Consumer Rights lawyers within 40 miles of Vernon Rockville Connecticut

Attorney Seifert is a graduate of Trinity College, Hartford and Capital University Law School, Columbus, Ohio. He was a research assistant in products liability and criminal law. He is the recipient of the Criminal Law Book Prize. He has been practicing law in Connecticut since 1981. In October of 1987, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, William H. Rehnquist, swore Attorney Seifert in to practice before the United States Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. Representative matters include breach of contract cases, professional malpractice actions, toxic tort litigation, insurance bad faith cases, personal injury cases, probate, trusts, estates and appeals. In 1990, he successfully represented three contestants in the Ethel Donaghue will contest case, the largest will contest case ever brought to trial in Connecticut at that time. He also has been a trustee and executor of various estates over the years. Attorney Seifert has argued successfully before the Connecticut Appellate Court, the Connecticut Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit. Representative appellate decisions are: State v. Graham, 200 Conn. 9 (1986), which expanded the right to impeach witnesses; Schmidt v. Yardney Electric Corporation, 4 Conn. App. 69 (1985), which expanded employee rights to sue employers for wrongful discharge; State v. Merritt, 36 Conn. App. 76 (1994), aff'd 233 Conn. 302 (1995), which affirmed the Frye doctrine and set the precedent that horizontal gaze nystagmus testing evidence is inadmissible unless qualified by a scientific expert; Charles Black, Administrator v. Goodwin, Loomis & Britton, Inc., Maryland Casualty Company, 239 Conn. 144 (1996), a landmark bad faith insurance case which created new insurance consumer rights, affirmed the use of stipulated judgments and upheld the constitutionality of the offer of judgment statute; Walsh v. Stonington, 250 Conn. 443 (1999), a significant environmental appeal which confirmed that municipal state-regulated plants may be held liable in private nuisance for the pollution damages incurred by a small number of private citizens; and State v. Payne, 260 Conn. 446 (2002), a landmark decision in which the appellant's criminal convictions were reversed solely on the basis of prosecutorial misconduct.

Jim Bergenn's practice is comprised of complex criminal and civil litigation, including white collar crime and government investigations, personal injury and wrongful death cases, and other trials involving significant consequences. With more than 40 years trial lawyer experience and a trial skills teacher at UConn Law for over 35 years, other lawyers and clients call Jim regularly to seek his trial skills, and experience with investigations and experts, in many different kinds of contested cases. Jim’s wide range of criminal cases includes representing targets of investigations, criminal defendants, grand jury and other witnesses, and crime victims. Because he handles personal injuries, he often helps victims during and after criminal cases are brought to obtain the right compensation for their harm. He works in cases prosecuted by all the various federal, state and local authorities, such as the US Attorney’s Office, The Chief State’s Attorney’s Office, State and Federal Grand Juries, the FBI, the State Police, the SEC, the DEA, the ATF, the DOD, the IRS, the FDA, the FTC, the Office of Inspector General for various Federal Agencies, state regulators such as the Attorney General, the DEP, the DOH, the DMR, the DCF, and the Office of Consumer Protection, and local police.

James J. Ruane is a practicing lawyer in the state of Connecticut.