Judge Wharton said Curriden's speech to the St. Clair County Bar will take place during "a family affair where lawyers' kids will play with inner-city kids" at the Kersee Center, which has received funding from the Bar Foundation.
A reception and "heavy hors d'oeuvres" are included, and Olympic track state Jackie Joyner Kersee will be present. For more information, call Wharton at (618) 277-7325.
Limitations guide updates done monthly
A new version of the ISBA Guide to Illinois Civil Statutes of Limitations, updated Aug. 15, has been posted in the Lawyer's Toolbox section of the state bar web site, www.isba.org. ISBA members can access the pdf file to view it or save it to office systems.
"Although a member may print out a copy of the guide, the best way to use it, in my opinion, is copying it to your desktop," said Adrienne W. Albrecht of Kankakee, vice chair of the ISBA Committee on Legal Technology.
"That is because it contains internal bookmarks to make navigating this 158-page document easier," she said. "It also contains hyperlinks to all cited statutes, as well as cited cases that are available on a publicly accessible site."
Changes made most recently are highlighted in yellow. The plan is to post an updated version of the guide about the 15th of each month to keep the guide as current as possible.
Provided with funding from the Illinois Bar Foundation, the online guide pulls together limitation provisions from the Illinois Compiled Statutes in one central location. It also provides references to significant cases that have construed those statutes.
Only Illinois statutes are included those time limits after which a party is barred from instituting legal action. The limitations range from five days in some election contest situations to 75 years in certain matters affecting real estate titles.
The guide originally was printed and mailed to ISBA members, but posting it in pdf file form is both more economical for the organization and more efficient for members.
Disability, long-term care plans available
A busy practicing attorney may never have considered it, but a disabling accident or illness could prevent him or her from working. Without income, one may be forced to use short-term or long-term savings or other investments to maintain a standard of living, which could be financially devastating.
A solution is available through membership in the Illinois State Bar Association, which has endorsed a new Disability Income Insurance Plan specifically designed for the practitioner.
This plan starts to pay a monthly benefit when a covered accident or illness prevents an insured member from working. Members can choose between two plans and receive monthly benefits up to $10,000 (not to exceed 70 percent of monthly income). The plan provides an alternative income so savings and investment plans can continue.
The Disability Income Plan has been developed for ISBA through Marsh Affinity Group Services of Seabury & Smith, the ISBA's insurance administrator. It is underwritten by United States Life Insurance Co. in New York.
Marsh Affinity Group serves as broker and consultant for more than 25 bar associations across the country. Its client list includes a wide range of individuals, affinity groups, corporate clientele and association-based organizations.
Marsh tailors ideal insurance products for the members of a specific organization by carefully studying the needs of each client. Once a product is established, Marsh continues to serve the needs of the membership through its Customer Service and Claims Departments.
Marsh Affinity Group Services is a division of Marsh & McLennan Companies, a world leader in insurance administration. This combination provides ISBA members with a reliable and financially stable insurance broker.
To learn more about the ISBA Disability Income Insurance Plan, contact the Customer Service Department by calling the toll-free number, (800) 503-9230, or visiting the web site, www.seaburychicago.com.
Need long-term care coverage?
When the subject of long-term care insurance comes up, many people ask themselves whether they need it. Long-term care is for individuals who suffer from a disabling injury or illness and cannot manage daily activities on their own for an extended period of time.
It can vary from daily visits by an individual bringing food to someone who needs assistance, to living in a nursing home. It includes nursing home facilities, home health aides, visiting nurses, adult daycare centers and respite services for caregivers.
Quite simply, long-term care insurance can help pay for the care of the disabled individual. Many people believe that Medicare covers nursing home and in-home medical expenses, which is not the case. Medicare does not cover these expenses on a long-term basis.
Medicare is primarily a medical program, designed to pay for hospitalization and other needed care for beneficiaries. Medicare Supplement Insurance will cover only short-term care that follows a hospital stay, and most private health insurance often will not cover long-term care.
Due to modern medicine, people are living longer, with life expectancies into the 80s. This only increases the chances that either an individual or spouse will need an assisted living home, a nursing home or at-home help.
Consider peace of mind when weighing the advantages against disadvantages of buying long-term care insurance. Will you have peace of mind knowing you may have to depend on every dollar of savings during your time of needing assistance? Will you depend on family members? Are other financial options available?
When to buy long-term insurance is another question people ponder. Buying it before needing it is essential, but nobody knows when that will be.
A lawyer should not wait until he or she becomes uninsurable because of bad health. Locking in a lower rate based on one's younger age can be appealing. Every person and situation is different. Will you be able to make the best educated decision regarding when to buy.
Due to the rising number of people seeking long-term care, the ISBA insurance administrator, Marsh Affinity Group Services of Seabury & Smith, offers members a long-term care plan.
For more information without obligation, contact the Customer Service Department by calling the toll-free number, (800) 503-9230, or visiting the web site, www.seaburychicago.com.
Director of Legislative Affairs
Governor Ryan is almost finished with executive action on bills that have been sent to him. The following is a sample of legislative activity in Springfield.
New partnership law. Public Act 92-740 replaces the current Uniform Partnership Act with a new one drafted by the National Conference of Uniform State Laws. The new Act is applicable to partnerships formed on or after Jan. 1, 2003 with certain exceptions and makes the new Act applicable to all partnerships on or after Jan. 1, 2008. It also authorizes existing partnerships to elect to be governed by the new Act. The effective date is Jan. 1, 2003.
Lawyers' Assistance Program. Public Act 92-747 creates an account within the State Treasury for the deposit and auditing of a $7 increase in ARDC registration fees paid by lawyers that will be used to fund and support the Lawyers' Assistance Program (LAP). The effective date is July 31, 2002.
Disclosure of mental health patient. Public Act 92-738 amends the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Confidentiality Act to provide that upon request of a peace officer or prosecuting authority who has a valid forcible felony warrant, a facility director must disclose (1) whether the person who is the subject of the warrant is present at the facility and (2) the date of that person's discharge or future discharge from the facility. The effective date is July 25, 2002.
Cell phones in school. Current law prohibits the use or possession of cell phones by students on school property during regular school hours. Public Act 92-793 repeals this prohibition by allowing local school boards to establish appropriate rules and disciplinary procedures governing cell phone use or possession by students on school property during school hours. Effective Aug. 9, 2002.
Driving without insurance. Public Act 92-775 amends the Illinois Vehicle Code to require that a person convicted a third or subsequent time of driving without liability insurance must provide proof financial responsibility to the Secretary of State for at least one year. Further requires that the Secretary of State must suspend the license of any person who fails to provide the required proof financial responsibility. Effective July 1, 2003.
Tort immunity transfer. Public Act 92-732 authorizes that if a school district was a member of a joint-self-health-insurance cooperative that had more liability in outstanding claims than revenue to pay those claims, the school board of that district may by resolution make a one-time transfer from any fund in which tort immunity moneys are maintained to the fund or funds from which payments to a joint-self-health-insurance cooperative can be or have been made of an amount (1) not to exceed the amount of the liability claim that the school district owes to the joint-self-health-insurance cooperative; (2) or that the school district paid within the two years immediately preceding the effective date of this amendatory Act of the 92nd General Assembly. The effective date is July 25, 2002.
Open Meetings Act. Governor Ryan vetoed Senate Bill 1756 amends the Open Meetings Act to require that a public body post its notice of a regular meeting and the agenda at least 48 hours before the meeting on its website if a public body has a website that its staff maintains. It also requires that the minutes of meetings be posted on the public body's website as well.
Editor
September in the reign
Fall Hat Month starts with a change of chapeaux for two icons of all that is good about our legal community. Moses Harrison hands over the trappings of chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court to Mary Ann McMorrow this week.
Harrison leaves his post, and the court, four months ahead of every schedule except his personal timetable. McMorrow will begin her tenure four months early with the same sincerity and dedication that has marked the past three years.
As a sea change, this deputation occurs in calm waters, free from tempests that have rocked the good ship Jurisprudence in other seasons. One can expect the new hand on the tiller to be as firm in reckoning as the last.
For the organized bar, the Moses Harrison years have been a renaissance of mutual respect. Nowadays, when the ISBA submits a rule proposal, it is done with assurance that the issue will at least be given its day in court. In other eras, years could go by without a hint of interest.
Mary Ann McMorrow has been equally open-minded to bar association initiatives, and every bit as participatory in its significant events. As an active contributor to sessions of the ISBA Future of the Courts Conference in April, she assured one and all that "the court is listening."
The plate that the bench and bar share as gatekeepers of justice is full. We are blessed with a court that understands the role of the lawyer as a steward of both the justice system and the myriad people it serves.
Be nice to your pet, or else!
"Yesterday, I was a dog," Snoopy muses from a perch atop his hutch in the "Peanuts" comic strip. "Today, I'm a dog, and tomorrow, I'll probably still be a dog. There's so little hope for advancement."
Perhaps not, in simple terms of aspiring to move up the phyllum to some status more useful to humanity. A cow, or a horse, for example.
But the dog days of this summer offered growing promise of at least some advancement in the quality of life, liberty and whatever pursuit of happiness any of our canine and feline companions may expect to enjoy as rights.
First came the ruling of the Los Angeles Animal Services Commission that henceforth the caregiver of a licensed pet, especially one adopted from a city shelter, shall be designated as a "guardian," not as an "owner." The implied obligation of human to animal has generated some controversy.
The president of the American Veterinary Medical Law Association fears juridical evolution of a new concept of "standing" for advocates who represent animals in courts of law puppy perps, plaintiff pekes and defendant dachsies seeking juries of four-legged peers.
Meanwhile, across the continent in New York, the state bar has formed a committee to study a wide range of animal-related legal issues. Among them are the availability of pet health insurance and exercise programs, the propriety of landlords' restrictions on pets, and the administration of bequests from the estates of guardians.
Not surprisingly, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are ecstatic about New York's "important precedent," and will be knocking on bar association doors cross-country to urge support for animal rights initiatives.
Illinois enacts creature dogma
Our governor has just signed a "depiction of animal cruelty" bill that puts more teeth into the Humane Care for Animals Act (510 ILCS 70/1 et seq). It is now a crime to even photograph or videotape such heinous animal cruelty as dogfights, cockfights and random acts of torture.
A year earlier, the governor signed two animal humanities bills that took effect last Jan. 1. Public Act 92-0454 gave veterinarians the responsibility, with immunity, to report treating animals that may have been injured during combat events. It provided for seizure by law enforcement officials of animals protected by the act.
P.A. 92-0425 transferred penalties and prohibitions on organized animal fights from the Humane Care for Animals Act to the Criminal Code, and further enhanced felony penalties on anyone who knew or should have known that animals were to be used in fights.
Springfield attorney Lee Beneze, editor of the ISBA Elder Law Section newsletter, wrote in April 1999 about action of the previous legislature to make animal torture a Class 4 felony, and require mental health evaluation for the pathetic perpetrators.