As Congress and the president talk about ending so-called abuses in the credit card industry like sudden rate hikes and late fees, Brady Dougan is in Connecticut courts fighting claims that he owes his ex-wife nearly $1 million for being 12 days tardy with a $7.5 million divorce-related payment.

The 49-year-old chief executive, who lives in Greenwich, suffered a blow in his legal case Wednesday, when the state Appellate Court ruled 2-1 that he must abide by the late payment penalty terms in his 2005 divorce agreement with Tomoko Hamada Dougan.

Retired state Supreme Court Justice David Borden, sitting on the Appellate Court for Dougan v. Dougan, wrote that Brady Dougan is a "highly educated and financially sophisticated" person who "wants to avoid the obligation that he knowingly undertook."

Supreme Court Justice C. Ian McLachlan, appointed to the high court in January, voted with Borden in the appellate ruling. He noted that at the time of the divorce agreement, Brady Dougan's estate was worth nearly $80 million and it appeared he could have made the $7.5 million payment soon after signing the deal.

The Appellate Court overturned a Superior Court decision and sent the case back to the lower court to decide how much Dougan should pay his ex-wife.

It was not clear if Dougan planned to appeal to the state Supreme Court. A message was left Thursday with his attorney, Gary Cohen.

Ken Solomon and Don V. Kelly, registered patent attorneys at the law firm Gallop, Johnson & Neuman (www.gjn-ip.com), have been approved by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, as certified neutrals in the Court's alternative dispute resolution (ADR) program. Their names are included on an exclusive roster of neutrals from which parties before the U.S. District Court may chose when a law suit is referred to alternative dispute resolution by judicial order.

Mr. Kelly and Mr. Solomon are among a small handful of patent attorneys in Missouri who qualify as mediators under Missouri Supreme Court Rule 17. They each were certified after completing formal mediation training at the Saint Louis University School of Law.

"A growing number of businesses are looking to alternative dispute resolution and its cost-effective benefits and its flexible, speedy, business-oriented options for resolving disputes as the alternative to traditional litigation and its limited means for relief.  As certified neutrals, we are able to offer clients and litigants mediation and arbitration expertise to help resolve disputes in areas of patent and trademark  infringement, licensing and other matters to achieve quick, creative, certain, and business-driven resolution, while at the same time avoiding costly litigation processes," Mr. Solomon and Mr. Kelly said in a statement.

Mr. Solomon and Mr. Kelly are both partners of the firm and members of the Intellectual Property Law Practice at Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, L.C., one of the largest full-service law firms in St. Louis.

Mr. Solomon, chair of the IP Law Practice, has substantial oversight and management experience gained over more than 25 years of preparing and prosecuting hundreds of patents and trademark applications, maintaining such rights and protecting such rights through client counseling, policing, licensing, negotiating, defending against claims asserted by others, and through litigation. The May 2009 edition of Intellectual Property Today magazine features an article by Mr. Solomon entitled “Arbitration & Mediation: A More Effective Way to Protect Valuable Intellectual Property” explaining how ADR can short-circuit expensive litigation to achieve better results.

Mr. Solomon’s practice over the past 15 years has been primarily focused on managing large client patent and trademark portfolios in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and, also, international patent and trademark offices. His expertise includes drafting and prosecuting diverse intellectual property agreements and preparing patentability, validity and infringement opinions on behalf of clients. He has substantial experience in many industry sectors and technologies involving chemical and mechanical arts, pharmaceutical products and processes, among many others. He earned a J.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law, currently ranked among the five top law schools in the country for intellectual property law by U.S. News & World Report, and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Mr. Kelly represents clients in litigation and intellectual property matters. He concentrates his practice in the areas of patent infringement, trademark infringement, trade secret litigation, non-compete agreements and business disputes. He has handled numerous multi-million dollar trade secret, franchise, contract and intellectual property cases. He has drafted and prosecuted patent applications for engine components, industrial tools, computer equipment, fuel systems, optical coatings and food industry apparatus, among many other technologies. He also counsels clients regarding trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, technology license agreements and infringement analyses.

Mr. Kelly is featured in a recent article in Midwest CEO discussing indemnity rights. He has served extensively as lead counsel in state and federal jury and non-jury trials. His experience includes handling medical malpractice, toxic tort, pharmaceutical, medical device and products liability litigation. Mr. Kelly earned a J.D. degree from Washington University School of Law and a B.S. in physics from Duke University.

Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, L.C., a full service law firm of 80 attorneys, has provided legal services to clients in all industries since its founding in 1976. The firm received an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau in its January 2009 ratings of Missouri law firms. The firm is located at 101 South Hanley Road, Suite 1700, in Clayton, Missouri. For more information, visit www.gjn.com. For information about the firm’s Intellectual Property Law Practice, contact Ken Solomon or Don Kelly at 314.615.6000.

For more information, contact Lois LaDriere, Director of Marketing, at 314.615.6103

Officials familiar with Obama's deliberations say other people are also being discussed, including names that have not triggered public speculation.

Among those Obama is considering are Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and U.S. Appeals Court judges Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Pamela Wood. California Supreme Court Justice Carlos Moreno is also under review by Obama.

Sources familiar with Obama's deliberations confirmed the names to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no candidates have been revealed by the White House. The confirmation amounts to the first time any name has been directly tied to Obama.

More candidates may be added to the list as Obama considers a replacement for retiring Justice David Souter. The president's review process is expected to intensify in the coming days, with a decision expected by or near the end of May.

The appearance of Howard K. Stern and Drs. Khristine Eroshevich and Sandeep Kapoor in Superior Court set the stage for a preliminary hearing that all parties said could last at least two weeks.

Deputy District Attorney Renee Rose said there are 1,400 pages of discovery in the case, which was investigated for two years before charges were filed. Court Commissioner Kristi Lousteau ordered documents in the case sealed, although attorneys said that about a quarter of the material has already been made public.

The hearing was brief and Smith's name was never mentioned.

Stern, Eroshevich and Kapoor stood before Lousteau with their lawyers. The defendants said "yes" when she asked if they were pleading not guilty and when they agreed to delay the matter until June 8 for setting of the preliminary hearing date. They declined to comment outside court.

Stern's lawyer, Steve Sadow, said he wanted the preliminary hearing to begin as soon as possible.

Mitchell "Ed" Karam of Troy, a 76-year-old developer, appeared in federal court in Detroit on Tuesday, nearly a week after he was named in two indictments. The indictments describe schemes to manipulate sports events by paying a jockey and former Toledo basketball and football players.

He was joined in court by Kashif Payne, 24, of Chester, Pa., who left the basketball team in November 2007. Not-guilty pleas were entered on behalf of both men.

Karam often covered his face with his hands as he waited for his name to be called.

"We contest the charges," defense lawyer Brian Legghio said outside court. "We're going to examine the evidence very closely."

The evidence includes phone calls secretly recorded by the FBI, involving Karam, co-defendant Ghazi "Gary" Manni of Sterling Heights, jockey Ricardo Valdes and Toledo players.

Authorities say Karam and Manni bet $407,000 on Toledo basketball games in 2005 and 2006 and paid players to shave points to control the final score. Seven ex-players — three in football and four in basketball — have been charged.

Raafat Dajani (dah-JAHN'-ee) of Arlington, Va., admitted he would intercept donation checks and deposit them in a bank account he secretly set up. He would forge his boss' signature on thank you letters.

The scheme went on from 2004 to 2008, when the group's president confronted Dajani. He admitted his crime and immediately began paying back the $107,520 he took, with $14,000 left as of Wednesday.

His attorneys argued for probation because of his cooperation and remorse. Dajani, a 44-year-old U.S. citizen born in Kuwait and raised in Lebanon, cried in court as he asked for a second chance.

But U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman said the length and sophistication of the crime warranted time at a minimum security prison.

New York's top court ruled Tuesday that police cannot place GPS trackers on suspects' vehicles without first getting a court warrant showing probable cause that the drivers are up to no good.

The Court of Appeals split 4-3 on the issue, with the majority saying the tracker that state police planted on Scott Weaver's van for 65 days starting in 2005 violated his constitutional protections against unreasonable searches.

The ruling overturned both the trial court and a midlevel appeals court. Weaver has been free on bail.

"The massive invasion of privacy entailed by the prolonged use of the GPS device was inconsistent with even the slightest reasonable expectation of privacy," Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman wrote.

Judges Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, Eugene Pigott Jr. and Theodore Jones Jr. agreed.
They rejected the argument that the satellite tracking device was essentially the same as common police surveillance of vehicles.