Altior Law attorney Steve McKenney recently obtained a favorable appellate ruling for his clients in a property line dispute: Slater v Cueny, unpublished opinion per curiam of the Michigan Court of Appeals dated Feb. 10, 2022 (Docket No. 355914). In that opinion, the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s order establishing a new property line between the parties based on the...
Altior Law attorney Jennifer Grieco recently served as a panelist concerning best practices on non-administered arbitrations hosted by the State Bar of Michigan’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section. Jennifer was selected to present alongside a panel of other notable advocates and arbitrators including, Martin Weisman, Larry Saylor, Samuel McCargo, and moderator Michael Leib. ...
Altior Law attorney Jennifer Cupples was recently honored as the March 2022 Member of the Month by the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan-Oakland Region, known as WBA-Oakland. Jennifer has been the president of the Incorporated Society of Irish American Lawyers since July 2017, the longest-serving president since the society’s organization in 1978. She currently serves as a...
Altior Law attorney David Mollicone recently secured an across-the-board win in his defense of a construction dispute in the Oakland County Circuit Court. The case, Gold, et al v MG Building Company, Inc., et al, Case No. 21-188621-CZ, involved claims of negligence and breach of the implied warranty of habitability arising from the construction of a Bloomfield Hills home. The home...
Authored By: Jennifer Cupples and Jennifer Grieco Block billing is a common time-keeping practice in which attorneys use a single billing entry for total daily time spent on multiple tasks. In various unpublished opinions, the Michigan Court of Appeals has previously rejected arguments that the use of block billing is per se vague or improper – so long as the entries within the blocks are...
Authored By: Stephen McKenney and Kenneth Neuman Many Michigan litigators have been met with this roadblock: “Not until the court decides by motion.” Discovery is ongoing, and your opposing counsel believes their pending motion for summary disposition – in which the court is permitted to consider evidence outside the pleadings – will dispose of the case. But where...
Authored By: Matt Smith and Dave Mollicone On January 1, 2022, the Michigan Supreme Court’s amendments to the long-standing case evaluation rule, MCR 2.403, took effect. Most notable among them is the elimination of sanctions against a rejecting party. But unclear is the timing of the amended rule’s application to cases filed, ordered, or evaluated relative to the effective date of...
Authored By: Matthew Smith and Jennifer Grieco Referral and fee-sharing agreements between attorneys are nothing new. When presented with a matter outside of an attorney’s practice, public policy supports referring the client to an attorney with specialized knowledge in that area of law. In such instances, Michigan Rule of Professional Conduct 1.5(e) allows the specialist and...
Authored By: Jennifer Cupples and David Mollicone The threshold question of whether a dispute is subject to arbitration is generally a matter for a court to determine by considering the reach of the parties’ agreement. In a recent opinion by Justice Cavanagh, joined by Chief Justice McCormack and Justices Bernstein and Clement, the Michigan Supreme Court in Lichon v Michael Morse, et...
Altior Law is pleased to announce that David Mollicone has joined its shareholder group. Dave joins Altior with over 2 decades of experience in corporate and commercial law. His practice includes commercial and corporate litigation, banking litigation, creditors’ rights, real estate litigation, employment law and environmental litigation. Dave represents clients in all...
