http://www.insiderexclusive.com/component/content/article/1-shows/118-qsame-sex-couple-discrimination--sharon-reeds-storyq-

Imagine a different world — a world of full equality for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people. A world where everyone has the same rights in housing, jobs, public accommodations, equal access to government benefits and equal protection of the law. That is not the world that JoAnn Ritchie and Sharon Reed found themselves in, on the night of September 3, 2005, at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. Sharon, a psychotherapist, and JoAnn, a City of Seattle housing administrator, had been life-partners for 17 years, when JoAnn’s chronic illness worsened and she was hospitalized at the University of Washington Medical Center. On September 3, 2005, JoAnn was moved to the ICU and came under the care of a contract nurse, Karen Hulley, for the night. And on that night, their lives changed forever. Despite the fact that the University and JoAnn’s doctor permitted Sharon to be by her beside constantly, Nurse Hulley, repeatedly refused Sharon access to JoAnn’s room and bedside, continually evicting her from the room. By the time Sharon regained access to her partner the next morning, JoAnn’s condition had deteriorated, and she was heavily drugged. She died within a matter of hours. The Insider Exclusive now goes ”Behind the Headlines” to visit with Sharon Reed and her lawyer Judith Lonnquist, as they relive the “Long Night from Hell,” as Sharon watched – from a distance – the love of her life, JoAnn, slowly dying alone, all because of the cruelty and the insensitivity of the “Nurse from Hell,”Karen Hulley. Judith will explain the justifiable reasons behind the lawsuit they have filed against Nurse Hulley and her employer, which the courts have refused to dismiss both at the trial and the appellate levels and is scheduled for trial in April 2010.

Judith Lonnquist specializes in plaintiffs’ employment and civil rights law, with an occasional foray into traditional labor law and campaign finance law. She is a founder of the Northwest Women’s Law Center and served as National Legal Vice President to the National Organization for Women, and as a member of Washington State’s Gender & Justice Taskforce. Judith is a member of various Bar and legal associations and She served as President of the Washington Employment Lawyers Association, on the WSTLA Board of Governors and on the Executive Committee for the WSBA Litigation Section. She is a graduate of the Trial Lawyers College founded by Gerry Spence. She is a frequent speaker on plaintiff’s employment law and trial and appellate procedure and strategies, and is listed in America’s Best Lawyers, Seattle’s Best Lawyers, and as a “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law and Politics. Judith is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the University of Chicago Law School.

The Law Offices of Judith A. Lonnquist, P.S. is a Seattle, Washington, plaintiff’s civil rights and employment law firm. Founded in 1986, the firm currently has three lawyers who between them have over 70 years of employment law experience. The founder, Judith A. Lonnquist, has twice served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Washington Employment Law Deskbook and is consistently named by Law and Politics Magazine as a Top Washington Lawyer. The firm handles employment-related legal matters or claims for employees in Washington State.

You can contact Judith Lonnquist at 206-622-2086.

http://www.insiderexclusive.com/component/content/article/1-shows/14-whats-wrong-with-the-american-financial-system

In this in-depth interview, Andrew Entwistle, Managing Partner of Entwistle & Cappucci LLP; William Black, a former S&L regulator, best-selling author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One and Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City; and Steve Murphy, Host and Producer of the Insider Exclusive, analyze what's wrong with the American financial system.

Andrew, Professor Black and Steve expose how the collapse of government regulation creates an environment for bankers and executives to act with impunity. But it was more than greed and incompetence that hurt our financial system - it was fraud. By creating triple-A rated bonds out of ¡°liars' loans¡± - loans without verifying income, assets or employment - the federal government and the banking system set the stage for disaster in the real estate market and the broader economy. This drastic reduction in regulation is now responsible for the biggest banking crisis since the Great Depression. Andrew, Professor Black and Steve get to the heart of these financial shenanigans, and reveal the cost of governmental indifference.

William Black is a former S&L regulator, best-selling author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One and Professor of Economics and Law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. He was the Executive Director of the Institute for Fraud Prevention from 2005-2007. He has taught previously at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and at Santa Clara University, where he was also the distinguished scholar in residence for insurance law and a visiting scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics. Bill is also the author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One (University of Texas Press 2005), an insider's account of the savings and loan debacle of the 1980s.

Andrew Entwistle is the Managing Partner of Entwistle & Cappucci LLP. Andrew's practice principally involves the representation of public and private institutional investors in complex litigation and corporate finance and transactional matters. Over the years, Andrew has represented clients including Fortune 100 companies, public and private institutional investors, governmental and individual clients in a variety of corporate finance, and transactional matters and in complex business, securities, antitrust and bankruptcy litigation throughout the United States before federal and state courts, surrogate's and probate courts, grand juries, administrative and regulatory agencies and arbitration panels. For example, Andrew's recent representation of the Colorado Public Employees Retirement Association in In re Royal Ahold N.V. Securities and ERISA Litigation led to a recovery of more than $1.1 billion for his clients. Andrew is also actively engaged in the defense of institutional investors and international businesses in complex securities, antitrust, bankruptcy and corporate finance related matters.

Entwistle & Cappucci LLP is a national law firm with eight offices strategically located throughout the country to best serve clients' diverse needs. The firm provides top-flight legal representation and exceptional service to clients that include major public corporations, a number of the nation's largest public pension funds, governmental entities, leading institutional investors, domestic and foreign financial services companies, emerging business enterprises and individual entrepreneurs.

You can contact Andrew Entwistle at 212-894-7200, or www.entwistle-law.com. William Black at www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/black.htm.

Thomas Petters and Petters Group Worldwide defrauded investors of morethan $3 billion in scams based on false invoices from bogus "sales" ofelectronics to wholesale clubs such as Sam's and Costco, federalprosecutors say. Petters allegedly used the scam to induce investmentsin the "venture capital arm" of his network, PCI (Petters Co. Inc.)

Petters and his companies face numerous civil lawsuits from angry investors.

Hereare the defendants in this federal complaint: Thomas Joseph Petters dbaPetters Company Inc. dba Petters Group Worldwide LLC dba PCI, DeannaColeman aka Deanna Munson, Robert White, James Wehmhoff, Larry Reynoldsdba Nationwide International Resources aka NIR, Michael Catain dbaEnchanted Family Buying Company, Frank E. Vennes Jr. dba Metro GemFinance dba Metro Gem Inc. dba Grace Offerings of Florida LLC dba MetroProperty Financing LLC dba 38 E. Robinson LLC dba 55 E. Pine LLC dbaOrlando Rental Pool LLC dba100 Pine Street Property LLC dba OrangeStreet Tower LLC dba Cornerstone Rental Pool LLC dba 2 South OrangeAvenue LLC dba Hope Commons LLC dba Metro Gold Inc., Ritchie CapitalManagement et al. (intervenor), Douglas A. Kelley and William Procida(receivers).