Legal Research

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Free With Registration: Trial Practice
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
By Robert S. Kelner and Gail S. Kelner

"Robert S. Kelner, senior partner at Kelner and Kelner, and Gail S. Kelner, an attorney with the firm, write that ultimately, the decision in D'Onofrio v. City of New York is a cautionary warning that the prior written notice provided to the city must accurately describe the sidewalk defect which subsequently gave rise to injury. Although nothing in the decision negates the validity of the Big Apple Pothole and Sidewalk Protection Committee maps in general, if the lower courts follow the analysis employed by the Court of Appeals, significant discrepancies between the condition on the map and the defect established by the claimant may result in a dismissal rather than the submission of ambiguities to the jury for resolution."

Health Law
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
By Francis J. Serbaroli

"Francis J. Serbaroli, a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig, writes: While any business bankruptcy can be complicated, the bankruptcy of a health care facility is more so. A hospital is not just another business; it is first and foremost a critically important community resource. In certain localities, a hospital may in fact be the only provider of medical care, serving as both an acute-care facility and as the community's doctor. A hospital is also frequently the largest employer in the area it serves, and its closure could severely harm not just the local health care infrastructure but the local economy."

OUTSIDE COUNSEL:

Exempt Income Protection Act Better Protects Strapped Debtors
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
By Johnson M. Tyler

" Johnson M. Tyler, director of the Social Security/Consumer Rights Unit at South Brooklyn Legal Services, writes that exemption laws protect Social Security and other subsistence and retirement payments from creditors. They ensure that a disabled, elderly or impoverished person can eat, buy medicine and remain housed. But in the last six years, he says, exemption laws have routinely been skirted by debt-collection law firms exploiting unforeseen weaknesses in electronic banking."

TECHNOLOGY TODAY:

E-Discovery in New York State
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
By Mark A. Berman

" Mark A. Berman, a partner at Ganfer & Shore, reviews recent cases involving jurisdiction in New York over out-of-state defendants based on communications with a Web site. Current precedent requires that a Web site must have some degree of interactive capacity for a court to be able to find jurisdiction on the basis of electronic communications with it, but mere interactive ability may not be enough for jurisdiction to lie. Courts will also analyze whether there is substantial solicitation, advertising directed to New York, systematic and continuous servicing of New York customers, and revenue derived therefrom."