The Legal Intelligencer Blog today reports that “Philadelphia judge has denied a defense motion for summary judgment in a defamation action that prompted a landmark media rights decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2004.

In his most recent opinion in Bochetto v. Gibson, Judge Albert W. Sheppard Jr. ruled that it will be up to a jury to decide whether or not George Bochetto of Bochetto & Lentz was defamed by the attorney who represented a former client of Bochetto’s in a legal malpractice case against Bochetto.

At the heart of the case are statements made in a complaint filed in a legal malpractice action against Bochetto. Certain statements in the complaint were reported in an October 1999 article in the suburban edition of The Legal Intelligencer” Details

My legal malpractice insurance questionaire asks me how I calendar. Here is an article from Seattle WA which says that 23.5% of all malpractice cases arise from faulty calendaring. The article goes on to discuss older attorneys and paper calendaring. His conclusion? “In the modern law office, almost all calendaring is done electronically. However, many older practitioners will rely on the less the less reliable form of paper calendaring. With increasingly complicated case schedules, paper calendaring is in and of itself probably a breach of the standard of care”

The Case: employment discrimination in a restaurant. The Claim: employee raped by employer. The outcome: a $ 400,000 sanction against her attorneys, set by district court Judge. Magistrate who heard the evidence in support of sanction recommended against sanction. Judge simply disregarded the recommendation. Appellate Court: Judge should have re-heard testimony before simply disregarding the magistrate. Details.

These new rules do not have a direct bearing on legal malpractice, nor do they arise from a legal malpractice case, but they do have the potential to pop up in a legal malpracitce case some months from now. The gist of new rules? Motions with a request for a TRO require specified statements by the maker, and will fail without those statements. The same court notes also contain the new deposition and insurance company settlement rules. Rules.