http://www.scourlawyer.com Legal News Wed, 10 Mar 2010 02:31:43 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en ScourLawyerhttp://feedburner.google.com With technology, a legal department can speak with a single voice, think with a single mind, and act like a partnership even with lawyers dispersed around the world. Consultant Rees W. Morrison discusses 20 techniques that increase coherence and effectiveness in a spread-out department.Original post by LexisNexis® Mealey's� Legal News http://www.scourlawyer.com/20-ways-to-link-dispersed-legal-departments/ WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Supreme Court on March 8 affirmed an Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that attorneys are debt relief agencies when they provide qualifying services but reversed the appellate court's ruling that a portion of the federal bankruptcy abuse act governing what advice such relief ... http://www.scourlawyer.com/us-supreme-court-rules-attorneys-are-debt-relief-agencies/ CHICAGO - A $14.6 million settlement was reached Feb. 24 in an Illinois circuit court, bringing to a close an action involving a student who broke his neck and was rendered quadriplegic while using a mini trampoline during an extracurricular tumbling class more than 17 years ago (Ryan Murray, et ... http://www.scourlawyer.com/student-injured-in-1992-trampoline-accident-agrees-to-146m-settlement/ SAN FRANCISCO - Material misrepresentations on an employment practices liability policy application entitle the insurer to rescind the policy, a California federal judge ruled Feb. 17 (Carolina Casualty Insurance Co. v. RDD Inc., et al., No. C 09-00856, N.D. Calif.; 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13633). Full story on lexis.com Original post ... http://www.scourlawyer.com/insurer-entitled-to-rescind-policy-federal-judge-rules/ NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Denying a reinsurer's motion to disqualify an arbitration umpire because the umpire serves as the reinsurer's adversary's party-appointed arbitrator in other unrelated disputes, a federal judge in Connecticut on Feb. 22 noted that because these arbitrators are experienced, they will often have relationships with the parties ... http://www.scourlawyer.com/conn-federal-judge-umpires-relationships-do-not-merit-disqualification/ FORT WORTH, Texas - A Texas jury found March 1 that a couple pursuing a long-running battle with their builder deserve more than $58 million in compensatory and punitive damages, but the builder plans to appeal the verdict (Robert E. Cull and S. Jane Cull v. Perry Homes, et al., ... http://www.scourlawyer.com/texas-jury-hands-couple-582-million-in-marathon-dispute-with-home-builder/ Opponents of Chicago's handgun ban in McDonald v. Chicago argued that the high court should solely rely on secondary sources and not digital searches of original material that aim to prevent "Barbie dolls in the archeological dig," where advocates read modern facts into the historical record.Original post by LexisNexis® Mealey's� ... http://www.scourlawyer.com/guns-virtuous-history-and-internet-searches/ GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Underlying claims stemming from a wrongful arrest and conviction against a community college insured and its police officers arose from the rendering of or failure to render "professional services," and, therefore, coverage is precluded by a not-for-profit individual and organization insurance policy's professional services exclusion, a ... http://www.scourlawyer.com/no-coverage-for-claims-arising-from-wrongful-arrest-conviction-judge-rules/ CHICAGO - A panel of the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Feb. 23 reversed summary judgment in a Paxil suicide case, saying that under the U.S. Supreme Court's drug preemption ruling last year, defendant GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) did not show that the Food and Drug Administration would have ... http://www.scourlawyer.com/7th-circuit-reverses-preemption-summary-judgment-in-paxil-suicide-case/ WASHINGTON, D.C. - Thirteen U.S. representatives and 17 companies and groups on Feb. 9 asked the District of Columbia Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals to review the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and the environment (U.S. Representative John Linder, et al. v. U.S. ... http://www.scourlawyer.com/congressmen-companies-ask-dc-circuit-to-review-endangerment-finding/