Posts on ‘October 30th, 2008’

The recent failure of banks such as Washington Mutual and IndyMac has brought a return to prominence and heightened interest in the role and actions of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. While many articles have been written seeking to explain and clarify the FDIC’s role upon the failure of a bank, Jenner & Block attorneys Ross Bricker, Daniel Murray, Melissa Hinds and Laura Pelanek address a different perspective: the effect of failure on companies with service contracts with the failed bank.

Attorneys for a Fresno, Calif., paralegal accused of dismembering the body of a gang member don’t have an explanation for the act, but they call the killing “textbook” self-defense. A defense attorney says the gang member forced his way into the home of Brian Waldron, who “did not have a chance” to call 911.

At least six U.K. firms have applied for new liberalized licenses to practice local law in Singapore, including Ashurst, DLA Piper, Herbert Smith and Norton Rose. Around five licenses are expected to be awarded under the system, which goes beyond the current local joint venture model that allows foreign firms to practice local law in restrictive alliances with local firms. Around 20 firms are thought to have applied for the licenses.

A former college instructor may proceed with a claim that he was denied tenure because school administrators disapproved of his conservative politics and support for President George W. Bush, and not because of deficiencies as an educator, a federal judge has ruled. Michael Filozof contends the tenure track he was on as a political science instructor at a community college was suddenly derailed in 2003, during a period of hot debate among students and faculty over the ramp-up to the war in Iraq.

Plaintiffs won in 56 percent of all state court civil trials in 2005 and were more likely to get a favorable verdict in bench than jury trials, according to a new Justice Department report released on Tuesday. Judges ruled in plaintiffs’ favor in 68 percent of the cases, while juries favored plaintiffs 54 percent of the time. The study is the first nationally representative measure of general civil bench and jury trials in state courts.

A retired Philadelphia judge has been sued by his former brother-in-law for allegedly using judicial influence to have the man fired as a tipstaff and then allegedly falsely charged with forgery. Former Judge John J. Chiovero’s brother-in-law alleges that he was targeted after he announced he was divorcing the judge’s sister. Last week, Chiovero and other co-defendants filed a motion to dismiss the action — which they called “patently frivolous” — for lack of jurisdiction in federal court.

A New Jersey appeals court on Wednesday opened the door wide to malpractice liability for hospitals that use contract doctors in circumstances that lead patients to believe they are staff physicians. By keeping mum about a doctor’s status as a contractor, a hospital vests the doctor with “apparent authority” and the patient may be presumed to have accepted care in the reasonable belief that the doctor is acting in the hospital’s behalf, the court held.

Wiley Rein has filed a $450,000 suit against its former client SCC Acquisitions after SCC allegedly failed to pay for work the law firm provided. Says the Wiley Rein partner handling the lawsuit: “We hate to do it, but we run a business and we do want to get paid.”