Stearn Wins Criminal Case

The Law Offices of Todd J. Stearn scored another victory last week when the Livingston County Prosecutor's Office dropped a charge of reckless driving against one of Stearn's clients. Stearn stated, "My client was not guilty and we persuaded the Prosecutor's Office that it would be very difficult to prove their case even though they had threatened to bring more than 20 witnesses to testify at trial." Reckless driving has a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail, an automatic suspension of a driving license and carries six (6) points on a driving record.

New Supreme Court Justice

Incumbent Chief Justice Clifford Taylor of the Michigan Supreme Court conceded defeat to his challenger, Democratic nominee Diane Hathaway. Hathaway's win signals a major shake-up, reducing a 5-2 Republican majority to 4-3 on the state's highest court, where one of the Republican-nominated justices, Elizabeth Weaver, has been a frequent dissenter from majority opinions. Taylor is the first sitting Supreme Court justice to lose his seat since Republican nominee Dorothy Comstock Riley ousted Thomas Giles Kavanagh in 1984. He is the first sitting chief justice defeated at the polls since statehood.

Since Cliff Taylor has been on the Court, the Republican dominated court has frequently trounced on individual's rights in favor of big business and insurance companies. The Court has made it much more difficult for injured victims to collect for injuries suffered in car accidents, slip and falls and from medical malpractice.

Worker's Compensation Update

On October 1, 2008 the Michigan Supreme Court decided a new case entitled Lofton v. Autozone, Inc. The Court decided that the worker's compensation magistrate will now compute wage loss benefits based on what the injured employee remains capable of earning. In other words, if an employee suffers a personal injury on the job and is entitled to benefits, the judge will reduce the amount he or she is entitled to based upon what the employee should be able to earn in other employment. This means that a person that was earning $15.00 per hour as a physician's assistant who cannot go back to work as a PA, but who can go back to work flipping burgers for $6.00 per hour, may have his or her wage loss benefits reduced by $6.00 per hour.

Dog Bite Verdict

Todd J. Stearn received a generous jury verdict for a client who was injured by an unprovoked dog bite. An Oakland County jury took less than an hour to award a significant amount of money to a Royal Oak resident who suffered scarring to her calf and emotional injuries from the bite. The defense attorney had never offered any more than nuisance value to settle the case. This was yet another win for the Law Offices of Todd J. Stearn, P.C.

Announcing New Law Firm

The Law offices of Todd J. Stearn officially began representing clients on October 1, 2008. Todd Stearn will be representing clients in all aspects of litigation, including personal injury, criminal defense, business litigation, real estate litigation and all other types of lawsuits. For a free consultation contact Todd at todd@tjslawfirm.com or 248-744-5000.