A Connecticut Law Blog

by Ryan McKeen

The Fourth of July is easily one of the best holiday’s of the year.

Perhaps its only fault is that it does not always result in a long weekend.

Holidays on Wednesdays should be illegal.

Our statutes recognize the significance of Independence Day. Check out Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 1-5:

As a part of the official observance of Independence Day, appropriate ceremonies shall be held in the hall of flags of the State Capitol on July fourth in each year. The Governor shall issue a proclamation recalling to the citizens of the state the historic significance of Independence Day. The Governor shall designate a state official of a patriotic society or a state official of a veterans organization to plan and have charge of such ceremonies, in such manner that the conduct of such ceremonies shall be alternated from year to year between an official of a patriotic society and an official of a veterans organization. The necessary expense of such ceremony, not exceeding seven hundred and fifty dollars each year, shall be paid to the society or organization conducting the ceremonies.

The drafters of the statute clearly had something very specific in mind.

Have a great long weekend.

by Attorney Ryan McKeen

Sometimes, I get contacted by bloggers who want me to link to his or her site. As you can see, I don’t link to many sites on this blog.

For me, I treat linking to someone’s blog like recommending a restaurant to a friend. I don’t want to send my friends to places that are likely to provide bad food and service.

If you’re taking the time to read this, I consider you a friend.

As your friend, I recommend without hesitation Matthew Curtiss’ Connecticut Estate Planning Blog.

I went to law school with Matt and we were in the same section together during our first year.  You learn a lot about someone when you are section mates in law school. Generally you are in a class of about 60, you sit in the same room all day (professors come to you), and you take the same classes for a whole year.

I have known Matt to be a very intelligent, witty, and all around great guy and I expect his blog to be an extension of who he is.

Check it out.

One of the most frustrating things about litigation, especially for a litigant, is when a case gets continued.

Litigation can be is very frustrating for all involved.

I think the continuance becomes most frustrating for parties in divorce cases. Divorces and child custody matters can have numerous court dates in a relatively short period of time.

Often, time off from work is a major issue for litigants.

My only advice is to be prepared. I counsel clients to attempt to resolve matters out of court that can be resolved so that they can avoid the time and expense of taking days off from work only to have nothing happen in their case.

Continuances happen for a variety of reasons, off the top of my head here are some of them:

1. A party is unable to attend court;
2. A lawyer has a scheduling conflict that cannot be resolved;
3. The matter is not ready for a hearing (e.g. the parties are waiting on a 3rd party to provide documentation);
4. Illness; and
5. There is a likelyhood of the matter settling without a hearing.

Some if not all of these things are unavoidable and our system cannot work if matters did not get marked over which is why lawyers commonly agree to continuances.

Recently on a flight from Bradley to Milwaukee (don’t ask) I was reading the Connecticut Bar Journal.

This edition of the Connecticut Bar Journal features the 2007 Connecticut Appellate Review by Attorneys Wesley Horton and Kenneth J. Bartschi. The annual Appellate Review is must read material.

On page one of the article, Attorneys Horton and Bartschi take a very educated guess that Kerrigan v. Commissioner of Public Health (Connecticut’s gay marriage case) will be released this September.

I was reading this article in the Boston Globe which details how the cost of home heating oil is going to be significantly more expensive this coming winter than it was last winter.

I fear that this means we will also see a rise in house fires this winter as people seek to heat their dwellings by non-traditional and unsafe means.

Landlords should begin preparing for this possibility immediately.

Here’s some suggestions:

1. If you are providing fuel for your tenants figure out if it makes financial sense for you to remain a landlord. You are either going to have to raise the rent or sell your building.

2. Make sure that your building has adequate insurance. Contact your insurance carrier and inquire about increasing your coverage.

3. Make sure that smoke detectors are working in your building.

4. Evict tenants who are behind on their rent immediately. Don’t wait until winter. My guess is that the average eviction in Connecticut takes about 2.5 to 3 months from the service of a notice to quit. 

by Ryan McKeen

This morning I searched westlaw for “pearl jam” and came up with no cases in Connecticut’s state courts.

There is Pearl v. Pearl and lots of cases about various things being “jammed” but no case about “Pearl Jam”.

Which is fine because the best place for Pearl Jam is on stage and not in court.

And they’ll be onstage tonight in Hartford.

by Ryan C. McKeen

It’s almost July, it really is. Hard to believe that the 4th of July is next Friday. It’s the part of June that is known here at www.aconnecticutlawblog.com as “almost July.”

Connecticut has statutes on everything or nearly everything.

To some degree, statutes reflect the values of society or at the very least what our legislature values.

I’m here to report that here in Connecticut we value Christmas trees.

The measure of damages for anyone who cuts (without permission), destroys, or carries away any tree intended for sale or use as a Christmas tree is 5 times the reasonable value of the tree. Conn. Gen. Stat. Sec. 52-560.

Attorney wrongfully cut down tree. Ryan McKeen. Neighbor cut down tree connecticut law damages. Attornet Ryan McKeen.

Step 2: Work where you want to live.

If you are in law school and you’ve figured out where you want to live then you should try and do anything law related there.

Get your foot in the door.

Sometimes unpaid clerkships turn into paid clerkships which ultimately turn into jobs.

Just ask Theo Epstein who wouldn’t be GM of the World Champion Boston Red Sox had he not interned for the Orioles.

Several years ago, I went to a landlord/tenant continuing legal education course. One of the instructors, a well respected authority on housing law, lamented that Connecticut Superior Court judges were not writing judicial opinions.

The instructor said that the absence of judicial opinions on housing law harmed both landlords and tenants.

Since that seminar, I’ve noticed that Hartford J.D.’s housing court judges have been responsible for writing the vast majority of decisions on Connecticut housing law in recent years.

I wish I had the numbers to support my assertion but I think I’m right here.

From what I’ve noticed, the past three Hartford J.D. housing judges (Judge Bentivegna, Judge Peck, and Judge Wiese) have authored a number of opinions.

Housing law is complicated. Very few cases ever get appealed (landlords almost never appeal because it is usually cheaper and faster to simply start another eviction proceeding). Lots of questions remained unanswered. When judges write opinions it provides lawyers and litigants much needed guidance.

by Ryan McKeen

I got an email from a friend who is going to start a law blog.

I’m strapped for time so instead of replying to his email and writing a blog entry, I’ll kill two birds with one stone.

My friend wants to focus his blog on a particular area of practice which is a great idea if you are looking to use the blog as a marketing tool (maybe I should take my own advice).

Here’s what I would do:

1. Use wordpress or typepad and not blogger;

2. Put words in the title of your blog that are easy to spell and likely for a target reader to search (I’m happy that I ditched the idea of naming my blog in flagrate delicto);

3. Email other bloggers that you have started a blog, google orders search results in part by sites that link to you;

4. Publish on a regular schedule. I try to publish 5 days a week, Monday through Friday. Most of the time, I succeed but sometimes the practice of law gets in the way of blogging. I find that I do not read blogs that publish on an irregular basis. If you can’t do Monday through Friday then let readers know that you will publish on certain days of the week;

5. Post new entries in the morning. I know from months of data that the people who read my blog do so on weekday mornings - likely from work;

6. Do not check your blog stats for a few months. When I started this, I liked to imagine that people were reading it and by and large that’s what was happening. I now get more unique users on a Saturday night than I got in the first two months of writing this blog.

7. Market your blog on facebook and linked in. It’s free, it gets to your target audience and reminds people of what you do for a living.

by Ryan C. McKeen