Elizabeth A. Alexander, a partner with the Nashville office of the national plaintiffs’ law firm, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, and attorney Charles Barrett, of Nashville, announced today that a local owner of a Gulf Coast vacation home has filed a class action lawsuit against BP. The plaintiff, a Nashville resident and owner of beachfront property in Panacea, Florida, brought the class action on behalf of herself and all Tennessee residents who own property on the Gulf coast in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and have suffered economic losses caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and the resulting oil spill.

“The value of properties along the Gulf Coast and rental income for property owners, including owners from Tennessee, have been negatively impacted. BP and other defendants must take responsibility for their losses.”
."This unfolding and unprecedented ecological and economic disaster, the complaint charges, was the result of negligence by BP and the other corporations involved in drilling at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig," Ms. Alexander stated. "The value of properties along the Gulf Coast and rental income for property owners, including owners from Tennessee, have been negatively impacted. BP and other defendants must take responsibility for their losses."

Defendants named in the complaint include BP, PLC, and BP America, Inc., which owns the oil well, Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling, Inc., which leases the oil rig to BP, Halliburton Energy Services, Inc., which was engaged in cementing operations at the well, and Cameron International Corporation, which supplied the blowout preventer valves for the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that have failed to activate.

The complaint, entitled Simcox v. BP, PLC, et al., was filed yesterday afternoon in federal court in Nashville, Tennessee. The complaint charges that defendants failed to employ necessary safety measures and technologies to prevent the spill and damage to marine and coastal environments. To read a copy of the complaint, please visit http://www.gulfoilspilllitigationgroup.com/pdf/20100525-tn-complaint.pdf

Tully Rinckey PLLC, a full-service law firm with offices in Albany, NY and Washington, DC, recently hired an experienced law practice management consulting group, RJH Consulting, as part of their explosive growth and firm reorganization in both offices. RJH Consulting is a Wyoming-based legal consulting group that provides strategic planning for more than 250 law firms nationwide.

RJH Consulting specializes in operations analysis and can assist law firms with coaching for professional development, profitability, business planning, utilization, budgeting and financial management. It is owned by Robert J. Henderson and Jan Friedland Henderson.  Robert is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and is an experienced trial lawyer and was managing partner of his own law firm. Jan obtained her Masters Degree in Judicial Administration from the University of Denver College of Law and  has served in mid-and senior management positions in law firms during her 30 year career.

“We are excited to have RJH Consulting assist us as we continue to expand and grow into other markets within the next 3-6 months. We take pride in having an outside perspective of how we operate in order to continue to live up to our standards as being a full-service law firm that provides superior legal services to our clients. Positive client relations is still a top priority for us as we continue to grow,” said Mathew B. Tully, Esq., founding partner of Tully Rinckey PLLC.

Mathew B. Tully, Esq., Robert J. Henderson and Jan Friedland Henderson are available for commentary. For more information, please contact Jessica Brociek at 202.787.1900 or at jbrociek@tullylegal.com.

A teenager convicted of manslaughter as a hate crime in the killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant received the maximum sentence of 25 years in prison Wednesday, with the judge saying "the proof was overwhelming."

Jeffrey Conroy, 19, who was convicted last month in the November 2008 stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero, offered an apology before state Supreme Court Justice Robert W. Doyle imposed the sentence.

"I'm really sorry for what happened to Mr. Lucero. I'm really sorry for the whole situation. I feel really bad for what his whole family is going through right now," said Conroy.

His eyes welled up as his lawyer read aloud letters seeking mercy for him.

Conroy was one of seven teenagers implicated in the killing but the only one to go to trial. The killing put a spotlight on troubled race relations on Long Island and led to a U.S. Justice Department probe of bias attacks against Hispanics and the police response to such crimes.

Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP and London-based Denton Wilde Sapte LLP have agreed to merge, pending a partnership vote June 9.

Chicago-based Sonnenschein is one of the largest law firms in St. Louis with 750 lawyers, including more than 40 locally.

The merger won’t affect the firm’s operations in St. Louis, according to a Sonnenschein spokesman.

Following the partnership vote, the combined firm will be rebranded SNR Denton, effective Sept. 30. SNR Denton will have about 1,400 attorneys working out of 33 offices in 18 countries. Its two largest offices will be London and New York.

Sonnenschein Chairman Elliott Portnoy will serve as co-CEO of the merged firm alongside Denton’s Chief Executive Howard Morris.

Denton specializes in financial legal advising and represents banks, funds and financial institutions, along with clients in energy and transportation, real estate, technology, media and telecommunications.

Sonnenschein specializes in capital markets, energy, public policy and government regulations, real estate and hospitality, and political intelligence.

A New York teenager is facing up to 25 years in prison when he is sentenced in the hate crime killing of an Ecuadorean immigrant.

Nineteen-year-old Jeffrey Conroy was convicted last month of manslaughter and other crimes in the November 2008 stabbing death of Marcelo Lucero (mar-SEHL'-oh loo-SEHR'-oh) on Long Island. Conroy is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday.

Prosecutors say they'll ask that Conroy serve the maximum of 25 years, although a judge has the option of imposing a minimum sentence of eight years.

Conroy was one of seven teenagers implicated in the killing but the only one to go to trial.

Prosecutors contend he was the one who inflicted the fatal blow during a confrontation near the Patchogue train station. The killing shone a national spotlight on race relations on Long Island.

The justices agreed to hear Henry Skinner's appeal. On March 24, they granted him a stay about an hour before his scheduled execution to give them more time to decide whether to take up his case.

In an order issued Monday, the Supreme Court said it decided to rule on the issue presented by his case. Arguments are expected to be heard in the upcoming term that begins in October.

Skinner's lawyers maintain that his rights under the civil rights law were violated by authorities' refusal to grant DNA testing after his conviction.

In the United States, post-conviction DNA testing has exonerated more than 250 people, including 17 prisoners who served time on death row, according to a group called the Innocence Project.

Skinner was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of his girlfriend and her two adult sons on New Year's Eve in 1993 in the small town of Pampa, Texas. He has always maintained his innocence.

Skinner's attorneys are seeking DNA testing of key evidence from the crime scene, including a bloody towel, two knives and a man's windbreaker, and swabs from a rape kit.

Judges at the court said in a report that Sudan has refused to hand over Humanitarian Affairs Minister Ahmed Harun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb.

"After taking all possible measures to ensure the cooperation of the Republic of the Sudan, the Chamber concludes that the Republic of the Sudan is failing to comply with its cooperation obligations," the report said.

The court ordered the men arrested in 2007 on a total of 51 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.