Thomas Scheffey

November 21, 2000 | Law.com

Is New York's 100 percent taxation of Connecticut telecommuters' income constitutional? New Haven resident Edward A. Zelinsky, who teaches tax law in New York City but often works at home, is challenging a tax theory that may be technologically obsolete. Zelinsky claims that under the Equal Protection and Commerce clauses of the U.S. Constitution, there should be apportionment based on where the income was earned.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

January 17, 2001 | Law.com

No critic of Special Prosecutor Kenneth W. Starr has been more persistent than New Haven, Conn.,-based public defender Francis T. Mandanici. He's taken his quest all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he's filed a petition for certiorari in a final attempt to convince the federal judiciary to look into Starr's alleged ethical misdeeds.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

March 29, 2001 | Law.com

The pension fund for Connecticut's carpenter unions seemed to be in good shape, until consultants Watson, Wyatt & Co. sent in a new actuarial group. The new team quickly realized that things were seriously wrong and took corrective steps. But the damage was done. Watson Wyatt agreed it had to pay for losses from its miscalculations. But just how much became a multimillion-dollar federal case.

By Thomas Scheffey

5 minute read

November 16, 1999 | Law.com

Former model Andrea Karlsen's physical injuries were minor -- whiplash strains from a fender bender eight years ago. But the Connecticut woman's subsequent emotional difficulties were extensive. She claimed the accident triggered childhood memories of physical abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder. Her lawyer argued she was like the classic "eggshell skull" plaintiff -- and the unlucky defendant driver, who happens to be a New York Supreme Court judge -- had to take his victim as he found her.

By Thomas Scheffey

5 minute read

July 25, 2000 | Law.com

A delegate to the American Bar Association national convention proposed saving law firms a little money -- and may wind up saving them a lot. John L. Bonee III introduced a resolution requesting the ABA negotiate a favorable license fee from the Copyright Clearance Center of Danvers, Mass. The CCC recently targeted large firms for sales of blanket licenses to cover law firm copying activity that exceeds the traditional "fair use" boundaries.

By Thomas Scheffey

3 minute read

February 28, 2002 | Connecticut Law Tribune

Okay, you can`t live forever, and you can`t take it with you. But in more states every year, the obscenely rich can leave their money to dynastic trusts specifically designed to take on a life of their own.

By THOMAS SCHEFFEY Law Tribune Staff Writer

4 minute read

September 26, 2000 | Law.com

Religious discrimination is a powerful factor behind Chad and Sara Prigge's custody fight for 17-month-old Joshua S. in Connecticut. Chad Prigge is a minister in the Truth Baptist church, which allows corporal punishment of children. Last week the couple said they would appeal a Juvenile Court judge's decision that another couple should be allowed to adopt the child.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

August 16, 1999 | Law.com

Michael Skakel, the scion of Greenwich, Conn. wealth, has yet to be charged with anything in connection with the 1975 killing of his then 15-year-old neighbor Martha Moxley -- bludgeoned to death with a golf club in one of America's richest town. But currently a grand jury is investigating the murder, and the struggle over potential evidence in this celebrity case is hard-fought. Defense efforts by Skakel's lawyers have already paid off for him and, indirectly, for those in need of a psychiatrist's care.

By Thomas Scheffey

8 minute read

January 18, 2000 | Law.com

Connecticut criminal lawyer M. Donald Cardwell looked like a man headed for prison. The question wasn't whether he'd serve, but how long. Only divine intervention, it seemed, could save him from his guilty pleas under federal money-laundering laws. But a down-to-earth miracle appeared at Cardwell's sentencing hearing in the form of U.S. District Judge Alvin W. Thompson. Thompson worked overtime to dig up the truth, focusing not just on written transcripts, but on the nuances of live and taped testimony.

By Thomas Scheffey

10 minute read

August 25, 2000 | Law.com

"Immediate response" is conveyed by those spiffy white sports utility vehicles that Progressive Insurance Co. claims agents drive to accident scenes. But when it comes to making settlements, "immediate" is illegal, say attorneys for victims who say they got too little, too soon.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read