1. A Fresh Set of Eyes Even the most gifted trial attorney can develop blind spots in a case. An appellate specialist brings a fresh set of eyes to your case and see issues you do not see. Appellate attorneys can also bring a new perspective to the case. An appellate attorney with no stake in the arguments made in the trial court can take a more objective and dispassionate [...]
Partner Andrew C. Johnson obtained a defense verdict following a jury trial in Polk County, Iowa earlier this week. Plaintiff sought damages at trial in excess of $800,000, claiming a car accident caused by Andy’s client in 2018 resulted in permanent neck and back injuries. Following the accident, Plaintiff underwent several rounds of therapy, injections and radio frequency ablations before undergoing a cervical fusion in 2021. Plaintiff and [...]
Partner Adam R. Feeney was recently featured in The Nebraska Lawyer publication for his article, “Primer on Arbitration and Recent Developments in Arbitration Caselaw.” Arbitration is a binding form of private dispute resolution to which almost everyone has agreed, in one contract or another, certain of their claims are subject. In this article Adam seeks to provide an overview of what arbitration is and the ways courts enforce [...]
Partners Craig F. Martin and Daniel J. Waters presented at the 2023 Iowa LICA Convention on January 9. The Iowa Chapter Land Improvement Contractors of America (LICA) is a nonprofit association of contractors dedicated to the professional conservation of soil and water. Their annual convention is held over three days and provides educational sessions and workshops. Craig’s presentation focused on minimizing risk on construction projects and Dan [...]
Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP (LDM) welcomes attorneys Andrew C. Johnson, Jason C. Palmer, Scott Wormsley, and Rachel R. Raymond. Johnson, Palmer and Wormsley join as partners in LDM’s West Des Moines location and Raymond is an associate in Omaha. Andy Johnson has an active trial practice and has tried numerous jury and nonjury trials over the last several years for a variety of clients. His practice areas include commercial [...]
Bryony J. Whitaker, Attorney What is your definition of success? I define success as maintaining a happy family life with my husband and two pups, balanced with a dynamic career where I’m dealt new challenges. Not to harp on the alleged mythical unicorn that is the ‘work life balance’ bandwagon, but I really do believe it is possible! Something that I’m still learning as I go along is [...]
Attorney Taylor J. Jurgens was recently elected to serve on the Board of Directors of NeighborGood (formerly known as the Tri-City Food Pantry) for a three-year term. NeighborGood is a food pantry located in Papillion, Nebraska that serves those in the Sarpy County area struggling with food insecurity. NeighborGood currently serves around 200 families every month with food and household items, and is in the process of building [...]
After the votes were tabulated, Partner Mark E. Novotny was selected by the attorneys of the Nebraska Bar Association to four Judicial Nominating Commissions: (1) Chief Justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court; (2) Nebraska Supreme Court; (3) Nebraska Court of Appeals; and (4) the District and County Courts of the Nebraska Fourth Judicial District. Judges in all levels of Nebraska Courts must first submit their names to the [...]
Partner Craig F. Martin presented to members of the Metro Omaha Builders Association (MOBA) where he discussed construction contracts and how to minimize risk. Click here for a copy of his handout.
Partner Cathy Trent-Vilim spoke at the NATA Seminar on December 2, 2022 in Omaha, Nebraska. The seminar focused on principles for trial practice where seasoned attorneys shared advice and strategies on various aspects of trial practice. Ms. Trent-Vilim presented on appellate practice pointers, which included rule changes related to creating a record for appeal and appellate brief formatting changes. To learn more about NATA click here. [...]
Partner Craig F. Martin presented at the Nebraska State Bar Real Estate Seminar on Construction Contracts After COVID. His presentation focused on updating construction contracts to address situations that were caused by the pandemic, like price escalation, supply chain disruptions, and delayed projects. Click here to get a copy of Craig’s handout.
Partner Maria T. Lighthall was recently appointed Chair of the Madonna Foundation Board of Directors and Ex Officio (voting member) of the Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital Board of Directors. “During the last year, 2,058 donors from 41 states helped support world-class rehabilitation on Madonna’s Lincoln and Omaha campuses. The $10 million raised for the Lincoln campus Expansion Project alone is testament to the generosity of our friends who help [...]
Partner Craig F. Martin presented as part of a panel on strategic business planning and evaluation at the Professional Remodeling Organization’s PRO Education Day on December 7, 2022. This panel discussed how to overcome operational challenges and build a stronger business. Click here to learn more about PRO.
Partner Mark E. Novotny, along with Nebraska Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Funke, were on the judging panel for the championship round of the Nebraska 2022 High School Mock Trial competition put on by the Nebraska State Bar Association. Each year more than 1,000 students and teachers from high schools across Nebraska take part in the Judge Lyle Strom High School Mock Trial Program. Mr. Novotny had the privilege [...]
Senior Counsel Monte Schatz presented at the ACTEC 2022 MoKanNeb Meeting on December 3, 2022 in Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Schatz addressed the analysis of the Nebraska Supreme Court decision in Chrisp v. Chrisp (In re: Estate of Chrisp), and its impact on the definition of the augmented estate and the elective share. His presentation provided an overview in light of the Chrisp decision of conflicting provisions between [...]
Partner Janice M. Thomas obtained an unanimous decision affirming summary judgment in her appeal Save our Stadiums v. Des Moines Independent School District. The Iowa Supreme Court upheld the district court’s summary judgment dismissing Save Our Stadium’s claims challenging the Des Moines Independent Community School District’s refusal to grant their petition for a public referendum on the funding for an athletic stadium. The plaintiffs, Save Our Stadiums, et. [...]
Attorney Bryony J. Whitaker advocated at the Iowa Supreme Court on Wednesday, November 16. Bryony sought to gain clarity on Iowa's certificate of merit statute; an issue that is of great importance to the medical malpractice community. She talked about how the legislature created a mandatory dismissal right for defendants, demonstrated by the statute’s legislative history. Click here to watch.
Partner William R. Settles presented at the 2022 Nebraska Perinatal Quality Improvement Collaborative (NPQIC) Fall Summit in Kearney, Nebraska on Wednesday, November 9, 2022. The summit focused on physicians, advanced practice providers and nurse leaders, educating them on optimizing and creating effective health care teams to reduce perinatal mortality and morbidity. Bill’s presentation focused on current issues in medical malpractice. Click here to learn more about NPQIC. [...]
On November 8, 2022, voters in Nebraska approved a ballot measure to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 an hour, up from $9. The measure, Initiative 433, will gradually increase the state’s wage floor to $15 an hour by 2026. The changes are designed to be made each year as follows: $10.50 on January 1, 2023; $12.00 on January 1, 2024; $13.50 on January 1, 2025; and $15.00 on [...]
Partner Patrick G. Vipond and Associate Olivia R. McDowell presented to a group of midwestern healthcare providers on the collaborative relationship between physicians and advanced practice providers, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, on November 1, 2022. Providers from Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, Minnesota, and Kansas attended. The presentation highlighted the legal framework for the physician-advanced practice practitioner relationship, best practices, and current trends in medical [...]
Partner Cathy Trent-Vilim attended the AJEI Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, from November 10-13, 2022. The AJEI Summit is the nation’s premier appellate educational event with almost 400 appellate judges and practitioners in attendance. It features discussions on emerging trends, challenges, and legal issues affecting appellate practitioners and the judiciary. This summit is organized by the National Judicial College and the Appellate Judges Education Institute, with participation of the [...]
Partner Sean A. Minahan presented to the Nebraska LEAD Class 40 on November 3, 2022 at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. His presentation covered recent national and regional trends in agricultural law, including issues in farm succession planning, guardians and conservatorships, class action pesticide torts, right to farm laws, water rights and a case study in a recent farm lease dispute. The Nebraska LEAD program has been [...]
Partner Adam R. Feeney was recently elected as Chair of the Nebraska State Bar Association’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Section. This section focuses on increasing awareness of and training in means of resolution of disputes outside of the court litigation, such as mediation and arbitration. Click here to learn more about the NSBA and this section.
Kyle Wallor, Partner Describe your career trajectory. In August 1994, I packed all my belongings into a 1984 Volvo 240DL and hauled them 1,400 miles from the beaches of Narragansett, Rhode Island to the mean streets of Mid-Town Omaha, Nebraska. All of that to attend Creighton Law School. (That 240DL was a sexy ride, just Google it). Thanks to our very own Frank Schepers calling in a favor [...]
Partner Mark E. Novotny presented to dental providers at the Metro West Dental Seminar on November 2, 2022 in LaVista, Nebraska. Mr. Novotny addressed the anatomy of dental claims, lawsuits, investigation, risk exposure, liability insurance, defense and proper documentation. He also discussed the team concept of providing dental care and documentation to lessen risks to the team members and provided actual dental and periodontal examples of real cases [...]
On October 28, 2022, Partners Rick Harris and Michael L. Storey obtained a defense verdict for an Iowa hospital after a 10-day jury trial. Plaintiffs alleged that following a CT angiogram of the chest, the radiology technologists, nurses, and emergency room physician did not timely diagnose and treat an anaphylactic reaction to contrast. Plaintiffs, including the patient, his wife, and four adult children, sought over $34 million [...]
Can you get interest on construction liens? You can now—at 12%. The Nebraska Supreme Court recently ruled that an LDM client could recover 12% interest on amounts owed under a construction lien. Here, LDM’s client was a material supplier on a construction project. The subcontractor failed to pay the material supplier and we filed a construction lien on its behalf. When the property owner and general contractor refused to pay [...]
Associate Ellen K. Geisler was elected as Treasurer of the Nebraska State Bar Association's (NSBA) Young Lawyers Section (YLS) Executive Committee at the annual meeting. She is currently serving a four-year term as the representative for District 4 (Douglas County) on the Executive Committee. There are currently approximately 1,100 members in the YLS. The YLS organizes Continuing Legal Education opportunities and social events for its members across the [...]
The long arms of the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) recently caught a Nebraska man for making false statements in the collection of a sizeable crop insurance claim. The end result was a sentence of 16 weekends of jail time, a $100 special assessment, a $30,000 fine and the kicker of $1,000,000 in restitution. The sentence was for a 2015 crop insurance claim with the investigation starting after the man [...]
Partner Nichole S. Bogen was re-elected as the chair of the Labor Relations and Employment Law Section for the Nebraska State Bar Association (NSBA). The Section provides a forum for the discussion and development of substantive and procedural laws relating to the field of labor relations and employment law. It also promotes and maintains high standards of conduct, integrity, and skill for persons engaged in the practice. [...]
Partner Adam R. Feeney, with research assistance from Callie A. Kanthack, contributed to the Nebraska section “Interim Measures in the United States in Aid of Arbitration.” The book is a state by state survey of the availability of interim measures in court, such as orders of attachment or injunctions, in aid of arbitration. Click here to learn more about this book and its contents.
The recently passed “Inflation Reduction Act” contained a provision aimed substantially increasing the IRS’s enforcement capabilities. This increased the IRS budget by roughly $80 billion for the next 10 years. According to the Tax Foundation, $45.6 billion of that budget increase will go toward enforcement—a 69% increase. Additionally, according to the Tax Foundation, the IRS budget increase is projected to raise $203 billion in gross revenue and $123 billion in [...]
The Nebraska Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s ruling that LDM’s client, represented by Craig F. Martin and Callie A. Kanthack, did not have to give her land or money to her estranged daughter. In 2021, LDM’s client’s daughter filed a lawsuit against alleging that her mother breached their agreement to give her daughter hundreds of acres of farm ground. LDM’s client denied that she was [...]
Partners Mark E. Novotny and William R. Settles presented at the Nebraska Defense Counsel Meeting for MMIC/Constellation Insurance Company on September 12, 2022. In attendance were attorneys and insurance professionals who represent health care providers in professional practice matters. Mr. Novotny spoke on EMR litigation discussing EMR and audit trails, data related to claims, and provided nationwide examples of EMR/Audit Trail litigation and claims. Mr. Settles presented [...]
On Friday, September 30, Partner Daniel J. Waters will present "Governing Documents for Your Farm or Ranch Business Entity: When, How, and Why They Matter" at the 2022 Ag Law Summit. Washburn University School of Law, in collaboration with Creighton University School of Law, present this program which provides an overview of tax law provisions relating to a variety of issues that arise in Farm and Ranch Tax, [...]
Following a six-day trial in Pottawattamie County, Partners Michael L. Storey and Patrick G. Vipond secured a defense verdict for a jail psychiatrist in a lawsuit seeking more than $30 million in damages. The plaintiff was arrested on July 24, 2018, and remained in the Pottawattamie County jail until the night of August 2, 2018. On that night, the jail released him from custody and sent him [...]
Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP congratulates Matthew Karnes, Olivia McDowell and Phillip Sanberg on their recent achievements of passing the Nebraska Bar Exam. Matthew and Olivia will join as associates in our litigation department and Phillip will join as a corporate associate – all three will be working in our Omaha office. They will be sworn in on September 20. Congratulations!
Paralegal Stephanie Fosbinder was recently awarded the Nebraska Paralegal Association’s (NePA) 2022 Certified Paralegal (CP) Scholarship. The CP Scholarship encourages and assists individuals in their pursuit to obtain the Certified Paralegal designation and covers educational expenses related to obtaining this certification. The recipient also automatically becomes a member of the CP/ACP Scholarship Committee in the fiscal year following the awarding of the scholarship. Stephanie’s achievement will be announced at the [...]
Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP’s Daniel P. Chesire was recently granted Emeritus Membership by the Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel (FDCC). This prestigious membership is reserved for members who rendered exemplary service to the Federation and made outstanding contributions to advance the objectives and purposes of the organization. Emeritus Member status is bestowed only to those exemplary professionals whose contributions are of the highest caliber and their [...]
Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP congratulates Sarah Schleisman on her recent achievement of passing the Iowa Bar Exam. Sarah is one of the Firm’s newest team members and works in our West Des Moines office. Prior to studying for the bar she attended Drake University Law School and was the Executive Editor of the Drake Journal of Agricultural Law. Sarah also clerked for Conterra Ag Capital. She celebrated passing the [...]
Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP welcomed attorneys Theodore (Ted) Appel, Mary Mikuls and Taylor Jurgens to the Firm. Ted Appel is a litigation associate at LDM’s West Des Moines office. Prior to joining the Firm, Ted was a law clerk for Chief Justice Susan Larson Christensen of the Iowa Supreme Court during the 2021-22 term and graduated from the University of Iowa College of Law in [...]
Partner Nichole S. Bogen represents Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP as Council Member of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce Small Business Advisory Council. This council was formed as a cross-section of Lincoln’s Chamber membership and represents businesses of varied industries. It discusses opportunities and concerns impacting the small businesses of Lincoln. Click here to learn more.
Associate Ellen K. Geisler was selected to participate in the 2022-2023 Nebraska State Bar Association (NSBA) Leadership Academy. The mission of the NSBA Leadership Academy is to develop the leadership skills of the participants to allow them to make greater contributions to the legal profession and their community. The monthly sessions will discuss topics such as: Effective Leadership, Legislative Issues, Balancing Work and Life, and Public Trust and [...]
Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP is proud to announce that 14 of their attorneys have been recognized in the 29th Edition of The Best Lawyers in America. This recognition is awarded to individual attorneys with the highest overall peer-feedback for a specific practice area and geographic region. Congratulations to the following Partners! Appellate Practice Rick Harris (West Des Moines, IA) William R. Settles Closely Held Companies and Family Businesses Law [...]
Associate Erin K. Artz was recently selected to serve on the Executive Committee for the Nebraska State Bar Association’s (NSBA) Tax Section. The Section is dedicated to promoting and improving the professional knowledge and skill of its members by addressing practical and legal issues arising in taxation laws and regulations, as well as cultivating social and professional relationships among its members and disseminating information of interest to its [...]
Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP is pleased to announce the nomination of Partner Jason W. Grams to become a Nebraska State Bar Foundation Fellow. Fellowship is awarded to a select number of Nebraska lawyers who distinguish themselves through professional achievements and contributions to the Foundation. Only 30 lawyers are nominated and elected annually. Mr. Grams joins six other Lamson Dugan & Murray attorneys who achieved this honor: • [...]
Partner William R. Settles celebrates 30 years of membership in the Nebraska State Bar Association (NSBA). The NSBA works for Nebraska lawyers to help them achieve the highest standards of competence, ethics and professionalism and to protect and promote the administration of and access to justice. Mr. Settles has 30 years of experience defending physicians, hospitals and other health care providers. Read more about his expertise and accomplishments, [...]
Partner Anne Marie O’Brien was recently elected President of the National Association of Railroad Trial Counsel (NARTC). This 67 years old national transportation organization is made up of the top railroad trial attorneys from across the United States and Canada. NARTC is devoted exclusively to serving the rail industry’s litigation needs. Anne Marie is regularly chosen to speak on her expertise to the membership on trial, insurance and [...]
Partner Kyle Wallor celebrates 25 years of membership in the Nebraska State Bar Association (NSBA). The NSBA works for Nebraska lawyers to help them achieve the highest standards of competence, ethics and professionalism and to protect and promote the administration of and access to justice. Mr. Wallor will be honored at the NSBA’s 2022 Annual Meeting Legacy Luncheon later this fall.
Lamson Dugan & Murray LLP is proud to share that Daniel P. Chesire was awarded the Father Flanagan Distinguished Alumnus Award at Boys Town’s Alumni Dinner. This achievement is the highest and most prestigious award given by the Boys Town Alumni Association. It recognizes alumni who have achieved substantial personal and professional growth and advancement over an extended period of time, made significant contributions to society and service [...]
