DRM News

December 19, 2012 (St. Johnsbury)  With support from DRM colleagues in Vermont and New Hampshire, Attorney…

Trial lawyer Robert B. Luce has been recognized by Best Lawyers and Super Lawyers, two of the most esteemed national peer-review publications, as one of the top attorneys in Vermont representing plaintiffs in personal injury cases.

Burlington attorney Christopher D. Roy is one of only two attorneys in Vermont to be selected as a “local litigation star” for the Second Circuit by Benchmark Appellate Litigation, an annual publication focusing exclusively on litigation in the U.S.

Article

Traumatic Brain Injury, especially brain injury categorized as “mild” (MTBI), has historically presented one of the biggest challenges for trial lawyers because there often are no visible markers or clear signs of brain injury.

Specialty hospitals often ask whether they risk violating the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), 42 U.S.C. Section 1395dd, if a potential patient calls the admissions department for emergency treatment, but does not ever present on hospital property.

Matthew S. Borick, a director of the law firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, and Harry R. Fell, systems engineer in the firm’s information technology department, presented “Avoid the Legal Pitfalls and Risks of Cyber Crime and Social Media,” a webinar hosted by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce on April 11.

(Burlington) Robert Luce, a litigation attorney at the law firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC and a board member of the Brain Injury Association of Vermont, was a guest on Vermont Public Radio’s Vermont Edition, hosted by Jane Lindholm, on March 28.

The law firm Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, the Brain Injury Association of Vermont and the Vermont Association for Justice will present Representing Traumatic Brain Injury Victims: Legal and Medical Issues, a full-day conference for legal and TBI professionals and case management providers on Friday, March 30 at Main Street Landing in Burlington. Proceeds from the conference, which will offer current medical perspectives on mild traumatic brain injury and related legal and compensation issues, will benefit the Brain Injury Association of Vermont.

(Burlington) Attorney Matthew S. Borick, of Burlington, was elected to membership as a director at the northern New England law firm of Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC at the firm’s annual meeting in December.

“Waiting for the U.S. Supreme Court to Rule: Preparing Clients for Three Possible Outcomes of the Accountable Care Act Litigation,*” an article by Brattleboro attorney Elizabeth R. Wohl, was published in the January 2012 issue of Healthcare Liability & Litigation, a publication of the American Health Lawyers Association Healthcare Liability and Litigation Practice Group.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. An ambitious, far-reaching, and comprehensive piece of federal legislation, designed to provide near-universal health insurance coverage to Americans, it is currently the subject of approximately thirty-one separate cases pending in the federal district courts. This article examines the three appellate rulings currently on appeal.

Originally published in the November 14 edition of Bloomberg Law Reports and reprinted here with permission, “History Sniffing: Updates On Current Litigation” was written by DRM attorneys Matthew S. Borick and Walter E. Judge Jr. The article reviews recent legal developments related to the alleged practice of adding hidden links to web addresses, in JavaScript code, that allow them to secretly access, or “sniff,” the browsing histories of web surfers. Borick and Judge represent business clients in commercial and intellectual property litigation matters, including copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, computer crimes and cyberlaw.

Webinar

Understanding proactive, technical measures that can reduce the risk of becoming a target and the legal consequences that could arise from failure to protect computers and data are essential for businesses of all sizes. What are the federal and state cybercrime laws and remedies? What post-incident actions should you be prepared to take? The seminar presenters provide practical pointers for protecting computers and computer-based information in addition to examining federal and state cybercrime laws and remedies.

In a recent Vermont law update published in the Summer 2011 issue of the Tri-State Defense Lawyers Association Newsletter, Walter Judge delves into Northern Security Ins. Co. v. Pratt, a case in which “Judge Crawford plows entirely new ground on many insurance coverage and practice issues not previously addressed by the Vermont Supreme Court.” Two particularly significant decisions of first impression in Pratt are: a) an insured does not necessarily forfeit coverage by refusing to sign a non-waiver agreement; and b) the insurer, and not the insured, has the right to select defense counsel for the insured when the insurer offers the insured a defense under a reservation of rights.

On June 29, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit became the first appellate court to address the merits of the healthcare reform law when it issued its opinion in Thomas More Law Center v. Obama, Docket No. 10-2388, moving the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) Pub. L. 111-148 (as amended by the Healthcare and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, Pub. L. 111-152) one step closer to the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision has also led to a district court dismissal of another case in the circuit. U.S. Citizens Ass’n v. Sebelius, N.D. Ohio, No. 5:10-cv-1065, 7/1/11.

Webinar

Virtually all correspondence, documents and records are stored and transmitted electronically. Is your company prepared to comply with the current laws and rules that apply to electronic discovery if litigation arises? In this webinar, litigation attorney Eric Poehlmann discusses steps you can take to be better prepared in the event you become involved in litigation involving electronic discovery.

Attorney R. Bradford Fawley of Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC in Brattleboro is among the speakers at a meeting of the Environmental Bankers Association in Stowe June 12-14. Fawley will draw from his experience working on environmental litigation for banks and other institutions in New England for a talk about how lenders handle legal obligations, foreclosure, due diligence and confidentiality when the properties they deal with are contaminated and the cleanups are controlled under state and federal law.

Standing issues in federal court can be confusing and difficult without the additional complications introduced by a claim based on a securitized debt. The same is true in those states that have followed the federal Article III model for resolving standing questions. Recent higher scrutiny of mortgage-foreclosure filings and bankruptcy court filings made by holders of securitized debt require that greater care be put into identifying the correct holder of the claims and the documents establishing right of the holder to enforce the debt, prior to litigation being instituted. In the meantime, for the many pending cases where these issues are presently being litigated, absent prejudice to the defendant, real-party-in-interest deficiencies in these types of actions should be subject to cure by amendment of the pleadings. Courts and litigants can work through these disputes effectively and efficiently by applying the real-party-in-interest requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17 or the equivalent state procedural rules.

Webinar

Have you identified your company’s valuable “trade secrets” and taken steps to insure that they are protected? How do you identify what is a trade secret? Which laws protect trade secrets? What constitutes “misappropriation”? What defenses are available to a person or company accused of trade secret misappropriation? How are trade secrets litigated and damages calculated? Experienced litigator Walter Judge addresses these questions and questions from the audience in this valuable one-hour, recorded webinar.

Corporate officers and directors owe primary duties of care and loyalty to their company and its shareholders. However, the fidelity of officers and directors in most states must shift and run in favor of creditors as a company nears or enters insolvency. In such instances, officers and directors must shift their focus from maximizing profit for shareholders to preserving assets to satisfy creditors. In some states, creditors may sue derivatively on behalf of the corporation for negligence in performing or breach of fiduciary duties to creditors.