Thứ Ba, 21 tháng 8, 2012

Your Tuesday Morning Digital Dump.


Hi kids, day two of the school year -- is it almost over yet?

Let's take a peek around the South Florida legal landscape:

1.  Melanie Damian channels her inner Donald Rumsfeld:
"What we don't know at this point is what we don't know," Damian said, indicating that there may be assets Price did not disclose.
Hmm, somehow seems much more reasonable when Melanie says it.

2.  The 11th Circuit affirms Judge Seitz and enforces another arbitration clause against a cell phone provider -- hey, I'm sure no one has ever had a problem with that industry's business practices:
The Supreme Court in Concepcion expressly rejected the notion that the state law should not be preempted because the class action waiver would effectively shield the defendant from liability. See Concepcion, 131 S. Ct. at 1753 (“The dissent claims that class proceedings are necessary to prosecute small-dollar claims that might otherwise slip through the legal system. But States cannot require a procedure that is inconsistent with the FAA, even if it is desirable for other reasons.” (citation omitted)). Pendergast’s attempts to distinguish Concepcion are unavailing.13

For the reasons set forth above, we conclude that we need not reach the questions of whether Florida law would invalidate the class action waiver in the parties’ contract because, to the extent it does, it would be preempted by the FAA. Under Concepcion, both the class action waiver and the arbitration clause must be enforced according to their terms.
State's rights anyone?


3.  In Philly prosecutors are taking second jobs:
CARLOS VEGA is a veteran homicide prosecutor, putting scumbags behind bars, sometimes for life.
His latest high-profile case: Antonio Rodriguez, the so-called Kensington Strangler, who was convicted Thursday of three counts of first-degree murder, rape and related offenses in the deaths of three women.

With his high-pressure job and a daughter who lives at home, you'd think Vega wouldn't have time for anything else.

But his city salary hasn't been enough to give his daughter and son the schooling he wanted for them. So, for 14 years, he's been juggling two jobs. His second gig? He's a UPS supervisor.
In fact, Vega is one of several prosecutors in the city who have taken on second jobs to make ends meet. Others have been bartenders or waiters. One assistant district attorney recently moved back into her parents' house.

"Although we're attorneys, we work for the city," Vega said. "We don't make the money that people think lawyers make."
Note to Carlos -- don't move to South Florida!

4.  Andrew Hall files an odd case:
When Andre Frings returned to his South Beach apartment from a trip to New York last December, his jaw dropped at what had happened to the historic building next door. The 1926 art deco edifice was completely gutted, the graceful façade gone. Frings suspected the developer had broken the Beach's historic preservation codes, so he filed a complaint. The city investigated and, sure enough, found that demolition had exceeded the scope of permits. The developer spent months making fixes.

Democracy at its finest, right? Not for Frings. Last month, the developer -- Brickell-based Jeffrey Schottenstein -- filed a lawsuit against the SoBe resident, seeking more than $15,000 for the egregious crime of reporting his problems to the city.

"It's ridiculous because I don't have any influence. I'm just a resident," Frings says. "All I did was write to the city about my concerns."

Andrew Hall, Schottenstein's attorney, says Frings was wrong to air his grievances when work was already underway. "Guys like this, they think they're smarter than everyone else," he says. "He doesn't care about the consequences of his actions."

Frings's attorney, Michael Schlesinger, has a different take on the suit. "It's a frivolous action brought solely to intimidate and punish [Frings]," he says.
 WTF?

As someone smart once said, what we don't know at this point is what we don't know.

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