News

Business

[07/30] Oil falls to near $78 as global stocks drop
[07/30] Fortune Brands 2Q profit more than doubles
[07/30] Renault returns to profit in first half

More...

[Newsedge BETA] Tax Law

[05/12] EU cancels planned tariffs on U.S. imports after Congress repeals export tax breaks
[05/12] House balks at Senate's cigarette tax
[05/12] IRS state sales tax deduction left for another day

More...

Case Summaries

Criminal Law & Procedure

[06/28] McDonald v. City of Chicago
In an action against the City of Chicago alleging that the City's handgun ban left plaintiffs vulnerable to criminals, judgment for defendants is reversed where the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the Second Amendment right, recognized in Heller, to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense.

[06/25] People v. Bloom
Conviction of defendant for resisting arrest and other related charges, arising from making more than 40 harassing calls to 911 in a single evening, is affirmed over a challenge to a denial of a motion to suppress as a dispatcher lawfully arrested defendant for making the calls and she was not required to physically restrain him or to be present at the time of the arrest.

[06/24] People v. Int'l Fid. Ins., Co.
In a prosecution of defendant for attempted murder and other crimes, trial court's denial of a motion to vacate a forfeiture and exonerate bail is affirmed where: 1) the trial court did not err in denying the motion as, although defendant was subject to a greater potential maximum penalty under the first amended information than he had been under the original complaint, the charges in the first amended information were based on the same acts alleged in the complaint; and 2) the certificate of mailing of the notice of forfeiture which was signed by a deputy clerk on behalf of the clerk of the court was properly executed.

More...

Probate Trusts

[06/22] Jay E. Hayden Found. v. First Neighbor Bank, NA
In a RICO suit against a bank, two law firms, and affiliated individuals, grant of defendants' motion to dismiss on the ground that the complaint itself showed that plaintiffs had missed the four-year deadline governing RICO suits is affirmed as, by the summer of 2003 at the latest, the plaintiffs knew that a lawyer had looted the estate and that bank's employees were trying to prevent further investigation of the lawyer.

[06/17] Estate of Schneider v. Finmann
In a legal malpractice action alleging that defendants negligently advised decedent to transfer, or failed to advise decedent not to transfer, an insurance policy which resulted in an increased estate tax liability, the appellate division's affirmance of dismissal of the action is reversed where an attorney may be held liable for damages resulting from negligent representation in estate tax planning that causes enhanced estate tax liability.

[06/17] Estate of Charania v. Shulman
In a tax deficiency case, the judgment of the tax court is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) the tax court's judgment that all of the Citigroup shares were the separate property of the decedent for federal estate tax purposes and, thus, were includable in his gross taxable estate is affirmed, as the rule of De Nicols is that a change in marital domicile does not, in itself, effect a change in the marital property regime governing the spouses' rights in personal property acquired throughout the course of the marriage; but 2) the tax court's approbation of the late-filing penalty was in error and is therefore reversed.

More...

Tax Law

[06/23] In re McKinney
An appeal by a tax debt owner in Chapter 13 proceedings, arising from the bankruptcy court's denial of its objections to the debtor's proposed plan to pay off the tax debt with interest within five years, is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction as, although the issue that the tax debt owner cares about may have been resolved, its basic dispute with the bankruptcy estate has not been resolved and therefore the judgment of the bankruptcy court is not final.

[06/22] In re: Delta Airlines, Inc.
In creditors' appeal from a bankruptcy court's order upholding debtor's objections to their claims under tax indemnification agreements, the order is vacated where: 1) the bankruptcy court's construction of "pay" as that term was used in an agreement at issue nullified debtor's obligation to pay the "Owner Participant" under the agreement upon the occurrence most likely to call its provisions into play – the debtor's insolvency; and 2) the bankruptcy court effectively nullified the agreements by stripping them of their ability to protect the Owner Participant in the event of debtor's default.

[06/21] US v. Batson
In a prosecution for conspiracy to commit tax fraud, defendant's restitution order is affirmed in part where the district court was authorized to order restitution for a violation of Title 26 as a condition of supervised release by 18 U.S.C. section 3563(b)(2), which granted courts broad discretion to order restitution as a condition of probation, and 18 U.S.C. section 3583(d), which made that grant applicable to supervised release. However, the order is vacated in part where restitution so ordered must be limited to the offense of conviction when, as here, that offense does not involve an element of a "scheme, conspiracy, or pattern of criminal activity."

More...