Legal Research

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BAD SEARCH WARRANT CAN'T BE CURED ON THE FLY, COURT SAYS
"New Jersey's highest court on Tuesday rebuked the notion that police can supplement a search warrant ambiguous on its face by developing probable cause on the ground. The justices, in State v. Marshall, A-33-08, affirmed the suppression of drugs seized in an apartment building in Trenton, holding that the search warrant was not specific enough as to which apartment was to be searched and allowed police essentially to modify the warrant based on the results of their street investigation. Wallace said it is widely recognized that when a multi-unit building is involved, warrants must exclude units where police do not have probable cause to believe a crime is being committed."

LEGISLATION WOULD DECRIMINALIZE 'SEXTING' BY TEENS
"Recognizing that teenagers who e-mail nude or sexually suggestive photos of themselves to friends aren't really child pornographers, New Jersey legislators are proposing alternatives to criminal prosecution that may be more effective in stanching the recent practice. Pending bills in the Assembly and the Senate would create a diversionary program, by which minors who are charged with the creation, distribution or exhibition of nude photos can avoid prosecution by completing a course focusing on the consequences of such acts. The sponsors say teenagers often engage in the practice ? sometimes known by the play on words 'sexting' ? out of a psychological vulnerability, not a criminal mindset, and the law should reflect that.'"

AETNA RECOILS AT FIVE-HEADED LEADERSHIP OF CLASS-ACTION SUIT
"Five competing plaintiffs' firms in a class action for millions of Aetna insureds and doctors have agreed to share the role of interim class counsel rather than pick one to take the lead. But Aetna doesn't like it. Defense counsel Liza Walsh of Connell Foley in Roseland has complained to U.S. District Judge Faith Hochberg that a five-headed plaintiffs' leadership would be unwieldy and worsen bickering among the firms. It also would drive up litigation costs, which Hochberg sought to avoid when she warned in April against a feeding frenzy for fees among class counsel. Walsh wants Hochberg to step in and appoint a lawyer or firm with authority to bind all plaintiffs on discovery matters in the suit, In re: Aetna UCR Litigation, Civ. 3541-07".

LEHMAN'S TITLE INSURER CAN RECOVER CONVERTED PROCEEDS
"A state appeals court held Tuesday that $512,845 of nearly $22.3 million defrauded from Lehman Brothers Bank in a mortgage scam must be repaid to the defunct lender's title insurer. At issue were ill-gotten gains a perpetrator had handed over to her parents, who claimed no knowledge of the fraud. The Appellate Division, in Chicago Title insurance Co. v. Ellis, A-5133-07, said the parents' claimed lack of knowledge was irrelevant because conversion turns on the exercise of dominion and control over property belonging to another and does not require intent to harm the rightful owner or knowledge that the money belongs to someone else".

3RD CIRCUIT HEARS APPEAL OF CONTROVERSIAL SANCTIONS RULING
"Shockwaves reverberated through the civil defense bar in late 2007 when a federal judge imposed sanctions on several lawyers and their clients for engaging in discovery tactics that the judge said were designed to delay and drive up the costs, but which many lawyers say are nothing more than business as usual. And so it was no surprise that the courtroom was packed when the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held oral argument to review the sanctions imposed in Grider v. Keystone Health Plan Central, a blistering 77-page opinion concluding that the lawyers and their clients ? a pair of insurance companies ? had acted in bad faith. The case has become a cause among defense lawyers who argue that if the sanctions imposed are not lifted, they will find it difficult to represent their clients properly."

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