Ferry Law is pleased to announce its new Wellness Program. Any client of Ferry Law, both present and previous, is entitled to a free Yoga session with Staff Yoga Teacher, Leslie Gordon. It is Leslie’s belief that Yoga is for EVERY BODY, and her goal is to help you find ways to feel better. We know that being injured in a car accident or other type of situation, or charged of a crime, is stressful. We want to enable you to find ways to relieve your stress that are healthy for your body, mind and spirit. At Ferry Law, we recognize you as an integrated human being, not just a physical body. For those of you who think you cannot do yoga for physical reasons or because your doctor has not given you permission to exercise, Leslie can introduce you to different relaxation techniques that will help you relax, refocus and return to your centered, grounded self. Operating your life from that place will make everything easier.

We are also excited to announce that we will be holding FREE group relaxation sessions for Ferry Law clients. These will be held on the first Monday evening of every month, starting on February 3, at 6 p.m. These one-hour long sessions will be held in the Ferry Law Wellness Studio at 77 Lexington Street, New Britain, in the basement of the Ferry Law Office Building. You must register for these sessions, as space is limited. To register for the relaxation sessions or to schedule your free yoga private, call Karoli at 833-FerryLaw. 

In a stunning decision by our Statewide Grievance Committee as a result of my first ever grievance filed against an Attorney, I learned that our ethical rules prohibiting a discharged lawyer from contacting his former client do not apply as long as the discharged lawyer claims he was confused and uncertain he had been fired.

The facts of my case are as follows: The discharged lawyer received a letter from me and another from my client, which politely informed him that his client had switched teams and that no further communication with the client should take place. Can you see how confused the discharged lawyer must have been? As if hit by a stun gun from the Star Trek Enterprise, discharged lawyer makes multiple phone calls and speaks with client once…also contacts client’s parents to put more pressure on the young 19 year old to reconsider his decision to discharge the Big Box law firm. In addition to the phone calls, he emails his former client and includes an email from me which he lifted off of the CTLA list serve in violation of our rules of usage for our list serve site. Seems as if this lawyer is certain to be sanctioned by the grievance panel. After all, he has been found to have violated our ethical rules twice already and as a repeat offender, not likely to qualify for the slap on the wrist treatment.

The esteemed reviewing committee who heard the case in Bridgeport found there was no probable cause and dismissed the complaint. However, it did in fact find that he contacted his former client, and it did in fact find that he attempted to win back the client. Its reasoning hinged on the claim the discharged lawyer made that he was confused over being discharged because he was such the right man for the job since he knew the client and his family for years and he had intimate knowledge of the client’s soccer career.

What is the upshot of this decision? As I see it, we are in the wild, wild west. Fake some sort of confusion, call the client, write to the client, beg the client to come back and forget about our ethical rules because those pesky things just get in the way of good old aggressive used car salesman tactics of keeping your customer. A terrible decision. Childish and tortured reasoning.

We need lawyers on the Grievance Committee that actually believe in Rules of Ethics and will uphold them.

20th century life is fast paced. There is plenty of strife in our world, and whether it’s starving refugees in the Middle East or Democrats and Republicans in the USA behaving poorly, all of it affects us. Add the demands of keeping a roof over your head, providing food for your family, caring for elderly parents, trying to keep your 150 passwords in a place you remember, etc., and we ALL need to hit the reset button often. If you don’t practice being still and being quiet, you risk making yourself sick in ways you probably never imagined.

So, as the old saying goes, an apple a day keeps the doctor away….That’s nice, but how about my saying, “Stillness prevents illness.”

The type A people reading this who blow off steam by going to Cross Fit three days a week or jogging 30 miles a week will find this a bit challenging, but it is no less important for the energizer bunny trying to be still and be quiet. The agony you will endure trying to sit still for 5 minutes is proof positive that you need it, and you need it badly! Your monkey mind is swinging wildly through the branches, and it feels dangerous and impossible to stop. Inevitably, with regular practice, that awful feeling you get from shutting everything off will subside. You are simply a self-energizing generator that has never been turned off. You are inefficient as a servant because no generator can run full time. The parts wear out, and bolts get loose. It’s the same way with people.

I am going to leave this post here. Just to get you used to the idea that mindfulness practice is something you must try. Just let that soak in for now. Next post, I will write about some simple methods to get your started.

Kevin

            For the Glastonbury family whose daughter was killed in a motor vehicle accident following two nights of teen drinking at a Glastonbury home in 2013, the litigation nightmare is over. The party house in Glastonbury in 2013 was “Finks House”. The Finklestein’s home was where the juniors in High School would gather most every weekend. Every gathering would be an occasion to consume alcohol, smoke pot and have sex. For the 16 and 17 year old Glastonbury kids, a place to play grownup. The end result of the Las Vegas in Glastonbury for the Glastonbury High School students, Class of 2014, is that a beautiful, promising girl, never got the chance to graduate.

            The problem with it is 16 year old kids don’t have the maturity to understand the dangers of alcohol. In fact, our case law says very clearly. In Ely v. Murphy, 207 Conn. 88, 89-90, 540 A.2d 54 (1988), the Court first held that adults could be responsible for serving/providing/purveying alcohol to minors due to their incompetence and inability to understand the specific dangers of drinking while driving.  The law also says that a homeowner is responsible for the results of underage drinking in his home. Relevant case law suggests that homeowners may be liable when they have created a permissive atmosphere of underage drinking. Whether home when the damage is done or not, is irrelevant. In Schwarz v. Piro, No. FSTCV106004487S, 2015 WL 522060, (Conn. Super. Ct. Jan. 9, 2015), the Court held that a defendant may incur social host liability where he or she has provided a venue for consumption of alcohol by minors; see also Reynolds v. McAvoy, Superior Court, judicial district of Danbury, Docket No. CV–02–0346701–S (November 4, 2004) (Nadeau, J.); and Geise v. Gipstein, Superior Court, judicial district of New London, Docket No. CV–09–5010726 (January 25, 2011) (Martin, J.) (holding that “a duty of care exists on behalf of the social host of a party where underage drinking is encouraged, regardless of whether the intoxicated minor consumed alcohol purchased by the social host, or alcohol brought from outside the premises. Whether that duty of care was breached … and the defendant knowingly or negligently provided a venue for his minor guests to consume alcohol, constitutes a genuine issue of material fact …”).  In addition, our Courts have consistently held that most defenses, such as assumption of the risk, are not viable against an underage drinker or victim that is driven by an intoxicated driver.