West Virginia University College of Law

Participating on Drafting Committee on a Certificate of Title Act for Boats

Professor Vincent Cardi will be working with the Uniform Law Commission in Chicago on October 15 through 18 drafting the Uniform Certificate of Title Act for Vessels as a member of the drafting committee for this emerging act. Professor Cardi is a West Virginia Commissioner on Uniform State Laws and a member of the national Uniform Law Commission.

This committee will draft an act establishing a certificate of title system for boats. Many states do not have certificate of title laws governing watercraft, and those that do have considerable differences in terms. The committee will coordinate its work with the United States Coast Guard and developments concerning the Coast Guard’s vessel identification and documentation systems. The committee will present a draft for initial consideration at the July 2010 Annual Meeting and is expected to present its act for final approval in July 2011.

The Daily Athenaeum
By Josh Cooper
October 8, 2009

Winners in Dark and Stormy Night Contest Announced.

The first Celebration of Excellence in Writing Week was met with high attendance.

The celebration was held Oct.5 through Oct. 9 at West Virginia University’s College of Law.

Anyone in the WVU community interested in the pursuit of excellence in writing was invited, according to a WVU press release, and people took up the offer, said Jean Daley, writing specialist and director of the Professional Writing Center.

The event was organized by Daley, Professor Hollee S. Temple, director of Legal Reasoning at the WVU College of Law, and Jennifer Powell, assistant dean of Career Services.

Celebration of Excellence in Writing Week was held, in part, to accredit the written aspect of law as well as educate law students, Daley said.

“Lawyers are often known for their spoken word but not their writing,” Daley said.

The event included a variety of guest speakers and contests, including a “Dark and Stormy Night Contest,” where both students and faculty competed to create the best first line of a novel.

Participants had from Monday until Thursday to submit ideas.

The winner, Matthew Yanni, a third-year law student, was announced Thursday.

“I felt it was important to be ambiguous in my writing,” Yanni said.

Yanni received an iPod provided by Westlaw, an online legal research company, for winning the competition.

The capstone event will be held Friday at noon and will include conversations with lawyers and other legal experts on the social networking Web site Twitter.

The roundtable discussion, which will be posted on www.22Tweets.com and will focus on “a lawyer’s work, life and the importance of technology in the practice of law,” Daley said.

Creator of 22Tweets.com, Lance Godard, will be assisting with the event, and Temple will host it.

Students are able to ask questions about all aspects of law practice, according to the press release.

Godard’s Web site holds interviews with tweeting lawyers and legal experts from around the globe. The interviews provide advice to law students as well as other lawyers and legal experts, the press release read.

“This event should show the importance of writing in law,” Daley said.

Justices hear case about Maynard-Blankenship e-mails
10/8/2009
By Chris Dickerson
Statehouse Bureau
WV Record

CHARLESTON – The state Supreme Court will decide if e-mails between former Justice Spike Maynard and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship will see the light of day.

On Wednesday, the five current Justices heard arguments in an appeal made by The Associated Press regarding a September 2008 decision by Kanawha Circuit Judge Duke Bloom, who ordered that five of 13 e-mails between longtime friends Maynard and Blankenship be released. Those five had to do with Maynard’s unsuccessful re-election campaign of last year.

Bloom said the other eight should not be released because they didn’t directly relate to the business of state government. Bloom noted that he would have released all 13 e-mails if Maynard had not recused himself from cases involving Massey Energy.

State Supreme Court Administrator Steve Canterbury, the actual defendant in the AP’s case, also appealed Bloom’s ruling. He contends none of the documents should be made public.

“You do a content-based analysis,” said Ancil Ramey, a Charleston attorney who is representing Canterbury in the case. “If it doesn’t have to do with the performance of the official’s duty, then it isn’t a public document.

“This court doesn’t have to re-invent the wheel.”

Ramey also said AP’s request could result in e-mails Justices write on home computers open to FOIA requests.

“Justices wear judicial robes, but they also wear bathrobes,” Ramey said. “They have friends. They have lives.”

Chief Justice Brent Benjamin said this all could mean a check he writes at the grocery store could be open to FOIA requests.

Patrick McGinley, who is representing the AP, disagreed.

“The Legislature has provided the instruction as to which documents are public and which are private,” McGinley argued. “What this case is about … is transparency. more…

W.Va. city to restaurant chain: Hands off Big Boy
By TOM BREEN Associated Press Writer
10/06/2009

CHARLESTON, W.Va.—Big Boy looks happy from his perch 14 feet above this city’s west side: the cute, checkered overalls, the distinctive curl in his hair, the mammoth double-cheeseburger hoisted above his saccharin smile.

Don’t be fooled by the smile: This Big Boy is in big trouble. Attorneys for the Warren, Mich.-based Big Boy International restaurant chain have ordered the removal of the lardy lad and his trademark grin from his red pillar. And that has residents worried they could lose a beloved piece of the city’s heritage.

The restaurant chain’s mascot adorns a monument to Alex Schoenbaum, founder of the Shoney’s chain, who opened his first restaurant, initially called the Parkette, 62 years ago in Charleston. Although Shoney’s once ran restaurants under the Big Boy name, the company abandoned its franchise agreement with Big Boy—which once had had more than 1,000 locations across the country—in 1976 to expand its own brand.

As far as Big Boy International is concerned, that was the end of the mascot’s association with Shoney’s.

“They’re displaying a trademark that does not belong to them in a manner that causes confusion to the public regarding Big Boy’s association with Shoney’s,” said Jennifer Bourgoin, vice president and general counsel of Big Boy International, which franchises more than 450 locations in the U.S. and Japan.

She added that Big Boy owns all the rights to the trademark statue and will take the issue to court if necessary.

That isn’t sitting well with Charleston residents who grew up with Shoney’s, which is now headquartered in Nashville, and who fondly remember the Big Boy as part of an urban landscape that included cruising hot rods and giant burgers.

“I think that Big Boy should lighten up and remember they made a lot of money off the Shoney’s franchise,” said Charleston Mayor Danny Jones.

Jones, who worked at a Shoney’s Big Boy in Kanawha City as a teenager in the 1960s, notes that the monument sits on a street corner across from the Kanawha River. The nearest business is a wallpaper store.

“Since the monument’s not outside a restaurant, and there are no Big Boy restaurants in the area, I don’t see the violation,” Jones said.

Eating his lunch near the statue on Monday, resident Larry McNeely said it would “sadden” him if Big Boy’s pillar were to be stripped bare.

“I’d prefer to see it remain here,” he said. “I think of it as being here because of the history.”

Historical exhibit or not, the statue’s legal status is far from clear.

Because it’s part of a monument open free of charge to the public, it may have a different status than if it were advertising a restaurant or other business, said Martin Schwimmer, a New York City attorney who publishes a Web site called The Trademark Blog.

“If a community has a statue to honor an illustrious citizen, that’s very likely not going to be a use of the trademark in commerce,” he said.

However, the matter is complicated by the presence of the word Shoney’s on the monument, along with attendant memorabilia, which could lead people to identify Big Boy with Shoney’s, said West Virginia University College of Law professor Michael Risch.

“It’s a complex question, as opposed to just putting the Big Boy there for art’s sake,” he said.

Emily Schoenbaum, who conceived the monument to honor her father, who died in 1996, hopes the dispute can be resolved outside court. The Schoenbaum family, which has spent millions on philanthropic endeavors in West Virginia, saw the West Side display as a chance for residents to relive fond memories of Shoney’s.

Schoenbaum, who is careful to call the statue “the little big guy” rather than “Big Boy,” hopes the matter can be settled by a licensing agreement or signs clearly labeling the exhibit as a monument.

“Shoney’s touched just about every Charlestonian’s life in some positive way,” she said. “I thought it would be sad to lose all the history that had been made there.”

Congratulations to the winners.

President – Brady Campbell;
Vice President – Dennis Bryan Kittle;
Secretary – Nate Chapman;
Treasurer – Lindsey Williamson
Social Chair – Ambria Adkins;
Fundraising Chair – Brittany Vascik;
Community Service Chair – Brooke Atchison; and
Ethics Committee – Courtney Richardson, Tom Yanni, and Rachel Karpency

Recent 2009 WVU College of Law graduate Bethany Swaton will have her article regarding Title VII “The Rooney Rule, and the NCAA” published in Seton Hall Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law in March of 2010. In addition, Swaton has been invited to speak at Seton Hall’s sports law symposium about her article.

Professor andré cummings will present at two conferences this week.

On Friday Oct. 2, 2009 he will talk at the Lacrit Conference. Latcrit is the Latino critical race theory conference and this year it is being held at American University in Washington D.C. He will speak on a panel entitled “Corporate and Financial Law and the Subprime Debacle” which concerns the fallout of the financial market crisis. His talk is “Post Racialism and the Financial Market Crisis.”

On Sunday Oct. 4, 2009 Professor cummings will speak at the Intersections of Law and Culture conference at Franklin College in Lugano, Switzerland on “Thug Life: Hip Hop’s Curious Relationship with Criminal Justice.”

Prof. Anne M. Lofaso and Professor Robert Bastress of the WVU College of Law faculty will speak at West Virginia Employment Lawyers Association 2009 Annual meeting on Friday Oct.2, 2009 at the Lakeview Resort, Morgantown, WV. Her talk is scheduled for 2:25 p.m. -3:15 p..m. on “E-mail Organizing in the Real and the Virtual Workplace”. Professor Bastress will give an update on employment law. The event will be held Friday, October 2 and Saturday October 3 and features legal experts talking on a wide variety of topics.

The West Virginia Employment Lawyers Association (WVELA) is a state wide organization of employment lawyers providing representation and protection to employees who have been wrongfully terminated, harassed or discriminated against in the workplace. WVELA lawyers also assist employees in wage claims against employers who have failed their employees all the wages that they have lawfully earned.

ACS Chapter of the Week

The ACS Chapter of WVU College of Law Chapter is fostering discussion in Morgantown and throughout West Virginia. Last January, WVU ACS hosted Richard Feldmanto discuss the politics of gun control and how framing the issue determines how firearms are regulated. In February, the chapter hosted “The Evolution of Street Knowledge: Hip Hop’s Influence on Law and culture. This groundbreaking symposium examined the intersection of lawand hip hop culture and included keynote speakers Talib Kweli and Dr. Cornel West. WVU ACS Chapter Advisor Prof. Andre Cummings was the driving force behind the symposium. In April, Chapter Advisor Prof. Anne Lofaso discussed her ACS Issue Brief entitled “September Massacre: The LatestBattle in the War on Workers’ Rights Under the National Labor Relations Act,” which was followed by a screening of the movie Matewan.This fall, the chapter sparked discussion with the ACS national webcast”Keeping Faith and Looking Forward” and by hosting a Constitution Day Panel consisting of four WVU College of Law professors discussing opinions from the most recent Supreme Court Term. In addition, the chapter has generated awareness by participating in a student organization fair and hosting an informational social.

WVU Democratic Law Caucus President, Chris Williamson and
WV AFL-CIO President, Kenny Perdue

The Democratic Law Caucus & Labor Law Society sponsored the first in a series of talks on health care reform issues. The talk was held in the Davis Gallery at the College of Law on Thursday Sept, 24, 2009 at the WVU College of Law. The guest speaker was Kenny Perdue, President of the West Virginia AFL-CIO. President Perdue discussed the current health care reforms being considered, why reform is necessary, and answered questions from the audience. The event was well attended and students enjoyed lunch provided by the Democratic Law Caucus & Labor Law Society who look forward to the future talks in this multi-part health care lunch series.

“President Perdue did a great job of leading our discussion, explaining why our current health care system needs reformed, and discussing the active role that organized labor is taking in the health care debate.” According to Chris Williamson, 3rd year student and president of the WVU College of Law Democratic Law Caucus. “Health care reform is the most important and heavily discussed issue in our country right now, and it touches every student at our law school. Because it is such an important issue, the Democratic Law Caucus and the Labor Law Society decided to host a series of health care reform lunch discussions over the course of the fall semester.”

Over the next couple months the Democratic Law Caucus and Labor Law Society hope to continue to inform more students about the importance of health care reform through our ongoing discussion series. Plans are underway for organizing the next event and it is their hope that students stay engaged and informed on this issue.