The Connecticut Supreme Court is being asked to rule that lawyers and conservators appointed by probate judges are immune from being sued by those they represent. The case arose “because of the abuse that Daniel Gross, an elderly New York man, suffered during 2005 and 2006 at the hands of a Waterbury probate court after he became sick while visiting his daughter.” Gross was placed in a nursing home on conservator’s orders, a decision eventually reversed by a court. [Rick Green, Hartford Courant]
Tagged as:
Connecticut,
legal malpractice,
wills and trusts
- Update: “Tax Panel Rejects Lawyer’s Bid to Deduct Spending for Sex” [NYLJ, William Barrett/Forbes, earlier] And: “Musings on laws affecting adult entertainment, alcoholic beverages and other ‘vice’ industries” [Meeting the Sin Laws blog]
- Mississippi: judge jails lawyer for not saying Pledge of Allegiance [Freeland]
- More on much-written-about Israeli “rape by fraud” case [Volokh, more, earlier here and here]
- “Tribune bankruptcy talks complicated by emergence of pugnacious hedge fund” [Romenesko; earlier on involvement of hedge funds in bankruptcies]
- More disturbing tales from Connecticut probate court [Rick Green, Hartford Courant, earlier]
- Marc Williams of the Defense Research Institute responds to Ted Frank’s criticism of many defense lawyers [PoL]
- Advice for Australians: to fix your litigation system, look to Germany’s success [Ackland, Sydney Morning Herald]
- Rep. John Hall (D-N.Y.) & ’70s band Orleans threaten suit against GOP remix ["Orleans Reunion Tour"]
Tagged as:
Australia,
bankruptcy,
Connecticut,
defense lawyers,
Germany,
Mississippi,
music and musicians,
strippers and exotic dancers,
taxes,
U.S. House of Representatives,
wills and trusts
- Wronged wife loses suit under California “Drug Dealer Liability Act” (DDLA) against mistress who supplied crack cocaine to husband [OnPoint News]
- “D.C. Circuit to Former Judge in Pants Lawsuit: Follow the Rules” [NLJ, more, earlier]
- “Law firm demands retailer destroy all copies of Olivia Munn comic, retailer refuses” [BoingBoing, HeavyInk, earlier on TJIC]
- Can’t find jury for tobacco trial: “Lawyers excused a woman who said people have no right to sue over diseases that are disclosed on the warning label of a package.” [Russell Jackson, Chamber-backed W.V. Record]
- Despite widespread misconception to the contrary, editing comments generally does not open blogger to liability over what remains [Citizen Media Law]
- To heck with HIPAA, introduce your patients to each other if you think they’ll get along [Musings of a Dinosaur]
- Devoted daughter vs. RSPCA: epic will contest in Britain over family farm bequest [Times Online]
- Woman found guilty after planting dead rat in meal at upscale restaurant [Appleton Post-Crescent via Lowering the Bar and Obscure Store]
Tagged as:
alienation of affection,
bloggers and the law,
finger in the chili,
HIPAA,
illegal drugs,
jury selection,
Roy Pearson,
wills and trusts
Massachusetts’s highest court thought it a bit much that fees and costs would eat up $800,000 from an estate valued at $1.2 million, or two-thirds of the value at stake. [Robert Ambrogi, Legal Blog Watch; Above the Law]
Incidentally, Robert Ambrogi is hanging up his keyboard after an impressive four-year tenure at Law.com’s Legal Blog Watch, but he’ll continue to maintain his other sites. He has kind words for this site as one to “follow religiously”, too.
Tagged as:
accolades,
feeing frenzy,
legal blogs,
Massachusetts,
wills and trusts
“A former Brooklyn, N.Y., lawyer has pleaded guilty to fleecing millions of dollars from guardianship accounts he oversaw for incapacitated seniors and children. … at least 16 court examiners who oversaw Rondos [Steven T. Rondos] had signed off on his reports without detecting any red flags.” [NYLJ]
Tagged as:
ethics,
NYC,
wills and trusts
Family disputes between a wife and the mistress over a will are probably one of the few times when the “not about the money” saying really is true. But after a two-week trial and two trips to the Georgia Supreme Court, it’s hard to imagine that attorneys aren’t going to get the majority of the $6 million at stake in the five-year battle over Harvey Strother’s will. A penalty clause calling for the disinheritance of anyone who challenged the will appears to have been successfully challenged by the wife’s family. (AP/Washington Post, Apr. 13; Talia Mollett, “Millionaire’s will trial begins today”, Marietta Daily Journal, Jul. 15; Tom Opdyke, “Life’s final chapter to play out in court”, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jul. 13; Melican v. Parker, 283 Ga. 253 (2008)).
Tagged as:
family law,
Georgia,
Jarndyce redux,
wills and trusts
- Probate court in Connecticut: bad enough when they hold you improperly in conservatorship, but worse when they bill you for the favor [Hartford Courant]
- Does “Patent Troll” in World of Warcraft count as a character type or a monster type? [Broken Toys]
- 102-year-old Italian woman wins decade-long legal dispute, but is told appeal could take 10 years more [Telegraph]
- “This Cartoon Could Be Illegal, If Two Iowa Legislators Have Their Way” [Eugene Volokh]
- David Giacalone, nonpareil commentator on attorneys’ fee ethics (and haiku), has decided to end his blog f/k/a. He signs off with a four-part series on lawyer billing and fairness to consumers/clients: parts one, two, three, four, plus a final “Understanding and Reducing Attorney Fees“. He’s keeping the site as archives, though, and let’s hope that as such it goes on shedding its light for as long as there are lawyers and vulnerable clients. More: Scott Greenfield.
- Even they can’t manage to comply? Politically active union SEIU faces unfair labor practice charges from its own employees [WaPo]
- Judge in Austin awards $3 million from couple’s estate to their divorce lawyers [Austin American-Statesman]
- “Keywords With Highest Cost Per Click”, lawyers and financial services dominate [SpyFu]
Tagged as:
attorneys' fees,
chasing clients,
Connecticut,
divorce,
do as we say,
ethics,
free speech,
Iowa,
Italy,
on other blogs,
patent trolls,
Texas,
wills and trusts
- Golfer’s ball bounces off yardage marker and hits him in eye, and he sues; not the Florida case we blogged last month, this one took place in New Hampshire [Manchester Union-Leader]
- Who needs democracy, much easier just to let the Litigation Lobby run things: elected Illinois lawmakers keep enacting limits on med-mal awards, but trial-lawyer-friendly Illinois Supreme Court keeps striking them down, third round pending at the moment [Peoria Journal-Star, Alton Telegraph, Illinois Times, Reality Medicine (ISMS)]
- “A sword-wielding, parent-killing psychopath can be such a help around the house.” [we have funny commenters]
- Brooklyn lawyer Steven Rondos, charged with particularly horrendous looting of incapacitated clients’ estates [earlier], said to have served the New York State Bar Association “as vice president of its guardianship committee” [NYPost]
- Updated annals of public employee tenure: Connecticut state lawyer who assumed bogus identity to write letter that got her boss fired drew a $1000 fine as well as a reprimand — and then got a raise [Jon Lender/Hartford Courant and more, earlier here and here]
- Judge Bobby DeLaughter indicted and arraigned as new chapter of Dickie Scruggs judicial-corruption story gets under way in Mississippi; Tim Balducci and Steve Patterson, central figures in Scruggs I, each draw 2-year sentences [NMC/Folo and more, more, YallPolitics, more, earlier on Balducci, DeLaughter]
- Disney “Tower of Terror” ride not therapeutic for all patrons: British woman sues saying she suffered heart attack and stroke after riding it several times [AP]
- Convicted of torching his farm, Manitoba man sues his insurance company for not making good on policy [five years ago on Overlawyered]
Tagged as:
bar associations,
Bobby DeLaughter,
Dickie Scruggs,
Disney,
golf,
Illinois,
New Hampshire,
New York state,
public employment,
wills and trusts
Phoenix: “Robert Jaeger says his brothers and sisters persuaded their mom to revise her will to cut him out. He is seeking more than $1 million in punitive and compensatory damages, far more than English’s home is worth.” His mother, Patricia English of Scottsdale, is very much alive and opposes the suit. (Arizona Republic).
Tagged as:
Arizona,
wills and trusts
Disbarred Austin lawyer Terry Erwin Stork has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for a pattern of stealing from elderly clients after their deaths. Among Stork’s many and colorful misdeeds:
The records said Stork lived in the home of a deceased client from 1987 to 2002 and deposited money from the sale of the home into his own bank account.
In another case, he was accused of letting the home of a client sit empty, driving the woman’s Buick LeSabre to disrepair and using her money to add to his rare china collection. He was also accused of failing to pass along inheritances to people and organizations that were supposed to get them.
Prosecutors at a sentencing hearing cited evidence “that Stork has continued practicing law since his arrest by using the identity of his brother, who is also a lawyer”. (Tony Plohetski, Austin American-Statesman, Sept. 23; Estate of Denial (“Shining Light on the Dark Side of Estate Management”), Sept. 12; ABA Journal, Jun. 30). Earlier: Jul. 3.
Tagged as:
Texas,
wills and trusts
- Watch where you click: “Kentucky (secretly) commandeers world’s most popular gambling sites” [The Register/OUT-LAW]
- Erin Brockovich enlists as pitchwoman for NYC tort firm Weitz & Luxenberg [PoL roundup]
- U.K.: “Millionaire Claims Ghosts Caused Him to Flee His Mortgage, I Mean Mansion” [Lowering the Bar]
- Prosecution of Lori Drew (MySpace imposture followed by victim’s suicide) a “case study in overcriminalization” [Andrew Grossman, Heritage; earlier; some other resources on overcriminalization here, here, and here]
- Exonerated Marine plans to sue Rep. John Murtha for defamation [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]
- Snooping on jurors’ online profiles? “Everything is fair game” since “this is war”, says one jury consultant [L.A. Times; earlier]
- Allentown, Pa. attorney John Karoly, known for police-brutality suits, indicted on charges of forging will to obtain large chunk of his brother’s estate; “Charged with the same offenses are J.P. Karoly, 28, who is John Karoly’s son, and John J. Shane, 72, who has served as an expert medical witness in some of John Karoly’s cases.” [Express-Times, AP, Legal Intelligencer]
- School safety: “What do the teachers think they might do with the Hula-Hoop, choke on it?” [Betsy Hart, Chicago Sun-Times/Common Good]
Tagged as:
Erin Brockovich,
gambling,
jury selection,
Kentucky,
lawyering vs. privacy,
libel slander and defamation,
MySpace,
Pennsylvania,
schools,
wills and trusts
