Thomas Scheffey

October 09, 2000 | Law.com

Many commercial Web sites plant "cookies" on users' computers, and now some government sites do it too. As technical advances race ahead of legal standards of what is, and what is not, an invasion of privacy -- or public information -- it's an open question whether the data that government Web sites gather through cookies is subject to disclosure under a Freedom of Information request.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

December 13, 2000 | Law.com

Right now juries are being picked for a special "civil initiative" aimed at moving, by settlement or trial, 100 stubborn civil cases from the Connecticut trial court backlog in a one-month push starting Jan 3. It's the most dramatic example of a range of improvements that in two years has cut by 20 percent the waiting list for a civil trial in that state.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

September 18, 2000 | Law.com

Buying a billion dollars worth of companies is not wildly different from closing on a house, says Wiggin & Dana's D. Terence Jones. His firm just wound up a 30-company purchase for one of the largest lock manufacturers in the world, but building the experience to pull off a transaction this size has been part of a plan that New Haven, Conn.-based Wiggin has been implementing since 1988.

By Thomas Scheffey

3 minute read

February 06, 2001 | Law.com

A temporarily unemployed man, attempting to collect $26,468 for property lost in a fire, won a verdict for half a million dollars in emotional distress damages against Allstate despite -- or because of -- the insurer's fierce defense. A Stamford, Conn., jury found Allstate liable for intentional infliction of emotional distress, due to its continuing suspicion and extensive questioning of the claimant.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

February 22, 2000 | Law.com

New Haven, Conn. Public Defender Francis T. Mandanici's quest to investigate former Whitewater Special Prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr took a big step forward. He finally has a judge to take this hot-potato matter, and that judge says he has a case. Mandanici wants the federal courts to investigate whether Starr's office solicited false testimony against Clinton.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

October 19, 2001 | Law.com

The Connecticut Supreme Court is ready to decide whether consumers have a right to sue Microsoft Corp. to recover "monopoly pricing" built into the cost of Windows 98. The case of Andrew Vacco v. Microsoft is set to be argued Nov. 1, and will test a federal antitrust doctrine that has stymied monopoly pricing actions in the past.

By Thomas Scheffey

5 minute read

August 23, 2002 | Connecticut Law Tribune

Allstate Insurance Co, is an adversary that plaintiffs` personal injury lawyers love to hate, due to its hard-nosed settlement positions.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

May 17, 2002 | Connecticut Law Tribune

Early in his legal practice, William F. Gallagher won 19 of the first 26 cases he took to the Supreme Court-a streak that has shaped his career. In the mid 1960s that was an especially impressive accomplishment, with appellants averaging less than 20 percent of the wins.

By THOMAS SCHEFFEY Law Tribune Staff Writer

5 minute read

August 10, 1999 | Law.com

The case of the near-fatal torching of Lonnie Paige inside a fiery furnace in a church basement has its own intricate layers of hellishness. The horribly injured plaintiff's Conn. lawyer Vincent M. Musto doesn't mention the anguish of winning a $3.2 million jury verdict at trial up through a close Supreme Court test. In a rehearing, the victory turned into defeat. Musto speaks of his client: "The Supreme Court sustained his verdict, he's ecstatic, and now they change their mind. Two severe tragedies."

By Thomas Scheffey

11 minute read

June 05, 2000 | Law.com

When Aetna fired its healthcare unit's Chief Litigation Officer David F. Simon, it turned a page in the legal history of managed care. Five years ago, Simon's reported combativeness was a key ingredient in Aetna's management style. But with public pressure mounting to remove barriers to HMO lawsuits, Aetna is now actively working to rebuild bridges with doctors, policyholders and the public.

By Thomas Scheffey

9 minute read