BY GINA HOLLAND

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — As a government lawyer, SamuelAlito urged the Supreme Court two decades ago to bar specialtreatment for people based on skin color.

Now, Alito is the newest justice and, with Chief Justice JohnRoberts, will have a chance this fall to make a broad pro-nouncement on the constitutionality of affirmative action.

In a surprise, the court agreed Monday to decide whetherrace can be used in assigning children to public schools, anissue in which the justices were uninterested last year beforethe retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor.

The announcement puts a contentious social issue on thenational landscape in an election year and could mark a newchapter for a court that banned racial segregation in publicschools in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Alito is expected to be the key vote. He replaced O’Connor,who three years ago cast the tie-breaking vote to allow publicuniversities to select students based at least in part on race.

In 1985, Alito helped write a Supreme Court brief arguing

that it was unconstitutional for a Michigan school district to layoff white teachers before blacks in an effort to keep a diversework force.

“The most powerful role models are those who have suc-ceeded without a hint of favoritism,” the Reagan administrationlawyers wrote. “Henry Aaron would not be regarded as the all-time home-run king ... if the fences had been moved in when-ever he came to the plate.”

The court did not adopt the government’s broad reasoning,siding with white teachers in 1986 on narrower grounds.

This fall, the justices will hear appeals from a Seattle par-ents group and a Kentucky mom, who argue that race restric-tions in school assignments improperly penalize white stu-dents.

Doug Kmiec, a Pepperdine University law professor andformer Reagan administration lawyer, said the case will affectstudents everywhere. “This is not quite at the level of Brown v.Board, but it will be argued in the style of that case,” he said.

Justices will look at the modern classroom, no longer undercourt desegregation orders but in some places still using rem-nants of those policies.

At its heart, the court will consider whether school leaderscan promote racial diversity without violating the Constitu-tion’s guarantee against discrimination.

The court’s announcement that it will take up the cases thisfall provides the first sign of an aggressiveness by the courtunder Roberts. The court rejected a similar case in Decemberwhen moderate O’Connor was still on the bench.

Opponents of affirmative action said they expect Alito andRoberts to make a difference.

“I think there’s going to be a substantial change in the out-come of these cases,” said Sharon Browne, a lawyer with thePacific Legal Foundation, a conservative group that urged thecourt to take the appeals.

Roberts also was an attorney in the Reagan administrationwho worked to limit affirmative action.

Alito was asked during his Senate confirmation hearings inJanuary about the 2003 O’Connor ruling. Without stating hisviews on affirmative action, he said he taught a college semi-nar on civil liberties to a diverse class. “Having these people inthe class with diverse backgrounds and outlooks on the issues

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Lawsuit settled over useof songs as ringtones

News you cannot get anywhere else 75 CentsVol. CXI No. 113

Abandoned Car Auctions..................16Calendar................................................3City Council Minutes for May 24.........5City Request for Bids ........................15Classified Ads ......................................4Legal Notices......................................16Mortgages.............................................4New Corporations ..............................45Obituary ..............................................46

WednesdayJune 7, 2006

Cases provide a look into tax year-in-reviewBY FRANK WEIRLegal News

William Allen of the Jackson law firm ofMarcoux, Allen, Schomer, Bower, Nichols,Kendall and Lindsey, presented an annual taxlaw wrap-up at a meeting of the WashtenawCounty Bar Association’s tax law sectionrecently in Ann Arbor.

Allen presented signif icant cases anddevelopments month-by-month covering thelast year.

Highlights included:––Toepfer EstateAllen said that the case resulted in an

award of $44,000 in attorney fees to theestate. “The estate was awarded attorney feesafter it showed that the IRS’ position wasunjustified. The estate had litigated and wonits case. Attorneys have not been able to pur-sue fees on this basis before.”

(D. Pa.) 2005-1USTC 60,503.

––Rev. Rul. 2005-36, CCH section 30,305 An IRA beneficiary may disclaim, even

though he or she has received the currentyear’s required minimum distribution.

“Pursuant to section 2518 of the InternalRevenue Code, the beneficiary of an estatecan disclaim their interest in the estate butonly if they failed to accept a benefit from theasset being disclaimed.

“In the past, we would advise our clientsthat if they are disclaiming an IRA, they don’tdare take a distribution between the death ofthe testator and the client’s disclaimer.

“It turns out we were wrong since this rul-ing allows a beneficiary to take the requiredminimum distribution and still disclaim theIRA. That is something that is new to us, Iwas surprised by the ruling.”

––Congressional Budget office ruledthat the estate tax does not have a substan-tial effect on farmers.

“Over the years, people who would like to

get rid of the estate tax have been saying thatAmerica’s farmers are being put out of busi-ness due to the tax. The Budget Office foundit had hardly any effect on farmers.”

––Rev. Proc. 2005-52-2005-59, CCH sec-tion 46,576

“The IRS issued new model forms forcharitable remainder unitrusts. The modelforms began in 1989 and I think they’re reallyneat. These have been updated.”

––Lurie Estate. (7th Circuit) 2005-2USTC section 60,507

Robert Lurie was a Chicago financier andhad an estate of about $91 million when hedied. He had used up his unified credit duringhis lifetime so the entire estate went into amarital trust.

“His 706 return showed a $91 millionestate and a marital deduction of $91 millionand a taxable estate of zero. But upon audit,it was discovered that he or his mother hadcreated some living trusts and he had some (See TAX UPDATE, Page Two)

(See SCHOOL CASE, Page Two)

� Inflation WorriesBernanke jolts market with worries about inflation.

Page Two

� Crime Spree KillingWoman pleads not guilty in death of Flint-area man.

Page Three

� Education FundingProposal on education fundinglikely headed for November ballot.

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DETROIT (AP) — A f igurine dealeraccused of pocketing more than $300,000from fraudulent Internet auctions was sen-tenced Monday to more than six years inprison.

Stewart C. Richardson, 65, of OaklandCounty’s White Lake Township, was sen-tenced to 74 months in prison by U.S. DistrictJudge Bernard A. Friedman. Richardson hadpleaded guilty in February to one count eachof mail fraud and wire fraud.

Friedman also ordered Richardson to servethree years of supervised release and pay$323,261 in restitution to his nearly 200 vic-tims.

The sentence was twice as harsh as proba-tion officials had recommended, the DetroitFree Press reported.

“I have to send a message to Americansthat there will be swift and sure punishmentfor these types of crimes,” Friedman said incourt.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Hurley hadasked Friedman to impose at least five yearsin prison, saying Richardson carefullyplanned the scheme, remained a fugitive fornearly four years after pocketing the cash andshowed no remorse.

But Deputy Federal Defender JonathanEpstein urged Friedman to consider a shortprison sentence so Richardson could get a joband start paying restitution. Epstein saidRichardson had been a law-abiding business-man and family man before cocaine addictionled him astray.

The case is based on a Dec. 28, 2001-Jan.4, 2002 eBay auction of figurines from anapparently f ictitious estate in Phoenix.Though pictures of the Lladro, Hummel andWee Forest Folk figurines were posted on theonline auction site, customers say the photoscame from catalogs.

Richardson, the former owner of RetiredFigurines, vanished after receiving the auc-tion proceeds. His girlfriend, who had beenliving with him in a Los Angeles motel,turned him in last year after he bragged thathe was a federal fugitive and showed her awanted poster.

Man sentencedin eBay auctionfraud case

powers over them. “Everyone agreed that the living trusts that

had been created were properly includable inthe taxable estate and amounted to $44 mil-lion. So the estate went to $135 million andnow there was a tax due.

“Now who was to pay this tax which prob-ably amounted to $22 million. You wouldthink it would be out of the living trusts thatgenerated the tax obligation. That should havebeen the case. But there was a clause inLurie’s own trust of $91 million that said thatall of his debts, taxes, and so forth, were to bepaid out of that trust.

“Many lawyers have used a similar clauseand you must be careful of this. Many of ushave quit using that sort of a clause but inLurie’s case, it was never changed.

“The court found that clause so it ruledthat that’s where the $22 million had to comefrom. So that amount was paid out of the

Supreme Court showdown may turn on junior justice

DETROIT (AP) — Grammy-winning rap-per Eminem’s publishing companies have set-tled a lawsuit filed in what they said was aneffort to illegally sell his songs as cell phoneringtones.

Michigan-based Eight Mile Style and Mar-tin Affiliated filed suit Oct. 4 in U.S. DistrictCourt in Detroit against five companies. Thesuits asked for an order to prohibit the compa-nies from illegally selling Eminem song ring-tones on the Internet.

Eminem’s representatives reached anundisclosed settlement last Thursday with oneof the companies — Colorado-based CellusUS — and asked U.S. District Court JudgeGerald E. Rosen to approve the deal, TheDetroit News reported.

Cellus lawyer Mary Margaret O’Donnellsaid the company agreed to stop distributingthe ringtones, but she declined to say whetherit had paid any money to settle the suit.

A lawyer for the rapper, whose real name isMarshall Mathers III, said he also plans to suekaraoke companies that sell Eminem songswithout the proper licenses.

Eminem lawyer Howard Hertz said illegalEminem ringtones bring in hundreds of thou-sands of dollars per year. “We reached an ami-cable agreement,” he said.

Supreme Court will consider old sentences

WASHINGTON (AP) — The SupremeCourt said Monday it will decide whetherinmates can reopen challenges to prison sen-tences based on a court ruling two years agothat limited judicial discretion in sentencing.

Justices will hear arguments this fall fromLonnie Burton, who is serving nearly 47 yearsis prison in Washington state for rape, robberyand burglary.

Burton’s lawyers told justices that the judgeincreased Burton’s sentence by about 21 years,declaring that he deserved a harsher sentencethan the sentencing scheme provided for there.

The case two years ago was also fromWashington state. Justices on a 5-4 vote over-turned the sentence of a Washington state manfor kidnapping his estranged wife. A judge,acting alone, had determined that RalphBlakely acted with “deliberate cruelty” anddeserved a longer prison term.

Justices did not say then how the decisionwould affect old cases. Justice Antonin Scaliaauthored that opinion, for an odd right-leftlineup of justices.

Burton had an appeal pending when thecourt resolved Blakely’s case. He had beenconvicted in 1994 of raping a 15-year-old boyhe followed home from school.

The case is Burton v. Waddington, 05-9222.

Court says golfer notliable for errant ball

HONOLULU (AP) — A golfer may not beheld liable for mistakenly hitting anothergolfer with an errant golf ball, the HawaiiSupreme Court ruled.

The court unanimously upheld a lower courtruling to dismiss Ryan Yoneda’s lawsuit againstAndrew Tom, whose wayward ball hit Yonedain the left eye at Mililani Golf Course in 1999.

Chief Justice Ronald Moon wrote Yonedaassumed the risk of the injury when he playedgolf.

It is “common knowledge that not everyshot played by a golfer goes exactly where heintends it to go,” the ruling said, adding therewouldn’t be much “sport” in the “sport ofgolf,” if golf balls went exactly where theplayer wanted.

The April 28 ruling makes clear a golfer whointentionally hits a ball to inflict injury, or reck-lessly hits the ball knowing that injury is highlylikely, would not be exempt from liability.

The court considered whether golfersshould have to shout “fore” or other warningsto protect other players. The justices conclud-ed, however, that doing so was golf etiquette,not a requirement recognized by law.

“With the ruling that warning is like anoption, that’s not too good,” said Yoneda, whosuffered permanent vision damage. “I knowwhat it’s like to be hit and I don’t want any-body to go through what I went through.”

www.legalnews.com

THE MICHIGAN TRIAL LAWYERS ASSOCIATON (MTLA) hosted its annual banquet on Sat-urday, May 13, at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn. MTLA officers in attendance included(left to right) Linda Miller Atkinson of Atkinson, Petruska, Kozma, & Hart, outgoing MTLApresident; Robert Raitt of Gursten, Koltonow, Gursten, Christensen, & Raitt, MTLA presi-dent-elect; Jesse Reiter of Gregory & Reiter P.C., incoming MTLA president; and Southfieldattorney Robert Warsh, MTLA secretary. Photo by John Meiu

Associationhosts annual

banquet,Rapid Fireseminar

THE MICHIGAN TRIALLAWYERS ASSOCIATION(MTLA) offered its annual

Rapid-Fire seminar onWednesday, May 12, at the

Hyatt Regency in Dearborn.Participating in the event were(left to right) Michael P. Riskoof Visso & Bolhouse, seminarspeaker;Thomas Hay of Hay& O’Rourke, moderator and

past MTLA president; andPaul J. Whiting of Lipton Law

Center, speaker.Photo by John Meiu

Jun7 6/6/06 2:22 PM Page 1