Expressing a heavy dose of skepticism that crime lab reports are so reliable as to be beyond question, the Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for chemists and other scientists who prepare such reports to be summoned to the witness stand in criminal trials to defend their analysis.  The 5-4 ruling in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts (07-591) resulted from some unusual alliances among the Justices, and continued the deep division within the Court over how to interpret the Constitution’s guarantee that an individual on trial for a crime has a right to face and challenge the witnesses for the prosecution.

The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, made applicable to the States via the Fourteenth Amendment, Pointer v. Texas, 380 U. S. 400, 403 (1965), provides that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” In Crawford, after reviewing the Clause’s historical underpinnings, we held that it guarantees a defendant’s right to confront those “who ‘bear testimony’” against him. 541 U. S., at 51. A witness’s testimony against a defendant is thus inadmissible unless the witness appears at trial or, if the witness is unavailable, the defendant had a prior opportunity for cross-examination. Id., at 54.

Law and business clients often ask, "Have we reached the bottom, yet?"

This report shows that home sales are still slow in Massachusetts. In the late 1990s and into the early part of this century, the state was averaging over 5,000 single-family home sales during the month of May. Last month, we saw fewer than 3,300 home sales, making it the lowest sales pace for the month of May in almost two decades,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., chief executive officer of The Warren Group, in a statement.

...the number of foreclosure petitions filed in May was six times the 390 petitions filed the same month a year ago. Foreclosure petitions mark the start of the foreclosure process in Massachusetts. In addition, the number of foreclosure petitions climbed 15.7 percent from 2,013 in April.

Massachusetts’ unemployment rate inched up to 8.2 percent in May, as local employers reported 111,100 fewer workers on their payrolls when compared to the year-earlier period.

... we take this opportunity to stress that we have no doubt that self-settled, irrevocable trusts may, if so structured, so insulate trust assets that those assets will be deemed unavailable to the settlor. ... Muriel's trust is a carefully crafted, entirely appropriate estate planning device. But neither the trust's validity nor her good intentions determine the present question. In our view, Muriel's trust, as structured, allows the trustees a degree of discretionary authority that would, if sanctioned, permit Muriel to enjoy her assets, preserve those assets for her heirs, and receive public assistance, to, in effect, "have [her] cake and eat it too." ... Congress has declared a contrary intent, that Medicaid benefits be made available only to those who genuinely lack sufficient resources to provide for themselves. We perceive no reason in this case to deviate from that mandate.

After the judge had ruled on the hospital's motion to dismiss, we adopted as applicable to our civil rules the United States Supreme Court's revision of the standard for reviewing the adequacy of a complaint challenged by a motion to dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12 (b) (6). See Iannacchino v. Ford Motor Co., 451 Mass. 623, 635-636 (2008), quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 127 S. Ct. 1955, 1966 (2007) ("What is required at the pleading stage are factual 'allegations plausibly suggesting [not merely consistent with]' an entitlement to relief . . ."). The hospital does not ask that we apply the new, "stricter" standard. See Flomenbaum v. Commonwealth, 451 Mass. 740, 751 n.12 (2008). The complaint would not survive the hospital's motion to dismiss under either standard.

In 1996, the parties, Paula Mandel and Shawn Mandel, obligated themselves...to each pay for one-half of their daughters' "college education expenses." The provision contained no further explanation regarding cost or choice of school, although another...provision provided both parents with the right to participate fully in their daughters' activities and with input into educational decisions. A decade later, their older daughter enrolled at a private university costing approximately $34,000 a year. The parties never reached an agreement on payment, and when Shawn refused to pay fifty percent of the cost, Paula initiated contempt proceedings against him. A Probate and Family Court judge eventually found that Paula and the child had selected a school "financially out of reach" for Shawn and ordered him to pay approximately one-quarter of the expenses of the private college. On appeal, Paula claims the judge erred by not requiring Shawn to pay one-half of the expenses actually incurred. Shawn argues that the judge properly limited his obligation to the expenses he would have paid had the child attended a State university.

Both parents shall participate fully in providing access to the child and her activities, and input into educational, medical, behavioral and other significant decisions affecting the child.
...

The Husband and Wife shall each contribute 50% toward each child's college education expenses, including, but not limited to, room, board, tuition, books, fees and other normal educational expenses.

• Financial resources of both parents;
• Standard of living the child would have enjoyed if the marriage had not been dissolved;
• Financial resources of the child;
• Cost of the school;
• Programs offered at the school;
• Child's scholastic aptitude;
• How the school meets the child's goals;
• Benefits the child will receive from attending the school;
• Parents' standard of living," which in some cases "includes the ability to provide certain opportunities...such as private school education"; and
• Massachusetts Child Support Guidelines, encouraging "joint parental responsibility for child support in proportion to, or as a percentage of, income."

the extent to which [a party] unjustifiably may have been excluded from the [college] decision-making process.

Conversely, a party who has sat on his or her right to intervene, or to seek approval from the court when the parties disagree, until the college selection process has been completed, may have waived his or her right to object to the college and its concomitant cost.

Disagreement itself is not surprising. "With the explosive growth in the cost of financing a college education, the issue of who will pay those costs after the divorce of the parents is becoming increasingly acute." 2 Kindregan & Inker, Family Law and Practice § 39:50, at 830 (3d ed. 2002). Overall, college tuition and fees have increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007, adjusted for inflation. National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, Measuring Up 2008: The National Report Card on Higher Education 8 (2008). The difference between college costs at different types of universities is also significant. According to the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges(NASULGC), tuition and fees averaged about $3,200 for community colleges and $33,000 for private research universities in 2006-2007. NASULGC, University Tuition, Consumer Choice and College Affordability: Strategies for Addressing a Higher Education Affordability Challenge 14, 85 (2008).

• Privacy Rights
• Privacy Invasions
• Security Breaches and Crimes
• Open Government

In Kennedy, an estate tried to recover $402,000 that was paid to an ex-spouse.  In the divorce, the wife gave up her rights to the husband's pension or other work-related benefits. However, the husband failed to remove his ex-wife as the beneficiary of his investment plan assets. Following his death, the funds went to the ex-spouse. Prior to this Supreme Court decision, various courts had reached different conclusions about this type of issue (This post follows my prior post, Rolling Over in His Grave--Another Lesson in Costly Beneficiary Form Mistakes.)

The Court, in Kennedy, found plan benefits can be waived under a divorce decree, however, "...the plan administrator did its statutory ERISA duty by paying the benefits to [the ex-spouse] in conformity with the plan documents.”

So the ex-spouse keeps the money, or does she? A footnote indicates the estate might still be able to pursue an action against the ex-spouse to recover the funds. An analysis at the Scotus Wiki states,

The Court, in a footnote, left open the question of whether the estate could have sued to recover the benefits from Liv after she received them. The footnote mentioned prior rulings that seemed to say that a prior contractual agreement to forfeit funds may be enforceable after the distribution without violating ERISA; once the money is paid out, it loses its ERISA protection, those rulings had indicated.

For starters, Google alerts provides one tool to keep track of what's being said about you online. A search on twitter might help, too. This list from author, Andy Beal, provides 34 more tools to consider, 34 Online Reputation Management Tools | Small Business Marketing Blog from Duct Tape Marketing.

Beal rightly states:

User generated media, blogs and discussion forums have changed the flow of information about your company forever.

• Brands
• Products
• Company
• Key Executives

In general, when a problem arises, one should consider both legal liability and business reputation issues when choosing the best course of action. Sometimes, however, these different approaches may not agree.

...leaking...has law firm leaders exercising caution. ... firms are well aware their private e-mails may end up in the public spotlight....

Explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 U.S. adults [.]

• 1 in 24 adults is under correctional control (probation, parole, prison, or jail.)
• 1 in 28 is on probate or parole.
• 1 in 190 is in prison or in jail.
• $1.25 billion is spent on corrections or 4.6% of 2008's general fund.
• 1 day of prison ($130.16) = 18 days of parole.
• For every dollar spent on prisons in 2008, 4 cents was spent on parole.

• COBRA Premium Reduction Provision

• Joint Explanatory Statement of the Committee of Conference on the COBRA Premium Reduction Provision

• COBRA Premium Reduction Fact Sheet

• Job Loss Poster (8½" x 11")

• Job Loss Poster (11" x 17")

• Flyer for Employers • Flyer for Employees

• COBRA Continuation Health Coverage FAQs for Employees

• COBRA Continuation Health Coverage FAQs for Employers

• Basic COBRA Information for employees • [Spanish]

• Basic COBRA Information for employers • [Spanish]

• Other Job Loss Resources

• IRS Information on COBRA Premium Reduction

• DOL Information Related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued an order on Feb. 20 asking both sides in the case to provide their legal comments on a 1996 ban on the use of cameras in the circuit's court rooms.

The appeals court has given Tenenbaum and the music labels 20 days from the order to file the comments, or supplementary briefs, on the likely implications of the 1996 resolution on the present case.

In a separate development, a scheduled hearing of the case Tuesday in a federal district court in Boston, at which the live streaming was to have occurred, has been pushed back to April 30.

The anti-union lobby and public relations machine will be mobilizing others to visit the site and vote No. Don't let them distort the view of the American people.

The Boston Globe in, Homeowners anxious for details, reports:

The Obama administration plans to issue guidelines March 4 when the program starts. Included in the plan is a change in lending rules to help as many as 5 million homeowners refinance, $75 billion to help up to 4 million homeowners most at risk of foreclosure, and a pledge of $200 billion to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to help keep mortgage rates low.

...first mortgages must also fall between 80 and 105 percent of the value of their home. About 25 percent of Boston-area homeowners...would meet this debt-to-value criteria, according to real estate tracker Zillow.com.

...President Obama is addressing the root cause of the economic crisis in a way that should finally help struggling homeowners.

...

It's the most comprehensive effort yet at dealing with the impact of plummeting home values, which have left so many families "under water" - owing more than their homes are now worth.

The $75 billion lifeline to stave off foreclosures for millions of Americans comes as the stock market is dropping, jobs are vanishing and some of the nation's once-iconic corporations face possible bankruptcy.

Adding a comparative international element to the looming question, Susan Cartier Liebel brought to my attention, via Twitter, this New York Times article, When Consumers Cut Back, Lessons From Japan, which looks at Japan's recent economic stimulus experience:

Economic stimulus programs like the one President Obama signed into law last week have been hampered in Japan by deflation, the downward spiral of prices and wages that occurs when consumers hold down spending — in part because they expect goods to be cheaper in the future.

Economists say deflation could interfere with the...cash handouts that the Japanese government is planning, because consumers might save the extra money on the hunch that it will be more valuable in the future than it is now.

The same fear grips many economists and policymakers in the United States. “Deflation is a real risk facing the economy,” President Obama’s chief economic adviser, Lawrence H. Summers, told reporters this month.

All of this hunkering down has stopped the great churning, the buying, selling and buying that was at the heart of our prosperity. In private equity firms, the churning was life. They bought a company, removed the fat, sold it at a profit, and bought another one. They kept moving. That's over. No one is buying now, and no one can sell.

I end with a hunch that is not an unhappy one. Dynamism has been leached from our system for now, but not from the human brain or heart. Just as our political regeneration will happen locally, in counties and states that learn how to control themselves and demonstrate how to govern effectively in a time of limits, so will our economic regeneration. That will begin in someone's garage, somebody's kitchen.... The comeback will be from the ground up and will start with innovation. No one trusts big anymore. In the future everything will be local. That's where the magic will be. And no amount of pessimism will stop it once it starts.

Speaking personally, the town I grew up in has grown more distant to me. My mother's mother's mother down the years to my daughter have called this town home--I'm even an elected official here, but something has been missing, something amiss from my cherished youth. Don't get me wrong, there remain many friendly people and places, but many of these, surprisingly, I recall from years ago, and fewer, more recently. Today, a culture of stranger danger and selfism has made good fences more important than good neighbors. As a child, we had less, but we had more, too.

Fondly, I recall marching on picket lines with my father's union when jobs were scarce. Going to flea markets in the blue cargo van and working beside Dad for the day as we sold all sorts of things to help us get by. A cheese pizza at the Liberty, a small pub Mom was waitressing at. Fishing. Going to a single Red Sox game in Fenway Park. Our family trip to Disney World meant busting open the piggy bank we had been filling for years and six of us squeezing into a Datsun 210 while stopping at hotels along our way while checking prices for our night's stay. We played, in the neighborhood, climbed trees, ran in and outside the library. We made up our own games and enjoyed make-believe. Structure gave way to experimenting. Teachers taught with passion. Coaches placed character before winning trophies.

Years ago, while working with teens removed from their families, I became a fan of narrative therapy. Wikipedia states, "Narrative therapy holds that our identities are shaped by the accounts of our lives found in our stories or narratives." These resilient kids taught me circumstances alone don't make the person, but rather it's what you believe about yourself that matters most. It's a matter of perspective and identity. What story will define our times? What narrative will we write for future generations?

I, too, hope for a comeback, but the comeback I hope for isn't merely economic. While the stimulus plan won't save everyone, if it helps more people stay in their homes while preserving and building better communities, then it's a social investment we may all benefit from. It frames a prouder tale of hope and of help. Which story is better? Is taking helpful action preferable to succumbing to weaker woes of corruption, defeat, or a quitting attitude that it's just too late?

The narrative of our economic challenge might better be viewed through the eyes of those who landed in Plymouth with little more than hope and determination for a better life. What would they say to us? What can be accomplished against great odds when determined people, true survivors, come together? Emerson wrote of progress despite the negatives, "We see, now, events forced on, which seem to retard or retrograde the civility of ages. But the world-spirit is a good swimmer, and storm and waves cannot drown him."

Neither our economy nor our mortgage interest rates are the greatness of America. No, freedom and the opportunity for a better life have guided us true. Today provides an opportune time for us to rediscover those things that truly matter and to return to the basics. This is not defeat, we remain the land of the free and the home of the brave. As Thomas Paine declared in times of far greater peril,

I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. 'Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.

Sure, there will be those passive people who may say to others, "Make it better for me today while I go on watching or complaining." But those truly living the American dream, a dream shared by our forebearers, will join together and with a proud smile proclaim (borrowing once more from Twain), "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace[.]"