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In
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Wilenchik & Bartness
wins bench trial involving
issue of first impression in Federal
Court.
Dennis Wilenchik and Kathleen Rapp, representing the Elections
Officials from 12 of the 15 Arizona Counties, worked hand-in-hand
with the Arizona Attorney General's Office to defeat a challenge
to the Arizona Voter ID and Proof of Citizenship laws. The
complex litigation included three consolidated cases brought by
individuals and special interests groups seeking to overturn Arizona's
election integrity laws. After
more than two years of litigation driven by MALDEF and other out-of-state
Plaintiff's organizations, Judge Silver of the United States
District Court for the District of Arizona issued a 49-page order
finding that the State and Counties had properly upheld the will
of the people, rejecting all constitutional challenges to the laws.
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Wilenchik & Bartness
wins jury trial on a directed verdict.
Dennis Wilenchik and
Kathleen Rapp successfully defended Sheriff Arpaio from
a meritless lawsuit brought by a former inmate who had
been sentenced to serve 24 hours in Tent City for a
DUI. Patricia
Dougherty brought suit after she fell while attempting to exit a
4 foot 7 inch bunk bed in the dark and alleged that the Sheriff was
negligent in assigning her to a top bunk. Dennis Wilenchik
moved for judgment at the close of trial and the Court ruled
that there was no evidence of unreasonable action or inaction on
the part of the Sheriff or his deputies and, as such, the matter
could not go to the jury on the sole count of negligence. Judgment
was awarded for Sheriff Arpaio as a matter of law.
Wilenchik & Bartness
wins jury trial against master developer.
Dennis Wilenchik and Amy Urness,
representing Randall Martin Home, recently prevailed against
Evergreen Communities, L.L.C. in
a lawsuit for breach of contract and conversion. Randall Martin Homes
entered into a contract with Evergreen Communities in 2006 to purchase
a piece of raw land in Buckeye, Arizona, and Randall Martin Homes was
seeking the return of its earnest money deposit.
The jury awarded Randall
Martin Homes $700,000, the entire amount of the deposit.
Wilenchik & Bartness
wins three week jury trial against Dan Saban.
Dennis I. Wilenchik, William P. French, Tyler Q. Swensen, and M. Rob Somers,
representing Defendants Maricopa County, Sheriff Joseph Arpaio, Chief David Hendershott,
Steve Bailey, and Ray Jones, recently won a three week jury trial on all claims
by Dan Saban. This case involved an allegation by Saban, a candidate for Sheriff
of Maricopa County in 2004, that Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Chief Deputy, David
Hendershott, abused their positions by beginning an investigation into whether
Saban raped his adoptive mother, Ruby Norman, approximately 32 years earlier.
Saban sued the Sheriff and several deputies alleging that they conspired to violate
several laws and, in the process, defamed Saban and invaded his privacy.
Dennis
I. Wilenchik has been named in Marquis Who's Who in American
Law for 2007-2008.
Dennis I. Wilenchik was recently included
in the 2007 list of Super Lawyers.
Only 5 percent of the total lawyers in the state are selected for inclusion in
Super Lawyers. Over 800,000 lawyers were asked to nominate attorneys in the candidate
screening process. After the initial screening, a committee considered several
factors including Dennis Wilenchik's verdicts and settlements, transactions,
representative clients, and experience. Next, Dennis Wilenchik was grouped by
his practice area and evaluated by his peers. Finally, Dennis Wilenchik was
screened according to firm size, and selected to this prestigious list based
upon his points in the aforementioned categories. For more information, see www.superlawyers.com. On June 19, 2007,
the La Paz County Attorney appointed Dennis I. Wilenchik as a Special
Deputy County Attorney to serve as a public prosecutor
for La Paz County concerning allegations relating to public offenses,
if any, concerning Tricia Lynn Groe within La Paz County.
AZ Supreme Court accepts unprecedented Amicus
Brief relating to judicial conduct. Wilenchik and Bartness has had the pleasure
of assisting the Maricopa County Justice Courts on a variety of issues,
including helping them create professional standards to clarify and
illuminate the Code of Judicial Conduct for the Justice Court Bench.
At the same time
that the Bench as a whole was undertaking this monumental effort,
the Commission on Judicial Conduct and the Arizona Supreme Court
began investigating the actions of a single Maricopa County Justice
of the Peace. After the Commission made its recommendation
to the Court, the Bench as a whole felt the need to present the Supreme
Court with the direction in which the Justice Court Bench was trying
to move, including the professional standards that it was creating.
As such, the Bench requested that Wilenchik and Bartness assist them
in writing an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on the topic of the
Commission's recommendation of discipline. This unprecedented
brief was accepted by the Supreme Court and, in the following opinion, the
Supreme Court ultimately remanded the case back to the Commission
on Judicial Conduct with instructions to change the manner in which
they analyzed the case. The Supreme Court's opinion can be
found at http://www.supreme.state.az.us/opin/pdf2007/JC060002.pdf Wilenchik & Bartness
wins at the U.S. Supreme Court.
In
2004 Arizona voters passed Proposition 200, an initiative measure
that, among other things, changed the election law to require: (1)
proof of citizenship to register to vote; and (2) proof of identification
when one votes at the polling place on election day. Several
Plaintiffs, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education
Foundation, Intertribal Counsel of Arizona and the Navajo Nation
filed suits challenging the new election law. The District
Court of Arizona consolidated the actions and denied a motion by
consolidated Plaintiffs to enjoin Arizona's election law for the
November 2006 national elections.
The 9th Circuit overturned
the District Court's ruling, granting Plaintiffs an Emergency Temporary
Injunction. County and State Defendants applied to Justice
Kennedy for a stay of the 9th Circuit decision. On October
20, 2006 the High Court issued a per curium decision overturning
the 9th Circuit's decision and preserving the status quo for Arizona's
elections. The litigation continues on the merits in District
Court. A copy of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision can be
found at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/06A375.pdf
For a complete list of seminars and publications
by Dennis I. Wilenchik, click
here.
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