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August 2010

NEW YORK  

Divorce Easier as New York Law Ends Need to Lie

By Carlyn Kolker and Patricia Hurtado, Bloomberg  

08-16-10 -- New York just made breaking up easier to do, passing a no-fault divorce law that stands to reduce long, cutthroat court battles over who’s to blame when marriages fail. . . . The new law permits couples to split without assigning blame for the marriage’s collapse. . . . “There is a human cost and a financial cost” to a system demanding fault-finding, Robert Ross, supervising judge of the matrimonial division in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island, said before the bill became law. “It’s hard to know what impact a new law will have, but we do know that a grounds trial, and the expense and delay associated with it, is not a good thing.” . . . The passage of a bill July 1 by the state assembly sent the measure to Governor David Paterson, who signed it yesterday, according his office’s website.

NEW YORK  

Judge Transferred Over Alleged Actions in Visitation Case Involving Sex Offender

Complaint alleges judge joked about child pornography during custody proceeding, misstated the facts of the case and maintained an 'inappropriate' relationship with the father's attorney

Mark Fass, New York Law Journal

08-13-10 -- A Suffolk County, N.Y., judge who was the subject of a searing complaint by a children's advocacy group has been transferred from Family Court to the County Court's civil term. . . . A court source called the immediate transfer "unprecedented" and an indication of the how seriously the allegations are being taken by the Office of Court Administration. . . . According to the complaint, Judge Andrew G. Tarantino Jr. granted a father who had been convicted of possessing child pornography and third-degree rape of a minor overnight visitation of his three children, supervised by his own parents.

Read the complaint (pdf) and Tarantino's earlier ruling (pdf).

CONNECTICUT  

Messy Divorce Leads to Whistleblower Bounty in Pequot Capital Case

Douglas S. Malan, The Connecticut Law Tribune

08-12-10 -- It all comes down to a computer hard drive.

That's what transformed Karen Zilkha v. David Zilkha from a messy divorce case into an insider trading investigation that led to the downfall of a major hedge fund. . . . Southbury, Conn., resident Karen Kaiser (her remarried name) made headlines last month when the federal government gave her a $1 million whistleblower bounty for finding evidence allegedly implicating her ex-husband and his former employer, the Westport, Conn.-based Pequot Capital Management Inc. . . . But less has been written about the emotionally charged child custody battle that led to the discovery of computer files, the continuing investigation by the Securities and Exhange Commission and the two attorneys who aided Kaiser.

NEW YORK  

Ex-Wife Ordered to Provide Skype Access for Husband, Kids

Mark Fass, New York Law Journal

08-12-10 -- A state judge in Suffolk County has ordered a mother to make her two children available for Skype online video conferencing with their father as a condition of her move to Florida. . . . The decision marks the first reported New York case in which a judge has ordered a relocating parent to facilitate Skyping -- i.e., the use of Skype conferencing software -- between her children and her ex-spouse as a condition of her move, according to a Westlaw search. . . . "The Petitioner, at her own cost and expense, will see to it, prior to re-location, that the Respondent, as well as the children, are provided the appropriate internet access via a Skype device which allows a real time broadcast of communications between the Respondent and his children," Supreme Court Justice Jerry Garguilo wrote in Baker v. Baker, 29610-2007.

NEW JERSEY  

Family Judge's Rant at Pro Se Litigant Draws Ethics Charges

Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal

08-10-10 -- Atlantic County Superior Court Judge Max Baker has been hit with ethics charges for allegedly launching into a tirade against an unrepresented family court litigant who complained about a child-visitation schedule he ordered. . . . The heated invective called into question Baker's ability to remain impartial, Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct counsel Candace Moody alleged in a complaint made public Friday. . . . The outburst allegedly took place during a hearing last Dec. 31 on cross-complaints for restraining orders brought by Michael and Dana Pilla, both of whom were pro se. After granting Dana's request for an adjournment to obtain counsel, Baker inquired about the couple's minor child and visitation.

CONNECTICUT  

Wachtell Retiree's 'Playmate' Not Entitled to Share in Pension

Married in the morning, he claims the 'marriage did not last beyond lunch'

Leigh Jones, The National Law Journal

08-06-10 -- It may have been the result of some crafty legal maneuvering by a Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz partner, or it may have simply been part of his tempestuous marriage to a "European Playmate" nearly 30 years his junior. . . . Whatever the reason, the now-retired partner has thwarted a second bid by his ex-wife to invalidate a prenuptial agreement and collect a share of the $1 million-plus in annual retirement payments that he receives from the firm. . . . The Appellate Court of Connecticut, in a decision released on Thursday, affirmed a divorce judgment between retired Wachtell partner Peter McKenna, now 72, and Roberta Delente, a one-time model from Brazil who was working for an agency called "European Playmates" when the couple met in 1997. She was 32 at the time.

MICHIGAN  

Ypsilanti attorney suspended

Margaret Lucas Agius, Detroit Legal News Examiner

08-03-10 -- The State of Michigan Attorney Discipline Board reported Monday that its Washtenaw County Hearing Panel #1 suspended Ypsilanti attorney Daniel E. Hunter from the practice of law in Michigan for a period of 270 days effective July 30, 2010. . . . The panel found, by default, that Hunter neglected a paternity and child support matter, failed to act with reasonable diligence, and failed to keep his client reasonably informed about the status of the matter and comply promptly with reasonable requests for information.

July 2010

NEW JERSEY  

Same-sex split damages court

Gloucester County Times - NJ.com  

07-28-10 -- It's possible that Monday's state Supreme Court ruling, which punted a gay marriage case to the lower courts, was correct procedurally. But much of the immediate fallout has little to do with whether or not same-sex couples ever get the right to marry in New Jersey. . . . The 3-3 ruling one seat is vacant is clearly a setback for advocates who filed the case, claiming that the state's civil unions are not equivalent to "marriage." But given that the Supreme Court didn't really judge the merits of the advocates' arguments, the decision may well have dealt a bigger setback to the reputation of the high court itself. . . . The situation was kicked off this spring when Gov. Chris Christie refused to renominate John E. Wallace Jr. for a tenure as a justice (even though he'd have to retire in two more years, anyway). Then, state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, miffed that Christie had dumped a worthy justice from Gloucester County, refused to slate a confirmation hearing for the governor's replacement nominee, Anne M. Patterson. Thus far, Christie and Sweeney have not budged from their corners.

NEW JERSEY  

N.J. Supreme Court declines gay marriage case filed by six same-sex couples

Matt Friedman, The Star-Ledger

07-26-10 -- In a split decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to hear a case from six same-sex couples seeking the right to marry, saying the case needs to wind its way through the lower courts first. . . . “This matter cannot be decided without the development of an appropriate trial-like record,” wrote Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, who added that “We reach no conclusion on the merits of the plaintiffs’ allegations regarding the constitutionality of the Civil Union Act.” . . . The couples filed the case in the aftermath of the failure of same-sex legislation in the state Senate, arguing that the state’s 2006 civil union law had failed to grant them the full rights and benefits of heterosexual married couples that the court mandated the Legislature provide them with four years ago. Since the Legislature failed to pass same-sex marriage, the couples wanted the court to intervene.

UTAH  

Judge orders couple not to sell baby

By stephen hunt, The Salt Lake Tribune 

07-23-10 -- An Arizona couple believed to be in Utah to illegally sell their child — which may yet be unborn — have been ordered by a Utah judge not to go through with the sale. . . . Third District Judge Terry Christiansen ordered the parents, Alison and Gary Stuckey, to appear in his West Jordan courtroom at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday. . . . The judge gave custody of the child to Utah Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS) and has ordered any doctors, nurses or health care workers with knowledge of the child to contact DCFS. . . . The child-protection order, issued Friday, was based on information provided by Salt Lake City attorney Wesley Hutchins, who represents a Mesa, Ariz., foster couple who are in the process of adopting three other children, ages 12, 8 and 5, born to Alison Stuckey. . . . According to Hutchins’ court petition, Alison Stuckey previously came to Utah and illegally sold a child born Jan. 1, 2007, for $6,000.

MINNESOTA   

Attorneys-at-risk in Family Court

A brutal attack on Fridley lawyer highlights the high emotions of divorce and custody proceedings.

By David Chanen & Rochelle Olson, Star Tribune staff writers

07-19-10 -- Frantic messages filled Terri Melcher's cell phone. One warned her to leave her office immediately. . . . But by the time the Fridley attorney heard it, she had been stabbed nearly 30 times in her unlocked office. Her alleged assailant was a man who had just lost a child custody case in which Melcher represented his ex-wife. . . . As word of the stunning attack last month spread in the Twin Cities family-law community, lawyers expressed horror, but not complete surprise. . . . "The emotions that come in Family Court are as raw as any a judge or lawyer is going to see," said Hennepin County Judge Kevin Burke, who has been on the bench since 1984 and is now stationed in Family Court.

MARYLAND   

Split custody of dog recognizes changing role of family pets

Pets differ from other property

By Andrea F. Siegel, The Baltimore Sun

07-18-10 -- In what lawyers believe was a first in Maryland, a judge recently ordered a divorcing Calvert County couple to split custody of their dog, a recognition, experts say, that pets stand apart from other property. . . . Once rare, post-breakup disputes over who keeps the pet have grown more common in the past two decades. At the same time, some couples, many choosing not to have children, are lavishing attention on their pets and are willing to spend thousands of dollars in legal fees fighting for custody of Rover. . . . But what the ruling by retired Judge Graydon S. McKee III spells for the direction of animal law in Maryland is unclear. The decision cannot be cited as legal precedent because it did not come from a state appeals court.

FEDERAL COURTS

Marriage and the Reign of Judges

By Matthew Franck, RealClearPolitics (blog)

07-14-10 -- The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was grounded on a fear of judges run amok. This past Thursday, federal district court judge Joseph Tauro of Boston justified this fear when he struck down section 3 of the act in two separate cases, Gill v. Office of Personnel Management and Massachusetts v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In the Gill case, Judge Tauro held that the law unjustly denied various federal benefits to spouses in same-sex marriages contracted under Massachusetts law, contrary to the equal protection principle. Meanwhile, in the HHS case, Tauro ruled that the state itself was the victim of an unconstitutional intrusion by the federal government on its reserved powers under the Tenth Amendment. In both cases the judge claimed to be basing his ruling on the “historically entrenched practice” of federal law recognizing marital status whenever it was accorded under state law. But we can hardly credit his attachment to “historically entrenched practice” when he is willing to treat the whole moral tradition of human civilization, with its exclusive recognition of marriage as a union of opposite sexes, as “irrational” and thus fit for the dustbin.

GENERAL

Courts Reward Helicopter Parents, Two Law Profs Say

By Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal

07-14-10 -- Courts are rewarding “intensive parenting” and making it a legal standard, particularly in custody disputes, two law professors say in a paper that will be published in the U.C. Davis Law Review. . . . The child-rearing trend, also known as “helicopter parenting” and “smothering mothering,” has dominated parenting in the last two decades, according to the paper published on SSRN. These parents seek safety through nanny cams, helmets and kneepads; monitor their children through organized activities; keep in touch through the “umbilical cord” of cell phones; and research their kids’ developmental problems on the Internet. . . . The article by professors Gaia Bernstein of Seton Hall University School of Law and Zvi Triger of the College of Management School of Law in Israel points to two ways in which the courts are favoring intensive parenting.

GENERAL

ABA to Consider Same-Sex Marriage Measure

Nate Raymond, New York Law Journal

07-13-10 -- The American Bar Association next month will consider adopting a measure supporting same-sex marriage backed by two New York bar associations. The measure, to be voted on by the ABA House of Delegates at its meeting next month in San Francisco, is sponsored by 14 groups, including the New York State Bar Association and the New York City Bar. It urges state, territorial and tribal governments to eliminate laws restricting marriage between same-sex partners.

CALIFORNIA  

Can Same-Sex Partner Claim Loss of Consortium?

Unusual malpractice case could find way to Connecticut Supreme Court

Christian Nolan, The Connecticut Law Tribune

07-12-10 -- Margaret Mueller battled through 24 cycles of chemotherapy over a 3 1/2-year span, with little improvement to her condition. Growing desperate, she sought out a different oncologist to ask about other treatment options. . . . The new doctor, however, made a shocking revelation. Mueller didn't have ovarian cancer, as she had been told. She had been misdiagnosed and actually had cancer of the appendix. The truly tragic news was that the cancer was too far along to be treated. She wouldn't survive. She died last year at age 62. . . . Mueller's estate sued her original doctor for medical malpractice and won. She was awarded $2.45 million earlier this month by a Stamford, Conn., jury. . . . It may sound like a sad but legally straightforward malpractice case. But an interesting appeal is expected in the coming months on an issue that lawyers say has never been taken up anywhere in the country.

FEDERAL COURTS

Mass. Federal Judge Strikes Down Federal Ban on Gay Marriage

Dan Levine, The Recorder

07-09-10 -- If Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker is looking for a little more ammunition in order to shoot down Proposition 8, one of his Massachusetts colleagues just gave him some. . . . U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro ruled Thursday that the federal Defense of Marriage Act violated the Equal Protection Clause. Congress passed DOMA in 1996, defining marriage as a heterosexual union for purposes of a host of federal benefits and classifications. . . . In his opinion, Tauro found that DOMA didn't even survive rational basis review, which is the least exacting form of constitutional scrutiny. Denying same-sex partners the right to marry isn't rationally related to raising stable children, Tauro wrote. . . . "An interest in encouraging responsible procreation plainly cannot provide a rational basis upon which to exclude same-sex marriages from federal recognition because, as Justice Scalia pointed out in his dissent to Lawrence v. Texas, the ability to procreate is not now, nor has it ever been, a precondition to marriage in any state in the country," Tauro wrote.

MARYLAND   

This puppy’s not property in divorce case
By Steve Lash, Baltimore Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

07-06-10 -- Call it the Calvert County Canine Custody Case.

As they headed toward divorce, Gayle and Craig Myers had only one bone of contention: Who would have the right to keep Lucky, their 16-pound gray-black Lhasa apso. . . . Under Maryland law, family pets — unlike, say, children — are treated as jointly owned marital property and sold if the divorcing couple cannot agree on who gets to keep them. The parties then split the proceeds of the sale. . . . But the standard resolution did not seem right to retired Prince George’s County Circuit Judge Graydon S. McKee III. . . . The judge, presiding over the limited-divorce proceeding by special assignment, decided on his own last month that Gayle and Craig, who have no children, would split custody of Lucky. The dog will alternate spending six months with each party; Gayle’s turn began on July 1. . . . McKee rendered his decision after hearing testimony from Gayle, who lives in Alexandria, Va., and Craig, who resides in Dunkirk. . . . “It was very clear that both of them love this dog equally,” McKee said. “The only fair thing to do was to give each one an equal chance to share in the love of the dog.”

NEW JERSEY  

Matrimonial Firm to Go on Trial for Allegedly Aiding in Child's Abduction

Mary Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal

07-06-10 -- Questions over the role of a New Jersey matrimonial firm in an international child abduction are at the heart of an unusual suit set to go to trial in Bergen County, N.J., this summer. . . . Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich and her firm, Lesnevich & Marzano-Lesnevich of Hackensack, N.J., are accused of helping former client Maria Jose Carrascosa take her daughter to Carrascosa's native Spain, in violation of a parenting agreement with the child's father, Peter Innes. . . . Innes alleges the firm aided the abduction or negligently ignored its obligation to abide by the agreement, which prohibited removing Victoria Innes from the United States and required Carrascosa's lawyer to hold Victoria's U.S. passport to prevent that from happening.

NEW YORK  

Divorce judge orders wall for warring Brooklyn couple

By Edmund DeMarche, New York Post   

07-05-10 -- He spitefully blows out her Shabbos candles. . . . She hides his medications and makes him sleep in the dining room. . . . Can this Orthodox Jewish marriage be saved? . . . Probably not -- but a wall down the middle of the Williamsburg couple's house is a good idea regardless, a Brooklyn judge has ruled. . . . Doing his best King Solomon imitation, Judge Eric Prus on Thursday ordered feuding couple Pinchs and Nechama Gold to split their 3,000-square-foot home in half as they go through a bitter divorce. . . . The Golds have two weeks to agree on where the wall should go -- or the court will decide for them. . . . "They've been living like there was a wall up for two years now," said Abe Konstam, an attorney for Pinchs. . . . "This just helps them completely avoid each other."

June 2010

Facebook: a divorce lawyer’s best friend

Dennis Pots,  Seer Press

06-30-10 -- Cases have been filed again and again thanks to Facebook pictures. . . . Most men have been forgetting to de-friend their wives and are posting pictures of them together with their new mistresses. . . . According to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 81 percent of its members have had their evidence taken from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and other social networking sites. Not only that there are also videos from YouTube. . . . Linda Lea Viken the president of the 1,600-member group was quoted “Oh, I’ve had some fun ones,” saying that it is very common in the new cases she is handling. . . . “This sort of evidence has gone from nothing to a large percentage of my cases coming in, and it’s pretty darn easy,” According to Viken. “It’s like, Are you kidding me?”

WISCONSIN    

State Supreme Court upholds gay marriage ban

By Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel  

06-30-10 -- A legal challenge to the state's constitutional ban on gay marriage was rejected Wednesday by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. . . . In a resounding 7-0 ruling, the justices upheld a lower court's finding that the 2006 constitutional amendment was properly put to voters in a statewide referendum. . . . In doing so, the court dismissed a plaintiff's argument that lawmakers violated a rule that limits referendum questions to a single subject when they gave voters one referendum question that included two sections - one on gay marriage and one on civil unions. . . . "Both sentences of the marriage amendment relate to marriage and tend to effect or carry out the same general purpose of preserving the legal status of marriage in Wisconsin as between only one man and one woman," Justice Michael Gableman wrote.

FLORIDA  

Attorney arrested, charged after argument with spouse

Police say James Tarquin attacked his wife. She was later charged with battery on an officer

By Suevon Lee, Ocala Staff writer   

06-29-10 -- A local attorney is facing charges of child abuse and domestic battery following an altercation that took place outside his home Saturday evening. . . . Law enforcement officials were called to the Silver Springs home of James and Dawn Tarquin, where an eyewitness said an argument between the couple turned violent. . . . According to the eyewitness, James Tarquin slapped his wife, threw her onto the driveway, and held her down so she could not get up. The 24-year-old eyewitness told deputies he was forced to pull Tarquin off his wife, and restrain him by punching him twice until he left his residence in his vehicle. . . . The attorney was “highly intoxicated,” according to the witness' statements. . . . The child abuse charge stems from when Tarquin, 45, allegedly put his arm around his 9-year-old son's neck and shook him when the boy started to cry after witnessing the couple first argue.

CALIFORNIA  

Stalking Can Be a Form of Domestic Violence, Says Calif. Court

Mike McKee, The Recorder

06-25-10 -- A state appellate court in Ventura, Calif., on Monday found stalking an act of domestic violence, setting up a conflict with colleagues in San Diego. . . . The 2nd District Court of Appeal's Ventura branch ruled that stalking comes within the meaning of domestic violence in state Evidence Code §1109 and, therefore, is admissible to prove a propensity to commit other crimes. . . . That directly clashes with People v. Zavala, 130 Cal.App.4th 758, handed down by the 4th District's San Diego branch in 2005. / The ruling is People v. Ogle, B214086.

MARYLAND   

Divorce lawyer encourage clients to consider collaborative divorce

By Ellen McCarthy, Washington Post Staff Writer

06-20-10 -- It used to be all business for divorce lawyer Regina DeMeo.

Her approach was always the same: "This is a partnership and the partnership is dissolving. What are the assets? What is the time-sharing arrangement you think is going to work best? Okay, come on," she would think. "Get yourself together and let's move on." . . . Then, after seven years of marriage, DeMeo went through her own divorce. . . . "It was a very humbling experience," she says. "All your dreams are shattered . . . your whole world is rocked." . . . DeMeo began reading everything she could about what makes and breaks marriages, and she changed the way she practices law. Soon after the divorce, the George Washington University Law School graduate became trained in a growing practice called collaborative divorce.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Fathers 4 Justice are on song

Daily Echo  

06-17-10 -- PARENTS from across Hampshire have lent their voices to a new song being released by campaign group Fathers 4 Justice. . . . The Anthem For Justice song is being launched by the Hampshire-based campaign organisation for Father’s Day this Sunday as an Internet download track. . . . Mothers and fathers from across the county travelled to London to record the song this week and film a video for the single, which is promoting equal rights for parents.

NEW JERSEY  

Parental Rights Trump Bonds Formed Between Child and Foster Parents, N.J. Court Rules

Charles Toutant, New Jersey Law Journal

06-18-10 -- The possibility that a child may suffer serious psychological or emotional harm from severing bonds with foster parents is not alone sufficient grounds for termination of parental rights, a New Jersey appeals court says. . . . What must be proved, in essence, is that formation of foster-parental bond was in large part the birth parent's doing, to the point where "any harm caused to the child by severing the bond rests at the feet of the parent," the Appellate Division held in Division of Youth and Family Services v. D.M., A-6020-08. . . . The June 11 precedential ruling, reversing a trial court's decision, is an important victory for birth parents because of its insistence that the best-interest-of-the-child standard, codified in N.J.S.A. 30:4C-15.1(a), be followed scrupulously in termination cases despite a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling that seemed to allow a more expansive interpretation.

NEW YORK  

Change to Divorce Law Could Recall a TV Quiz Show: ‘To Tell the Truth’

By William Glaberson, New York Times      

06-17-10 -- There are certain to be consequences if New York State introduces no-fault divorce, as now seems likely. The divorce rate might climb. Matrimonial battles will focus on bitter issues like support and child custody. The poor will be able to get divorced as easily as the rich. But there is something else. Those who are splitting up can just tell the truth. . . . For decades, New York State’s divorce system has been built on a foundation of winks and falsehoods. If you wanted to split quickly, you and your spouse had to give one of the limited number of allowable reasons — including adultery, cruelty, imprisonment or abandonment — so there was a tendency to pick one out of a hat. . . . Pregnant women have insisted they have not have sex in a year, one of the existing grounds; spouses claimed psychological cruelty for getting called fat; and people whose affairs have made Page Six have denied adultery. One legendary ploy involved listing the filing lawyer’s secretary as the partner in adultery (which may even have been true in a few cases).

Start a Revolution on Father's Day

by Rebecca Hagelin, Townhall.com           

06-16-10 -- What we need when Father’s Day arrives on Sunday is nothing short of a family revolution, led by America’s fathers. . . . Ours is a broken culture — of fathers and mothers with broken vows, families with broken bonds, and children with broken hearts. . . . For every 100 babies born in America, 60 are born to a broken family. That is, they are either born out of wedlock, or to a family that will soon suffer divorce. Our teen pregnancy rate is the highest in the Western world. Our little girls are looking and behaving like sex kittens at younger and younger ages. Boys are afraid of marriage, addicted to pornography and have few or no manners. There are about 1.2 million abortions in America every year. . . . Mothers feel overwhelmed as they seek to "do it all" — earn a paycheck, nurture the children, manage the finances and keep the family together. Much of that is the fault of a radical feminist movement that perverted the battle for equal treatment into a battle for total independence from men. Many men just sat out what became a destructive force, and now all of us — men, women and children — are suffering the painful results as we realize that we really do need each other after all. . . . Imagine how our culture would be transformed if fathers refused to be bullied by angry feminists and took more of a loving role of responsibility in their own homes. What if husbands started pouring out unconditional and constant love on their wives in the same manner in which Christ pours love out for his people?

PENNSYLVANIA   

For parents, justice not served

Paperwork goes unfiled, appeals are dismissed.

By Terrie Morgan-Besecker, Law & Order Reporter,  Wilkes Barre Times-Leader

06-16-10 -- Mary Tullis was devastated last August when a Luzerne County judge terminated her rights to her son and daughter. . . . She and the children’s father, Jeff Harris, had been working to resolve the problems that led Luzerne County Children and Youth to place the children in foster care. She was confident the state Superior Court would overturn the decision on appeal. . . . She never got the chance to argue the merits of her case, however, because the assistant public defender assigned to represent her failed to file the required court papers, resulting in her appeal being dismissed outright. . . . A Times Leader investigation revealed she is not alone. . . . Since 2005, 15 of the 53 parents who challenged the termination of their parental rights or the involuntary adoption of their children have seen their appeals dismissed because the Public Defender’s Office or other court-appointed attorneys failed to follow proper court procedure, according to a review of cases filed with the state Superior Court. . . . The revelation prompted newly appointed county Chief Public Defender Al Flora Jr. to launch an investigation. He is reviewing records, including those identified by The Times Leader, to determine if anything can or should be done to seek to restore the appeals. . . . The newspaper’s review showed that in nine of the 15 cases at issue, the appeals were filed, but later dismissed because the attorneys failed to file the required legal briefs that detail the errors the trial judge allegedly committed. . . . In another six cases, the appeals were “quashed” – a legal term that refers to the dismissal of an appeal for failure to comply with some other aspect of appellate court procedure, such as filing the appeal late. . . . The lack of action by the attorneys means the parents were deprived of their right to have the Superior Court review the lower court ruling to determine if it was properly entered – a result an advocate for parental rights described as “appalling.”

NEBRASKA  

Neb. judge reprimanded for behavior in custody case

Kerri Rempp Chadron Record, Rapid City Journal

06-14-10 -- Dawes County District Court Judge Brian Silverman has been officially reprimanded by the state's Judicial Qualifications Commission for remarks he made in a child custody case last year. . . . The commission's opinion was released last week. The incident occurred during a hearing in a child custody case in February 2009 in the case of Cari Goodwin v. Derek Goodwin. According to the commission's opinion, Derek refused to acknowledge a December 2008 agreement regarding custody and a purge plan for child support. Silverman informed Derek, who was behind in his child support, if he proceeded with a trial on custody issues, the agreement would be revoked and he would be sent to jail. Derek filed a complaint saying Silverman raised his voice and addressed him in "an impatient, discourteous, angry and condescending tone and demeanor." . . . The commission agreed that Silverman's behavior violated the judicial code of conduct requiring judges to uphold the integrity and independence of the judiciary, to avoid impropriety and the appearance thereof and to perform the duties of the office impartially and diligently.

Divorce attorneys catching cheaters on Facebook

By Stephanie Chen, CNN 

06-01-10 -- Before the explosion of social media, Ken Altshuler, a divorce lawyer in Maine, dug up dirt on his client's spouses the old-fashioned way: with private investigators and subpoenas. Now the first place his team checks for evidence is Facebook. . . . Consider a recent story of a female client in her 30s, who came to Altshuler seeking a divorce from husband. She claimed her husband, an alcoholic, was drinking again. The husband denied it. It was her word against his word, Altshuler says, until a mutual friend of the couple stumbled across Facebook photos of the husband drinking beer at a party a few weeks earlier. . . . It was the kind of "gotcha moment" Altshuler knew would undermine the husband's credibility in court. His firm presented the photos to the judge, and the wife won the case in April, he said. . . . "Facebook is a great source of evidence," Altshuler said. "It's absolutely solid evidence because he's the author of it. How do you deny that you put that on?" . . . Social media stalking skills have become invaluable to the legal world for divorce cases in particular. Online photo albums, profile pages, wall comments, status updates and tweets have become gold mines for evidence and leads. Today, divorce and family law firms routinely cull information posted on social media sites -- the flirty exchanges with a paramour, unsavory self-revelations and compromising photographs -- to buttress their case.

May 2010

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

Domestic Violence Victims Take a Win by Supreme Court Default

Marcia Coyle, The National Law Journal

05-27-10 -- Advocates for domestic violence victims and those seeking child custody and support are breathing easier this week because the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case that could have limited the enforcement of court orders in those areas. . . . Because the lower court's order stands in Robertson v. United States ex rel. Watson, Robert Long, a partner at Washington's Covington & Burling, puts this one in the win column. Long argued for Wykenna Watson pro bono. . . . What is important, Long said, is that private enforcement for criminal contempt -- by victims of domestic violence or by parties to child custody disputes -- remains a viable tool. . . . Meanwhile, Blair Brown, a partner in Washington's Zuckerman Spaeder who filed an amicus brief supporting John Robertson in the case, warned that the Supreme Court's lack of action undermines defendants' ability to rely on plea agreements.

Threat to Parents' Rights a Bigger Issue than Rights of a Child

by Marybeth Hicks, Townhall.com  

05-26-10 -- If you’re a parent, you’re probably too busy doing the day-to-day work of raising your children to worry about an international treaty that could actually undermine your authority over them. . . . But if you’ve ever insisted that your teenager drag himself out of bed on a Sunday morning to attend church with the family, or required him to find a part-time job to pay for the increase in your car insurance, or – heaven forbid – if you’ve ever spanked a young child for an act of willful disobedience, there are folks who’d like to override your parental judgment. . . . Folks like President Obama, in fact. . . . The issue of parental rights is at the heart of the ongoing debate over the US’s failure to ratify the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Mr. Obama thinks it’s a travesty that the US and Somalia – a country not known as a beacon of human rights – are the only two nations that haven’t ratified this treaty. Not only does he support its intrusions into our national sovereignty on behalf of children, he’s openly embarrassed to be on the short list with Somalia. . . . Up to now, it’s been a worried American homeschool community that most vocally opposes the CRC. That’s because the treaty clearly places responsibility for the education of children in the hands of the federal government. Such a mandate would certainly threaten the freedom of states to allow, and of parents to choose, homeschooling as an option to educate their children. . . . But it’s not just homeschooling parents who ought to be nervous about the CRC. We all should because the language of the treaty – which would supersede all American law other than the Constitution – radically changes the authority structure between parents, children and the state. In short, in line after line, it applies the standard of “the best interests of the child” to determine what’s permissible and what isn’t.

FLORIDA  

Tobacco Executive Charged With Threatening Family Court Magistrate

Jose Pagliery, Daily Business Review

05-24-10 -- A high-level executive at an Opa-Locka, Fla., tobacco company is facing extortion charges after allegedly threatening a Miami-Dade family court magistrate who recommended a judge rule against him in a paternity case. . . . In a letter to the magistrate, he told her to step down or face a public relations nightmare, according to an application for an arrest warrant filed by investigators. . . . Victor M. Gonzalez, comptroller for the family-owned Dosal Tobacco Corp., posted $7,500 bond Tuesday after his arrest at the company's headquarters the day before. Gonzalez, 50, was charged with one count of extortion, a second degree felony that carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in state prison. . . . State attorney's office investigators arrested him Monday, months after he allegedly sent a threatening letter -- via certified mail -- to the general magistrate involved in his family court case.

MINNESOTA   

Counties must pay for parents’ lawyers in child welfare cases,
high court rules

By: Carolyn Lange, West Central Tribune

05-24-10 -- A recent Minnesota Supreme Court ruling removes any doubt that counties are required to pay for court-appointed attorneys for parents or guardians in parental rights termination cases. . . . The decision and the costs associated with these cases involving a child in need of protective services could have a “very big impact on the financial risks to Kandiyohi County,” said County Administrator Larry Kleindl. . . . The court ruled that counties must pay the hourly rate for attorneys appointed by the court to represent low-income parents or guardians during procedures to terminate the parental rights of that parent or guardian. . . . Until 2008 when the state’s public defender’s budget was cut, those costs had been covered by the state. Counties were told at that time they would have to start pay the bills for court-appointed attorneys.

CALIFORNIA

Holding parents responsible for truancy

By Tammerlin Drummond,   San Jose Mercury News Staff columnist

05-23-10 -- THERE IS a bill working its way through the California Legislature that gives parental responsibility a whole new meaning. . . . SB1317 sailed through the Senate with surprisingly little opposition considering how controversial it is likely to be once the public gets wind of it. It would hold parents of children in kindergarten through eighth grade criminally liable when their kids are chronically absent from school. . . . The parent of a child truant 10 percent or more of the school year could be jailed for up to one year and fined $2,000 only if they ignore repeated warnings. . . . The parenting blogs went into a hissy.

ILLINOIS

New state law allows adopted access to their birth records

By Barbara Vitello and John Patterson | Chicago Daily Herald  Staff

05-23-10 -- Fifteen years in the General Assembly may have earned state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz some political clout, but whatever capital she acquired meant nothing when it came to obtaining a copy of her birth certificate. . . . Like thousands of other adoptees, the Chicago Democrat had been unable to get a copy of birth records, which remained confidential unless a birthparent granted access. . . . That changed Friday when Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation that allows adoptees access to their birth records. Adopted people born in 1945 or earlier now will be able to obtain their birth certificates right away. Adoptees born after 1945 will have to wait until November 2011, to give their birthparents a chance to file an objection, if they want. . . . Yet, the law doesn't guarantee adoptees access to information. Birthparents who want to remain anonymous can do so by filing a request with the state.

NEW YORK  

Judge to Great Kills teacher:
Nothing wrong with talking dirty in sex class

By Maura Yates, SILive.com 

05-21-10 -- A Staten Island intermediate school teacher who allowed her students to use street slang to describe sexual terms during an HIV/AIDS class can proceed with her $1 million lawsuit against the city’s Department of Education after parent complaints landed her in an administrative “rubber room.” . . . A federal judge sided with Faith Kramer, 48, a Great Kills mother of two and tenured health and gym teacher at Rocco Laurie Intermediate School in New Springville with 26 years in the classroom and an unblemished record. . . . The city’s Education Department’s own curriculum directs teachers to allow students to use terms they understand while explaining such topics, but two parents complained when they found lists of clinical anatomical and sexual terms listed alongside their slang equivalents in their children’s notebooks after a class in February 2008. . . . “She did exactly what she was told to do,” said her attorney, Duane C. Felton. “She engaged her students and the curriculum suggests that teachers use the language that students are familiar with.”

ARKANSAS  

Arkansas judge suspends ruling on adoptions issue

 (AP), Log Cabin Democrat

05-12-10 -- A Pulaski County judge who overturned a ban on adoptions by unmarried couples is suspending the ruling pending an appeal. . . . Circuit Court Judge Chris Piazza suspended his ruling Tuesday while the state prepares to appeal his ruling that the restrictions are unconstitutional.

UTAH  

Judge: State can't protect unborn baby whose parents allegedly want to sell it

Courts » Adoption agency calls claim 'a big misunderstanding.'

By Stephen Hunt, The Salt Lake Tribune  

05-12-10 -- A judge on Wednesday dismissed a protective order giving the state custody of an unborn child whose parents are accused of trying to sell the child, saying there is no one to protect until the baby is born. . . . Third District Juvenile Court Judge Jim Michie said he has no jurisdiction while the child is still in its mother's womb. . . . "I am dismissing the ex parte protective order ... until we have a baby to protect," the judge said. . . . Alison and Gary Stuckey have been accused of traveling to Utah from Arizona to sell the child. . . . But an employee from A Act of Love adoption agency, which is overseeing the child's adoption, said there is nothing illegal going on. . . . "It's a legitimate adoption and has been since January," said Tarilee Roth, who attended the hearing with the Stuckeys. . . . Roth added that the accusations against the Stuckeys are "a big misunderstanding." . . . The Stuckeys' attorney, Larry Jenkins, who also represents the agency, said Alison Stuckey is "not due for another several weeks."

STATE COURTS

How to Make an American Quilt: Same-Sex Couples Face Patchwork of Marriage Laws

By David Crary | The Associated Press | New York Lawyer

05-10-10 -- When government forms inquire of her marital status, Isabelle Barker sometimes resorts to an asterisk and an explanatory note. . . . She and her wife, Cara Palladino, got married five years ago in Massachusetts. Six months later, for job reasons, they moved to Pennsylvania, one of the majority of states that do not recognize same-sex marriages. . . . Hence the asterisk. . . . "I'm not single. I'm married in Massachusetts, but I'm not married in Pennsylvania, I'm not married in the eyes of the federal government," she said. "It's this weird limbo, this legal netherworld." . . . Barker and Palladino, and their 15-month-old son, Will, have plenty of company across the United States as gay and lesbian couples confront an unprecedented and often confusing patchwork of marriage laws. . . . Historically, such laws have been the jurisdiction of the states, not the federal government, and the common practice throughout U.S. history has been for any given state to recognize a marriage performed legally in another state. . . . The advent of same-sex marriage in 2004 has changed all that.

UTAH  

No constitutional violation in Parker Jensen case federal appeals court rules

Court ruling » Attorney for parents say the case is not over.

By Pamela Manson And Stephen Hunt, The Salt Lake Tribune

05-06-10 -- A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that Utah doctors and child-protection workers did not violate the constitutional rights of Daren and Barbara Jensen when they pushed to have the Sandy couple's son undergo chemotherapy. . . . Noting that "the intersection of individual freedom and state authority is always difficult to traverse when a child's life is at stake," a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver said the state workers' good-faith actions were protected under law. . . . The case began when then-12-year-old Parker Jensen was diagnosed in 2003 with Ewing's sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer. . . . The disease most commonly develops in children between the ages of 4 and 20. If treated with a combination of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, the survival rate is about 70 percent, according to doctors. . . . His parents' resistance to chemotherapy, based on their belief that Parker did not have Ewing's sarcoma, led to a medical-neglect complaint being filed against them and a judge ordering the state to take custody of the boy. . . . The state eventually abandoned the fight for chemotherapy. Daren and Barbara Jensen, who had briefly removed their son from the state, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor custodial interference charge. Those convictions were eventually wiped off their records. . . . Daren Jensen said Wednesday that all parents should be frightened by the 10th Circuit ruling. . . . "It's troubling that the state can exercise their will without any regard for parental decision," he said. "It puts our children in danger." . . . Jensen said his son, now 19 and serving a mission for the LDS Church in Concepcion, Chile, never had the treatment suggested by the state but is healthy. The family opted to treat the boy with antioxidants and vitamins. . . . "It's hard to get over the fact that we were right and the state was wrong and he didn't have two weeks to live like they said," the father said.

NEW YORK  

LI divorce lawyer arrested on criminal contempt

Associated Press, WCAX

05-05-10 -- A Long Island divorce lawyer is accused of violating an order of protection by approaching his ex-wife in a bagel shop. . . . Nassau County police say Dominic Barbara was charged with criminal contempt. His clients have included Joey Buttafuoco and Jessica Hahn.

N.Y. High Court Ruling Affirms Narrow Reading of 'Parent' in Same-Sex Case

Joel Stashenko, New York Law Journal

05-05-10 -- Declining to overrule a 19-year-old precedent, the New York Court of Appeals narrowly held Tuesday that a same-sex partner who has not adopted her partner's biological child cannot assert visitation rights under New York law. . . . That conclusion came in Debra H. v. Janice R. (pdf), 47, an opinion in which the court also cleared the way for a lesbian to seek visitation with a non-adoptive child born to her former partner in a Vermont civil union, but only because the doctrine of comity requires New York to defer to the law of Vermont, which recognizes her as a parent. . . . The judgment conferring visitation rights on the woman who had a civil union was unanimous. But the court voted 4-3 to affirm Matter of Alison D. v. Virginia M., 77 NY2d 651, a 1991 case that held that only biological or adoptive parents can seek visitation and other rights.

TEXAS

One partner's male birth status allows two women to get married

By Daniel Borunda \ El Paso Times

05-05-10 -- Can a person born a man but who is now a woman marry another woman? . . . Sabrina J. Hill and her longtime girlfriend, Therese "Tee" Bur, were legally married Monday in San Antonio after being unable to get a marriage license in El Paso. . . . "It's a weight lifted," Hill said Tuesday in a telephone interview. "Now the federal government and state government recognize our love." . . . The marriage of two women from rural Hudspeth County has put a spotlight on Texas laws and has El Paso County Attorney Jo Anne Bernal asking the state attorney general for clarification. . . . Hill, 60, was born with both male and female organs and is listed as a man in her birth certificate. But her current identification has her as a woman. . . . The Texas Constitution defines marriage as between one man and one woman. . . . According to documents, Hill was born Virgil Eugene Hill Jr. in New York state. . . . After a medical procedure as a infant, Hill grew up as boy and as a man served in the U.S. Army. She said she always felt something was different. "I knew what I looked like and what I was, was not the same," Hill said. . . . Around the age of 28, a medical exam found that Hill had ovaries. She eventually had a sex-change surgery, and she legally became Sabrina Jeanne Hill in 1991.

NEW JERSEY  

N.J. appeals court allows lawsuits in extreme cases of alleged parental alienation

By Rohan Mascarenhas/The Star-Ledger

05-03-10 -- A nasty legal spat between a Canadian multimillionaire and his ex-wife helped alter New Jersey family law today after a state appeals court hearing the case ruled parents could sue each other for money in extreme situations, like the kidnapping of a child. . . . In a highly anticipated 31-page opinion, the state Appellate Division confronted what it called novel and unsettled law after Moses Segal, a retired developer, asked whether he could sue Cynthia Lynch, his ex-wife, over claims she turned their children against him. . . . Such allegations of parental alienation regularly crop up in Family Court, where fights over custody and parenting are handled, but not in civil court, where Segal filed his suit in 2007. . . . The appellate court ruled against Segal, worried that such a case would force children to testify against a parent in a potentially traumatic process. But at the same time, the court recognized certain cases — including false accusations of sexual abuse — where parents could seek monetary damages in civil court.

Opinion: Moses Segal, Et Al. Vs. Cynthia Lynch  A-0805-08

April 2010

NEW YORK  

N.Y. Judge Rules Property Division Unaffected by Wife's Infidelity, Deception

Joel Stashenko, New York Law Journal

04-30-10 -- The misconduct of a woman who misled her husband into believing that he was the father of a child she had had with another man was not so outrageous as to affect the division of their property, the New York Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. . . . The court in a 6-1 ruling declined to find that the wife's adulterous behavior rose to "egregious" levels that would disturb the presumption in Domestic Relations Law §236(B)(5)(d) in favor of equitable distribution in marital actions. . . . Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wrote for the majority in Howard S. v. Lillian S., 71, that while adultery undoubtedly results in a "great deal of anguish and distress" in a marriage, infidelity alone will rarely fit within the legal concept of egregious conduct. . . . The same is true for the other fault-based grounds for divorce recognized in New York, the court concluded. . . . "It should be only a truly exceptional situation, due to outrageous or conscience-shocking conduct on the part of one spouse, that will require the court to consider whether to adjust the equitable distribution of the assets," Lippman wrote. "Absent these types of extreme circumstances, courts are not in the business of regulating how spouses treat one another."

NEW YORK

Manhattan Woman Guilty in Husband’s 1990 Murder

By Anahad O'Connor, New York Times

04-29-10 -- A Manhattan woman pleaded guilty on Thursday to arranging the killing of her husband in a murder-for-hire that occurred two decades ago on the Upper East Side. . . . The woman, Barbara Kogan, 67, had long been a suspect in the killing of her husband, George H. Kogan, 49, who was shot in front of his apartment building on East 69th Street in 1990. The couple were embroiled in a bitter divorce at the time, and, after the killing, Ms. Kogan refused to cooperate with investigators and fought to collect millions from her husband’s life insurance policies. . . . Prosecutors accused Ms. Kogan of plotting with her lawyer, Manuel Martinez, to hire a hit man to carry out the killing. Mr. Martinez was convicted in the murder in 2008 — shortly after being extradited from Mexico — and finally agreed, after years of refusing, to testify against Ms. Kogan. . . . Ms. Kogan, of East 55th Street, pleaded guilty in State Supreme Court in Manhattan to felony charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder and grand larceny. She faces up to 25 years in prison on each charge at sentencing, scheduled for May 19. . . . A lawyer for Ms. Kogan could not be reached for comment on Thursday night.

TEXAS  

Texas Court Hears State's Appeal in Gay Divorce Case

Case marks latest example of mixed results that gay and lesbian couples are seeing across the nation when trying to divorce

Jamie Stengle, The Associated Press, Law.com

04-23-10 -- A lawyer for a Dallas man trying to divorce the man he married in Massachusetts told a Texas appeals court Wednesday that his client is entitled to a divorce because he had a valid marriage. . . . But the Texas attorney general's office argued before the three-judge 5th Texas Court of Appeals panel that the marriage isn't recognized by Texas, so they cannot get a divorce. Jimmy Blacklock, an assistant Texas solicitor general, said the men's union can only be voided. . . . "The parties lack standing to file a divorce case because they're not married," he said. . . . The Dallas men wed in 2006 in Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legal, and separated two years later. . . . Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed a Dallas state district judge's ruling in October that granted a divorce to the men and said the state's same-sex marriage ban violates equal rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

FLORIDA  

Further Adventures in Lawyer Advertising: 'That Hellhole You Call a Marriage'

Posted by Eric Lipman, Law.com Legal Blog Watch

04-16-10 -- Happy Friday everyone. But maybe you're not having a happy Friday. Maybe you're having marital troubles. Specifically, maybe you and your spouse "hate each other like poison." If that's the case, and you live in Florida, you're in luck. This guy, Steve Miller, of DivorceDeli.com, has just what you need: . . . He makes a compelling point. Why on earth would you waste your money hiring a "piece of crap 3-piece suit downtown" when someone who so clearly has your best interests at heart is available ... to handle divorces -- "with or without children" -- exclusively online. . . . Now, Steve's law firm didn't always operate under the Divorce Deli trade name. Before that, it was DivorceEZ.com. Why would you give up marketing gold like that to project an image that might make someone think they get a free bag of chips with their annulment? Glad you asked:

NEW YORK  

Ex-Husband Barred From Renting Home Behind Former Wife's Vacation House

Mark Fass, New York Law Journal

04-14-10 -- A Manhattan judge has granted a 20-year order of protection barring a retired Manhattan math teacher from renting a home "on the edge of his ex-wife's back lawn" in a gated Pennsylvania community. . . . Supreme Court Justice Matthew F. Cooper enjoined defendant Jay Weiner from living in the Hideout, a private enclave in the Pocono Mountains, after Mr. Weiner signed a lease for a home abutting his ex-wife's vacation house. . . . "The major issue before the court is whether it has the power to issue a new order of protection where the ex-husband has had no contact with his ex-wife -- and has made no effort to contact or communicate with her but has simply rented a house in close proximity to her," Justice Cooper wrote in Weiner v. Weiner, 350829/98. . . . The judge found the defendant's action was in fact sufficient for issuing the order, concluding, "[Under] the circumstances presented here -- where the ex-husband has literally positioned himself on the edge of his ex-wife's back lawn in a wooded and relatively sparsely populated rural [area] -- there is no question that defendant's move ... represents only the latest chapter in an extended and ongoing effort to inflict suffering on plaintiff for her having fled the marriage. Such conduct cannot be allowed to continue."

NEW YORK

Divorcing Couple Hits Snag Over Splitting 7,000 Family Photos

Noeleen G. Walder, New York Law Journal

04-13-10 -- When M.R. and E.R. decided to call it quits after more than 20 years of marriage, they had no trouble agreeing on how to split the marital home or how to handle custody of their children. But when it came to figuring out how to divide more than 7,000 photographs, the picture got blurrier. . . . The issue in M.R. v. E.R. was finally brought into focus by Nassau County, N.Y., Supreme Court Justice Vito M. DeStefano (See Profile), who awarded the husband 75 percent and the wife 25 percent of the photos. . . . M.R. and E.R. married in 1988. In July 2009, the pair entered into a settlement agreement, which provided that the wife would receive the marital house in exchange for paying the husband $192,500. . . . The couple also agreed that they would each receive roughly $142,000 from their retirement accounts and share joint legal custody of their two children. . . . But the parties failed to resolve one critical issue between them, who owned 75 photo albums containing more than 7,000 pictures taken during their marriage.

FLORIDA

Two Judges Slapped Down for Requiring Police Report Before Issuing TROs

by Robert Franklin, Esq. Glenn Sacks.com blog

04-09-10 -- An injunction of protection against domestic violence, also known as a restraining (order) is easy to obtain in the state of Florida. . . . No joke.  In fact this site, despite its semi-literate prose, shows you just how easy it is.  You go to the courthouse and ask where to get an injunction for domestic violence.  You'll be directed to a room and given a form for an affidavit.  Fill it out.  You'll need to include your target's name and address.  You'll also need to explain the incident of assault or battery or why you're concerned that one of those may occur.  Sign the affidavit before a notary there at the courthouse and bingo! your target is enjoined from coming near you, entering his house or seeing his kids. . . . Did you think you'd have to actually take an oath before a judge?  Produce evidence?  Please.  All you're doing is depriving your target of valuable constitutional rights, so no evidence, no notice, no due process and no opportunity to be heard are necessary.  It makes filling out a credit card application look like advanced calculus. . . . And apparently, that's the way attorneys in Sarasota like it.  Over 70% of divorces in the United States are filed by women, and every family lawyer with a pulse knows that TROs help get custody for the filer, so anything that makes getting a TRO even a tiny bit more difficult will get their dander up.  And that's exactly what's happened in Sarasota.

NEW YORK  

Sword Attack Claim Does Not Cut It; 'Abandonment' Wins Divorce

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

04-08-10 -- A man's claim that he was nearly impaled with a samurai sword by his wife during an argument was not enough to win a divorce, a state judge has ruled. . . . Shlomo Kupperman, an avid collector of swords, contended that Irene Kupperman, after years of affairs and physically abusing him, wielded the sword against him in an attack that would have killed him but for his daughter's intervention. . . . Despite the presence of the sword in the courtroom -- tagged as an exhibit and guarded by a court officer -- Supreme Court Justice Edward Maron in Nassau County, N.Y. (See Profile), ruled after trial in S.K. v. I.K., 203247-2008, that Ms. Kupperman's conduct could not be considered cruel and inhuman. . . . "The testimony was that no one sustained any physical injuries, neither party was seen at a hospital or by any doctor," noting the husband never contacted police or sought an order of protection against his wife but "continuously pleaded with Wife to return to the marital residence to work on their marriage."

NEW YORK  

3rd Circuit: Defective Sperm Can't Be Basis for Products Liability Suit

Shannon P. Duffy, The Legal Intelligencer

04-06-10 -- Genetic defects in sperm from a sperm bank cannot form the basis for a products liability suit, a federal appeals court has ruled, because allowing such a claim would be tantamount to recognizing a claim of "wrongful life." . . . The ruling by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Donovan v. Idant Laboratories upholds a June 2009 decision by U.S. District Judge Thomas N. O'Neill Jr. that rejected claims by both a mother and a daughter who suffers from Fragile X syndrome, a mutation known to cause a group of maladies that include mental retardation and behavioral disorders. . . . O'Neill had initially ruled that, under New York law, the sperm bank could be sued under products liability laws because "the sale of sperm is considered a product and is subject to strict liability." . . . But two months later, O'Neill reversed himself and dismissed the entire case, predicting that the New York Court of Appeals would reject the claim. "I find it more likely than not that it would find that the injuries alleged in plaintiff's strict liability and warranty claims are essentially claims for wrongful life."

NEW YORK  

New Twist in Ex-Wife's RICO Suit Against SAC Capital's
Steven Cohen

Brian Baxter, The American Lawyer

04-05-10 -- The civil racketeering suit filed against hedge fund billionaire Steven Cohen by his ex-wife Patricia Cohen (née Finke) has taken another turn, with Finke's former lawyer -- who sought to withdraw the suit after being replaced as counsel -- suing his erstwhile client and her new lawyer for unpaid legal fees. . . . Bloomberg reports that Paul Batista filed the civil complaint against Finke and Gaytri Kachroo of Boston's Kachroo Legal Services in state court in New York on Thursday. In his complaint, Batista asks that a lien be placed on any potential settlement Finke wins against her former husband, whom she divorced in 1988. Batista also demands that he be reimbursed for expenses he racked up on Finke's behalf in the seven months he spent preparing her suit against Cohen. . . . In that suit, filed in December, Finke seeks $300 million she claims Cohen hid from her during the couple's divorce proceedings, by covering up -- among other things, according to Bloomberg -- the existence of a Miami bank account worth millions of dollars and a Florida-based trading firm.

UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT

High Court Justices Appear Skeptical of Private Contempt Prosecutions

Jordan Weissmann, The National Law Journal

04-01-10 -- In a case closely watched by advocates for domestic abuse victims, several Supreme Court justices on Wednesday expressed serious discomfort with a District of Columbia law that lets the victims themselves bring criminal prosecutions to enforce restraining orders. . . . During oral argument in Robertson v. United States ex rel. Watson, at least four justices wondered aloud about the protections afforded to criminal defendants facing such charges. . . . Justice Antonin Scalia compared the District's system to tearing down the Department of Education and replacing it with a private corporation. "No good, right?" Scalia asked at the end of his analogy. . . . The case asks whether the individuals who bring criminal contempt prosecutions -- often battered women who work without the help of a lawyer -- do so as an agent of the government. In 2008, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled that under D.C. law, Wykenna Watson was allowed to bring contempt charges against an ex-boyfriend in her own name, completely independent of any government authority.

March 2010

MARYLAND   

Judge defends his actions in marrying couple in assault case

Says he was guided by his 'Catholic conscience'

By Arthur Hirsch Baltimore Sun reporter 

03-31-10 -- The Baltimore County judge who was suspended from hearing cases after presiding over the marriage of an alleged domestic assault victim and her accused attacker is defending his actions, saying he was guided by his "Catholic conscience" in choosing to marry the couple and "legitimize their relationship." . . . In his first public comments about the case, District Judge G. Darrell Russell Jr. said in an interview Tuesday he did not know the seriousness of the assault charge against Frederick D. Wood, 29, of Middle River, who had been accused by his fiancee, Shelly Pearl Say, 27, of beating and kicking her. Russell said his mistake was presiding over both the marriage, in his chambers in the Essex courthouse, and the second-degree assault case against Wood, which he heard later that afternoon. Russell found Wood not guilty, after Say exercised her right not to testify against her new husband.

NEW JERSEY  

Judge upholds sentence of Chester lawyer who pushed wife

By Peggy Wright • Dailyrecord.com Staff Writer

03-31-10 -- A Superior Court judge on Tuesday refused to reduce the sentence for a lawyer who admitted last year to pushing his wife, which injured her knee during a domestic dispute at their former Chester home. . . . Attorney and former Union Township Municipal Court Judge John Paragano, 44, pleaded guilty last September to the disorderly persons offense of simple assault on his now-ex-wife on Dec. 4, 2007. . . . In exchange for his plea, one aggravated assault charge was dismissed and a second aggravated assault charge was downgraded to a disorderly persons offense. Paragano was sentenced in November to two years' probation, 200 hours of community service, continued counseling and fines. . . . Paragano and attorney Jane Personette appeared in Morristown before state Superior Court Judge David Ironson Tuesday to ask, unsuccessfully, for a reduction in the "excessive" community service hours and length of probation. Paragano said he expects to appeal Ironson's ruling.

MARYLAND   

Judge in Hot Seat After Marrying Alleged Abuser to Beating Victim

In recording of proceedings posted by ABC News, judge is heard to say, 'I can't sentence you as a defendant in any crimes ... but earlier today, I sentenced you to life married to her'

Jordan Weissmann, The National Law Journal

03-26-10 -- Two organizations that combat violence against women have filed official complaints against a Maryland judge who performed a marriage ceremony two weeks ago for an alleged abuser and his victim so she wouldn't have to testify at his trial. . . . The two groups, the House of Ruth Maryland and the Women's Law Center of Maryland, have asked the state's Judicial Disabilities Commission to investigate Baltimore County District Court Judge G. Darrell Russell for his decision to perform the wedding. . . . Russell was presiding over a domestic abuse case during which a lawyer for the defendant, Tyrone Wood, asked the judge for postponement so that Wood and his girlfriend, whom he was accused of beating, could wed. Maryland law exempts married individuals from testifying against their spouse.

NEW YORK  

Ad Exec's Promises to Support Longtime Girlfriend Ruled Not Binding

Mark Fass, New York Law Journal

03-26-10 -- A prominent advertising executive's alleged promises to support his longtime girlfriend if they broke up are unenforceable because the couple never married, a Manhattan judge has ruled. . . . In declining to impose a constructive trust, Supreme Court Justice Ellen Gesmer ruled that such statements as "I will always take care of you" and "everything that we put in, we will enjoy together" do not constitute legally binding promises. . . . "Indeed, even if [the defendant] had made an explicit promise that, upon separation, [the plaintiff] would be entitled to 'equitable distribution' of their assets, it would be unenforceable, as it would be contrary to the long-standing law and policy in New York that unmarried partners are not entitled to the same property and financial rights upon termination of the relationship as married people," Justice Gesmer wrote in Ericson v. Baron, 350065/09.

Lawyer Arrested in Adoption Scam Is Offered Plea Deal

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

03-25-10 -- A possible plea deal for a Long Island, N.Y., attorney charged with running an adoption scam could land him behind bars for up to 20 years. Roslyn lawyer Kevin Cohen, who was indicted in October on charges that he stole more than $300,000 from couples looking to adopt by promising them children that did not exist, has until April 23 to decide whether to take a plea of 7 1/3 to 22 years, which under statute is capped at 20 years. . . . According to prosecutors, 13 families, some from New York and others from Georgia, Texas and Ohio, gave money -- up to $65,000 in one case -- believing it would be held in escrow to pay for medical costs and expenses of fake birth mothers. Cohen allegedly perpetuated the scam by using phony sonograms and other documents.

PENNSYLVANIA  

Pa. Judge Denies Divorce for Same-Sex Couple

Leo Strupczewski, The Legal Intelligencer

03-25-10 -- Because Pennsylvania does not recognize same-sex marriages, a Berks County judge has ruled he cannot issue a divorce order for two women who married in Massachusetts in 2009. . . . In the ruling, which appears to be one of first impression, Berks County Common Pleas Court Judge Scott E. Lash stayed close to Pennsylvania's pronouncements on the issue of marriage and opted not to stray from what has already been said on the subject. . . . The state Supreme Court, Lash wrote, has described a "fundamental right" as "'inherent in man's nature,' among the 'basic rights of human beings,' and among the 'Hallmarks of Western Civilization.'" The argument that a same-sex marriage passes such a test is "unsupportable," the judge continued. . . . "This is a plea for social change, which plea implicitly recognizes that same-sex relationships cannot fall within the purview of a traditional marriage," Lash wrote in Kern v. Taney. "If homosexuals had a fundamental right to be married to each other, this plea would be unnecessary."

NEW JERSEY  

Rights Groups Ask N.J. Supreme Court for Gay Marriage Fiat

Michael Booth, New Jersey Law Journal

03-23-10 -- Citing the New Jersey Legislature's failure in the last session to enact a same-sex marriage law, a coalition of gay rights groups is asking the New Jersey Supreme Court to issue its own mandate. . . . On Thursday, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund filed a motion in aid of litigants' rights, saying the Legislature did not adhere to the court's 2006 order, in Lewis v. Harris , to grant same-sex couples the same rights as married heterosexual ones. . . . The Legislature responded to Lewis by creating civil unions, but the plaintiffs -- who include six same-sex couples denied marriage licenses -- argue that they still encounter discrimination and do not have equal rights.. . . In January, in the waning days of the last legislative session, a Senate bill that would have allowed for same-sex marriage, and which Gov. Jon Corzine had promised to sign, was voted down, 20-14. A companion measure in the Assembly never came to a vote.

NEW JERSEY  

Social sites a boon to divorce lawyers

By Sue Epstein, Herald News, The Star-Ledger

03-22-10 -- The New Jersey couple were already divorced but still fighting. . . . This time it was over custody of their 16-year-old daughter. He was too permissive, the mother argued. She was smothering the girl, the father said. . . . In the midst of the case, the teenager posted a picture on Facebook in which she was partying happily with friends. Her mother saw the photo, and it immediately became part of her courtroom argument. The kids were drinking, she contended, hard evidence that the father was not setting proper boundaries for the girl. . . . The couple eventually settled and agreed to shared custody, said the father's attorney, Steven P. Monaghan of Red Bank, who specializes in family and divorce law. . . . More and more, online social networking sites such as Facebook are playing a role in the breakup of marriages — whether it's people griping about spouses or contacting old flames, or matrimonial attorneys looking for evidence to be used in divorce proceedings. . . . The sites are also being used by divorcing couples for revenge.

NEW YORK  

Lawyer's Lover to Appeal $9 Million Judgment for Alienation of Affection

The Associated Press, Law.com

03-22-10 -- A New York woman ordered to pay $9 million to her lover's wife in North Carolina says she plans to appeal the judgment. . . . The News & Record of Greensboro, N.C., reports that 49-year-old Anne Lundquist of Aurora, N.Y., didn't attend the two-day trial in Greensboro last week and wasn't represented by an attorney. . . . Lundquist says she had planned to represent herself, but the court didn't give enough warning about the case going to trial.

NEW YORK  

N.Y. Courts May End Civil Unions Performed Elsewhere,
Appeals Panel Says

Vesselin Mitev, New York Law Journal

03-19-10 -- A New York court has the power to decide whether a civil union entered into outside the state should be dissolved, an Albany appeals panel ruled Thursday. . . . . Citing the state's "clear commitment to respect, uphold and protect parties to same-sex relationships," a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division, 3rd Department, reversed a lower court that had dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a complaint by a woman seeking to end the civil union she entered into with her former partner in Vermont. . . . . "The narrow issue before us is whether Supreme Court has subject matter jurisdiction to entertain an action ... seeking dissolution of a civil union validly entered into outside of this state," Justice Karen K. Peters wrote for the panel in Dickerson v. Thompson, 507892. "We hold that it does."

NORTH CAROLINA  

Lawyer’s Lover Ordered to Pay $9M in Alienation of Affection Case

By Debra Cassens Weiss, ABA Journal

03-19-10 -- A woman accused of having an affair with a lawyer has been ordered to pay $9 million in an alienation-of-affections lawsuit filed by his wife. . . . The defendant, Anne Lundquist, says she will appeal the verdict, the Greensboro News & Record reports. Lundquist did not attend the trial in North Carolina and did not hire a lawyer to represent her. . . . “I don’t have a lot of money, so where this $9 million comes from is kind of hysterical,” she told the newspaper. . . . . North Carolina is one of only a few states that allow lawsuits for alienation of affections, the story says. On average, more than 200 lawsuits based on the tort are filed each year in the state.

MARYLAND   

Judge marries defendant to alleged victim

Balto. County jurist dismisses case, is reassigned

By Nicole Fuller | Baltimore Sun 

03-18-10 -- A Baltimore County judge was reassigned Wednesday after he presided over the marriage between a man being prosecuted for domestic violence and the alleged victim - a marriage that led to the man's acquittal. . . . Baltimore County District Judge G. Darrell Russell Jr. took the unusual step last week of allowing the defendant to leave court to obtain a marriage license and married the couple later in his chambers. About 20 minutes later, his new wife invoked marital privilege so she would not be required to testify against her husband. . . . The case came to an end with the judge finding the defendant not guilty, saying, "I found you not guilty, so I can't sentence you as a defendant in any crimes, but earlier today, I sentenced you to life married to her." . . . WBAL-TV was the first to report the judge's actions Tuesday. . . . Chief Judge Ben C. Clyburn reassigned Russell to work in his chamber reviewing motions for civil cases, said Angelita Plemmer, the court's spokeswoman. Plemmer declined to comment on Russell's actions or on whether Russell, who has been on the bench since 1990, has been disciplined previously.

NEW JERSEY  

NJ Gay Marriage Battle Back in Court

The Associated Press, Newsmax.com 

03-18-10 -- Gay couples who sued New Jersey for the right to marry once before are taking their case back to court. . . . Six couples plus the surviving partner from a seventh filed a motion Thursday claiming the state continues to discriminate against them even though it offers civil unions to same-sex couples. . . . The original suit, filed in 2002, resulted in a 2006 New Jersey Supreme Court decision that came one vote short of requiring the state to legalize gay matrimony. After an effort to get lawmakers to legalize gay marriage, the effort fizzled out.

Texas attorney general warns parents about video chat site Chatroulette

From Dallas Morning News Staff Reports

03-08-10 -- Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has issued a consumer alert warning parents to keep their children away from video chat Web site Chatroulette. . . . Abbott says the increasingly popular site poses a threat to children by giving users – including dangerous sex offenders – an opportunity to conduct live video chats with randomly selected participants. . . . Users are paired with a random stranger for a video chat. The site does not require a login or registration. Users simply click “next” to be shuffled to a new video chat partner. . . . According to Abbott, an undercover investigation by the Cyber Crimes Unit revealed that nearly half of the randomly selected users encountered by investigators immediately exposed themselves and conducted sexually explicit acts on camera.

CALIFORNIA  

High cost of McCourts' divorce: $19 million in fees

Dodgers' case could be one of the most expensive in California history. Even other high-profile divorce attorneys are surprised.

By Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times 

03-05-10 -- Frank and Jamie McCourt's divorce could become one of the costliest splits in California history, with attorneys and accountants commanding as much as $19 million in fees — more than the Dodgers will spend on their starting infield this season. . . . Frank McCourt has estimated his "divorce-related expenses" at $5 million to $10 million, according to court filings. Jamie McCourt has estimated her expenses at $9 million — and asked that her estranged husband be ordered to pay them. . . . Although records of salaries and statistics are omnipresent in baseball, specific information about divorce costs is largely unavailable. The Times consulted with several family law experts, none of whom could recall a divorce costing $19 million. . . . "I'm pretty sure there's not been any litigation in a California divorce where they've spent so much on attorneys' fees," said Lynn Soodik, a Santa Monica family law attorney who represented Meg Ryan in her divorce from Dennis Quaid.

MARYLAND   

Maryland's attorney general should be impeached

By: Del. Don Dwyer, OpEd Contributor

03-04-10 -- Just six years after then-Maryland Attorney General Joe Curran issued his official opinion on the recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriage, the state’s current top legal officer,  Doug Gansler, has overturned it. . . . In doing so, Gansler not only bypassed the long standing practice of referring to standing opinions from previous attorney generals, he also usurped the power of the Maryland General Assembly. The immediate effect of this opinion is far-reaching. It nullifies Maryland’s current law that states “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid in this state.” . . . To hold the office of attorney general, one must put his or her personal agenda on hold and consider the greater good of the state. Personal prejudice has no place in consideration of law. . . . The sworn oath the attorney general takes is very clear. It demands him to be, “faithful and bear true allegiance to the State of Maryland, and support the constitution and Laws thereof; and that I will, to the best of my skill and judgment, diligently and faithfully, without partiality or prejudice, execute the office of Attorney General according to the Constitution and Laws of this State.” . . . Irrefutable evidence exists proving Gansler violated his oath of office by offering partial and prejudiced testimony in his official capacity. He is not constitutionally authorized to offer partial and prejudice testimony under the cloak of his elected office. . . . Delegate Don H.Dwyer represents district 31 in Anne Arundel County in the Maryland General Assembly.

OHIO

Christian Husband with Covenant Marriage Agreement vs. Routine No-Fault Divorce

by Bai MacFarlane

03-03-10 -- A Christian husband is citing Ohio Law to protect his family from no-fault divorce. Months ago, Paul Neumann was fully supporting his stay-at-home wife and their daughter in their North Olmsted home. Now he is a defendant in Cuyahoga County divorce court. He sumbitted his wife's signed wedding covenant agreement to the court because she promised to uphold her obligations in accordance with the "Commandments of God given in His Word" and "the divine laws and ordinance for the governance of marriage." . . . Neumann is giving the court an ultimatim: either his wife committed fraud on their wedding day and tricked him into marriage, or she intended to be married in conformity with the rules of their church (see filing 1.4 MB). If she committed fraud, the parties were never really married and the court can't take away his property and force him to pay alimony. . . . In Ohio, argues Neumann, it is criminal for Christian pastors to conduct wedding ceremonies without requiring couples to get a state marriage license. Ohio Law specifies that parties can marry in conformity with the rules of their church. . . . "We wanted a Christian marriage" Neumann said in and interview. "I'm shocked that another Bible believing Christian would bring the world into my marriage rather those in the church who are experts in resolving marital conflict according to the 6000 year principles of God's Word."

Bai MacFarlane writes at Mary's Advocates.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

D.C. same-sex marriages allowed

Licenses available Wednesday

Lyle Denniston, Scotus Blog

03-02-10 -- Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., refused on Tuesday to block a District of Columbia court’s order that cleared the way for same-sex couples to get marriage licenses and wed in the capital city, beginning on Wednesday.  The Chief Justice, in denying an emergency stay filed by opponents of gay marriage, issued a three-page opinion, found here, explaining his action.   He acted in his role as Circuit Justice for the D.C. area; the issue was not referred to the full Court.  (The stay application, 09A807, is here; the opposition to it is here, and the reply is here.) . . . Even while saying a delay was not now legally justified, Roberts noted that the challengers may still try to undo the new D.C. marriage provision by attempting to put it on the ballot asking local voters to repeal the law.  That separate maneuver is now under review in the D.C. Court of Appeals, Washington’s highest local court.

MICHIGAN  

Divorcing couples leave out lawyers

Metro Detroit's economy cited for rise in do-it-yourself breakups

Catherine Jun / The Detroit News  

03-01-10 -- Breaking up is hard to do -- especially in a recession. . . . With depressed home values and a dicey job market, divorces in Metro Detroit are down, as unhappy couples ride out the financial storm, the theory goes. . . . But of those who do file for divorce, more are financially strapped and duking it out without attorneys, according to courts. These do-it-yourself divorces are crowding legal aid offices and court dockets and slowing proceedings with incomplete paperwork and tutorials judges must deliver from the bench. And as more couples represent themselves, many are losing out on property and custody claims that are legally theirs, judges and attorneys say. . . . Mark Switalski, chief judge of the Macomb County Circuit Court, said couples in his courtroom are fighting over division of home and credit card debts, a stark change from the battles over the division of home assets in years past. . . . "If I've got a pot of $100,000 to split up, it's different than if I've got a pot of $5,000 to split up," Switalski said. "That factors into their ability to retain counsel."

February 2010

MASSACHUSETTS   

Massachusetts Challenges Defense of Marriage Act

Marcia Coyle, The National Law Journal

02-23-10 -- While the legal challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage -- Proposition 8 -- plays out on the West Coast, a direct constitutional challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act moves forward on the East Coast. . . . Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley last week moved for summary judgment in Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, which was filed in July. . . . "Throughout our history, marital status has been determined solely and exclusively by State law -- not simply for purposes of State legislation, but also wherever Congress has chosen to make federal law turn on marital status," Coakley told the federal district court in Boston.

TEXAS

Gay divorce case draws attorney general's attention

Couple married in Massachusetts wants divorce in Travis County.

By Steven Kreytak, American-Statesman Staff

02-15-10 -- Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has intervened in a first-of-its-kind Travis County same-sex divorce case, arguing that the women involved, who were married in another state, may not be legally granted a divorce because Texas law defines marriage as between a man and a woman. . . . Angelique Naylor, 39, and Sabina Daly, 41, married in 2004 in Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legal. They returned to their home in Austin and together adopted a son, who is now 4. They have been separated for more than a year. . . . Last week, at the close of a two-day hearing before state District Judge Scott Jenkins on how they should divide their property and share custody of their son, the two reached an agreement that in part called for them to divorce. . . . According to Naylor's lawyer, Jennifer Cochran, Jenkins granted the divorce orally and ordered the parties to put their agreement in writing and return to court next month for his signature.

Facebook a treasure trove for divorce lawyers

By Larry Hartstein, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

02-11-10 -- As if divorce lawyers needed more ammunition. . . . In a new survey,  81 percent say they've seen an increase in the use of Facebook and other social networking sites for evidence in divorce cases. Notes to lovers, compromising photos -- Facebook provides a wealth of incriminating information. . . . "Every client I've seen in the last six months had a Facebook page," said Ken Altshuler, a longtime divorce lawyer from Portland, Maine, who is first vice president of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. "And the first piece of advice I give them is to terminate their page immediately." . . . Sixty-six percent of the attorneys surveyed by the AAML called Facebook the unrivaled leader for online divorce evidence, followed by MySpace (15 percent) and Twitter (5 percent). . . . "Going through a divorce always results in heightened levels of personal scrutiny," said Marlene Eskind Moses of Nashville, the group's president. "If you publicly post any contradictions to previously made statements and promises, an estranged spouse will certainly be one of the first people to notice and make use of that evidence."

NEW JERSEY  

Pending Malpractice Suit Against Firm Doesn't Excuse Paying Fees, N.J. Court Rules

Mary Pat Gallagher, New Jersey Law Journal

02-10-10 -- A family court order requiring a divorce litigant to pay Budd Larner $50,000 in legal fees, even though he had a malpractice case pending against the firm, has been upheld on appeal. . . . The New Jersey Appellate Division ruled on Monday that there was no error in ordering and enforcing the fee award to the Short Hills, N.J., firm, because the client neither asked the family court for a stay nor sought to consolidate the malpractice and matrimonial cases. . . . The court, in Cole v. Cole, A-1710, also found it significant that the court below "expressly carved out the malpractice issue from its decision, and made no findings on those allegations." . . . Joseph Cole retained Thomas Baldwin of Budd Larner on April 28, 2003, to handle his divorce from Justine Cole, which was being litigated in Monmouth County Family Part.

UTAH  

Student support contract enforceable after divorce, says high court

By Erin Alberty, The Salt Lake Tribune

02-09-10 -- Spouses who agree to take turns supporting each other through college could find themselves financially liable for breaking a contract if they divorce before both sides benefit. . . . The state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a divorceé can sue her ex-husband after she financially supported him through medical school "in exchange for the promise of a higher standard of living." . . . Gloria and Dallen Ashby married in 1997, while Dallen was an undergraduate student at BYU. Gloria Ashby claims she passed up a lucrative business opportunity to follow Dallen to St. Louis, where he attended medical school, according to court documents.

SOUTH CAROLINA   

S.C. Man Kills Ex-Wife's Lawyer, Then Himself

Meg Kinnard, The Associated Press

02-05-10 -- A South Carolina man was distraught over drawn-out divorce proceedings and a recent order to sell a home he co-owned with his ex-wife when he killed the woman's attorney and then himself, authorities said Thursday. . . . Jerry Dean Crenshaw shot 61-year-old J. Redmond Coyle several times Wednesday afternoon in a parking lot behind Coyle's downtown Pickens, S.C., office, Police Chief Tommy Ellenburg said. . . . Crenshaw's wife had hired Coyle after the pair filed for divorce in 2007, according to court filings. That divorce became final in May 2009, but the couple had been haggling over splitting up property they had owned together, said Harold Welborn, Pickens County clerk of court.

OHIO  

Attorney Disciplined for Having Two Wives

WYTV 

02-03-10 -- A local attorney has lost his license to practice for the next year after a ruling from the Supreme Court of Ohio. . . . Dennis DiMartino was sanctioned after it was determined he lied on a marriage license application in North Carolina saying he was not married.  He then entered into a bigamous marriage in that state before a divorce from his first wife, from Ohio, had been finalized.

NEW YORK  

Snooping by Detective 'Legitimate' Part of Divorce Process, Judge Finds

Noeleen G. Walder, New York Law Journal

02-02-10 -- A man who hired a detective to trail his wife to a motel where she was having an affair with a local priest was not stalking her, an Orange County, N.Y., judge has ruled. . . . Forced to resign after her husband turned over a recording of her and the priest to officials at the church where she worked, the wife accused her husband of violating an order of protection requiring him to stay away from her home and place of employment. . . . But Family Court Judge Debra J. Kiedaisch, who was sitting in the Supreme Court's integrated domestic violence part, held that the husband, who only handed over the tape at the urging of church officials, had the right to gather evidence to defend himself in a divorce proceeding. . . . "The hiring of a professional licensed private investigator in a matrimonial action to gather evidence is for a proper and legitimate purpose," the judge wrote in Anonymous v. Anonymous.

January 2010

PENNSYLVANIA  

Senior judge's wife may drop charges

By Michael R. Sisak, Citizen’s Voice Staff Writer

01-29-10 -- A suspended senior judge's marriage is nearly over, weeks after he allegedly attacked his wife in an alcohol-fueled rage on their one-year wedding anniversary, his attorney said Thursday. . . . Senior Judge C. Joseph Rehkamp and his wife, Valerie, are discussing a financial arrangement under which she would drop criminal charges and they would ultimately move for a divorce, Rehkamp's attorney William C. Costopoulos said. . . . "If they can resolve their disagreement between themselves, maybe that's where the answer should lie," Costopoulos said. "Their differences may be irreconcilable and the marriage is probably over, but that doesn't mean that they can't agree upon the conclusion to a marriage that isn't working." . . . Rehkamp, 61, and Valerie, 50, agreed Thursday to keep the protection from abuse order against him in effect while they attempt to resolve the charges. . . . The order bars Rehkamp from contact with Valerie, 50, or her sons, ages 16 and 18.

CONNECTICUT  

Wife of former White House lawyer sues for $30M

By Jeff Morganteen, Stamford Advocate Staff Writer  

01-28-10 -- The wife of a former White House lawyer -- who police say tried to kill his spouse in a vicious beating with a flashlight this month -- is suing her husband for $30 million in a civil lawsuit filed last week at state Superior Court in Stamford. . . . Mary Farren, 43, was beaten unconscious with a flashlight and strangled before she regained consciousness and fled her New Canaan home Jan. 6 with her two young daughters, telling police her husband attacked her over a divorce she sought because of his volatile temper, court documents state. . . . That night, police charged her husband, John Michael Farren, 57, with attempted murder. . . . Last Wednesday, a lawyer for Mary Farren filed a civil suit against her husband at state Superior Court in Stamford. In an affidavit, Mary Farren asked the courts to grant her a $30 million pre-judgment remedy because she is injured and cannot work. She claimed she may lose income from her husband because he could be imprisoned for 30 years if convicted.

CONNECTICUT 

Strangulation Charge Against Former Bush Lawyer Shows New Trend in Domestic Violence Cases

Christian Nolan, The Connecticut Law Tribune

01-26-10 -- Last week, John Michael Farren, a former White House lawyer, stood in a Stamford, Conn., courtroom and pleaded not guilty to a series of charges related to an alleged attack on his wife. Among them: attempted murder, first-degree assault and first-degree strangulation. . . . There is nothing novel about the first two. But the strangulation charge is a relatively new one in Connecticut and across the country, one created specifically to deal with the epidemic of domestic violence. . . . It's no secret to those who help battered women that spouses often, quite literally, go for the throat during domestic disputes. Still, unless someone sustained significant injuries, authorities until recently didn't have a big choice of charges. Abusive partners were usually charged with misdemeanor assault or breach of peace, and then sent to take classes as part of a Family Violence Education Program.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

Judge Tells Tale of Tortured Breakup With Her Girlfriend on the Witness Stand

By Jordan Weissmann | The Blog of Legal Times | New York Lawyer

01-27-10 -- For most of her testimony, D.C. Magistrate Judge Janet Albert had stayed composed. Appearing in D.C. Superior Court on Tuesday in the criminal trial of her former girlfriend, Albert steadily recounted the suicide threats, the barrage of furious phone messages and e-mails, and the first break-in, often using dry, lawyerly words like “de-escalate” to capture her point. But asked by the prosecutor to describe the details of the day she found Taylar Nuevelle passed out inside her attic, Albert finally paused and pressed her hands to eyes, as if trying to hold back tears. Then, after a few beats passed, she went on. . . . It was the second day of trial for Nuevelle, who prosecutors accuse of breaking into Albert’s Washington home in an attempt to stalk and harass her in 2008.

FLORIDA  

Ruling a third strike against Florida's gay adoption ban

A Miami judge has approved the adoption of a foster child by a lesbian couple, bringing to three the number of adoptions by gay parents since 2008.

By Carol Marbin Miller, MiamiHerald.com

01-27-10 -- With the blessing of her large extended family, Vanessa Alenier took custody of an infant relative who had been seized by child welfare workers. She moved him into a yellow nursery with a blond wood crib, a blue-striped carpet and a mobile. . . . When she asked the state to for permission to adopt him, the application included a simple question. . . . Are you gay? . . . Alenier, 34, said she did not want to begin her journey as a parent with a lie. So she told the truth -- despite Florida's 33-year-old law banning gay men and lesbians from adopting.

NEVADA  

Vegas Attorney Takes Deal in Domestic Violence Case

KLAS-TV  

01-25-10 -- A Las Vegas attorney has accepted a plea deal in the assault of his wife, a local judge. . . . Edward "Randy" Miley pleaded no contest last month to misdemeanor domestic battery and animal abuse charges. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed additional counts against him, including a child abuse-and-neglect charge.

ILLINOIS

Divorced parents using virtual visitation

Laptop video conferences help keep families in touch

By Ofelia Casillas, Chicago Tribune reporter

01-24-10 -- Greg Baddick helped his 9-year-old daughter learn the state capitals of the Midwest. Later, when he asked Isabella how her test went, she said she got an A-plus — though she almost forgot the answer for Nebraska. . . . "Congratulations," Baddick said via an Internet video link, the same way he helped her study. "I'm proud of you." . . . Because Baddick, a senior manager for a pharmaceutical company, is divorced from Isabella's mother, he helped his daughter study using their laptop computers and the Internet. The virtual visits are a weekly date for the pair, in addition to the in-person weekly visits and twice monthly weekend stays. Isabella lives in Elgin, Baddick in Chicago. . . . "It's been, honestly, a godsend," said Baddick, 39. "I feel like I'm there. I don't feel like I'm missing anything." . . . Language added to an Illinois law this month includes virtual visitation among the rights of noncustodial parents, making it enforceable by a judge. According to the measure, parents are entitled to electronic visits unless the court believes that contact would be harmful to the child.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

Really, What?: Woman Accused of Stalking Her Ex-Girlfriend the Judge Wants to Talk About Ethics

By Jordan Weissmann | The Blog of Legal Times | New York Lawyer

01-22-10 -- Lawyers in the trial of a woman accused of stalking a District of Columbia magistrate judge squared off today over how much information jurors should receive about ethics complaints pending against the alleged victim. . . . Defense lawyer Dorsey Jones Jr. said he plans to bring up the complaints, at least one of which was filed by his client, against Magistrate Judge Janet Albert of the D.C. Superior Court. Jones represents Taylar Nuevelle, the 40-year-old convicted felon who dated Albert in 2008, and is accused of breaking into her home to harass her. Albert serves on the District's Family Court where she presides over child abuse and neglect cases.

PENNSYLVANIA  

Pa. Judge Suspended Following Spousal Abuse Charges

The Associated Press, Law.com

01-22-10 -- A Pennsylvania judge overseeing a murder case involving domestic violence allegations has been suspended from duty over criminal charges that he pushed and choked his wife on their first wedding anniversary. . . . Sixty-one-year-old Perry County Senior Judge C. Joseph Rehkamp has been charged with simple assault and harassment and is also subject to a protection from abuse order.

NEW YORK

NY man accused of beheading claims he was battered

By AP News, WIND 

01-22-10 -- The founder of an Islam-oriented television station who is accused of beheading his wife was abused by her for years, according to his lawyer, who said Friday he will pursue a defense combining that justification as well as psychiatric claims. . . . Defense attorneys' claims that Muzzammil Hassan was victimized by his wife drew a blunt response from District Attorney Frank Sedita after a hearing Friday. . . . "He chopped her head off," Sedita said. "He chopped her head off. That's all I have to say about Mr. Hassan's apparent defense that he was a battered spouse." . . . Hassan, 45, is charged with one count of second-degree murder in the Feb. 12 death of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan at the offices of Bridges TV, the station the Pakistan-born couple established in 2004 to counter negative stereotypes of Muslims. . . . During Friday's hearing, Hassan fired the attorney who has been representing him for nearly a year and replaced him with a lawyer who promised "a revolutionary defense" at the March trial.

CALIFORNIA  

Calif. Lawyer Sues Over Same-Sex Health Benefits for Spouse

The Associated Press

01-21-10 -- A federal employee in California is suing the Obama administration to force it to provide health benefits to her same-sex spouse. . . . The U.S. Office of Personnel Management told Karen Golinski that it was refusing to extend benefits to her wife because federal law prohibits the government from recognizing gay marriage. . . . The office made its decision over the objections of 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, who called the move illegal discrimination. . . . Golinski is a lawyer for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco.

CONNECTICUT  

Ex-Bush lawyer pleads not guilty in attack on wife

Associated Press, Washington Post  

01-21-10 -- An attorney who worked in both Bush administrations has pleaded not guilty to Connecticut charges that he tried to kill his wife by beating her with a flashlight and choking her two days after she delivered divorce papers. . . . Fifty-seven-year-old John Michael Farren appeared Thursday in Stamford Superior Court. Farren's lawer, Eugene Riccio, said Farren pleaded not guilty to charges of strangulation, attempted murder and a new charge of first-degree assault.

PENNSYLVANIA  

Details emerge on former Perry County judge
accused in domestic dispute

Court documents reveal a night of discord between former Perry County president judge C. Joseph Rehkamp and his wife

By John Hilton, Carlisle Sentinel City Editor

01-19-10 -- Former Perry County president judge C. Joseph Rehkamp had been drinking Saturday night when he pushed his wife down “and started to choke her, leaving red marks,” court documents say. . . . Valerie Rehkamp screamed and told her husband to leave their home in Plymouth Township, Luzerne County. According to the criminal complaint filed by Trooper Matthew Stacktish, Valerie Rehkamp’s son stopped the assault and Joseph Rehkamp left the home in his Ford Crown Victoria. . . . Joseph Rehkamp, 61, later turned himself in and was arraigned about 6:30 p.m. Sunday. He is charged with misdemeanor assault and summary harassment. His preliminary hearing is set for 10 a.m. Jan. 26. . . . It was not known Monday whether Rehkamp has an attorney. . . . The conflict between the Rehkamps began earlier in the evening, court documents say, when Valerie Rehkamp told her husband he “did not act appropriately” during a dinner outing. Valerie Rehkamp told the judge to “sleep somewhere else” for the night, court documents say.

TENNESSEE  

State's high court rules on marital property

Judge: Money earned by ET class-action specialist before divorce final is subject to split

By Jamie Satterfield, Knoxville News Sentinel

01-18-10 -- The state Supreme Court is using the case of a prominent East Tennessee lawyer to sound this warning: Filing for divorce does not tear asunder the marital paycheck or debt load. . . . It's a legal lesson that cost well-known class-action specialist Gordon Ball a cool $6.8 million. . . . The state's high court opted to use Ball's divorce case to tackle the issue of whether money earned or debt incurred between the filing of a divorce complaint and final judgment is marital property subject to a division between warring spouses. . . . At issue was a $17 million fee Ball won in a South Carolina class-action lawsuit after his now ex-wife, Marn Suzanne Larsen Ball, filed for divorce in January 2006. She insisted she should get a cut because the divorce wasn't final. He contended the hefty fee wasn't marital property because he won it after the couple split. . . . Special Judge Jon Kerry Blackwood opined the legal fee was indeed marital property and, therefore, subject to the split in assets he approved - 60 percent for Gordon Ball, 40 percent for his ex-wife.

Tennessee Supreme Court opinion in Ball v. Ball

CALIFORNIA

Santa Cruz court set to hear unusual custody suit

The Associated Press, San Jose Mercury News

01-16-10 -- A Santa Cruz court is slated to hear a custody dispute between former lesbian partners in which the biological mother has become romantically involved with the sperm donor father of her 10-month-old twins. . . . Kim T. Smith of Santa Cruz has sued for joint custody of the twins, saying she and former partner Maggie Quale agreed to raise the boys together. . . . Qaule and the boy's biological father, 28-year-old Shawn Wallace, now live together and argue they should be able to fully parent the children. . . . Quale and Smith never registered as domestic partners with the state. But the two women are listed as the boys' parents on their birth certificates, and the twins carry the hyphenated last name Quale-Smith. . . . A hearing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 29.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA  

D.C. judge rules against marriage referendum

By Tim Craig, Washington Post Staff Writer

01-15-10 -- A D.C. Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that same-sex marriage opponents do not have a right to call for a referendum to determine whether such unions should be legal in the District. . . . The decision, a major victory for gay rights activists, makes it more likely that the District will begin allowing same-sex couples to marry in March. . . . In the 23-page ruling, Judge Judith N. Macaluso affirmed a D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics decision that city law disallows the ballot proposal because it would promote discrimination against gay men and lesbians. Macaluso also concluded that previous court decisions outlawing same-sex marriage in the District are no longer valid.

OHIO  

Couple in marriage fraud case given probation, will likely have to leave U.S.

By Jeb Phillips, The Columbus Dispatch

01-15-10 -- A Columbus-area immigration lawyer and her ex-husband have been placed on probation and likely will have to leave the country for their participation in marriage fraud. . . . Lilian Asante, 38, and Kwadwo Asante, 40, were taken by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for processing this morning after U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost sentenced them to two years of probation. . . . An immigration judge will have to make a final decision on their deportation, but the Asantes' defense attorney has said they plan to leave the country as soon as possible. . . . Yesterday's sentencing also triggers the suspension of Lilian Asante's law license, said Ritchey Hollenbaugh, the Asantes' attorney.

FLORIDA  

Fla. justices limit parental relocation

The Associated Press, MiamiHerald.com 

01-14-10 -- The Florida Supreme Court says a divorced custodial parent cannot be allowed to relocate based on what a judge thinks might happen in the future. . . . The justices on Thursday unanimously reversed a Tampa judge's decision to let Josette Arthur move to Michigan when her child, then 16 months, reached 3 years old. . . . Chief Justice Peggy Quince wrote that violated the due process rights of her ex-husband, Shawn Arthur, who shares parental responsibility.

NEW YORK  

Judge Denies Ex-Wife's Proposal to Move 20 Miles From Manhattan

Noeleen G. Walder, New York Law Journal

01-12-10 -- A man who followed his ex-wife to New York City from Colorado to be closer to their child has won his bid to block her from making a 20-mile move to the suburbs. . . . Finding the woman's reasons for relocating "undefined" and questioning her motivation, Family Court Judge Lori S. Sattler (See Profile) concluded in S.F. v. G.F., V-15616-09/V-12319-09, that relocating, even a short distance, would adversely impact the couple's daughter by reducing her from "a child with two full-time parents to one full-time parent and a part-time parent." . . . A year after Sarah Foster relocated to Manhattan from Denver, she asked a judge for permission to move to Scarsdale, N.Y., saying the extra space would benefit her family. . . . Her ex-husband, Gregg D. Farber, opposed the move, which he said would make him a "weekend dad" and marginalize his role in their 5-year-old daughter's life.

NEW JERSEY

New Jersey Senate Defeats Gay Marriage Bill

NewsCORE, FOX News

01-07-10 -- New Jersey's state Senate has defeated a bill to legalize gay marriage, the latest in a string of setbacks for advocates. . . . The New Jersey Senate voted Thursday against legalizing same-sex marriage, making the Garden State the latest to turn down legislation that proponents have called a civil rights issue. . . . The Freedom of Religion and Equality in Marriage Act failed by a vote of 20 to 14. The vote was scheduled to take place last month, but was postponed due to an apparent lack of support, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. . . . New Jersey voters are narrowly divided on the issue, with gay marriage opponents finding more support by a 49-46 percentage point margin, according to a November poll from Quinnipiac University. State Democrats favor the measure 60-34, while Republicans oppose it 69-25, the poll found. The margin of error was 2.4 percentage points. . . . Five states currently allow same sex marriage, while thirty have rejected similar measures in referendum votes. The state senate in neighboring New York, where many New Jersey residents work, rejected a gay marriage bill 38 to 24 in December.

Married Couples Pay More Than Unmarried Under Health Bill

By Martin Vaughan, Wall Street Journal  

01-06-10 -- Some married couples would pay thousands of dollars more for the same health insurance coverage as unmarried people living together, under the health insurance overhaul plan pending in Congress. . . . The built-in "marriage penalty" in both House and Senate healthcare bills has received scant attention. But for scores of low-income and middle-income couples, it could mean a hike of $2,000 or more in annual insurance premiums the moment they say "I do." . . . The disparity comes about in part because subsidies for purchasing health insurance under the plan from congressional Democrats are pegged to federal poverty guidelines. That has the effect of limiting subsidies for married couples with a combined income, compared to if the individuals are single. . . . People who get their health insurance through an employer wouldn't be affected. Only people that buy subsidized insurance through new exchanges set up by the legislation stand to be impacted. About 17 million people would receive such subsidies in 2016 under the House plan, the Congressional Budget Office estimates.

CALIFORNIA  

Original article with update

Sacramento judge denies ‘disgracing the American Judiciary System’

The strange and bewildering case of Judge Peter J. ‘Chainsaw’ McBrien

By R.V. Scheide, Editorial

03-07-08 -- Don’t get mad, the saying goes, get even. Certainly Ulf Carlsson has plenty to be angry about. In 2006, the Swedish-born American citizen entered divorce proceedings hoping to make the best of a bad situation. Instead, he lost custody of his teenage daughter, got fired from a 20-year career with the state of California and is about to lose his home. . . . So, yes, Ulf Carlsson is massively pissed, and the entirety of his ire is focused on the individual he holds accountable for his astounding reversal of fortune, the magistrate who presided over his two-day divorce trial, Sacramento Superior Court Judge Peter J. “Chainsaw” McBrien. . . . Last week, Carlsson and more than a dozen other self-proclaimed victims of McBrien’s alleged legal abuse officially notified the Sacramento Elections Office of their intent to recall the judge. They didn’t waste any time getting to the point. . . . “You are a disgrace to the American Judiciary System and an extreme danger to children and parents,” the recall petition begins, before detailing a number of alleged wrongs along with the relevant case numbers. “You destroyed a young boy by awarding the father custody after multiple investigations substantiated he had sexually abused the boy. … You awarded custody to an abusive mother, ignoring medical evidence that she seriously physically abused her young daughter. … You obtained, in secrecy, a copy of the court transcripts, altered them and had that respondent’s career destroyed. … When will your evil terrorism be stopped?” . . . A little over the top? Perhaps. But they don’t call McBrien “Chainsaw” for nothing. In 1999, he ordered a whack-job on a half-dozen oaks blocking his bluff-side view of the American River, knowing full well the trees were on public property, thus making the act of cutting them down felony vandalism. Unless, of course, you happen to be a judge with $20,000 on hand to bargain the crime down to a misdemeanor—and keep your ass firmly planted on the bench.

O.C. prosecutor, wife arrested on suspicion of domestic violence

Paloma Esquivel in Orange County,  Los Angeles Times

01-05-10 -- An Orange County prosecutor and his wife were arrested Christmas Day on allegations of domestic violence, and the case has been submitted to the state attorney general’s office for review, authorities said today. . . . Veteran prosecutor David L. Brent, 53, and his wife, Roshawn Jolancia Brent, 27, were arrested shortly before midnight Dec. 25, said Huntington Beach police spokesman Lt. Russell Reinhart. . . . Police responded to the incident about 11 p.m. after Roshawn Brent called 911 while standing next to the couple’s parked car near the intersection of Gothard Street and Warner Avenue. After an investigation, both husband and wife were arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, Reinhart said. The incident was first reported online earlier today by the OC Weekly.

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