Posts from ‘August, 2009’

Marriott International suffered a PR nightmare this month related to a lawsuit filed by a woman who said she had been raped in the parking garage of a Marriot Hotel & Spa in Connecticut. Lawyers for Marriot’s insurance company suggested the woman was partially responsible for the attack because she was careless and negligent for being in the garage. Was the initial legal strategy so outrageous? For a negligence case? No. For a negligence case involving the rape of a woman in front of her two children? Probably.

For more than two years, the California State Bar has ticked off discipline-defense lawyers by endorsing tougher and more aggressive prosecutorial tactics. Some attorneys thought that might change after former State Bar Chief Trial Counsel Scott Drexel was let go in June. But a lingering Drexel-era proposal that would let State Bar Court judges consider unsworn victim statements as evidence for increasing punishment has the discipline-defense bar up in arms again.

When a federal multidistrict litigation court makes a pretrial ruling in a suit, there usually is little — if anything — a U.S. district judge can do except abide by that decision; to do otherwise would frustrate the goals of multidistrict litigation. But in In Re: Ford Motor Co. and Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire, a case of first impression, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that U.S. district judges do not need to abide by MDL court orders in some circumstances.

A Delaware federal judge has OK’d Howrey’s use of an “ethical wall” between the firm’s U.S. lawyers opposing Wyeth in a patent case and its European attorneys working with the pharmaceutical company in an unrelated matter. The ruling allows Howrey to represent Wyeth opponent Boston Scientific Corp. over Wyeth’s opposition. The judge approved the arrangement even though Wyeth’s objections mean the firm is technically violating local court rules and the American Bar Association’s Model Rules of Professional Conduct.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John Schlesinger is married to Marilyn Milian of “The People’s Court,” which helps explain his reported net worth of $7.18 million on annual judicial disclosure forms. He’s the second richest South Florida circuit judge, behind Palm Beach Circuit Judge Elizabeth Maass, who credits her husband, attorney Robb Maass, in part for her $7.2 million reported net worth. But not all judges reported millions in net worth, including one who says his lower net worth is due partly to his devalued home.

The IRS estimates that $68 billion of the annual $345 billion tax gap for 2001 (the spread between what the government should collect and what it actually collected) was due to sole proprietors who underreported income or overstated deductions. That finding has led to government suggestions on ways to close the gap and increased IRS scrutiny of sole proprietors. Sidney Kess, a CPA-attorney, discusses some key audit issues for solo practitioners and other solopreneurs, and what can be done to avoid problems.

The Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy case is shaping up to be the year’s landmark sports law case. The big question hovering over the entire proceeding: Who ultimately has the authority to decide who can own a team and where that team plays — a professional sports league or a bankruptcy court judge? The National Hockey League believes such power rests with the league, and it has taken the highly unusual step of submitting its own bid to purchase the Coyotes over a rival bidder who might relocate the franchise to Canada.

A California district attorney retaliated against a bail bondsman who slammed the prosecutor in a newspaper ad, a federal court jury decided. The jury found that DA David Paulson and his chief investigator acted with malice when they sought a temporary restraining order against Joel Thomas Toler and then unsuccessfully pursued charges that he violated that order. “It’s a pretty significant victory for any federal jury to find a public official acted maliciously,” said Toler’s attorney.