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Selections from National Law Journal Daily Headlines December 5, 2008

By David Badertscher, PLL

<p><font size="2">Source: <em>NLJ.COM, </em>December 5, 2008</font></p> <p><font size="2">Subscription needed for online access: </font><a href="http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/subscribe.jsp" target="_blank"><font size="2">http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/subscribe.jsp</font></a></p> <p><a class="headline" href="http://alm.rsys1.net/servlet/cc6?HtuYQSRDTUQSVKIHKLjlkxJhmjlkQklHlLQgPQmkVaVS" target="_blank"><font size="2">FROM THE UPCOMING ISSUE | Law firms wrestle with health care costs</font></a><br/><font color="#333333" size="2">"Syracuse, N.Y.-based Hiscock & Barclay has seen the cost of providing health care to nearly 400 employees rise by 20% each of the past five years. It has largely shouldered the mounting costs without asking employees to pick up the difference. Fortunately for the firm, there is relief on the horizon. Managing partner John Langan said the firm's health care costs won't go up in 2009, largely because of several new insurance plans available to employees that offer low premiums, high deductibles and tax-free health savings accounts to help cover medical costs."</font></p> <p><font color="#333333"><a class="headline" href="http://alm.rsys1.net/servlet/cc6?HtuYQSRDTUQSVKIHKLjlkxJhmjlkQklHlLQgPQmkVaVU" target="_blank"><font size="2">WEB-ONLY | Public defender, state attorney firings roil the ranks in Florida </font></a><br/><font size="2"><font color="#333333">"Attorneys who were fired en masse by a newly elected public defender and state attorney in Jacksonville, Fla., are considering legal action. Meanwhile, the incident is igniting controversy and debates about whether employees of these offices should be civil service employees and whether the position of public defender and state attorney should be appointed rather than elected." </font><br/><br/><!--commentsListSize 0--><!-- siteDateFormat MMMM d, yyyy --><!-- December 5, 2008 --><!-- Style = headlineSummaryKickerNewsletter --><font color="#336699"><b><a class="headline" href="http://alm.rsys1.net/servlet/cc6?HtuYQSRDTUQSVKIHKLjlkxJhmjlkQklHlLQgPQmkVaVW" target="_blank">WEB-ONLY | A closer look at how one law firm coolly handled a very sensitive story </a></b></font><br/><font color="#333333">"Anthony Ottaviano, a litigator with New York-based Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, was murdered in Philadelphia on Monday by a man stalking his girlfriend, a former Ivy League student moonlighting as a dominatrix. The circumstances surrounding the murder were recounted in tawdry detail in the tabloids, which noted that Ottaviano maintained a 'secret leather-loving lifestyle.' So what's a law firm to do when a scandal-tinged tragedy drags the firm's name into the spotlight? "</font><br/><br/><!--commentsListSize 0--><!-- siteDateFormat MMMM d, yyyy --><!-- December 5, 2008 --><!-- Style = headlineSummaryKickerNewsletter --><font color="#336699"><b><a class="headline" href="http://alm.rsys1.net/servlet/cc6?HtuYQSRDTUQSVKIHKLjlkxJhmjlkQklHlLQgPQmkVaVY" target="_blank">WEB-ONLY | DOJ, seven state attorneys general agree to $4.5B merger of nation's two largest waste carriers </a></b></font><br/><font color="#333333">"The Justice Department and seven state attorneys general will agree to the $4.5 billion merger of the nation's two largest waste carriers, as long as they divest assets in 15 major urban areas. The DOJ announced Wednesday that it had reached a settlement that would allow Republic Services Inc. and Allied Waste Industries Inc. to merge if they divest themselves of 87 commercial waste collection routes, nine landfills and 10 transfer stations, along with other assets." </font><br/><br/><!--commentsListSize 0--><!-- siteDateFormat MMMM d, yyyy --><!-- December 5, 2008 --><!-- Style = headlineSummaryKickerNewsletter --><font color="#336699"><b><a class="headline" href="http://alm.rsys1.net/servlet/cc6?HtuYQSRDTUQSVKIHKLjlkxJhmjlkQklHlLQgPQmkVaVA" target="_blank">WEB-ONLY | Man successfully fights off his own autopsy </a></b></font><br/><font color="#333333">A judge in Washington state ruled Thursday that a man dying from mesothelioma will not have to be autopsied as a condition of his estate being paid a settlement. Setting aside a longstanding court rule, the judge ruled that James Ross, 71, could avoid the autopsy based on the "personal moral belief' he claimed without declaring any 'religious or ethical considerations.' "</font> </font></font></p> <p><font color="#333333"> </font><a class="headline" href="http://alm.rsys1.net/servlet/cc6?HtuYQSRDTUQSVKIHKLjlkxJhmjlkQklHlLQgPQmkVaVSR" target="_blank"><font size="2">WEB-ONLY | Countrywide faces new legal troubles in settlement over predatory lending cases </font></a><br/><font color="#333333" size="2">"Countrywide Financial Corp. faces new legal troubles, this time stemming from its settlement of predatory lending cases with at least 15 state attorneys general. A lawsuit filed in New York state court asks the court to declare that Countrywide, bought out by Bank of America, cannot pass on to investors the $8.4 billion cost of settling with the states. Countrywide had agreed to reduce payments on predatory mortgages in the deal."</font></p> <p><font color="#333333" size="2"><font size="2"><strong><font color="#000000">OPINION<br/><br/><!--commentsListSize 0--><!-- siteDateFormat MMMM d, yyyy --><!-- December 8, 2008 --><!-- Style = headlineSummaryKickerNewsletter --></font><font color="#336699"><a class="headline" href="http://alm.rsys1.net/servlet/cc6?HtuYQSRDTUQSVKIHKLjlkxJhmjlkQklHlLQgPQmkVaVSY" target="_blank">THE FINANCIAL CRISIS | Is the legal system ready?</a></font></strong><br/></font><font color="#333333" size="2"><font size="2">"Home foreclosures are hitting all-time records. Unemployment has reached a level not seen since 2001. America's automobile industry could be on the verge of collapse. The financial crisis is forcing small businesses to falter, decimating retirement savings and leaving families homeless and without adequate health care. Where will people seek relief? Events of this magnitude do not happen without the courts playing a significant role. Is America's legal system ready? The answer, unfortunately, is no."</font> </font><br/> </font><br/></p>

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on December 05, 2008 (boomark / email).