The justices declined Monday to get involved in a dispute between the Canadian Pacific Railway and residents of Minot, ND. The Minot residents want to sue the railroad over a 2002 derailment that sent a cloud of toxic anhydrous ammonia farm fertilizer over the city. One man died trying to escape the fumes and others were treated at hospitals for eye and lung problems.

In 2006, a U.S. district judge ruled that federal law protected Canadian Pacific from claims stemming from the derailment. After Congress changed the law the same year, the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the claims could be pursued.

The court said Monday it won't disturb a ruling by the federal appeals court in New York that the rights belong to Penguin Group Inc., and the heirs of John Steinbeck's widow, Elaine. Author John Steinbeck died in 1968; his wife in 2003. The heirs include her sister, four children and grandchildren.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said a lower court judge misapplied copyright law in awarding the rights in 2006 to the son, Thomas Steinbeck, and granddaughter Blake Smyle. Both already receive a portion of the proceeds of sales.

The decision issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington doesn't address the main issue in the 17-year-old case of whether the trademark is racist. It upholds the lower court's decision in favor of the football team on a legal technicality.

The court agreed that the seven Native Americans who challenged the trademark waited too long to sue over the trademark issued in 1967.

An administration official says the Democratic governor is coming to the White House for an event unrelated to the Supreme Court. It is not clear whether Granholm will be meeting with Obama about the upcoming vacancy on the court.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because details of Tuesday's event have not been announced.

Granholm is among more than six people Obama is considering for the seat on the court now held by Justice David Souter, who is retiring this summer.

The 50-year-old Granholm is a former federal prosecutor and Michigan attorney general.

As Congress and the president talk about ending so-called abuses in the credit card industry like sudden rate hikes and late fees, Brady Dougan is in Connecticut courts fighting claims that he owes his ex-wife nearly $1 million for being 12 days tardy with a $7.5 million divorce-related payment.

The 49-year-old chief executive, who lives in Greenwich, suffered a blow in his legal case Wednesday, when the state Appellate Court ruled 2-1 that he must abide by the late payment penalty terms in his 2005 divorce agreement with Tomoko Hamada Dougan.

Retired state Supreme Court Justice David Borden, sitting on the Appellate Court for Dougan v. Dougan, wrote that Brady Dougan is a "highly educated and financially sophisticated" person who "wants to avoid the obligation that he knowingly undertook."

Supreme Court Justice C. Ian McLachlan, appointed to the high court in January, voted with Borden in the appellate ruling. He noted that at the time of the divorce agreement, Brady Dougan's estate was worth nearly $80 million and it appeared he could have made the $7.5 million payment soon after signing the deal.

The Appellate Court overturned a Superior Court decision and sent the case back to the lower court to decide how much Dougan should pay his ex-wife.

It was not clear if Dougan planned to appeal to the state Supreme Court. A message was left Thursday with his attorney, Gary Cohen.

Ken Solomon and Don V. Kelly, registered patent attorneys at the law firm Gallop, Johnson & Neuman (www.gjn-ip.com), have been approved by the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Missouri, as certified neutrals in the Court's alternative dispute resolution (ADR) program. Their names are included on an exclusive roster of neutrals from which parties before the U.S. District Court may chose when a law suit is referred to alternative dispute resolution by judicial order.

Mr. Kelly and Mr. Solomon are among a small handful of patent attorneys in Missouri who qualify as mediators under Missouri Supreme Court Rule 17. They each were certified after completing formal mediation training at the Saint Louis University School of Law.

"A growing number of businesses are looking to alternative dispute resolution and its cost-effective benefits and its flexible, speedy, business-oriented options for resolving disputes as the alternative to traditional litigation and its limited means for relief.  As certified neutrals, we are able to offer clients and litigants mediation and arbitration expertise to help resolve disputes in areas of patent and trademark  infringement, licensing and other matters to achieve quick, creative, certain, and business-driven resolution, while at the same time avoiding costly litigation processes," Mr. Solomon and Mr. Kelly said in a statement.

Mr. Solomon and Mr. Kelly are both partners of the firm and members of the Intellectual Property Law Practice at Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, L.C., one of the largest full-service law firms in St. Louis.

Mr. Solomon, chair of the IP Law Practice, has substantial oversight and management experience gained over more than 25 years of preparing and prosecuting hundreds of patents and trademark applications, maintaining such rights and protecting such rights through client counseling, policing, licensing, negotiating, defending against claims asserted by others, and through litigation. The May 2009 edition of Intellectual Property Today magazine features an article by Mr. Solomon entitled “Arbitration & Mediation: A More Effective Way to Protect Valuable Intellectual Property” explaining how ADR can short-circuit expensive litigation to achieve better results.

Mr. Solomon’s practice over the past 15 years has been primarily focused on managing large client patent and trademark portfolios in the United States Patent and Trademark Office and, also, international patent and trademark offices. His expertise includes drafting and prosecuting diverse intellectual property agreements and preparing patentability, validity and infringement opinions on behalf of clients. He has substantial experience in many industry sectors and technologies involving chemical and mechanical arts, pharmaceutical products and processes, among many others. He earned a J.D. from the Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago-Kent College of Law, currently ranked among the five top law schools in the country for intellectual property law by U.S. News & World Report, and a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Mr. Kelly represents clients in litigation and intellectual property matters. He concentrates his practice in the areas of patent infringement, trademark infringement, trade secret litigation, non-compete agreements and business disputes. He has handled numerous multi-million dollar trade secret, franchise, contract and intellectual property cases. He has drafted and prosecuted patent applications for engine components, industrial tools, computer equipment, fuel systems, optical coatings and food industry apparatus, among many other technologies. He also counsels clients regarding trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, technology license agreements and infringement analyses.

Mr. Kelly is featured in a recent article in Midwest CEO discussing indemnity rights. He has served extensively as lead counsel in state and federal jury and non-jury trials. His experience includes handling medical malpractice, toxic tort, pharmaceutical, medical device and products liability litigation. Mr. Kelly earned a J.D. degree from Washington University School of Law and a B.S. in physics from Duke University.

Gallop, Johnson & Neuman, L.C., a full service law firm of 80 attorneys, has provided legal services to clients in all industries since its founding in 1976. The firm received an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau in its January 2009 ratings of Missouri law firms. The firm is located at 101 South Hanley Road, Suite 1700, in Clayton, Missouri. For more information, visit www.gjn.com. For information about the firm’s Intellectual Property Law Practice, contact Ken Solomon or Don Kelly at 314.615.6000.

For more information, contact Lois LaDriere, Director of Marketing, at 314.615.6103