|
|  |
|
|
|
This Week's Feature
|
ERISA: Jumpstarting Limitations?
By Richard J. Pautler and Lewis R. Mills
Thompson Coburn L.L.P., St. Louis, Missouri
In most cases, the statute of limitations for an ERISA claim for benefits begins to run when the administrator denies the final administrative appeal applicable to that claim. Will the courts give effect to a plan provision that by its terms starts limitations running sooner? May an ERISA plan validly provide that limitations begins to run when the participant initially files a claim for benefits or his proof of loss?
[FULL STORY]
|
|
|
This Month in DRI History
|
In early 1990, 800 individuals in the defense trial counsel and insurance company industries were interviewed by DRI. The survey results called for the formation of a task force, which concluded that a meeting between industry executives and defense bar leaders was in order. The task force matured to form the Insurance Roundtable, which met for the first time in November 1990. Almost 20 years later, the Insurance Roundtable continues to meet once per year to review the tripartite relationship and other industry issues.
|
|
|
DRI News
|
Frank B. (Bunky) Miller, III, who spent 44 years as a lawyer at Sands Anderson Marks & Miller, will be the Bar Association for the City of Richmond’s 2009-2010 recipient of the Hunter W. Martin Professionalism Award. He will receive the award at the Bar’s November 18 luncheon at the Omni Hotel in downtown Richmond. Mr. Miller was a DRI member for 32 years. He served as president of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys, chaired the Virginia Bar Association’s Proposed Rules of Evidence Committee of Boyd-Graves Conference, and served the Virginia State Bar as council member, chair of the Standing Committee on Legal Ethics and chair of the Disciplinary Board.
[FULL STORY]
|
Kicking off DRI’s 2010 Seminar Year…
Join DRI’s Governmental Liability Committee in San Diego for the Civil Rights and Governmental Tort Liability Seminar, January 27-29 at the Westin San Diego. Learn valuable skills and legal principles that can be utilized immediately for representation of local government clients. Constant favorites, Professor Karen Blum and Dean Erwin Chemerinsky will provide updates on qualified immunity and the recent cases from the United States Supreme Court. To view the program, click here. In addition to the excellent legal education, the seminar will once again offer the opportunity for idea-sharing and networking with in-house and outside counsel from across the country. Register now or call 312.795.1101 for more information.
|
Punitive Damages: A State-by-State Compendium
The newest publication in the Defense Library Series, Punitive Damages: A State-by-State Compendium, covers the law of each state (plus the District of Columbia and Canada) governing punitive damages. Each chapter is authored by experienced practitioners who are members of the DRI Product Liability Committee. The following topics are addressed in detail: background and basics; pleading; discovery; proof; defenses; jury instructions; amounts recoverable; who recovers; insurance/indemnity issues; appeals; miscellaneous considerations. Click here to order your copy today and for more information on this new release!
|
|
|
And The Defense Wins!
|
Elizabeth Cornacchio, DRI member and partner at Heidell Pittoni Murphy & Bach, LLP in New York City and Stamford, Connecticut, recently obtained a defense verdict in a birth injury case tried in Bronx County Supreme Court against a hospital. The plaintiff claimed that the labor and delivery of a 23-year-old, first time pregnant woman, was mismanaged.
[FULL STORY]
|
Mark Yagerman, an equity owner of the Manhattan law firm of Smith Mazure Director Wilkins Young & Yagerman P.C. and long-time DRI member, recently was trial counsel for the New York City Transit Authority and helped to obtain a favorable ruling from the Appellate Division, Second Department in New York State in the case of Rosella Garcia v. New York City Transit Authority. The plaintiff sustained significant injuries in a trip and fall accident while at the Clark Street subway station.
[FULL STORY]
|
DRI members David A. Wright and Katy Andre of Davis & Wilkerson, P.C. in Austin were recently successful in obtaining summary judgment in the district courts of Williamson County, Texas, in two wrongful death claims against private entities. In the first case, they represented a private golf course community. The family of a deceased man sued the association for wrongful death, due to the man's accidental fall from a golf cart in which he rode as a passenger during a charity golf tournament.
[FULL STORY]
|
On June 17, 2009, DRI members Daniel A. Webb and Scott T. Winstead, partners in the New Orleans firm of Sutterfield & Webb, L.L.C., obtained a defense verdict for a national food manufacturer and distributor in a motor vehicle accident case. The plaintiff, a taxi cab operator, sued the client and two employees alleging the employees were negligent in pulling out of a parallel parking space on a major thoroughfare. The employees were actually backing into a parallel parking spot. The plaintiff veered to the right so that he would not have to slow down or stop while the employees parked and struck the side of a New Orleans streetcar traveling in the adjacent lane of travel.
[FULL STORY]
|
DRI members Mark Tripp and Jason Madden of Bradshaw, Fowler, Proctor & Fairgrave, P.C. in Des Moines, Iowa, obtained a defense verdict in three consolidated product liability cases brought against Canadian aerospace manufacturer Bristol Aerospace Limited. The lawsuits arose from a helicopter accident that occurred on June 30, 2006. The helicopter collided with utility wires at a low altitude while conducting aerial filming for the baseball movie The Final Season. As a result of the accident, cameraman Roland Schlotzhauer suffered fatal injuries. Pilot Richard Green and movie producer Tony Wilson also suffered significant injuries.
[FULL STORY]
|
DRI wants to hear about your latest win! Send a short summary in Word format and a recent photo (.jpg attachment) of yourself to Barb Lowery by email (blowery@dri.org).
|
|
|
Leader Spotlight
|
Today’s leader spotlight is focused on Neva G. Lusk, a member with Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC, residing in the Charleston, West Virginia, office. Ms. Lusk was recently elected to serve as national director on DRI’s board. Prior to holding this position, Ms. Lusk served as a DRI state representative for West Virginia and was appointed to DRI’s Public Policy Committee. She is also an active member of the Drug and Medical Device and Product Liability Committees.
[FULL STORY]
|
|
|
Legislative Tracking
|
The Young Lawyers Legislative Subcommittee is led by Paul A. Wilhelm of Dykema Gossett PLLC in Detroit, Michigan, and co-vice chairs Joseph W. Ballard of Lewis, King, Krieg & Waldrop, P.C. in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Marie A. Trimble of Gordon & Rees LLP in San Francisco, California. Special thanks to these leaders, along with all of the other state contributors.
|
|
FEDERAL (Contributors: Michele Hale DeShazo, Kuchler Polk Schell Weiner & Richeson, L.L.C.; Brian J. Benoit, Wiedner & McAuliffe, Ltd.; and Mia O. Hernandez, Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP)
HEALTH CARE
H.R. 3962, providing for Universal Health Care Coverage (The Affordable Health Care for America Act)
• Requires all Americans to carry health insurance, either through an employer, a government plan or by purchasing it on their own. Would require employers to provide coverage; would pay for the coverage expansion by raising taxes on upper-income earners.
• The government subsidies and consumer protections would not take effect until 2013. During the three-year transition, $5 billion in federal dollars would be provided to help get coverage for people with medical problems who are turned down by private insurers.
• Would significantly expand the federal-state Medicaid health program for low-income people.
• The majority of people with employer-provided health insurance would not see changes. The main beneficiaries would be approximately 30 million people who have no coverage at work or have to buy it on their own.
• 11/7/09 – Passed the House by a vote of 220-215 (Rep. Joe Cao (R-Louisiana) was the only Republican who voted in favor of the bill).
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW
S. 1733, relating to Clean Energy (The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act; “Kerry-Boxer Climate Bill”)
• Creates clean energy jobs, promotes energy independence, reduces global warming pollution, and transitions to a clean energy economy. Requires 12% cut from 2005 greenhouse gas emissions by 2012, 20% cut by 2020, 42% cut by 2030, and 83% cut by 2050; creates cap-and-trade regime.
• 11/5/09: The Environment and Public Works Committee voted 11-1 to favorably report S. 1733 out of committee, despite a boycott by Republicans.
TAX
H.R. 3548, providing for an extension of Net Operating Loss Carry Back and Extension and Amendment of Homebuyer Tax Credit
• 11/6/09: Signed by President Obama; it received overwhelming bipartisan support, passing 98 – 0 in the Senate with amendment and then 402-12 in the House following the Senate’s amendment. It contains two main provisions described below:
NOL Carry Back
• Extends into 2010 tax legislation which allows businesses the option of carrying back losses an additional three years from the previous law’s allowance of two years.
• Unlike the original provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which limited the incentive to small businesses, the new law permits any business to take advantage of the law. The provision allows businesses to amend prior-year tax returns claim refunds of taxes paid on profits within the prior five years.
Homebuyer Tax Credit
• Provides a credit for first time homebuyers of up to $8,000, depending on the purchase price and income of the buyers.
• Extends the incentive to first time home buyers who sign purchase contracts by May 1 and close by July.
• Also extends a maximum tax credit of $6,500 to homeowners who purchase a new home on or before April 30, 2010. The $6,500 credit for repeat homebuyers is limited to those with single incomes at or below $125,000 per year or households who earn $225,000 or less per year. Those homebuyers who make over the threshold amount receive a credit subject to a reduction equation based on the amount of income earned over the threshold amount.
|
MICHIGAN (Contributor: David M. George, Dykema)
CIVIL LIABILITY
HB 5563 of 2009: Amends Michigan’s Consumer Protection Act
• Amends MCPA to include a provision that requires certain safety and security measures for large retailers that conduct special sales.
• 10/29/2009 - Referred to Committee on Commerce
ENVIRONMENT
HB 5558 of 2009: Amends Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act
• The bill would amend Part 115 (Solid Waste Management) of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act to assess, as of October 1, 2009, a $7.50 per ton surcharge on solid waste disposed of in a landfill or municipal solid waste incinerator. Landfill and municipal incinerator owners or operators would pay the surcharge, called the "recycling and waste diversion surcharge," to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) on a quarterly basis.
• 10/28/2009 – Referred to Committee on Great Lakes and Environment.
[MORE]
|
|
|
Quote of the Week
|
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
—John Fitzgerald Kennedy
|
|
|
DRI CLE Calendar
|
Asbestos Medicine
November 12-13, 2009
Fontainebleau Miami Beach, Miami, Florida
Insurance Coverage and Practice
December 3-4, 2009
Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, New York, New York
Best Practices for Law Firm Profitability
December 3-4, 2009
Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, New York, New York
Civil Rights and Governmental Tort Liability
January 27-29, 2010
The Westin San Diego, San Diego, California
Trucking Law
February 4-5, 2010
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada
Medical Liability and Health Care Law
February 11-12, 2010
Arizona Biltmore, Phoenix, Arizona
Strictly Retail
March 4-5, 2010
Wyndham Chicago Hotel, Chicago, Illinois
Damages
March 17-19, 2010
Vdara, Las Vegas, Nevada
For all other seminars, webconferences and webcasts, click here.
|
|
| |
|
|
Current Issues in Medical Liability and Health Care Law
Defending Damages Claims in Business Tort Cases
|
