Some noteworthy Connecticut lawsuits, and of course, continuing coverage of Hulk Hogan….
- The Bysiewicz for Connecticut Attorney General saga continues. Is she qualified or not? Is the statute that seems to preclude her from running unconstitutional? Will voters elect an Attorney General with essentially no significant experience representing regular clients? Common sense says "no", but the polls suggest otherwise and she fights on. Only time will tell as the legal community awaits the ruling of Judge Michael Sheldon. Several bloggers and columnists have been regularly covering this issue, including the original story breaker,Ryan McKeen at A Connecticut Law Blog. For the Republican take, check out Chris Healy on the Everyday Republican. The Hartford Courant’s coverage is here. Christine Stuart at CT News Junkie regularly posts on the Bysiewicz case.
- Richard Blumenthal, although running for Senate, continues to make headlines as our current Attorney General. His office is now suing Westport National Bank and an investment manager seeking to recover $16.2 million in losses for up to 240 investors. As of Friday, the lawsuit was served but not yet returned to Court. Blumenthal issued a statement saying the Bank collected $2.4 million in fees…but actually did little…" The Bank President, Richard Cummings, fired back stating that Blumenthal’s comments were "inflammatory" and contained "numerous inaccuracies."
- ctwatchdog reported on the CT Department of Consumer Protection charging Wal-Mart Stores in two locations with pricing violations. A hearing will take place in May to determine fines against Wal-Mart for allegations of unit price violations with consumer products.
- Doug Malan of the CT Law Tribune, who also has his own company on professional writing, covers the unfortunate story of a father and son lawsuit involving control and break up of the Simko law firm. Although the lawsuit relates to a law firm dispute, the legal issues are the same for any family business where sometimes the formality of reducing agreements to writing are overlooked. According to Malan’s story, the case is headed for trial in May and Connecticut Statutes on limited liability companies may govern the outcome by default because there was no written operating agreement. Family disputes over closely held businesses are always painful, but a clearly drafted operated agreement can mitigate the dispute especially if the agreement includes provisions for succession, disability, buy-outs and arbitration.
- A while back, I posted about Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit against his attorney’s for failing to advise him he had insurance coverage for an auto accident claim. The Hulkster is back at it. This time he is suing his insurance company for not giving him enough coverage. You might see this kind of a lawsuit in Connecticut but typically only against an agent, not the insurance company itself. In fact, many times lawsuits are filed in Connecticut against insurance agents for professional malpractice or breach of fiduciary duty for failing to obtain the proper coverages for clients. It seems the Hulk had 30 million in assets but only a $250,000 auto policy.