The Gibbons Del Deo Dolan Griffinger & Vecchione law firm said Monday it will now simply be known as Gibbons.

The move will take place next month and include the launch of a new logo. The 210-lawyer firm has been moving outside its base of Newark, N.J. It entered the Philadelphia market in May 2005 when it brought in former U.S Attorney David Marston as a partner. Seven months later, it acquired 25-lawyer litigation boutique Hecker Brown Sherry & Johnson in Philadelphia.

Firm officials said analyzing the name and brand began with research by a marketing specialist who interviewed clients, peers, alumni and lawyers.

"In these interviews, we found one resounding theme -- our clients, our peers and our own attorneys call us by the name Gibbons," Managing Partner Patrick C. Dunican Jr. said. "When the most important people to your business call you by one name, it is the logical next step to use that name in all communications to leverage the equity in that name to create a consistent message and increased brand awareness."

Shortening the name follows the trend for law firms and corporate America to brand the name most often referred to in both external and internal communications. It also pays tribute to standard bearer, John J. Gibbons, who returned to the firm in 1990 after serving as chief judge of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

http://www.gibbonslaw.com/

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service has acknowledged the certification by Nissan North America, Inc., that its 2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid vehicle meets the requirements of the Alternative Motor Vehicle Credit as a qualified hybrid motor vehicle.

The credit amount for the hybrid vehicle certification of the 2007 Nissan Altima Hybrid is $2,350.

Consumers seeking the credit may want to buy early since the full credit is only available for a limited time. Taxpayers may claim the full amount of the allowable credit up to the end of the first calendar quarter after the quarter in which the manufacturer records its sale of the 60,000^th vehicle. For the second and third calendar quarters after the quarter in which the 60,000^th vehicle is sold, taxpayers may claim 50 percent of the credit. For the fourth and fifth calendar quarters, taxpayers may claim 25 percent of the credit. No credit is allowed after the fifth quarter.

WASHINGTON — Taxpayers may file their 2006 tax returns electronically beginning today as the Internal Revenue Service opens the e-file program following a record-setting year.

“E-file is fastest, safest and most accurate way to file a tax return,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “People will get their refunds faster through e-file. E-file greatly reduces the chances for making an error compared to filing a paper 1040.”

Taxpayers who use IRS e-file and who choose direct deposit can receive their refund in half the time. Also, tax return information is protected through encryption, and an e-filed tax return is far more accurate than a paper return. Taxpayers receive an acknowledgement within 48 hours that the IRS accepted the return.

IRS e-file surpassed a record in 2006 when more than 73 million tax returns, almost 54 percent of all returns, were filed electronically.

IRS e-file allows taxpayers to file their return and pay later should they owe taxes, and it allows taxpayers to file both the federal and most state returns at the same time. The IRS began the e-file program in 1986 as a pilot project in three cities: Cincinnati, Phoenix and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. That year, there were 25,000 tax returns filed electronically. The e-file program expanded nationwide in 1990 and 4.2 million tax returns were filed. IRS e-file has undergone tremendous growth each year.

Taxpayers may use IRS e-file through their tax preparer, over-the-counter software or Internet programs. The IRS does not charge for e-file, but some tax preparers and software manufactures may charge a fee.

IRS Free File, a partnership between the IRS and some software manufacturers, will offer free tax preparation and e-filing for taxpayers with an Adjusted Gross Income of $52,000 or less. This AGI accounts for 70 percent of all taxpayers or 95 million taxpayers. This year the program features an agreement by private sector partners to remove Refund Anticipation Loans (RALs) as well as other ancillary offerings from the program. Free File will be available later this month.

Feb. 3 Start Date for Extenders Provisions

The IRS plans a Feb. 3 start date for processing tax returns that claim key tax provisions enacted in December. Both paper and electronic returns will not be processed if submitted before Feb. 3. Tax returns filed on paper will be accepted but will not be processed until after IRS processing systems are updated on Feb. 3.

The IRS also noted that it will begin processing both e-file and paper tax returns that include claims for key “extender” provisions, including deductions for state and local sales taxes, higher education tuition and fees, and educator expenses on Feb. 3. Any other tax returns for individuals that do not claim an extender provision can be filed as normal this month.

Tax returns filed on paper with these extender provisions will be accepted but will not be processed until after IRS processing systems are updated on Feb. 3.

The IRS emphasized that using IRS e-file is the most accurate to file any return and the quickest way for taxpayers to receive their refunds. Tax software will be updated so taxpayers can easily claim the extender provisions.

SAN FRANCISCO--The Honorable Richard A. Kramer of the San Francisco Superior Court granted final approval today to a class action settlement resolving claims regarding pricing and collection practices for over 780,000 uninsured patients at all of Catholic Healthcare West's affiliate hospitals.

As part of the settlement, Class members will be entitled to make a claim for refunds or bill reductions of 35% from their prior hospital bills. For the next four years, Catholic Healthcare West ("CHW") hospitals have also agreed to maintain discounted pricing policies for uninsured patients that will make CHW's pricing for uninsured patients comparable to the pricing for patients with private insurance. In addition, CHW has agreed to maintain more compassionate collections policies that will protect uninsureds who fall behind in their payments. The settlement benefits have been valued at approximately $423 million.

The claims process under the settlement is ongoing. Claim forms are available online at the settlement website, www.chwsettlement.com, and the deadline to submit claims is March 8, 2007.

The Settlement Class includes all persons who:

• Received hospital services from a CHW-affiliated hospital between July 1, 2001 and September 25, 2006;
• At the time of treatment, were uninsured and had annual household income at or below $250,000.

"This settlement provides much-needed relief to hundreds of thousands of uninsured patients by substantially reducing their past medical bills and ensuring that in the future CHW maintains reasonable prices for all uninsured patients," said Plaintiffs' attorney Kelly M. Dermody, of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, in San Francisco, California. Co-counsel Sidney A. Backstrom of the Scruggs Law Firm added, "We are pleased that the Court granted final approval to this settlement, which not only secures fair pricing for uninsured patients, but also protects them from unfair and overly aggressive collections practices."

The lawsuit was filed by two uninsured patients on behalf of themselves and all uninsured patients at CHW-affiliated hospitals in California, Nevada and Arizona. The original complaint, filed in October 2005, alleged that CHW charged uninsured patients excessive and unfair prices for medical treatment and engaged in aggressive and unfair collections practices. CHW denied wrongdoing and liability in the case.

Lead Counsel for named plaintiffs and class members are Kelly M. Dermody of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP and Sidney A. Backstrom of the Scruggs Law Firm. More information about the settlement can be found at www.chwsettlement.com, or by calling the contacts listed below.

About Lieff Cabraser

Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, is a sixty attorney, AV-rated law firm founded in 1972 with offices in San Francisco, New York, and Nashville. Lieff Cabraser has served as court-appointed Plaintiffs' Lead or Class Counsel in state and federal coordinated, multi-district, and complex litigation throughout the United States. Lieff Cabraser has litigated and resolved thousands of individual lawsuits and hundreds of class and group actions, including some of the most important civil cases in the United States over the last decade.

Lieff Cabraser enjoys a national reputation for professional integrity and the successful prosecution of our clients' claims. In every year since 2003, the National Law Journal has selected Lieff Cabraser as one of the top plaintiffs' law firms in the nation. In compiling the list, the National Law Journal examined recent verdicts and settlements in addition to overall track records. Lieff Cabraser is one of only three plaintiffs' law firms in the United States to receive this honor for the last four consecutive years.

About the Scruggs Firm

One of our nation's foremost class-action attorneys, Richard Scruggs received international acclaim for his landmark suit against the tobacco industry. The suit culminated in the industry's payment of $246 billion to help states defray Medicaid costs for smoking-related illnesses. Scruggs has been lead counsel in numerous other class actions and causes of national significance as well, including the national class actions against Lehman Brothers and The Money Store for aiding and abetting predatory lending; the $1.1 billion settlement in the Sulzer Orthopedics, Inc. Hip Prosthesis and Knee Prosthesis Liability Litigation; and seven suits against America's health maintenance organizations, charging them with interfering with patient treatment.

"We’re going to make some history here today," said Steve Jobs this week at the beginning of his annual speech at Macworld, his company’s cult-like trade show in San Francisco.

He was as good as his word. First, he launched a product that promises at last to bring digital entertainment from people’s computers to their television screens without fuss. Then he unveiled an even more impressive device that transcends the description "mobile phone." Jobs made it clear that he considered this day a watershed in the three-decade history of Apple Computer, a point that he emphasized by announcing that his firm would henceforth drop "Computer" from its name.

Indeed, Apple’s laptop and desktop computers were hardly mentioned. Nor were Apple’s iPods, which dominate the market for portable music players. Both of the new products are really computers, but people won’t think of them as such, since they will be in their pockets and living rooms.

The mobile phone — provided Apple can settle a legal dispute over the name with Cisco, a network-equipment company — is called the iPhone. It will go on sale in the U.S. in June starting at US$499, in Europe in the autumn and in Asia next year. The television set add-on is called Apple TV and will hit stores next month at $299.

With these two products, Jobs intends to enter and transform new industries, and ultimately people’s lives — just as he did in 1984 when Apple transformed computing with the launch of the Macintosh, and again in 2001 when it introduced the iPod, which shook up the music industry. That Jobs’ announcements had such an impact during this particular week says a lot, because the rest of the consumer- electronics, computer and telecoms industries were simultaneously congregating at the Consumer Electronics Show, the world’s biggest technology fair, in Las Vegas. There, many of Jobs’ old and new rivals were talking about much the same things as he was.

Microsoft’s Bill Gates introduced the Windows Home Server, his answer for uniting computers and TV sets. Olli- Pekka Kallasvuo, boss of Nokia, a mobile-phone giant, unveiled new handsets that can hold music and videos.

But all the gadgets being peddled in Las Vegas were "evolutionary," whereas Apple’s were "revolutionary" and thus noteworthy, says Tim Bajarin, the boss of Creative Strategies, a technology consultancy in California’s Silicon Valley.

The CIA and the American military have been accessing the banking and credit records of hundreds of American citizens suspected of ties to terror groups, the New York Times reported Sunday. Since 9/11, the two US government arms have been using little-known provisions of the Right to Financial Privacy Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the National Security Act  to issue a version of a "national security letter" to domestic banks, credit companies, and other financial corporations. The letters request certain financial information but are generally "noncompulsory" as the CIA and the military have no domestic enforcement authority. The FBI has also issued thousands of similar letters since Sept. 11. All three groups claim increased powers to probe the banking records of American citizens under the Patriot Act, passed in the wake of 9/11.

Democrats and civil liberties groups like the ACLU have expressed serious concern over these and other domestic spying techniques, especially as exercised by government agencies focused abroad. The military and the CIA contend that such intelligence is invaluable in finding leads and strengthening other operations. The ACLU has won two suits against the FBI  related to national security letters.

The US Attorney's announcement comes less than two weeks after Apple completed an internal probe into alleged stock option manipulation by its senior managers, including Jobs. The report purported to clear its executives of any wrong-doing and concluded that Jobs did not "financially benefit" from stock options.