Thomas Scheffey

June 26, 2001 | Law.com

When Adam Wozniak was an infant, he and his family were intentionally run down by a crazed motorist. Wozniak, now seven, is suing the motorist's neurologist for malpractice, claiming the rampage should have been prevented. In an unprecedented move in Connecticut, the neurologist's attorney persuaded the judge to exclude the child from court on grounds his severe injuries would unfairly prejudice the jury.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

August 03, 2012 | Connecticut Law Tribune

U.S. District Judge Vanessa L.Bryant's 104-page decision last week squarely holds that the act, which denies federal benefits to same-sex couples, violates the U.S. Constitution's due process guarantees. It was not a result the plaintiffs lawyers had necessarily expected, but it was the latest in a string of decisions opposing the act.

By THOMAS SCHEFFEY

9 minute read

July 13, 2001 | Law.com

With two stunning wins in less than 10 days, G. Eric Brunstad Jr. helped win over $12 billion in national wireless licensing. The decisions were a victory for bankruptcy law principles and a harsh blow to the FCC. Bingham Dana's Brunstad entered the Hartford, Conn., case between the FCC and NextWave Personal Communications as it moved to the D.C. Circuit and grew into a clash of technology between Congress and the FCC.

By Thomas Scheffey

5 minute read

March 14, 2002 | Law.com

Further reducing a $12.6 million jury award, a unanimous Connecticut Supreme Court panel found insufficient evidence of sex discrimination in chemistry teacher Leslie Craine's case against Trinity College. The case -- the first trial loss in 13 years for Trinity's attorney Felix J. Springer -- involved discrimination claims based on a promotion committee member analogizing Craine's microscale chemistry experiments to a "cookie recipe."

By Thomas Scheffey

3 minute read

June 26, 2002 | Law.com

Land record searching in Connecticut will take a leap into the cyberage on Oct. 1, when people like Philip Peter Apter will be able to start waving magic wands to capture public documents. Apter, who runs Eastland Title Services in South Windsor, Conn., has waged a one-man battle to be allowed to run his battery-powered hand-held scanner over public documents in town records offices as part of his title searching business.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

May 15, 2002 | Law.com

Nobody likes being ignored. But for a client of Stamford, Conn., trial lawyer Stewart M. Casper, being ignored proved lucrative. The simple fact that Allstate Insurance Co. and another insurer ignored early settlement offers in an auto accident case has increased the potential recovery by at least $150,000.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

April 26, 2002 | Law.com

A company can violate trademark law by making repairs to a surgical instrument, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled. The appeals court reversed a trial court ruling that Karl Storz Endoscopy-America had no case against Surgi-Tech -- a company that repaired Storz scopes. But if doctors are confused as "consumers" of the rebuilt tools, the 9th Circuit ruled, that's enough to constitute a violation of the Lanham Act.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

June 14, 2000 | Law.com

Worried about illegal office copying? Maybe you should. For the first time, big law firms are being asked -- or forced -- to cough up license fees of tens of thousands of dollars per year to the Copyright Clearance Center. While firms never had to do this before, things changed with a May 1999 settlement extracted from LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green & MacRae, which included an annual license of $115,000 per year from the CCC.

By Thomas Scheffey

5 minute read

June 17, 2002 | Law.com

Bridgeport, Conn., lawyer Richard A. Bieder said his firm has at least one case held in abeyance by an insurance insolvency stay. And he's not alone: Connecticut lawyers are running into a new litigation pitfall, as insurance companies are placed in the limbo of insurer rehabilitation or the perdition of their liquidation. An informal survey of lawyers found that Pennsylvania-based companies have created the most problems.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read

January 21, 2002 | Law.com

Seven men named "John Doe" who wanted to establish a drug and alcohol recovery residence in a West Haven, Conn., single-family neighborhood were told they couldn't because the zoning law said no more than three unrelated people could occupy a house. They turned to a higher power, and won. A federal judge found the city violated the federal Fair Housing Amendments Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

By Thomas Scheffey

4 minute read