Attorneys Say Clients Left in Limbo

Yet again, the U.S. Senate reached a dead-end this week on a possible solution to the expired estate tax. Unless action is taken soon, the federal tax -- temporarily phased completely for this year only -- will jump to a 55 percent rate with a $1 million per spouse exemption in January.

“Hope was in sight,” said Boston area attorney Hank Whittenberg, a tax and estate planning specialist, "but Congressional bickering blocked a reasonable solution. It seems that each party will continue using this as political fodder until after the mid-term elections -- and then it might be too late to take any action before the end of the year."

Members of the Senate appeared to be in general agreement of a proposal to eliminate a retroactive estate tax increase and reduce the tax to 35 percent while raising the exemption to $5 million. However, following a policy luncheon this week, key finance leaders disclosed any such agreement no longer existed.

Meanwhile, the current House proposal resurrects the 2009 estate taxes retroactively to January 1, 2010, allowing for a $3.5 million per person exemption and a flat rate of 45 percent. That proposal is exempt from the Pay-As-You-Go rules, while the lower Senate proposal would not be exempt from the Pay-Go rules.

"Either proposal is better than the limbo our clients are being left in," Whittenberg said. "Without clear indications of whether a retroactive tax will be instituted for 2010, how much of an exemption will be allowed, or what tax rates will be, those pursuing even the most basic planning face a number of uncertainties. We're still able to help families establish effective plans, but the situation could be so much better and more streamlined. Estate attorneys across the nation join me in calling on Congress to simply address this issue once and for all. Action is long overdue." 

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Serving clients throughout the Northeast region, attorneys at Whittenberg Knudsen, LLP focus primarily on estate planning, business law, and probate and trust administration and litigation. Attorney Whittenberg is recognized nationally for expertise in estate and tax planning. He is a partner of Whittenberg Knudsen, LLP, a founding member of WealthCounsel (a national attorney organization of approximately 1,500 estate and wealth strategies attorneys), and a former elected board member of the Member Advisory Board of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys.

State and federal judges on Friday are expected to order prison sentences for the woman who has pleaded guilty to kidnapping in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart.

Wanda Eileen Barzee is set for back-to-back sentencing hearings in U.S. District Court and Utah's 3rd District Court.

The 64-year-old Barzee pleaded guilty to a federal kidnapping charge in November.

In February, Barzee also pleaded guilty but mentally ill in state court to a second-degree felony conspiracy charge for the attempted kidnapping of one of Smart's cousins.

As part of her plea agreements, Barzee has agreed to testify in pending state and federal cases against her now-estranged husband, Brian David Mitchell.

Smart was 14 in 2002 when she was kidnapped at knifepoint from her bedroom.

Three noted Los Angeles Law Firm managing partners will attend the Managing Partners Luncheon held by the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators on Tuesday, May 25 at 11:30 a.m. at the Montage Beverly Hills.

Managing Partner Attendees include:

Former Deputy Attorney General for the State of California, Jeffrey Kravitz

The Los Angeles Daily Journal named Kravitz a Top 10 Entertainment IP Lawyer in 2008. Kravitz is editor of the Sports Law and Fashion Law blogs for Fox Rothschild, a firm with 475 lawyers in 15 offices nationwide

Chief Assistant Attorney General, David Chaney

Chaney serves as the Chief Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Division of the Department of Justice

Stacy Phillips, of Phillips, Lerner, Lauzon & Jamra 

Founder of a boutique Century City firm, Phillips counsels high-profile celebrities in family law cases and is the author of Divorce: It’s All About Control – How to Win the Emotional, Psychological and Legal Wars.

The event will focus on how law firms adjust to changing economics, with a keynote by Blane R. Prescott, Senior Vice President of Hildebrandt Baker Robbins.

Cost to attend the luncheon is $50-$75, with attending managing partners will be eligible to win an Apple iPad.  Luncheon is located in the Conservatory Room of the Montage Beverly Hills at 225 North Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, CA. Luncheon is sponsored by: First Legal, Cash Management Solutions, Afinety, Innovative Computing Systems, Inc. and Nationwide Legal Inc.

ABOUT GLA ALA: The Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Association of Legal Administrators (GLA ALA) is a 320-person nonprofit membership organization that provides educational opportunities, community service, and exchange of information to improve the quality and professionalism of management in legal services organizations. 

For more information about GLA ALA visit www.glaala.org and view the event flyer.

Media inquiries contact Jess Block, Media Relations, 909-706-8525.

Massachusetts' highest court ruled Wednesday that corporations can't face criminal charges in cases where none of their employees committed a crime, calling the theory "illogical."

The Supreme Judicial Court ruling came in a case where an Acton nursing home owner was charged with involuntary manslaughter after a patient in a wheelchair toppled down the stairs to her death in 2004.

State attorney general Martha Coakley's office charged Life Care Centers of America, Inc. with involuntary manslaughter, arguing the charge was justified due to a combination of various staff mistakes, none of which were criminal.

The SJC flatly rejected the argument, saying the AG can't combine actions that were at worst, negligent, and then charge the company with a crime.

"This theory is illogical and such an argument cannot succeed," the court wrote. "If at least one employee did not act wantonly or recklessly, then the corporation cannot be held to a higher standard of culpability by combining various employees' acts."

Coakley's office said it was disappointed by the decision, but it has not dropped the charge. Spokeswoman Emily LaGrassa said the AG was deciding whether to proceed based on possible criminal liability by a nursing supervisor.

A college professor accused of organizing a swingers club and holding private orgies in China was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison, officials said, in a case that touched off national debate about sexual freedom.

Ma Yaohai, 53, was convicted and sentenced on charges of group licentiousness for participating in group sex parties, said an official from the Qinhuai District Court in southeastern Nanjing. The official, who declined to give his name, refused to answer further questions.

Ma, along with 21 other people, was arrested and charged last year — the first time anyone has been charged under a 1997 law in a case that has snagged huge public interest with its titillating details. It also generated debate about sexual freedom in a nation trying to reshape its own modern morality.

Ma's attorney Yao Yong'an said his client, who was the only one to plead innocent, plans to appeal the verdict.

Prosecutors trying former Liberian president Charles Taylor for war crimes at a U.N.-backed court asked judges Thursday to subpoena supermodel Naomi Campbell to testify about being given uncut diamonds by Taylor.

Special Court for Sierra Leone Prosecutor Brenda Hollis filed a motion saying Taylor allegedly gave Campbell diamonds at a reception in South Africa in September 1997. Taylor denies prosecutors' allegations that he provided arms and ammunition to brutal rebels during Sierra Leone's civil war in exchange for so-called blood diamonds.

Campbell's testimony would provide "direct evidence of the accused's possession of rough diamonds from a witness unrelated to the Liberian or Sierra Leone conflicts," Hollis said in the motion.

She adds that Taylor "denied ever having possessed rough diamonds and the evidence clearly contradicts his testimony on this central issue."

Three of nine members of a Midwest militia accused of conspiring to overthrow the government were released from jail Tuesday until trial after prosecutors suddenly backed off an intense effort to keep the entire group behind bars.

David Stone Jr., 19, Jacob Ward, 33, and Tina Stone, 44, were released to family members after appearing in federal court in Detroit. They must wear electronic monitors and follow strict conditions first set by a judge earlier this month.

"It's a great start," said Stone Jr.'s attorney, Todd Shanker. "David Jr. is not a danger to anybody. He's going to work at a nearby farm and he's not going to bother anybody."

After the hearing, Tina Stone said she was happy to be going to her father's home in Hillsdale County but declined further comment. Asked what's ahead, her father, Tim Kelley, said with a laugh: "She's pickin' my strawberries. I know that."

The three are among nine indicted members of a southern Michigan-based group called Hutaree. All are charged with conspiring to commit sedition, or rebellion, against the government and attempting to use weapons of mass destruction.