3d DCA Watch -- For Those Not Paying Attention, Here is the Summary Judgment Standard.

Hi there, no time for chit-chat let's get to it:

Judge Shepherd, the king of understatement:

As we have stated on more than one occasion, on a motion for summary judgment the burden of proof is on the moving party to show there are no genuine issues of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

At least three times, for sure!

Miccosukee Tribe v. Bermudez:

This is a permutation of the underlying case before Judge Dresnick in which Lewis Tein and the parties are battling over whether there are collectable assets and who is truly paying for the two tribal members' defense.

At issue is whether the Tribe's GC can be deposed because he injected himself into the litigation by providing checks that allegedly show the Tribe has been paying for the defense of the tribal members all along, which may be contrary to certain representations made in the trial court.  The defendants deny this and have affidavits from Billy Cypress and others saying these funds were charged against their distributions or are advances on future distributions.

Regardless, here is Judge Shepherd's general summary of the proceedings:

There have been no fewer than twenty post-judgment motions for sanctions since the judgment was rendered, including criminal contempt, slung by the parties’ counsel against each other under the guise of the parties themselves.

That's interesting -- what accounts for the "under the guise of the parties themselves" language -- isn't everything a lawyer does in court on behalf of her client?

The bottom line here is the GC will be deposed and my only question is this -- can I get a video?

Please?