Lawyers Weekly USA articles from January 2004

Lawyers Weekly USA archives from January 2004

Constructive discharge of sex harassment plaintiff is a 'tangible job action'.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh A Title VII plaintiff who claimed she was constructively discharged by her employer as a result of her supervisor's sexual harassment can allege she was subjected to a "tangible employment action," the 7th Circuit has...

Florida jury awards $3.3M in a lethal low-speed airbag deployment case.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Correy E. Stephenson A Fort Lauderdale, Fla. jury recently awarded $3.3 million to the estate of a single mother who was killed when her airbag deployed after she struck a concrete wall traveling only 9 mph. The plaintiff's estate...

Federal estate tax exemption has increased 50 percent.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Jeffrey A. Baskies This new year marks an important milestone in estate planning. Effective Jan. 1, the federal estate tax exemption has increased 50 percent from $1 million to $1.5 million. This change has far-reaching...

IRS to issue notices on abusive tax shelters.(Brief article)
January 5, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff The IRS will soon begin issuing "yellow light notices" in an effort to crack down on abusive tax shelters, under a new policy introduced by the Service.IRS Acting Chief Counsel Emily Parker announced the...

U.S. Supreme Court Decisions January 5, 2004.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff SEARCH AND SEIZURELaw enforcement officers who executed a warrant to search for illegal drugs by forcibly entering an apartment 15-20 seconds after knocking and announcing their presence didn't violate the...

U.S. Supreme Court certiorari granted January 5, 2004.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff GUILTY PLEASThe Supreme Court has agreed to answer the following question:Does a court's failure to adequately inform a defendant before he agrees to a guilty plea that he won't be able to withdraw it...

Verdicts and appeals case summaries: January 5, 2004.
January 5, 2004... Byline: Jaclyn Jaeger # 1 $28 Billion Product liability: Tobacco Bullock v. Philip Morris Oct. 4, 2002 Los Angeles Status: The trial judge reduced the punitive damage award last December to from $28 billion to $28...

Daughter separated from mother at birth can sue for emotional injuries.(Larsen v. Banner Health System )(emotional injuries case)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff A mother and daughter who were separated for 43 years because a hospital switched two newborn babies at birth can sue for their emotional injuries, the Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled in answering a...

IRS issues final regs on awards for attorney fees and costs in tax cases.(Internal Revenue Service)(Brief article)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff The IRS has issued final regs on how taxpayers can qualify for an award of attorney fees and costs in tax cases. The final regs implement a 1998 IRS reform law. Under that law, if the IRS rejects a...

Deduction for punitive damages by businesses may be eliminated.(Brief article)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff Businesses would no longer be able to deduct punitive damages as a business expense under a bill that has been approved by the Senate Finance Committee.The bill is awaiting action on the Senate floor.It...

IRS proposes tougher rules for tax shelter opinions.(Internal Revenue Service)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff Lawyers who practice before the IRS would have to comply with strict standards when providing opinions on a client's use of a tax shelter, under proposed regs issued by the agency. The regs contain several...

Federal Agencies Seek Comment On Privacy Notices.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff Eight federal agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission and the SEC, have requested comments on ways to improve privacy notices required by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, a 1999 banking reform law, in...

IRS amends definition of trust income.(Internal Revenue Service)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff The IRS has issued final regulations revising the definition of "trust income" to conform with the increasing number of state laws that allow conversions to a trust form that doesn't simply pay out its...

Maneuvering biased jurors into the ejector seat.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Sylvia Hsieh Gone are the days when lawyers tried to argue their case before the jury panel, hoping to convince potential jurors of the merits of their case in the first few precious moments of voir dire. The new approach to jury...

First plaintiff victory in arc welding case may spur litigation trend.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Tony Wright Plaintiffs' lawyers contend that exposure to manganese fumes from arc welding is a burgeoning area of litigation, and now they have a $1 million verdict to back them up.After 10 years and two trials, Chicago attorneys...

Divorce firm targeting male audience carves a unique niche in crowded field of family law.(Goldberg and Jones)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Elaine McArdle Ads on sports radio. Ads on talk radio. Even ads over the urinals in the bathrooms at Seattle Coliseum. It's a marketing plan for reaching male clients, and for the Seattle firm of Goldberg & Jones, which focuses on...

Forensic evidence of sneaker scuffs leads to $1M slip-and-fall settlement.(Service United States)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Natalie White No one saw Marilyn Simpson fall in a New Hampshire mall parking lot. She even had no memory of what happened.But in a dramatic twist using forensic evidence usually reserved for criminal cases, Simpson's sullied...

Florida jury awards $5M to violinists whose musical career suffered when injured in vehicle accident.(Xiao Cao Sha)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Natalie White A Florida jury awarded $5 million in December to a 41-year-old violinist whose musical career suffered when her shoulder was injured in an automobile accident.No one disputed that the crash was the fault of another...

Wyoming jury awards dead man's wife and family $17.5M in carbon monoxide poisoning suit.(Joette Williams)
January 19, 2004... Byline: Natalie White In one of the largest personal injury verdicts in Wyoming history, a Cheyenne jury awarded a woman and her dead husband's family $17.5 million in a carbon monoxide poisoning case after finding a Vail Resorts' hotel...

U.S. Supreme Court certiorari granted January 19, 2004.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff ENVIRONMENTAL LAWThe Supreme Court has agreed to answer the following question:Can a landowner who voluntarily cleans up a toxic waste site seek contribution from the prior owner, even though it was never...

Recent law review articles of interest.
January 19, 2004... Byline: Lawyers Weekly USA Staff ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION"The Human Side To Complex Public Policy Mediation," Negotiation Journal, Volume 19, Number 4, October 2003.CIVIL RIGHTS"The Empty Promise Of Title IX: Why Girls Need Courts To...