Inaugural sports, entertainment law lecture hosted

Jun15
6/14/06
3:05 PM
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Thursday
June 15, 2006
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Vol. CXI No. 119
Court announces
appointments to
grievance commission
HOWARD SOIFER MEMORIAL LECTURE
The Michigan Supreme Court recently
made the following appointments and reappointments to the Attorney Grievance Commission (AGC):
• Karen Quinlan Valvo of Ann Arbor, attorney
and shareholder in the law firm of Reach, Reach,
Fink, & Valvo P.C. She is reappointed as chair for
a term expiring on September 30, 2007.
• Michael Murray of Lansing, attorney and
legal counsel for the Catholic Diocese of
Lansing. Already a member of the AGC, Murray is appointed as vice-chair for a term expiring on September 30, 2007. He succeeds
Kendall B. Williams, whose term has expired,
as vice-chair.
• Russell E. Mohney, M.D. of Kalamazoo,
neurologist and emeritus member of the Kalamazoo Neurological Institute. He is reappointed for a term expiring on September 30, 2009.
• Martha D. Moore of Rochester, attorney
and associate professor at Thomas M. Cooley
Law School. She is appointed for a term expiring on September 30, 2009. She succeeds
Kendall B. Williams, whose term has expired.
• Richard B. Poling Jr. of Troy, attorney
and shareholder in the law firm of Poling,
McGaw, & Poling P.C. He is reappointed for a
term expiring on September 30, 2009.
The AGC, which was established in 1978
by order of the Michigan Supreme Court,
investigates and prosecutes attorney misconduct cases. The nine members of the AGC
serve on a volunteer basis. The AGC also
employs a staff that includes attorneys and
investigators.
For more information about the AGC, visit
http://www.agcmi.com/index.html.
ROBERTA M. GUBBINS
Senate confirms Munoz
as state police leader
LANSING (AP) — Lt. Col. Peter Munoz
was unanimously confirmed by the state Senate on Tuesday as the next director of the
Michigan State Police.
Munoz was Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s
choice for the job. He replaces Col. Tadarial
Sturdivant, who is leaving for a job with the
Wayne County Department of Children &
Family Services.
Munoz, who lives in Okemos and is originally from Detroit, most recently was deputy
director of the field services bureau for the
Michigan State Police. He enlisted with the
department in 1978 and has held several jobs
including captain, district commander, post
commander and sergeant in the governor’s
security section.
Sen. Cameron Brown, a Sturgis Republican, said Munoz is an “exceptionally qualified” candidate to lead the state police.
Sen. Michael Switalski, a Democrat from
Roseville, said Munoz is connected with all
levels of the department and is widely respected. “He takes pride in the department,”
Switalski said.
Bill would provide pistol
carriers confidentiality
LANSING (AP) — The state Senate on
Tuesday passed a bill to make personal information about concealed weapons carriers
exempt from public disclosure.
The bill passed 32-5. Five Democratic senators voted no: Liz Brater of Ann Arbor, Irma
Clark-Coleman of Detroit, Bob Emerson of
Flint, Gilda Jacobs of Huntington Woods and
Martha Scott of Highland Park. Sen. Hansen
Clarke, D-Detroit, was absent and didn’t vote.
The measure now goes to back to the
House to resolve differences with the version
passed by the House. The House passed the
bill last month by a 104-0 vote.
The bill would require county gun boards to
safeguard information from applications to
carry concealed weapons. The name, address
and birth date of an applicant for a concealed
pistol license would not be subject to the Freedom of Information Act, although it still could
be disclosed for law enforcement purposes.
The bill is consistent with court rulings
determining gun ownership is personal in
nature, House Republicans have said.
––––––––––
The concealed weapons bill is House Bill
5217.
Inaugural sports, entertainment law lecture hosted
Legal News
Steve Smith, National Basketball Association All-Star, and Russ Granik, deputy commissioner and chief operating officer of the
National Basketball Association, were the featured speakers at the Inaugural Howard Soifer
Memorial Lecture held at Thomas M. Cooley
Law School on Monday, May 22.
Howard Soifer, who passed away in 2003,
was a 1977 Cooley graduate and lover of
sports. He represented several prominent professional athletes including Steve Smith.
Soifer was proud to have negotiated a $2.5
million donation to Michigan State University
by Smith, the largest gift from a professional
athlete to his alma mater.
Steve Smith, an outstanding player for
Michigan State University, turned pro at the
age of 18. “At that time Howard became my
lawyer. His favorites words were ‘go for it.’
He pushed me to become a better person. He
always made sure I understood the terms of
every contract,” said Smith. “He would go
over things again and again until I understood
it.”
Russ Granik joined the National Basketball
Association in 1976. At that time “there were
20 employees. Now we have over 1,000 people in ten regional offices,” he said. “We have
30 to 40 people in China right now.”
“In those days, not too many people
thought of professional sports as a serious
career. My father was the one who supported
my decision to go to the NBA. I was the only
lawyer. Now we have more than twenty
lawyers on our staff who specialize in intellectual property, litigation, telecommunication,
corporate finance and the like.”
Granik listed four areas of dramatic change
in professional sports:
—The development of the labor laws and
anti-trust laws.
—The tremendous explosion in business
opportunities as sports became involved in
entertainment.
—The role of sports leagues as corporate
citizens in their communities.
—Last, the globalization of sports.
“I guess,” he added, “I have to include a
fifth area, the use of performance enhancing
drugs on sports. The game of basketball
seems to have been spared involvement with
those drugs to date.
“In the past, the players were under contracts that contained a reserve clause allowing
automatic renewal year after year with little or
no negotiation. The emergence of the players
associations and court decisions declaring that
the sports teams were subject to the anti-trust
laws changed that. By 1995, as long as the
players had a union, disagreements were to be
(See LECTURE, Page Two)
Forum looks at using science to prove claims
THE MICHIGAN TRIAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATION (MTLA) conducted a forum on
“Using Science to Prove Your Claim” on
Monday, May 22, at the DoubleTree Hotel
in Novi. Taking part in the seminar were
(left to right) incoming MTLA President
Jesse M. Reiter of Gregory & Reiter in
Bloomfield Hills; Linda Turek of Sachs
Waldman in Detroit; Rebecca Walsh of
Fieger, Fieger, Kenney, & Johnson in
Southfield; Wayne Miller of Miller,
Shpiece, & Tischler in Southfield; and
David Parker of Charfoos & Christensen
in Detroit.
Photo by John Meiu
Judge issues warrant for
Detroit Tigers’ Dimitri Young
BY BRIAN CHARLTON
Associated Press Writer
BLOOMFIELD HILLS (AP) — An arrest
warrant for Dmitri Young was issued Tuesday
after the Detroit Tigers designated hitter failed
to appear for a pretrial hearing on a domestic
violence charge.
Young is accused of choking a 21-year-old
Toledo, Ohio, woman April 14 at a Birmingham
hotel.
A judge ruled Tuesday that information provided by Young’s attorney on the player’s
whereabouts did not meet a requirement that he
leave the state only for work-related purposes.
Judge Diane D’Agostini of the 48th District
Court in Bloomfield Hills issued a bench warrant.
Young’s attorney, William Swor, declined to
comment.
Tigers president Dave Dombrowski said that
the arrest warrant would not affect Young’s status with the team.
The 32-year-old is currently on the disabled
list with an injured right quadriceps, and left the
team for what the Tigers called “personal reasons” in late May.
Neither Swor nor Young were present for the
pretrial hearing Monday. Swor faxed a request to
D’Agostini on Monday afternoon, asking that
the hearing be delayed because he was scheduled to be in federal court in Miami for a different case.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Assistant Oakland
County prosecutor Tare Wigod told D’Agostini
that Swor told him Young had a medical emergency and was out of state.
But D’Agostini rejected the request for a
delay and demanded proof by the end of the day
that Young was housed at a legitimate medical
facility. She also ordered Swor to appear in her
courtroom on Friday.
Administrator Jim Harkins said the court
received a fax from Young’s attorney but it did
not reflect the conditions of his bond. He
declined to reveal the contents of the fax.
Adam Katz, Young’s agent, did not immediately return a message.
If convicted of the misdemeanor charge,
Young could face up to 93 days in jail and a
$500 fine.
Young is in his 11th major league season and
fifth with Detroit. He is hitting .169 in 59 atbats with four RBIs.
Jack White testifies about fight
DETROIT (AP) — A rival of White Stripes singer and guitarist Jack White says he
found an obscenity filled warning note stuck to his door, but White denies he put it
there.
The statements came in testimony Tuesday in the trial of a federal lawsuit brought
by a producer who worked on the first two White Stripes albums and says he deserves
a share of the royalties.
The trial began Monday on a federal lawsuit by Jim Diamond, who is listed as coproducer on the band’s self-titled first album, released in 1999. He is listed as sound
mixer on “De Stijl,” released in 2000.
In an aside to that claim, White and Jason Stollsteimer of the Von Bondies testified
about their fight inside Detroit’s Magic Stick nightclub in 2003. Stollsteimer also told
about finding a message he said was from White attached to his front door.
“I found a note stuck to my door with a knife in it,” Stollsteimer told a U.S. District
Court jury.
The knife held up a magazine interview story in which White apparently believed
that Stollsteimer slighted him by minimizing his role in producing a Von Bondies
album.
“That’s the last ... time I help you out,” Stollsteimer quoted a message across the
article as saying.
Earlier, White said it was “a laughable lie” that he stuck a knife in Stollsteimer’s
door.
White pleaded guilty in 2004 to misdemeanor assault and battery in connection
with the fight.
The trial before U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn was expected to last about a week.
The White Stripes deny that Diamond helped create the band’s style. The band said
in court documents that it paid him $35 an hour for time at his Ghetto Recorders studio, which he started in 1996.
White Stripes drummer Meg White testified that although the group’s first album
listed Diamond as co-producer, he really was not. She said credit for producing that
album belonged solely to Jack White.
Straker Bar
Association
examines
Affirmative
Action Ballot
Initiative
THE D. AUGUSTUS STRAKER BAR
ASSOCIATION, in conjunction with
the Southern Oakland County Branch
of the NAACP, and the Church & Society Ministry of Hope United Methodist
Church hosted a community forum
titled “The Affirmative Action Ballot
Initiative – If Affirmative Action Falls,
Will You Still Be Standing?” on Tuesday, May 23, at Hope United
Methodist Church in Southfield. Taking part in the forum were (left to
right) Jamiel Martin, public education
director of Michigan United; Oakland
County 46th District Court Judge
Shelia Johnson; Erika Butler-Akinyemi of Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer, & Weiss in
Southfield; and Robert Wills of the
Southern Oakland County NAACP.
INSIDE
Building Permits......................42
Calendar.....................................3
Disciplinary Actions ...............43
Classified Ads ...........................4
Legal Notices.............................5
Mortgages..................................4
75 Cents
Photo by John Meiu
Off icial Newspaper: City of Detroit • Wayne Circuit Court • U.S. District Court • U.S. Bankruptcy Court
■ Mortgage Giants
■ Crime Spree Killings
Administration begins special
Selepak waives right to prelim,
reviews of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. Bachynski bound over for trial.
Page Two
Page Three
■ CIA Leak
Rove won’t be charged but could
be star witness in Libby trial.
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