Here's some food for thought: A multi-millionaire who dies today in the US might not have to pay any estate tax. There may have been a silent and temporary estate tax repeal this year. Now, if you're thinking about drafting some estate planning documents, you might be left scratching your head. D ...

NO-FAULT – DEFAMATION – QUALIFIED PRIVILEGE – MALICE Hame v. Lawson (2nd Dept., decided 2/2/2010) Can an insurer be sued for defamation in relation to statements it makes about the insured or claimant while it is investigating whether or after it has concluded that the claim is fraudulent?&nbs ...

Did you know that some of your gifts could be included in your income tax calculation? But only those that the IRS says are "not really" gifts. Let's break this concept down. Also, keep in mind that there is a tax that is entirely separate from income tax and it is called "gift tax." It has i ...

The Federal Trade Commission announced this week two new measures to address lapses in consumer protection for U.S. citizens. Mortgage Lender Required to Hire Consultant According to a news release, the FTC has modified a settlement with Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Services, L.P., a mortgag ...

Im sure its an honor just to be nominated. A recent opinion from Judge Posner cites our very own Josh Wright (Joshua D. Wright & Todd J. Zywicki, “Three Problematic Truths About the Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009,” Lombard Street, Sept. 14, 2009, available here) (by the way, the es ...

Just as truth is often said to be the first casualty of war, bad grammar is often the first victor in coverage battles. Such has recently been the fate of the quaint but venerable doctrine of the last antecedent, whereby clauses in a contract are interpreted in accordance with the words or phrases t ...

On February 3, 2010, the Tax Court released it's decision in Estate of Shurtz v. Commissioner, This case is interesting for a number of reasons.  First, even though it involves a family limited partnership, the case is not about the estate taking substantial discounts.  In fact, ...

Delaware's death penalty is back on and the state will resume lethal injections. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the state's death penalty as constitutional, allowing Delaware to resume carrying out executions that have been on hold since 2006. According to the News Journal, the court ...

By Cori Badgley Los Angeles Unified School District v. County of Los Angeles (2010) __ Cal.App.4th __ involved a tug-of-war between a county and a school district over a share of the property tax increment distributed by redevelopment agencies. In the wake of Proposition 13, property tax revenues a ...

You find a reference to a book or an article that is on point for a seminar paper but it isnt at Biddle, on campus, or available as a pdf. Do you give up in defeat and look for a substitute resource that you can get on campus? Your topic is somewhat obscure and a search of LOLA and Franklin by subj ...