From The New York Times, an interesting story about liberal and conservative groups that agree that law enforcement agencies are going too far.

In the next several months, the Supreme Court will decide at least a half-dozen cases about the rights of people accused of crimes involving drugs, sex and corruption. Civil liberties groups and associations of defense lawyers have lined up on the side of the accused.

Edwin Meese III, a former attorney general, once referred to the American Civil Liberties Union as part of the “criminals’ lobby,” but on this issue, he says, he is willing to work with the group.

But so have conservative, libertarian and business groups. Their briefs and public statements are signs of an emerging consensus on the right that the criminal justice system is an aspect of big government that must be contained.

The development represents a sharp break with tough-on-crime policies associated with the Republican Party since the Nixon administration.

From The Grand Rapids Press:

The state Attorney Grievance Commission has ruled that Judicial Tenure Commission Executive Director Paul Fischer does not have to face a disciplinary panel for his investigation of Kent County District Judge Steven Servaas.

In a terse pronouncement Nov. 17, the grievance commission reviewing a complaint against Fischer ruled “no further action is warranted.” As required in such cases, it gave no indication why.

More than a dozen prominent local lawyers, including former presidents of the Grand Rapids Bar Association, filed a grievance seeking sanctions against Fischer in July 2008. The attorneys alleged Fischer tried to extort Servaas’ resignation.

The grievance commission evidently did not agree.

From The Detroit News:

A battle over the budget turned ugly in Macomb County on Tuesday as the prosecutor vowed to sue over cuts he says will cripple his department’s ability to keep offenders off the streets.

The county board’s budget committee on Tuesday approved reductions for Prosecutor Eric Smith and Sheriff Mark Hackel over the vehement objections of both.

"We’re looking at chaos," Smith said. "Some of our prosecutors are handling over 100 files in some district courtrooms. That’s not adequate representation for the victims of crime in this county."

From The Detroit News:

The attorney representing the Brighton businessman accused in an alleged $53 million "Billionaire Boys Club" Ponzi scheme has himself been indicted for a criminal investment fraud scheme.

Gregory Bartko, the Georgia attorney representing John J. Bravata, his wife Shari Bravata, and his son Antonio Bravata on civil fraud charges brought in Detroit by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is named in a six-count federal indictment handed down in North Carolina, according to court papers filed today.

Bartko, 56, along with a California man, are accused of running an interstate scheme to profit from the fraudulent sale of investments starting in 2004. He faces charges that include conspiracy, false statements, obstruction, and mail fraud.

The Michigan Supreme Court has published for comment large-scale revisions to the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct, including the addition of several new rules.

The proposed new rules and revisions are an outgrowth of a previous proposal, which the Court administrative closed at the beginning of the year.

Among the potentially affected rules:

* Rule 1.5 – Fee Agreements. Two alternatives are proposed, one from the Attorney Grievance Commission.

* Rule 1.7 – Conflict of Interest. The rule would be revised to provide general guidance on conflicts involving current clients.

* Rule 1.8 – Conflict of Interest. The revisions provide specific rules regarding current clients.

* Rule 3.1 – Meritorious Claims and Contentions. The rule’s commentary would make clear that while a lawyer cannot pursue a frivolous action, the lawyer is not responsible for a client’s subjective motion for the action.

* Rule 3.3 – Candor Toward the Tribunal. One proposed revision would impose a duty on lawyers to correct a false statement of material fact previously made to a tribunal.

* Rule 3.4 – Fairness to Opposing Party and Counsel. The proposed revision would clarify that a lawyer may not ask someone other than a client to refrain from voluntarily giving relevant information to another party unless the person is “an employee or other agent of a client for the purposes of MRE 801(d)(2)(D).”

* Rule 3.5 – Impartiality and Decorum of the Tribunal. The proposal specifies circumstances in which a lawyer may contact a juror after the jury is discharged.

* Rule 3.6 – Trial Publicity. Two alternatives are proposed, one from the State Bar of Michigan.

* Rule 5.4 – Professional Independence of a Lawyer. The proposal involves fee-sharing agreements.

* Rule 5.5 – Unauthorized Practice of Law; Multijurisdictional Practice of Law. The rule provides guidelines for lawyers temporarily appearing in Michigan.

* Rule 8.5 – Disciplinary Authority; Choice of Law. The proposed rule specifically gives discipline authorities jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute the ethics violations of attorneys temporarily admitted to
practice in Michigan.

New rules under the proposal include:

* Proposed Rule 2.4 – Lawyer Serving as Third-Party Neutral. The proposed rule is designed to help parties involved in alternative dispute resolution to better understand the role of a lawyer serving as a third-party neutral.

* Proposed Rule 5.7 – Responsibilities Regarding Law-Related Services. The proposed rule would govern circumstances in which a lawyer provides law-related services. The rule establishes a presumption that the MRPC apply unless rebutted by evidence that the lawyer has explained that no attorney-client relationship exists with respect to ancillary services.

* Proposed Rule 6.6 – Nonprofit and Court-Annexed Limited Legal Services Programs. The proposed rule deals with the interplay between conflict of interest concerns and providing volunteer short-term legal services through nonprofit organizations, court-related programs, and legal-advice hotlines.

Comments on the proposals may be sent to the Clerk of the Michigan Supreme Court in writing or electronically by March 1, 2010, at P.O. Box 30052, Lansing, Michigan 48909, or MSC_clerk@courts.mi.gov.

Amended local court rules for the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan take effect Dec. 1, 2009, according to a statement from the court’s Chief Judge Phillip J. Shefferly.

What’s different? Consult the blacklined copy of the local rules, which reflects the revisions.

The amended local rules supplement the recently revised Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. The amended federal rules also take effect Dec. 1.

From The Detroit News:

The company that owns the Ambassador Bridge said it intends to file a lawsuit against the Michigan Department of Transportation that accuses it of deliberately delaying the opening of ramps from Interstates 75 and 96 to the bridge.According to the Detroit International Bridge Company, MDOT’s delaying tactics are forcing residents of southwest Detroit to put up with thousands of trucks driving on local surface streets instead of a direct route from the freeway to the Ambassador Bridge.

The suit will apparently be filed today.

UPDATE: It’s been filed. [HT: Crain's Detroit Business]

Attorney General Mike Cox’s office released a consumer warning about pharmacies that are price gouging for Tamiflu, the swine-flu fightin’ elixir. Here’s the press release:

Attorney General Mike Cox today announced the results of an undercover survey that showed significant price variations at pharmacies across the state for the H1N1 drug Tamiflu.  Cox’s team of investigators looked into the price of liquid Tamiflu, a form commonly used to treat children, at fifty different pharmacies across five Michigan communities and found that some consumers may be paying more than they need to.

Excluding select pharmacies offering free Tamiflu while their supplies last, the Attorney General discovered that statewide prices ranged from $28.00 at one Lansing pharmacy to $140.00 at a pharmacy in Grand Rapids.  Pharmacies in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Lansing and Traverse City were contacted, and the price range in each community included:

Detroit-                       $50.00 to $122.00;

Lansing-                     $28.00 to $119.00;

Grand Rapids-            $47.90 to $140.00;

Flint-                          $48.00 to $94.00; and

Traverse City-             $54.90 to $129.99

Cox urges Michigan residents to shop around for the best price on Tamiflu and all their prescription needs.  The Attorney General’s office is contacting pharmacies with higher prices to gain more insight into why some have prices that are significantly higher than others.

Now, using the Consumer Protection Act, the Attorney General can… ah, pharmacies are licensed by the state. The Consumers Protection Act doesn’t apply.  I’m sure that the board that licenses pharmacists will come down hard on the price gougers.

From our friends at The Detroit News:

A federal judge Monday sentenced Michigan’s "Spam King" to four years and three months in prison and ordered him to forfeit $250,000 for his lead role in a massive Internet scheme to pump up the prices of penny stocks.

Another one from the Freep:

A judge agreed Monday to allow the controversial sale of the Pontiac Silverdome to a Toronto firm for $583,000, lifting a restraining order that had stalled the sale for a week.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Edward Sosnick, in a written ruling issued late Monday afternoon, said that Bloomfield Hills attorney H. Wallace Parker and his development firm, Silver Stallion Corp., had no legal standing to block the sale. Parker, in two court hearings and in court filings, had argued that he had a legal right to buy the 35-year-old stadium.

Parker and Silver Stallion had offered $20 million for the property in August 2008, but negotiations over environmental issues and funding broke down. Parker claimed that he and his group were denied an opportunity to purchase the stadium complex because Silver Stallion is a minority-owned business.