Law Firm News

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Law Firm News

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Baker & McKenzie, L.L.P.

Baker & McKenzie Advises Comerica on Sale of Mexican Bank Charter
Baker & McKenzie Abogados, S.C. advised Comerica Incorporated (NYSE:CMA) on the sale of Comerica Bank México, S.A. Institución de Banca Múltiple, to Monex Grupo Financiero, S.A. de C.V. (""Monex""), a private investment firm.

The sale was completed on August 15, 2006 upon receipt of regulatory approval. Comerica determined that they can serve the Mexican market more efficiently and effectively by focusing dollar-based activities through their established representative office in Monterrey. Comerica will therefore continue servicing their clients in Mexico after the transaction, as they have done so during the past 30 years.

Baker & McKenzie’s team in this transaction was led by partners Andres Ochoa-Bünsow and Jorge García-Garza (Monterrey), and associate Valeria Chapa-Garza.

Comerica is a financial services company headquartered in Detroit, strategically aligned into three major business segments: the Business Bank, the Retail Bank, and Wealth & Institutional Management, with total assets of $57.1 billion at June 30, 2006. Monex is a financial group with a leading position in the Mexican foreign exchange market, headquartered in Mexico City and led by Héctor Lagos Dondé.

Bernardo Martínez-Negrete (Galicia y Robles) and Jacobo Martínez Flores (General Counsel) represented Monex.

08-16-2006

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Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, L.L.P.

Environmental Law Firm Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP Offers Advice On New EPA Rule Streamlining Recycling Of Computer Monitors And Televisions Containing Cathode Ray Tubes
A recent rule issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is encouraging businesses to recycle their computer monitors and televisions containing cathode ray tubes (CRTs), the management of which has become a major part of the growing electronics “e-waste” challenge.

The rule excludes the recycling of CRTs from federal solid waste regulations if certain basic conditions are met. By streamlining regulatory requirements for CRT recycling, the rule is expected to promote handling of surplus monitors and televisions in an environmentally sound manner and, at the same time, boost the emerging CRT glass recycling industry. CRT glass contains toxic metals, primarily lead, that can enter the environment when these products are landfilled or incinerated.

Businesses and households throughout the United States replace millions of computers and televisions each year with newer models, making older equipment obsolete. Many users are unsure of how to manage their old CRTs, and as a result frequently stash them in storage closets rather than properly reuse, recycle or dispose of them. The recent trend in CRT recycling focuses on recovering the glass and other economically valuable materials.

Rodd Bender, a partner with the environmental and land use law firm of Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP (MGKF) in Bala Cynwyd, PA, offers advice to businesses regarding proper recycling of CRTs. He said that this new rule “will encourage CRT glass recycling, which is crucial to keep CRTs out of landfills and incinerators, preserve natural resources, and save the increased energy necessary to produce glass from virgin materials. Prior to this rule, a business considering sending used CRTs for recycling may have been subject to burdensome environmental regulations as a hazardous waste generator and, therefore, may have been deterred from doing so.”

Bender said that EPA and industry representatives aimed to advance the CRT glass recycling sector with this new rule. Now, in most cases, used, intact CRTs should be excluded from solid waste regulation unless disposed, and broken CRTs may also avoid such regulation if recycled using certain basic storage, packaging and labeling requirements. These regulatory changes should motivate companies to send old units for recycling. Recycled CRT glass can be used to manufacture new CRT glass as well as a variety of other products.

The increasing interest in recycling CRTs and other e-waste is evident in the recent announcement by Dell Computer that it will assist customers to recycle their old computers. In addition, in July 2006 the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a report that analyzed barriers to growth in the e-waste recycling sector.

Bender said “this new rule is a positive step and may lead government and industry to work together on other ways to streamline e-waste recycling regulations, which will benefit both the environment and the economy.”

Bender joined MGKF in 1997 and focuses his practice on matters involving brownfields redevelopment and transactions, regulatory compliance and counseling (including storage tanks, spill prevention planning, community right-to-know reporting, and other programs), and environmental auditing/compliance management systems. Bender previously worked as a law clerk for a federal judge in Savannah, Georgia and had served as an analyst for the Environment and Health Systems Group, American Management Systems, Inc., performing program analysis and support for EPA.

Manko, Gold, Katcher & Fox, LLP concentrates its practice in environmental and land use law and litigation. It represents clients ranging from Fortune 100 corporations to small, privately held enterprises, both in the Mid-Atlantic Region and on a national basis. MGKF’s offices are located at 401 City Avenue, Suite 500, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania and 535 Route 38, Suite 145A, Cherry Hill, New Jersey. For additional information, visit www.mgkflaw.com or call 484-430-5700 or 856-317-1299.

08-16-2006

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Haskell, Slaughter, Young & Gallion, L.L.C.

Cohen of Haskell Slaughter to Speak at Flow-Through Entities Seminar
Ross N. Cohen, an attorney at Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker, LLC, will speak at the Flow-Through Entities in Alabama: What You Need to Know seminar to be held August 29 at the Sheraton Birmingham Hotel. Cohen will present “Transfers of Equity Interests as Compensation for Performance of Services” focusing on the use of stock and other equity interests in S corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies as compensation.

The seminar is designed to provide attendees with the latest laws and trends in flow-through entities specifically highlighting traps for the unwary with regard to choice of entity and equity compensation issues.

The seminar is designed for presidents, vice presidents, controllers, Chief Financial Officers, business owners and tax managers, as well as loan officers at financial institutions.

Ross Cohen chairs the Transactional Practice Group of Haskell Slaughter Young & Rediker, LLC and represents clients in the areas of taxation, business organizations, mergers and acquisitions, and estate and trust planning. Before joining Haskell Slaughter in 1989, Cohen practiced for several years with the national accounting firm Cooper & Lybrand (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). He holds LL.M (Taxation) and M.T.A. degrees from the University of Alabama. Cohen is a member of the Birmingham and American Bar Associations, the Alabama State Bar, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Alabama Society of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Estate Planning Councils, Inc., and the Birmingham Estate Planning Council, Inc.

08-16-2006

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Wiley, Rein & Fielding, L.L.P.

Court Finds for Insurer in First Hurricane Katrina-Related Decision
In the first court opinion addressing the availability of insurance coverage for damage to residential property caused by storm surge from Hurricane Katrina, United States District Court Judge L.T. Senter, Jr., applying Mississippi law, has held that a homeowners policy did not provide such coverage because it contained an exclusion for “[w]ater or damage caused by water-borne material.” This opinion could be important if it is followed in the large number of Hurricane Katrina-related lawsuits involving the same issue that are currently pending, primarily in courts in the southeastern United States.

In the opinion, the court found that “the provisions of the . . . policy that exclude coverage for damages caused by water are valid and enforceable terms of the insurance contract.” The court placed the burden on the policyholders, a married couple from Pascagoula, Mississippi, to prove the portion of their losses that were caused by the wind, while the insurer bore the burden of proving the portion of the loss attributable to water damage. Ultimately, the court found that because “[a]lmost all of the damage to the [policyholders’] residence is attributable to the incursion of water” and “[n]one of the damage to the interior of the . . . property was shown to have been caused by wind,” the insurer owed only an additional $1,228 to the policyholders, representing the cost of replacing a window and cleaning the exterior walls above the water line.

There are two other noteworthy aspects of the opinion. First, the court concluded that the policyholders’ insurance agent had not misled the policyholders into believing that the policy would provide coverage for all water damage caused by a hurricane when he advised them that they did not need to purchase separate flood insurance. Second, the court did find that the provisions in the policy which “purport[ed] to exclude coverage entirely for damages caused by a combination of the effects of water (an excluded loss) and damage caused by the effects of wind (a covered loss)” were “ambiguous,” and that a more reasonable interpretation was that the policy covered the portion of damage caused by the wind but not the portion caused by storm surge.

08-16-2006

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McGuireWoods LLP

Adam Sowatzka is Panelist at Georgia Bar Association's Environmental Law Summer Seminar
Adam Sowatzka (Atlanta) was a panelist on "Is Dirt Cheap?: Regulation, Enforcement, and Litigation on the Construction Stormwater Permit" at the Georgia Bar Association's Environmental Law Summer Seminar on July 28-29. He also co-authored a paper "Georgia's NPDES Construction Storm Water Discharge General Permit: Requirements, Enforcement, and Litigation" that was published as part of the conference proceedings.

08-16-2006

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Ross, Dixon & Bell, LLP

Paul Vitrano and Pamela Pierce Publish Article in Law Technology News
RDB partner Paul Vitrano and litigation support manager Pamela Pierce published an article in the August 2006 issue of Legal Technology News. In order to demystify the cost of electronic data discovery the article, “Confronting EDD Costs,” explains the four phase discovery process that is involved in discovery and the pricing applicable to each.

08-16-2006

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Butzel Long

Saulius Mikalonis will discuss wetlands regulation during State Bar of Michigan's Annual Meeting September 13-15, 2006
Butzel Long attorney and shareholder Saulius K. Mikalonis will be a featured speaker during the State Bar of Michigan's Annual Meeting September 13-15, 2006 in Ypsilanti. Mr. Mikalonis will co-present a session with Paul R. Bernard of Dickinson Wright PLLC, during the Environmental Law section program on September 14. The presentation is titled, ""Wetlands Regulation: Is the Government All Wet?"" The focus of the presentation will be Rapanos and Carabell cases, the new ""feasible and prudent"" analysis, and taking issues.

Mr. Mikalonis focuses his practice on all aspects of environmental law. His experience in environmental litigation includes environmental consultant malpractice; shareholder and officer liability under CERCLA and state ""polluter pays"" laws; cost recovery; toxic torts; siting of solid and hazardous waste facilities; insurance coverage disputes; indoor air, and defense of agency-initiated enforcement actions.

He also has extensive experience in commercial and real estate transactional work including environmental due diligence, contract negotiation, and supervision of environmental consultants. His administrative experience includes remediation of contamination from underground storage tanks, siting of a solid waste landfill, and representing municipalities on various environmental and land use issues.

Mr. Mikalonis has published extensively on various environmental topics, and is a frequent lecturer to legal and professional organizations on environmental related issues. He is a member of the State Bar of Michigan (Environmental Law Section Council; Solid and Hazardous Waste/Insurance Committee; Real Property Section), The District of Columbia Bar, and the Oakland County Bar Association.

Butzel Long was established in 1854 and is headquartered in Detroit. Butzel Long is one of Michigan's oldest and largest law firms, with 215 attorneys and offices in Detroit, Bloomfield Hills, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Holland, Mich., Washington, D.C. and Boca Raton, Fla., as well as Alliance offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. The firm represents clients from diverse industries on a regional, national and multi-national level and is the sole Michigan member of Lex Mundi, a global association of 161 independent law firms. Visit the Butzel Long website at www.butzel.com.

08-16-2006

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