTICE January 4, 2006 The current term of the office of United States Magistrate Judge David L. Martin is due to...

Rhode Island Supreme Court upholds division of law firm funds.
January 23, 2006... Byline: David E. Frank A trial judge's ruling on the division of funds from a recently dissolved law partnership should not be reversed where the judge did not commit any errors of law or make incorrect factual findings, the Rhode Island...

Internal Revenue Service to perform more audits.
January 23, 2006... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson This article originally appeared in Lawyers Weekly USA, another Dolan Media publication. In an effort to boost compliance with tax laws and regulations, the IRS has announced that it would increase the...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.(assisted suicide case)(Gonzales v. Oregon )(fraud case)(Wachovia Bank v. Schmidt )(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Assisted suicide - State law - Preemption The Attorney General cannot prohibit doctors under the Controlled Substances Act from prescribing drugs for use in...

1st U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.
January 23, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Hobbs Act - Robbery - Interstate commerce Where a defendant, based on his participation in a home invasion that resulted in a fatality, was convicted under the Hobbs Act, the...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.
January 23, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Interpleader - Deposit Where the plaintiff in this interpleader action has filed a motion for leave to deposit funds into the court registry and for other relief, the motion...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.(Rhode Island)
January 23, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Dissolution of partnership - Funds Where (1) three attorneys, who had orally agreed to form a law partnership that came into existence on Jan. 1, 1995, decided to dissolve the...

Superior Court Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.(Raymond W. Schwab Associates Inc.)
January 23, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Engineering services Where (1) a plaintiff claims to be owed for engineering services it provided, pursuant to an oral contract, on a school building contract and (2) the...

Human Rights Commission Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.(racial discrimination case)(Gardner v. George's Place)(employment discrimination case)(Grace v. State Security Agency, Inc)
January 23, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil rights Racial discrimination - Refusal of service Where a complainant alleges that she was refused service at the respondent's business establishment on account of her race, the...

Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.(Workers' compensation case)(Zeil v. St. Joseph Hospital )(assault case)(McHale v. Mark Accounting Services )(Brief Article)
January 23, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' compensation End of incapacity - Medication Where a judge found that an employee's incapacity for work had ended and denied the employee an increase in her disability status and...

State Ethics Commission Case Summaries: January 23, 2006.
January 23, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Conflict of interest URI employee - Government contracts Where a petitioner, who currently works for the University of Rhode Island on a contract basis, wishes to know whether an...

1st Circuit remands LLC's appeal to determine diversity of citizenship.(limited liability company)
January 30, 2006... Byline: Tony Wright A limited liability company must first demonstrate that there is diversity of citizenship with each of its members before seeking to enforce a judgment against another party in federal court, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court...

Experts offer tips for how lawyers can avoid fee disputes.
January 30, 2006... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh The best career advice Boston attorney Janet Kenton-Walker got some 20-odd years ago as a new attorney involved fees and shoes. A mentor told her that the most important discussion a lawyer has with a client is...

Rhode Island Lawyers in the News: January 30, 2006.(Erica P. Bigelow joins Tillinghast Licht )(Joshua A. Berlinsky is promoted at Tillinghast Licht)(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff New Associations Erica P. Bigelow has joined Providence-based Tillinghast Licht as a partner. She will open the firm's new Waltham, Mass. office and will also practice in the Providence office....

U.S. District Court posts notice on attorney registration.(District of Rhode Island)(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT District of Rhode Island NOTICE TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE BAR ATTORNEY REGISTRATION Pursuant to Local Rule 203(c)(1), all current members of the...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.(bankruptcy case )(Central Virginia Community College v. Katz )(habeas corpus case)(Rice v. Collins )(boundary dispute case)(State of Alaska v. United States )
January 30, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Preferential transfers - Sovereign immunity A proceeding by a bankruptcy trustee to set aside preferential transfers by a debtor to state agencies is not barred by sovereign...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.(cocaine trade case)(United States v. Garza)(habeas corpus case)(limited liability case)(Pramco, LLC v. San Juan Bay Marina, Inc)
January 30, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Appeal - Mootness Where the plaintiff has appealed a summary judgment awarded to the defendant in a trade dress case, we conclude that the appeal must be dismissed as moot...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.(Brief Article)
January 30, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Student loans - Undue hardship Where a debtor claims that her student loan obligations are dischargeable, this court finds, in light of the debtor's disposable income, that her...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.
January 30, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Application to proceed without prepayment of fees Where (1) a plaintiff filed an application to proceed without prepayment of fees and affidavit, (2) this court found the...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.(consumer protection case)(Park v. Rizzo Ford, Inc.)(probabtion case)(State v. House )(parental rights case)
January 30, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Consumer protection Auto dealers - Fees - Emergency regulation Where a plaintiff filed suit alleging that the defendant auto dealers had violated a state regulation that placed a $20 limit...

MA Superior Court Case Summaries: January 30, 2006.(employment termination case )(Southland v. Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education)(water rights case)(Horseshoe Falls Preservation, Inc. v. Flynn )
January 30, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Termination - Insubordination Where the Personnel Appeal Board upheld a plaintiff's termination from his position as senior janitor at the University of Rhode Island, the Board...