Posts on ‘February 10th, 2009’

Eighteen months after New Mexico enacted a first-of-its-kind medical marijuana law, the state is moving gingerly ahead, mindful that the closely watched program could go up in smoke because it conflicts with federal law. New Mexico’s statute, which took effect in July 2007, differs from 12 other states that have approved medical marijuana legislation in one major way — state health officials will oversee a production and distribution system. To borrow the street metaphor, the state needs a dealer.

Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise ship operator, faces damages of up to $2 million following a judge’s finding that the company violated a federal statute by faxing a travel agent between 540 and 1,387 unsolicited advertisements over the course of about four years. The case marks one of the first times that a federal court has heard on diversity grounds a claim under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991; typically, they are brought only under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005.

Houston-based Amegy Bank and its investment arm, Amegy Investments Inc., are asking in an arbitration proceeding that Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith be required to buy back $140 million in auction rate securities that it sold to them. Yetter, Warden & Coleman partner Paul Yetter of Houston, lead counsel for Amegy, says to his knowledge, this is the first arbitration that an “innocent downstream [local] broker” has sought against a national brokerage firm in the wake of the ARS market’s collapse.

California agencies got a double dose of relief Monday when the state Supreme Court issued rulings that will prevent administrative conflicts and ease the criteria for internal investigations. In one case, the court held that government agency staff attorneys may serve as prosecutors on one matter while advising on a completely unrelated one. And in the second case, the court held that a county could demand answers from a deputy public defender in an internal probe without a formal grant of immunity.

Attorney Jay Wingate, who specialized in representing cruise line crew members in personal injury lawsuits, walked away from a robust portfolio of liability cases a year ago after Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines accused him of bribing one of its employees. Now, Wingate faces allegations that he violated a court order by conspiring with a former associate to cut themselves in for a percentage of the 77 cases he dropped.

The New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday approved bipartisan-sponsored legislation that would require all palimony agreements to be in writing and signed in order to be enforceable. Litigation of palimony claims is heavily fact-intensive and often acrimonious, since courts are typically dealing with nonexplicit promises of support between unmarried couples. The difficulty was compounded last year by a ruling holding that cohabitation is not an absolute requirement for a successful claim for palimony.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has become the first U.K. law firm to break assistant lockstep, with the London giant telling staff Monday that salaries for associates will be held at 2008 levels. The pay freeze means associates will not progress through to the next pay level, when they would normally see a 10 percent rise in salary. The pay freeze will apply to the firm’s U.K., German and Asia offices. The move comes on the heels of similar actions by law firms in the U.S., including Latham and Orrick.