Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly articles from March 2005

Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly archives from March 2005

Rhode Island Supreme Court rules multiple offenders can't erase old records.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Jason Scally Individuals with multiple convictions should not have had some of their earlier criminal records expunged under the state's "first offender" laws, even though the convictions were more than five or 10 years old, the...

RI Superior Court rules property owners who signed 'offer to purchase' can be forced to sell.(Rhode Island)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Jason M. Scally Property owners could be forced to sell to a buyer where an "offer to purchase" was signed but no formal purchase-and-sale agreement was ever executed, a Superior Court judge has ruled. The defendant sellers,...

Commentary: The dilemma of funded offshore trusts.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Alexander A. Bove Jr. and Melissa Langa One of the most basic principles of asset protection planning is to avoid having the client's assets be an "easy take" for his creditors, the worst case being where the client has everything...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Indian Law The Department of Health and Human Services is legally bound to pay the "contract support costs" needed to maintain health and education programs pursuant to its...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Sentencing - Drug Treatment Where a federal judge delegated to a probation officer the authority to decide whether a defendant should undergo drug treatment if he should test...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Insurance Pollution - EPA Administrative Proceedings Where a suit has been filed against a defendant insurance company in connection with environmental contamination in North Providence, a...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Appeals Venue - Interlocutory Appeal Where a defendant has appealed a change of venue, the appeal must be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. "The defendant, Richard D. Fossa, acting...

Rhode Island Superior Court Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Administrative DBR - Regulations Where plaintiffs have challenged regulations adopted by the Department of Business Regulation, the challenge must fail because the regulations are valid....

Rhode Island Commissioner of Education Case Summaries: March 7, 2005.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Education Assistant Principal - Nonrenewal Of Contract Where the Johnston school committee decided not to renew an assistant principal's contract, the decision was valid and accordingly...

RI Supreme Court Chief Justice reiterates importance of true separation of powers within govt.(Rhode Island, Frank J. Williams)
March 7, 2005... Byline: Tony Wright Rhode Island Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams, in an ongoing effort to ensure that the state's judiciary remains independent, asked the General Assembly to transfer several programs out of the judicial...

Superior Court judge sanctions attorney for delaying discovery.(Patricia A. Hurst)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Jason M. Scally An attorney representing defendants in a medical-malpractice case could be sanctioned after repeatedly delaying discovery by offering incomplete objections to document requests and failing to provide privilege logs...

Supreme Court Ethics Advisory Panel Issues Opinions: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Rhode Island Supreme Court Ethics Advisory Panel Opinion No. 2005-01 Request No. 885 Issued February 24, 2005 FACTS An Internet company called Legal Match.com (hereinafter LM.com)...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Prior Convictions Whether a defendant's prior convictions constituted violent felonies under the Armed Career Criminal Act must be established by considering the convicting...

1st U.S. Circuit Court Of Appeals Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Discovery - Informants' Identities Where (1) a plaintiff owner of thoroughbred race horses filed a false light defamation action and (2) the district court allowed the...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Habeas Corpus Exhausted And Unexhausted Claims Where (1) an individual has filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus, (2) the petition contains one exhausted claim and five...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Motion To Amend Complaint - Proposed Negligence Claim Where plaintiffs have moved to amend their complaint against a defendant by adding a negligence claim, the present court...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.(Rhode Island)
March 14, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Waiver Of Issue - Constitutionality Of Tax Sale Statute Where (1) a judge entered a default judgment against a plaintiff foreclosing her right of redemption with respect to a...

Superior Court Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Attorneys Sanctions - Discovery Where a defense attorney in a medical malpractice case acted in bad faith in opposing the plaintiff's discovery requests, the attorney should be ordered, as...

R.I. Commissioner of Education Case Summaries: March 14, 2005.
March 14, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Education Tenured Teacher - Termination Where the North Kingstown School Committee has terminated an individual from his position as a tenured teacher, we hold that the School Committee...

R.I. Supreme Court rules summary judgment in auto case improper.(Rhode Island)
March 21, 2005... Byline: Natalie A. Herron A trial court judge should not have dismissed a negligence suit in an auto-accident case where the plaintiff's photographs of the damaged vehicles were available and raised issues of material fact, the Rhode...

U.S. District Court rules subjects of search can't compel identification of informant.
March 21, 2005... Byline: John O. Cunningham Plaintiffs in a civil-rights case could not compel municipal officials to identify the informant who provided faulty information in a search warrant application that was used by police who were looking for drugs,...

R.I. State Rep Pushes Bill To Protect Stalking Victims.(Rhode Island)(interview)(AMY G. RICE)(Interview)
March 21, 2005... Byline: John O. Cunningham AMY G. RICE Portsmouth Born: Oct. 15, 1966; Providence Education: Suffolk University Law School, 2000; Salve Regina University (M.S.) 1994, (B.A.) 1991; University of Rhode Island, 1987 Bar...

Rhode Island Lawyers in the News: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff New Associations Jacqueline M. Grasso has joined the East Providence firm of Audette, Bazar, Berren & Gonzalez as a partner. Grasso has merged her law practice into the firm. She focuses on...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Title VII - Waiver Where a judge denied a defendant employer's motion to compel arbitration of a plaintiff employee's Title VII complaint, that order must be vacated because...

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Case Summaries: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Bankruptcy Sanction - Unsecured Creditor's Motion Where an unsecured creditor was sanctioned by being ordered to pay $2,500 to the Chapter 7 Trustee, the sanction was valid based on the...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Contract Letter Of Intent - Supply Agreement Where a plaintiff and defendant executed a letter on intent on Jan. 12, 1998 agreeing to enter into a supply agreement, a judgment should enter...

U.S. Magistrate Judges Case Summaries: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Practice Default - Personal Jurisdiction Where a plaintiff filed suit claiming to be owed money for services performed on behalf of the defendants (out-of-state manufacturers of...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration City Employees - Purchase Of Credits - Compound Interest Where a Superior Court judge vacated an arbitration award concerning a city employee's purchase of credits for previous...

R.I. Superior Court Case Summaries: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Wills And Trusts Adult Adoptees Where the son of two trust settlors adopted his wife's two adult children, they are entitled to a share of the trust assets. Judge's Reasoning "The...

R.I. District Court Case Summaries: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Motor Vehicles Traffic Tribunal Decision - Appeal By State Where a traffic tribunal judge found that the police did not have reasonable grounds to believe that a defendant was operating a...

R.I. Workers' Compensation Court Case Summaries: March 21, 2005.
March 21, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Workers' Compensation Taxicab Driver - Independent Contractor Where an injured taxicab driver sought workers' compensation benefits, a trial judge acted permissibly in denying the driver...

Top Rhode Island jury verdicts in 2004 mark moderate increase in size.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Lisa K. Bruno It took only one-and-a-half hours of deliberations for a jury to award damages to a young man who accused a former elementary school principal of molesting him, citing 93 separate instances over the course of eight...

1st Circuit rules rights of murdered witness were not violated.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff State officials committed no civil rights violation when they allegedly breached a promise to protect a girl who was murdered to prevent her from testifying as a witness at a criminal trial, the 1st...

U.S. Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 28, 2005.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Civil Rights Police - Handcuffing The police did not violate the Fourth Amendment by handcuffing the occupant of a suspected gang safehouse at gunpoint while they conducted a search and by...

U.S. District Court judge rules doctor not an employee, but hospital can be sued.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Tony Wright A hospital could be sued for medical malpractice by a patient's estate even though the treating physician was not technically an employee of the hospital, a U.S. District Court judge has ruled. The hospital argued...

1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Case Summaries: March 28, 2005.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Arbitration Forum Selection Clause Where a judge ordered that arbitration of a dispute between a Tennessee corporation and a Rhode Island corporation take place in Rhode Island, this order...

U.S. District Court Case Summaries: March 28, 2005.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Forfeiture Summary Judgment - No Opposition Where (1) the government has moved for summary judgment in a forfeiture action, arguing that two claimants have no ownership interest in the...

R.I. Supreme Court Case Summaries: March 28, 2005.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Criminal Assault With Dangerous Weapon Where a defendant alleges that insufficient evidence was introduced against him at trial to support his conviction for assault with a dangerous...

Rhode Island Human Rights Commission Case Summaries: March 28, 2005.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Employment Discrimination - Counsel Fees Where (1) the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights found in favor of a complainant in a discrimination case against the respondent university,...

Rhode Island State Ethics Commission Case Summaries: March 28, 2005.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff Conflict Of Interest Town Councilor - Little League Board Of Directors Where an individual is a member of the Narragansett Town Council, it is our opinion that he is permitted by the State...

Review of last year's top 5 verdicts in Rhode Island.
March 28, 2005... Byline: Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly Staff 1. $1 million Perrault v. Card, et al. Kent County Superior Court, No. 00-0242 Date of verdict: March 19, 2004 Plaintiff's attorneys: Thomas A. Tarro III, Warwick; Kris Marotti,...