Volume 25 Issue 22
October 28, 2009

HIGHLIGHTS

House Approves Bill Exempting Small Firms From FTC 'Red Flag' Rules

The House of Representatives gives its unanimous approval to legislation that would exempt small law firms and other businesses from the Federal Trade Commission's so-called red flag rules, which require a broadly defined mix of "creditors" to implement identity theft prevention programs by Nov. 1. Page 601

Firm Isn't Liable to Partner's Widow for Continuing to Use Partner's Name

A law firm that continued to include the surname of a deceased partner in the firm's name is not liable to the partner's widow for misappropriation of name where there was evidence that the partner gave his informal consent to the arrangement before he died, the South Carolina Supreme Court rules. Taking judicial notice of the fact that law firms routinely keep the names of deceased members in their firm names, the court states that from now on it will be presumed, unless proven otherwise, that a deceased partner consented to the partnership's continued use of his name. Page 582

Fee Dispute Settlement May Be Conditioned on Malpractice Waiver

California lawyers are allowed to include a waiver of potential malpractice claims in fee dispute settlements so long as they advise the client to consult with independent counsel before signing the release, according to the state bar's ethics committee. Page 594

Court Rejects Study Underlying Charge That TV Ads Were Unethical

Dismissing charges that a lawyer's television advertisements soliciting workers' compensation clients were misleading, the South Carolina Supreme Court indicates that several flaws in a study that reached the contrary conclusion rendered its results "suspect." Page 595

Lawyer Receives Stiff Sanction for Advancing Anti-Obama 'Birther' Agenda

The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia orders an attorney to pay a $20,000 sanction for pursuing frivolous litigation to further her political agenda of forcing President Obama to produce a birth certificate. Page 583

Patent Malpractice Jurisdiction

MALPRACTICE:  A state court does not lack jurisdiction to resolve a malpractice claim merely because the lawyers' alleged negligence arose in a federal patent infringement matter, a divided Texas Court of Appeals, Second District, decides. Page 586

>But the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts concludes that it has exclusive jurisdiction to hear a malpractice action premised on a law firm's alleged conflict in representing joint claimants before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Page 587

ALSO IN THE NEWS

MJP:  Tennessee joins most other states that have modified their lawyer conduct rules to allow some types of multijurisdictional practice by attorneys licensed outside the state. Page 602

CORPORATE COUNSEL:  A former in-house lawyer who alleges that Sprint Nextel Corp. denied him a raise and promotion in retaliation for opposing business practices that he says included filing false reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission may use information protected by the attorney-client privilege to support his retaliatory discharge claim under the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Department of Labor's Administrative Review Board holds. Page 589

UNAUTHORIZED PRACTICE:  The Ohio Supreme Court assesses a civil penalty of more than $6.3 million against two companies and their nonlawyer owners for continuing to sell living trust packages with minimal attorney involvement after promising in a consent decree not to do so. Page 591

REFERENCE MANUAL

Copyright © 2009 by the American Bar Association and The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington, D.C.