Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly articles from July 2004

Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly archives from July 2004

Rhode Island Family Court Issues Orders On Abuse: July 12, 2004.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER 2004-2 RE: Domestic abuse orders when domestic relations case or DCYF case pending. After the filing and during the pendency of a petition for divorce, separate...

Rhode Island Supreme Court amends its rules on briefs.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Court In re Amendment to Rule 16, subdivisions (a) And (b), of the Rules of Appellate Procedure(Filing of Summary Report Form) ORDER Rule 16 of the Rules of Appellate...

Rhode Island Superior Court Case Summaries: July 12, 2004.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Banks And Banking Prepayment Penalty - Receivership Where a lender seeks to enforce, in a receivership proceeding, prepayment penalties, that request should be allowed because the loan...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 12, 2004.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Antitrust Pharmacy Network Where plaintiff drug store chains filed suit alleging that the defendant health insurer committed antitrust violations in connection with the establishment and...

Rhode Island clerks who may approve bail.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONSPROVIDENCE, SC. SUPERIOR COURT ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2004-10 RE: CLERKS AUTHORIZED TO APPROVE AND SIGN BAIL AFFIDAVITS Pursuant to...

U.S. magistrate judge rules discovery omission results in sanctions.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Ariana L. Johnson A lawyer receiving a request for documents should be sanctioned for claiming that certain documents were subject to privilege -- when in fact the documents did not exist, a U.S. magistrate judge has ruled. The...

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals approves fraudulent accounting claims, despite ADR clause.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Jason M. Scally Health-club workers could bring certain fraudulent-accounting claims against their employer in court -- even though the parties had contractually agreed to resolve their disputes through ADR, the 1st U.S. Circuit...

New U.S. Trustee Phoebe Morse outlines her program's top priorities.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno PHOEBE MORSE Born: Nov. 2, 1948; Waterbury, Conn. Education: Boston College Law School, 1973; Chatham College, 1970 Bar admission: 1973 (Massachusetts) Professional experience: Clerk of court,...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Court Case Summaries: July 12, 2004.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Discovery - Motion For Sanctions Where (1) the plaintiff in a civil suit responded to the defendants' first request for production of documents with objections based on...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: July 12, 2004.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Constitutional Separation Of Powers A U.S. Court of Appeals has the power to issue a writ of mandamus in a case concerning whether the Vice President must comply with a judicial order to...

Verdicts & Settlements July 12, 2004: R.I. negligence and tort suit settles for $45K for car damages.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff $45,000 Settlement The plaintiff's Hitachi Excavator was damaged by fire when construction materials were dropped from two floors above onto the roof of the vehicle. The defendant was...

Rhode Island Supreme Court grants attorney access to transcripts.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Court In re: Proceedings before the Supreme Court Committee on Character and Fitness regarding the application of Steven L. Kane ORDER This matter came before the Court in...

Rhode Island Supreme Court Case Summaries: July 12, 2004.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Motion To Vacate Default Where a plaintiff, who was injured while trapped in an elevator at the defendant's shopping mall, was awarded $175,000 in damages after the...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: July 12, 2004.
July 12, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Mortgage - Relief From Automatic Stay Where a mortgage lender was granted in rem relief from the automatic stay, the debtor should not be granted relief from that order, as she...

Rhode Island Superior Court announces judges' assignments.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS PROVIDENCE, SC. SUPERIOR COURT ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2004-11 RE: AMENDMENT TO ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2004-6 ASSIGNMENTS -...

Rhode Island Supreme Court Case Summaries: July 19, 2004.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Health Care - Audit Where a plaintiff emergency health care facility filed suit alleging that the defendants breached their contract with the plaintiff in the course of conducting...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 19, 2004.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Postpetition Payments - Avoidance Where a bankruptcy trustee brought an avoidance action requesting that a creditor be ordered to return $2 million in postpetition payments made...

How to woo and retain corporate clients according to according to panelists.
July 19, 2004... Byline: John O. Cunningham Private practitioners can win the battle for corporate clients with superior service that stems from a genuine interest in the business and industry of each client. Attorneys must render rapid responses,...

R.I. Superior Court judge orders new trial on 'shocking' jury award.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Tony Wright A jury's award of $5 million in "enhanced" damages to a family who purchased contaminated land must be reversed -- even where the seller knew of, but did not disclose, the defect in question, a Superior Court judge has...

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rules insurance company may sue over logo confusion.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno An insurance company could bring a trademark infringement claim against another insurer using a similar name and logo for the harm it suffered to its goodwill and reputation as a result of post-sale confusion about...

Rhode Island District Court Case Summaries: July 19, 2004.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Motor Vehicles Default Judgment - Insurance Where a motorist moved to vacate a default judgment holding him liable for not carrying insurance on his vehicle, the motion was correctly...

Rhode Island Supreme Court schedules hearing on advisory gaming opinion request.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Court No. 04-210 M.P. In re Request for Advisory Opinion from the Governor (casino) ORDER The Governor of the State of Rhode Island, pursuant to Article X, Section 3 of...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Court Case Summaries: July 19, 2004.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Motions To Dismiss - Gramm- Leach-Bliley Act Where a plaintiff alleges that two defendants have violated the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act by attempting to obtain bank records...

Rhode Island Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: July 19, 2004.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Specific Compensation - Limp Where a trial judge denied an injured employee specific compensation for a limp, the judge acted permissibly because (1) an injured...

Rhode Island Superior Court Case Summaries: July 19, 2004.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Motion For Entry Of Judgment Where (1) the Attorney General filed suit against several defendant lead paint manufacturers and a codefendant trade association, (2) a judge...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: July 19, 2004.
July 19, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Pipefitters - License Requirement - Preemption Where a natural gas company has filed a complaint challenging the validity of a state regulation requiring pipefitters to...

Commentary: Lawyers, batten down the hatches.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff I believe it was either Winston Churchill, Don Corleone or Hulk Hogan who said "This is war!!!" Well, boys and girls of the bar, we may be at war ourselves. Yes, lawyers have always been...

R.I. Superior Court Judge rules a car leasing co. may be sued after car accident.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno A car accident victim could sue the company that leased the vehicle that struck her under a theory of vicarious liability -- even though she had offered her own proof of financial responsibility prior to the accident,...

R.I. Superior Court judge rules that former tenants may sue under state lead paint law.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Ariana L. Johnson A landlord could be sued by former tenants for lead paint violations -- even though state lead paint laws do not specifically provide for private causes of action, a Superior Court judge has ruled. The...

Rhode Island Lawyer John J. Garrahy says zoning case has implications for city.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Jason M. Scally John J. Garrahy Providence Born: May 27, 1958; Providence Education: Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America, 1984; Providence College, 1980 Bar admission: 1984 Professional...

Rhode Island Supreme Court Case Summaries: July 26, 2004.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Education Regulation Regarding Hair Length Where (1) a defendant private school threatened a plaintiff student with expulsion if he did not cut his hair so that it did not fall below the...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: July 26, 2004.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Student Loans - Hardship Where a judge found four of a Chapter 7 debtor's student loans to be dischargeable, that ruling should be upheld because the judge committed no error in...

Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Case Summaries: July 26, 2004.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Education Graduation - Disciplinary Infraction Where a high school senior attended a school dance under the influence of alcohol, the school committee acted permissibly in imposing as a...

Rhode Island Health Department's forensic laboratory to expand efforts of DNA sampling.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Since January, the state Health Department's forensic science laboratory has been certified to enter samples from blood, clothing and other materials into the databank. But so far, it's been...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: July 26, 2004.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Waiver - Class Action Where a defendant in a class action sought an order sending some of the class members' claims to arbitration, that request was correctly denied on the...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: July 26, 2004.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Jurisdiction Personal - Contacts Where a Rhode Island manufacturer has charged a defendant German corporation with breach of a distribution contract, the complaint should be dismissed for...

Rhode Island Superior Court Case Summaries: July 26, 2004.
July 26, 2004... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Jury Demand - Breach Of Fiduciary Duty Where (1) the plaintiff residuary beneficiaries of an estate have filed complaint counts against the defendant estate coexecutors for...