Practice News

By Rodney R. Nordstrom Consisting of Moe Levine's most memorable lectures and summations, a  new book, Moe Levine on Advocacy, offers everything the reader expects.  Don Keenan does an excellent job in the forward to motivate the reader to read more of the book. Specifically, Keenan divides Levine's (1908 -1974) trial advocacy skills into five main points: mastery of the understatement, appeal to each audience's uniqueness, appeal to jurors' spirituality, elevation of jury's consciousness of the community and challenging jurors to make the "right" decision. These five cardinal points summarize Levine's smooth approach to effective summation.

Watch for Helen Gunnarsson's LawPulse item in the not-yet-published August Illinois Bar Journal about a scam e-mail solicitation that's making the rounds. Helen will have details, but in the meantime you can read a year-old California Bar Journal article describing this "request for Legal assistance," purportedly from a Chinese textile company. Thanks to Springfield paralegal Caren Mansfield, who alerted ISBA to the scam and the CBJ article.

The rumor mill is spinning that effective July 1, 2009, Medicare Set-Aside (MSA) trusts are required for liability litigation as is already required in worker’s compensation. (Reimbursement by a plaintiff for previously paid benefits to Medicare is unchanged by the new law.) Although federal research is not my strong suit, I can’t find any support for this proposition. My best guess is that this rumor started because of the new § 111 reporting requirements included in the Medicare, Medicaid & SCHIP Act of 2007. (Public Law 111-173). Section 111 provisions are reporting requirements and do not mention any need for MSAs in liability cases. This new law simply requires those paying  for judgments to report to Medicare payments of settlements, awards, judgments, or other payments. An argument is being posited that the previous law still in effect already requires MSAs in personal-injury cases for future medical expenses. (Medicare Secondary Payer Act). I cannot find any clear authority supporting that proposition.

If you do any estate-planning work and have at least one client of means – a small-business owner, say, or a farmer or other landowner – you’ll want to familiarize yourself with Senate Bill 2115, Illinois’ spanking new QTIP legislation. “[The Illinois QTIP law] allows married couples with estates of more than $2 million to set up a QTIP trust (“qualified terminable-interest property trust”) to use marital tax deductions to defer estate taxes until both spouses are deceased,” writes ISBA Director of Legislative Affairs Jim Covington in the upcoming (August) issue of the Illinois Bar Journal. The law, which will take effect as soon as the governor signs it, started life as HB 255 only to end up as a senate bill. It’s a response to the "decoupling" of the federal and Illinois inheritance tax. The federal and Illinois tax used to kick in at the same dollar amount, but last January the federal exclusion went up to $3.5 million while the Illinois tax continues to apply to estates of $2 million or more.