Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly articles from June 2006

Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly archives from June 2006

Commentary: Managing the check deposit function at your bank.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Edward Poll For the most part, lawyers still get paid by personal checks from clients, and must physically deposit those checks with the bank -- at least until you have a sound enough customer service relationship that you can bank...

Commentary: 'Death in Belmont': the perfect murder?(Peter Elikann)(Book review)
June 5, 2006... Byline: Peter Elikann "A Death in Belmont" By Sebastian Junger W.W. Norton & Co., 2006 266 pages; $23.95 In the same way that French writer Marcel Proust took a bite out of a small teacake 100 years ago, which triggered a...

Newspaper can't get victim impact letters, Superior Court judge rules.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Jason M. Scally A newspaper was not entitled to certain victim impact statements and letters during the sentencing phase of the case against "Station" fire defendant Daniel M. Biechele, a Superior Court judge has ruled. The...

Defendant must testify to preserve appeal rights, Rhode Island Supreme Court rules.
June 5, 2006... Byline: David E. Frank A criminal defendant who was seeking to exclude impeachment evidence at trial had to testify in order to preserve his rights on appeal, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has found. The defendant argued that the...

Providence attorney goes head to head with telecommunications giants in NSA case.(Amato A. DeLuca)(Interview)
June 5, 2006... Byline: Barbara Rabinovitz No sooner had USA Today broken the May 11 story of the nation's major telephone companies turning over customers' records to the National Security Agency than the phone in Providence attorney Amato A. DeLuca's...

Fourth period judges' assignments issued.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS SUPERIOR COURT PROVIDENCE, SC. ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 2006-13 RE: ASSIGNMENTS -- FOURTH PERIOD July 2, 2006 through...

R.I. District Court Case Summaries: June 5, 2006.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Unemployment compensation Certified nursing assistant Where evidence indicates that a certified nursing assistant (1) was replaced in a job assignment because of poor performance and (2)...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: June 5, 2006.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Transcript Where an appeal in a divorce case was ordered dismissed, the dismissal order should be affirmed based on the appellant's failure to perfect her appeal by filing the...

Superior Court Case Summaries: June 5, 2006.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Education Budget - Town's share Where the Exeter-West Greenwich Regional School District seeks a writ of mandamus requiring the town of Exeter to pay the remaining balance of the town's...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: June 5, 2006.
June 5, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Use of funds - Employment training Where evidence indicated (1) that the city of Lynn, Massachusetts did not handle responsibly funds distributed to the commonwealth of...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: June 5, 2006.(Wallace v. United States)
June 5, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Habeas corpus Sentence - 'Double-counting' Where a petitioner seeks relief under 28 U.S.C. Sect. 2255, the petition should be granted to the extent that his sentence calculation included...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: June 5, 2006.(Garcetti v. Ceballos )(Brief article)
June 5, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Constitutional First Amendment - Public employee A public employee who made statements alleging corruption and government wrongdoing in the course of his regular duties as a prosecutor is...

Commentary: starting a new firm? Here are some mistakes to avoid.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Edward Poll According to the American Bar Foundation, nearly half of the 1 million lawyers in the United States are solo practitioners, while another 20 percent-plus are in firms of 10 lawyers or fewer. It seems reasonable to...

Ballot question veto overridden by Rhode Island House.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff The House voted 50-23 to override Gov. Donald L. Carcieri's veto of a bill that would strip him of the power to place nonbinding questions on the ballot. Carcieri vetoed the bill, saying...

R.I. House Judiciary chairman postpones vote on publicizing court fines.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff House Judiciary Chairman Donald J. Lally Jr. postponed a vote on legislation that would loosen the requirements on what Rhode Island's courts need to report to other branches of government -- and...

Rhode Island Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano's firm did work for Town of West Warwick.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano described as "inadvertent" his failure to disclose to the state Ethics Commission that his small North Providence law firm is on the Town of West Warwick's...

Rhode Island Supreme Court upholds jury instruction over lack of accident report.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Jason M. Scally A trial judge in a slip-and-fall case could give a permissive instruction to the jury on spoliation where the defendant restaurant failed to create an accident report, in violation of its own company policy, after a...

Lawyer input sought on proposed changes to Rhode Island Rules of Professional Conduct.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Noah Schaffer More than three years in the making, proposed changes to the Rhode Island Rules of Professional Conduct are currently available for attorneys' comments. The deadline for written comments has been extended to June...

U.S. magistrate judge rules privilege not lost by document disclosure.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Noah Schaffer A plaintiff's voluntary disclosure of a privileged document to opposing counsel in an employment bias suit did not waive her attorney-client privilege, a U.S. magistrate judge has recommended. The defendant...

Comments sought on proposed changes to Rhode Island's civil procedure rules.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Supreme Court In re Proposed Amendments to Rules 4(f)(1) and 4(1); 5(b) and (d); 6(b); 14(a); 15(c); 26(b); 30(b), (c), (d), and (f); 33 (c); 45(a) and (b); 58; and 59(a) of the Superior Court...

R.I. District Court Case Summaries: June 12, 2006.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Motor vehicles Traffic Tribunal case - Continuance Where a defendant has appealed a Traffic Tribunal judge's order granting the state's request for a continuance of the date set for trial...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: June 12, 2006.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Justiciability - Lead paint - Private counsel Where defendants in a case involving lead paint liability have petitioned for review of the legality of contingent fee agreements...

Superior Court Case Summaries: June 12, 2006.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Contempt - Attorney General Where the Rhode Island Attorney General is in contempt of this court's orders issued in 2005 regarding public commenting about the present case...

Commentary: a sample strategic plan.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Rick Trilling Previously, we reviewed why a business -- like your law practice -- needs a plan (see "Step one: strategic business planning," May 29). Now we look at how to create the strategic planning portion of a business...

Commentary: broken promises in lateral hiring.
June 12, 2006... Byline: Stephen E. Seckler Lateral movement between major firms is an accepted fact of life in today's legal profession. This has been well documented by the National Association for Law Placement. The reasons for making a lateral move...

Commentary: taking a long look behind the headlines.
June 19, 2006... Byline: David Yas Here at Lawyers Weekly, we have the challenge of writing dozens of headlines each week that are accurate, punchy and eye-grabbing. How do we encapsulate all the subtleties and nuances of complicated court cases into a...

U.S. Circuit COA, 1st U.S. Circuit rules corporation can't dodge subpoena seeking records.
June 19, 2006... Byline: David E. Frank A chiropractor who was the sole shareholder and employee of a corporation could not quash a subpoena requiring him to turn over documents in his capacity as "keeper of the records," the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of...

R.I. Supreme Court rules patient who discovered negligence 'late' can't sue MD.
June 19, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff A patient who did not discover her doctor's negligence until five years after the surgical procedure could not bring a medical-malpractice suit against the physician where she should have known...

R.I. Supreme Court rules arbitrator's undisclosed relationship to doom award.
June 19, 2006... Byline: Noah Schaffer An arbitration award should be vacated where one of the "non-neutral" arbitrators failed to disclose that he was employed as an attorney for the party that selected him, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has found. ...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: June 19, 2006.
June 19, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Governor - Beacon Mutual Insurance Company Where (1) a Superior Court judge issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the Governor from removing the plaintiffs as member of...

R.I. Superior Court Case Summaries: June 19, 2006.
June 19, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil service Police - Termination Where a police officer was terminated for violating the police department's rules and regulations, the dismissal order should be upheld, as no reversible...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: June 19, 2006.
June 19, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative Auction - Shipyard Where a plaintiff challenged a decision by the Maritime Administration of the defendant United States to sell at auction the assets of a shipyard to...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: June 19, 2006.
June 19, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Mechanics' lien Where a U.S. magistrate judge has recommended dismissal of the plaintiffs' complaint (which charges the defendants with violating the plaintiffs' right to...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: June 19, 2006.
June 19, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil practice Discovery - Licensing agreements - Expert report Where plaintiffs, embroiled in a dispute with the defendant over a slot machine licensing agreement, has filed a motion to...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: June 19, 2006.
June 19, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil rights Death row - 42 U.S.C. Sect. 1983 A death row prisoner challenging his impending execution by lethal injection may pursue a civil rights claim under Sect. 1983. Hill v....

Commentary: are you a millionaire? Then why not make some changes!
June 19, 2006... Byline: Edward Poll Are you a millionaire? Many lawyers can answer "yes," according to recent studies of the largest and most profitable law firms. The average profit per partner at these firms passed the $1 million mark for the first...

Commentary: mental toughness is not just for athletes.
June 19, 2006... Byline: Pamela Enders (This article originally ran in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Boston, MA., another Dolan Media publication.) It started way before he made his way into the courtroom: the queasy stomach, the sweaty palms, the...

Aide: governor won't rule out budget veto.
June 26, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Gov. Donald L. Carcieri has not ruled out a veto if General Assembly members do not make changes to a budget proposal put forward by House leaders, his top aide said. Jeffrey Grybowski,...

Contractor disclosure bill nixed by Gov. Carcieri.(Gov. Donald L. Carcieri)
June 26, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Gov. Donald L. Carcieri has wielded his veto over a labor-backed bill requiring layers of new reporting by state agencies that use "private contractors to provide public services," according to The...

Group files complaint against Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano.
June 26, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano violated the state ethics code by failing to disclose more than $86,000 he received for legal work performed for West Warwick town authorities, according to a...

Hospital fails in its attempt to withhold meeting transcript.
June 26, 2006... Byline: Noah Schaffer The transcript of a hospital board's meeting concerning a physician's bedside manner should have been released to the plaintiff in a medical-malpractice case, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has found. The...

Lawyers: Carpio insanity defense is 'difficult road'.(defendant Esteban Carpio)
June 26, 2006... Byline: David E. Frank When lawyers for Esteban Carpio announced that they would pursue an insanity defense in front of a jury in their client's first-degree murder trial, attorneys in Rhode Island questioned the wisdom of that decision...

Oral modification of 'option contract' is enforceable.
June 26, 2006... Byline: David E. Frank A buyer in a real-estate transaction was entitled to enforce a written "option contract" with the seller where the parties had orally agreed to extend the deadline for performance, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: June 26, 2006.
June 26, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Duration of agreement Where the language of a "radiation oncology services agreement" entered into between a plaintiff physicians' group and a defendant hospital does not...

Superior Court Case Summaries: June 26, 2006.
June 26, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Public utilities Natural gas - Intervention Where the city of East Providence has appealed from an administrative order denying its request to intervene in a proceeding before the Division...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: June 26, 2006.
June 26, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Obstruction of justice - Perjury Where a defendant has been convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury and conspiracy, the defendant's appeal must fail because the evidence was...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: June 26, 2006.
June 26, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Antitrust Standing - Sales agent Where a defendant has filed antitrust counterclaims against a plaintiff and a third-party defendant, a motion to dismiss those counterclaims must be...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: June 26, 2006.
June 26, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Workers' compensation insurance premiums Unpaid workers' compensation insurance premiums owed by an employer are not entitled to priority status under Sect. 507(a)(5) of the...

Providence office of Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge adds to staff.
June 26, 2006... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Karen S.D. Grande and Ellen Flynn Corneau have joined the Providence office of Edwards, Angell, Palmer & Dodge as partners in the public finance department. Grande focuses her practice on revenue...