Law Week Online

SCOTUS Unveils New Web Site Design

amcnally — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:11:24 +0000

The U.S. Supreme Court rolled out its new web site this morning, in response to criticism of its outdated, 10-year-old design. According to its announcement, the name of the site will change from http://www.supremecourtus.gov to http://www.supremecourt.gov. Both addresses will work until July. Check out the announcement and details on the changes here.

Simplicity Law To Give Small Businesses Affordable Legal Alternative

amcnally — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:07:34 +0000

Simplicity Law promises “quality work at reasonable prices, completed in 24 hours, fully guaranteed. Simple as that.” Targeted at small businesses, Simplicity Law was started by former Johns Manville executive Dion Persson. The firm plans to expand its services to the top 100 markets in the nation. “We’re trying to be the opposite of most law firms,” Persson told The Denver Post.

Defense Attorney Walter Gerash Sells Historic Brownstone Law Office

mmasich — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:59:47 +0000

Legendary Denver defense attorney Walter Gerash has sold the downtown brownstone that was home to his law office for more than three decades, reports Paula Moore of The Denver Business Journal. The 3,000-square-foot Victorian building at 1439 Court Place is across the street from the Wellington E. Webb Municipal Building. Denver law firm Semler & Associates purchased the building for $750,000 and will be moving its offices there from its current location at 1775 Sherman Street, Gerash said. Gerash will practice as of counsel with Denver firms Springer & Steinberg and Gerash Steiner & Toray.

Construction At Union Station May Continue, Judge Kane Rules

awinter — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:53:09 +0000

U.S. District Court Judge John Kane denied a request by the Colorado Rail Passenger Association to stop construction at Denver Union Station related to the FasTracks regional rail-transit project on Thursday, as reported by the Denver Business Journal. Contractor Kiewit Construction is scheduled to begin digging an underground bus station at Union Station this week.

AG’s Office Settles Lawsuit Against Nutra Pills, Inc. For $100,000

mmasich — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:50:07 +0000

Attorney General John Suthers on Friday announced a settlement has been reached in his office’s complaint against Joshua Benzoni of Arvada and his company Nutra Pills, Inc. The company must pay a $100,000 fine (lowered to $50,000 if it stays out of trouble for five years) for persuading consumers to sign up for “free” nutritional supplements, such as acai berries, that ended up costing $80 or more. The products were advertised as free plus shipping and handling, but when they arrived, consumers had to pay $80 unless they sent the product back within a month. Additional $80 shipments would continue to be sent unless the consumer told Nutra Pills to stop. The company made $40 million with this scheme, $9 million of which has been refunded to consumers. More refunds are expected under the settlement, and any future company Benzoni operates (Nutra Pills no longer does business) may not advertise “free” products unless they are actually free.

031910 Nutra Pills Settlement Release

Former DOI Regional Solicitor Gina Guy Joins Jackson Kelly’s Denver Office

mmasich — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:45:17 +0000

Jackson Kelly announced the addition of attorney Gina Guy to its Denver office. Guy joins the firm following a career as legal counsel for the Department of Interior (Regional Solicitor, Rocky Mountain Region) and Department of the Air Force Deputy General Counsel, Environment and Installations. Guy’s practice at Jackson Kelly will focus on environmental law with an emphasis on natural resources.

Chirag Patel Joins Hensley Kim & Holzer

mmasich — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:48:24 +0000

Hensley Kim & Holzer has added patent attorney Chirag Patel to the firm. Patel received a B.E. in electrical engineering from Gujarat University in India in 1990 and got his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2002.

Chirag Patel PR Release

Colo. Court of Appeals Rules In Ty Cobb ‘Bait-and-switch’ Case

mmasich — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:55:47 +0000

By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — The Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that law firm Hogan & Hartson didn’t use bait-and-switch tactics to trick General Steel Corp. into hiring one of its attorneys. The court did allow a breach of contract lawsuit against Hogan & Hartson to go forward.
Colorado-based General Steel in 2004 hired renowned white-collar defense attorney Ty Cobb, then of Hogan & Hartson’s Denver office, to defend the company against litigation brought by the Colorado attorney general’s office. But Cobb moved to the firm’s Washington, D.C. office two months later, leaving another attorney from the Denver office to work on the case.
General Steel dismissed the firm as counsel after spending about $1 million in legal fees and later settled with the state for $4.5 million. The company sued Hogan & Hartson for violating the Colorado Consumer Protection Act by engaging in the “deceptive trade practice” of “bait-and-switch advertising,” breach of contract and fee disputes.
Denver District Judge Herbert Stern sent the fee dispute to arbitration and dismissed the other CCPA and breach of contract claims. The Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of the CCPA claim but sent the breach of contract issue back to the trial court.
The parties in the appeal were represented by an all-star cast of Denver attorneys. Rothgerber Johnson & Lyons’ Jim Lyons and Hilary Wells represented Ty Cobb; Hal Haddon, Saskia Jordan and Ty Gee of Haddon Morgan & Foreman represented Hogan & Hartson; Davis Graham & Stubbs’ Andrew Low, Victoria Johnson and Terry Miller represented General Steel.

09CA0252

Colo. Court Of Appeals Tosses Murder Conviction In Novotny Case, Orders New Trial

mmasich — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:20:08 +0000

By Matt Masich, LAW WEEK COLORADO
DENVER — The Colorado Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Martin Novotny after ruling Thursday that the trial court erred by not dismissing a prospective juror who worked for the attorney general’s office. Novotny was in 2006 convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison for stabbing to death ex-girlfriend Ana Elisa Toledo.
During jury selection before the trial, Denver District Judge Daniel Hoffman asked prospective jurors if any of them worked for a law enforcement agency. A man identified as J.D. replied that he worked in the state attorney general’s office with responsibility for representing the Department of Corrections.
Novotny’s defense attorney challenged J.D. for cause on the grounds that he worked for a law enforcement agency. Hoffman denied the challenge, commenting that “the attorney general does a whole bunch of things besides law enforcement” and “this guy works in an area that’s not law enforcement.”
Defense counsel used its last peremptory challenge to block J.D. from getting onto the jury. The jury went on to convict Novotny of premeditated murder. But that conviction was reversed Thursday when a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals found that Hoffman erred in denying Novotny’s challenge for cause. The attorney general’s office, the panel ruled, is indeed a law enforcement agency.
“Because defendant [Novotny] used a peremptory challenge to remove J.D. and then exhausted his remaining peremptory challenges, we must reverse the judgment of conviction and remand for a new trial,” wrote Judge John Webb in the panel’s opinion, with Judge Diana Terry concurring.
Judge Sean Connelly wrote a special concurrence to point out the “significant social costs” of the Colorado rule requiring new trials in cases like this. Federal courts and most state courts would find the legal error in this case to be harmless based on the 2000 U.S. Supreme Court U.S. v. Martinez-Salazar ruling, Connelly wrote, while the Colorado Supreme Court has “thus far” not adopted that rule.
“Leading commentators agree an otherwise fair conviction should not be reversed simply because the trial judge erroneously denied a for-cause challenge to a prospective juror later removed with a peremptory challenge,” he wrote.
Karen Mahlman Gerash of the state public defender’s office represented Novotny on appeal; Rebecca Adams of the attorney general’s office represented the state.

06CA2204

Judge John Kane To Rule on Union Station Appeal

awinter — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:07:07 +0000

U.S. District Judge John Kane is expected to rule today whether to put a halt to construction at Denver’s Union Station. Kane heard nearly six hours of testimony Wednesday on the pros and cons of issuing a temporary restraining order that would block FasTracks transit construction at Union Station, as reported by the Denver Post.